It's always better when it's free

So it's been a while. But that's not because of laziness. It's because of busyness--Which is much better than laziness.

To play a little catch-up, we'll start with the good stuff. Brock won an award at work and so SEI (love that company) gave him a limo for the night and a fat allowance at any restaurant of our choice. The 4 other people back in Philly that won were using it to go bar hopping all night. We opted for a night on the town with Donie and Nyla (Brock's parents). We told them to dress nice and meet us at our house and we'd take them out to dinner. We didn't tell them about the limo until it was here to pick us up. We had a good time and it was nice to have some quality conversation and food with the in-laws.

We went to Wolf Creek Resort and Grill. I had the Ahi and Brock had the Elk. YUM. Oh, and the desserts...We somehow found room for 4 of them.

His sisters and brother watched the kids, so after dinner, we took them in the limo to get some ice cream at the drive-thru. It was a lot of fun. And, I must say, it was even more fun because the whole, big night was free. I think there's a lot more enjoyment in pretending to be rich than in actually being rich. (Mo money, mo problems, foo.) I guess that means when I'm rich, I'll pretend to be poor when I'm looking for a good time.


Brock was in San Francisco last week so the kids and I headed up to Preston (also referred to as God's Country). It's always fun when you can get all the Leonard kids together at old 1797. Then Monday we had a girls day at my house. Mom, Missy, Kelsey and I went to a movie, out to Farr's ice cream, and to the Salomon Center to goof around. I love girls' days!

Oh, and have you SEEN the new google maps 'street view'? You can actually see our house on it! Not the roof, but the real thing! Nuts!

Sendin' Out the Love

I often speak of my dislike for Winnie the Pooh, Mickey and the like WHEN adults wear them on their clothes. If you enjoy wearing authorized Disney apparel, I don't mean to offend you. Love the sinner, hate the sin. I know my imperfect sense of fashion doesn't give me the right to cast a stone. But I'm not really trying to throw rocks here, I'm just saying I don't like it.

I also have a particular annoyance for the collection of teddy bears. I'm well aware I could be stirring up all sorts of controversy by saying so--There must be some serious teddy bear lovers out there if they can pay $80 and MORE for the things. Again, not casting stones...I just don't understand it.

Yesterday, I received a special Valentine catalogue for VERMONT TEDDY BEARS and apparently, teddy bears have a strange and magical power to, uh, "Make (Your) Heart Skip a Beat." The cover had 2 bears in their UNDERWEAR and 1 tantalizing question: Boxers or Briefs? Well obviously, that really set off my curiosity so I commenced exploration of the magazine.

Supposedly, if you give a girl one of these bears for Valentines this year, "She'll think of you everytime she takes her bear to bed" and "You'll get the reaction you're hoping for." If Brock got me one of these Teddy Bears for Valentine's Day, he'd get a reaction, alright, but it wouldn't be pleasant.

Some of these bears actually did remind me of some of you. They might not have done anything for me, but perhaps one of these bears will tickle YOUR fancy. To each his own! For you, one of these bears could be the promised gift of spice for your love life.

***I did NOT make up the names! Assume I chose all of these at absolute random.

"Let's Get Bear Naked" bear goes to Krystal.

To Ginnie goes the "Wild Playbear Bunny."


Lindsey, his name is not McDreamy, but "Loverboy." Look close, his tat says "LT."


Here's "Horny Devil." Emily Max, I believe he belongs to you.



Vanessa--I'm sorry but, I'm afraid I might forever remember Lee as his Halloween costume...It was too perfect.
You get "Red Hot Redneck" bear.


Amy, this might not do anything for you, but I'm thinking Daegan might like it. "Gone Fishing" bear.


Missy, meet "Mr. Right."


Kelsey gets "Handy Bear."


"Nurse Bear" is for Amy K P.


Erica gets the "Let's Monkey Around Bear"


Chelsie gets the dangerous and exciting "Lawyer" bear.


Better yet, Wylie and Laila get the "Accountant."


Rich and Tamara get "Latin Lover" bear.



Emily, "Love Rider" might pacify you until Luke buys you a motorcycle. Or you can give Luke "Motorcycle Mama" bear to inspire him to get you one soon.


Lindsay, it looks like "Gangster of Love" is carrying a violin in that case. He's got a song just for you...




To all my Colony friends, you are obviously attracted to men in scrubs. You each get "Scrubs Bear"

No one wants "Prince Charming." He's boring.



If I had to give one to Brock I guess he'd like "Super Lover" or "Country Lovin'"


If you weren't assigned a bear, and you want one, you can have "Stud Muffin."

State of the Union

I must be getting old. I haven't missed a political debate or speech or whatever all season. The only thing it has accomplished, however, is give me more to question and less to believe. As Brock and I sat down to watch tonight's address, I thought about the state of OUR union.



For those of you who didn't know me and Brock in our premarital lives, you don't know that we are perhaps one of history's most unlikely couples. And if you DID know us then but haven't been around for the last 7 years, then you probably don't know that we are perhaps one of history's most perfect couples. We are living proof that some truths just cannot be realized using logic. Well, I'm not big on speeches (well, maybe I am, but I want to go to bed...), so I'm happy to report that although this country may be straying a bit from the constitution, the state of OUR union is just as good as it could be! And I'll leave it at that.

So I never forget...

At 27 and 7 months, I think I have a pretty good idea of what my kids will be like when they're older. Could I be completely wrong? Maybe...HOPEFULLY (in a few areas). Yeah, I'm hoping Kade won't always be this attached to his mother. And I'd really rather Karlee didn't turn out to be a beautiful but completely wreckless teenager--a dangerous combination. I do have hope in that I probably think she's going to be beautiful because all parents think that about their kids--even if they're not to the rest of the world. And maybe her wild nature will wear off and her personal alarm system will kick in after she falls and hits her head really good for the hundredth time (since the first 99 haven't done the trick). Whatever course of events takes them to wherever they'll wind up and to whoever they'll be, I always want to remember this time in their lives.

Even when I'm old and fully gray (I just plucked a gray hair today), I want to be able to remember all of the little things. It's all the little things that add up to so much fun. Like how Karlee's favorite movies are Happy Feet (hopefully the pro global governance and anti established religion themes aren't brainwashing her) and The Man From Snowy River because she thinks Jim Craig is actually Uncle Jake. And how she says 'yep,' 'yip,' or 'yup' in answer to any question. But I don't want to just remember that she said that, I want to HEAR her say it. Just like she does. And I want to hear Kade's raspy little laughs at nothing and feel his excitement when his entire body convulses because he sees food is near. Will I be able to hold on to those sensations or only onto the memory of them happening? Or neither?! It makes me sad to think about that. I SHOULDN'T think about it. Whenever I get nostalgic I can hear Brock telling me "it's stupid to live in the past." And...He's right.

Hey, wait!!! If I can hear Brock's voice that vividly inside my head without even wanting to, then SURELY I will be able to hear the voices of my sweet little babies!!!

I feel much better now!

The thrill of it all

Okay. Wow! PHEW!!!
That was really exciting! I'd been warned of the addictive nature of blogging and now I see why. Honestly, tho embarrassingly, I kept logging in hoping someone else had commented. Thanks be to all of you for making my first time such a memorable experience!

The most exciting thing that happened this week to blog about was blogging. I really don't want that to be the purpose so I'll quit that now.

I did, however, go to the Rexburg Temple open house this weekend. It was really beautiful, but not so spiritual. It's hard for anyone to have a spiritual experience when someones kid is running around throwing a fit. This mom was carrying her little girl until she started kicking and saying she wanted to walk up the stairs. So she let her walk up the stairs and everyone got stuck behind her in the long, hot stairwell. When she got to the top she decided she wanted to run, so she ran away up through the crowd of legs and got way up to where her mom couldn't even see her. When the mom finally catches up to her she decides she better just hold her, so the little girl screamed until the tour ended with cookies and lemonade. Why can't parents just control their kids? You tell me. Really. I'd like to know because I'm the mom who couldn't control her kid. To make matters worse, Karlee happened to be wearing a Christmas T-shirt Ya-Ya gave her that says "Santa's got nothing on Grandma." So she REALLY looked like a spoiled, out-of-control brat. You must know the key word here is 'looked.' Because Karlee is an angel. And I only 'looked' like an exasperated parent. I really had it all under control. Moral of the story? Get a babysitter and go to the temple.

A 'personal' invitation

Officially this is the launching of the Williamson family blog. I'm a little bit apprehensive about the whole thing, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm afraid Brock might turn it into his 2nd Amendment forum.

I like blogs. I enjoy catching up and catching a laugh so I often visit all the blogs of the people I like. But I have to say it feels so impersonal. Blogs are great because you don't have to call or email or visit. Blogs suck because you don't call or email or visit. I get an invitation to view a blog and I feel like it's saying "Here I am! If you want me, come and get me. I don't care." And I almost feel silly--even sneaky--looking at peoples' blogs unless I leave a comment. Okay, so I guess you all know me well enough to know I (obviously) ALWAYS over-analyze everything so I'll quit now and save it for Brock. He loves to listen to me talk.

But on a PERSONAL note. If I invited you to read this blog, it's because you are my friend. I like you and I want you to like me back. I want to hang out with you. I want to see you and talk to you in person when possible. But since that can't ALWAYS happen, there's blogging.

***Note on my music: These are just a few choice selections. I like a little bit of country, a little bit of class, and a little bit of rock and roll. Oh, and an old Neil Sedaka song that Mom, Missy, Kels, and I, and sometimes even Jake, would sing in the car...with harmony, too...beautiful...good times...