Bowling and the Excitement of Wal-Mart

Wednesday night Rebecca and I took the Mia Maids (that's Mormon lingo for 14 and 15 year old girls) bowling on base. I have not been bowling in FOREVER. We have a Wii and I'm Pro in bowling. However, bowling on the Wii is TOTALLY different than in real life. In real life, I stink! It was a ton of fun though. I came in second (all of us stunk). The girl who won used bumpers. That's my excuse for losing. Haha. We bowled for an hour with two lanes and seven people and it was only $21. Yay for the base! Of course I brought my camera. As soon as I pulled it out, Jessica said, "You and that camera!" I love my camera! However I have to start bringing batteries because mine died after two or three pictures. Luckily Emily brought her camera and offered them to me. So now I have a million pictures from last night. The loud and crazy one with the crazy giggle. The cell phone addicted, anti-camera twin. The quieter twin with the battery girl sneaking into the picture. The winner from our lane.
The leader with the sexiest pair of bowling shoes ever! She's had some surgery on her wrists so she asked for the lightest ball they had. After the guy gave her the smallest ball, he proceeded to give her the old lady shoes too. VELCRO!! I've never seen bowling shoes like that before. The best leader ever! Yeah right. The girls were taking pictures and the red eye wasn't on. We had a blast though!!!
Alright on to my Wal-Mart experience yesterday. We were in dire need of groceries (I put off grocery shopping for the past two days) so I made a trip to Wal-Mart. They have been renovating the store. Yesterday I saw the best part of the renovations. Was it the hardwood floors in the clothing department? Was it the brand new nice freezers in the groceries section? Was it the amazingly clean floors? Was it the way EVERYTHING was actually well stocked? Was it the awesome clearance due to renovating? No. All are nice, but the best thing was SELF CHECKOUT!!!! I LOVE self checkout anyway. (I guess because I've never been a checker...it would probably be different if I had had the job.) The biggest pain at Wal-Mart is the 20 minute wait to check out. Yesterday barely anyone was using self checkout so I didn't wait at all. I walked up with my tons of groceries and checked myself out. The self checkout at Winn Dixie doesn't have a big space to put all of your groceries that need to be rung up. At Wal-Mart it's like a regular check out so there is tons of room to put your stuff on (because they know you're going to spend a ton of money there). Anyway, that made my day!! From now on I won't cringe as much when I have to go grocery shopping there!

Absent for quite some time

I have not been blogging as much this past week. It was my week off from school so of course that means it was my busiest week ever. I did finally get my new do. LOVE IT! It's amazing how empowering a new hair cut can make you feel. I do love my life as a mother, wife, student, employee, daughter, friend, Young Women Leader, etc. but with my new cut I feel it's more me...who I was before I was in all of those other roles. Does that make sense? I guess what I'm saying is that I love that I get to spend 10 minutes doing my hair instead of 10 seconds. I don't get enough me time, which I don't think anyone who is a mommy ever does. So with this hair cut I have to make a little extra me time. Anyway, last week I also got my jewelry. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT! I tried taking a picture of it not on me since my hubby isn't home to take one with me in it. (That's why my hair cut picture is in the kitchen...lovely self portrait.) So I'll have to post a picture or two whenever he gets home. I received the circle necklace that I won. I decided to put Carson and his birthday on it. Whenever I sent his birthday to Lisa, I had to check it like 500 times because I'm so bad at saying his birthday is July 25 not July 24 (His cousin was born the day after him and I guess that's why I always say the 25th). Anyway, the necklace is so cute and I have received tons of compliments on it. I also got a blue cobalt pearl necklace with a pottery shard pendant and matching earrings. They are absolutely STUNNING! You have to check out her blog and website!! So right now I'm totally obsessed with jewelry, if you couldn't tell. Two Sundays until my birthday!!! Anyone wondering what to get me?? THE PERFECT GIFT!! They're only $16. Of course they are from Lisa's blog. Alright enough about me...my cousin's wife had her baby, little Abigail. Carson now has two cousins named Abigail. He calls her Abbey and it is so flippin cute! It makes me want a baby even more! She was supposed to send me some pictures via e-mail, but hasn't yet so I thought I'd post some of everyone in the waiting room at 1 a.m.
We were watching some late night poker tv show. I definitely knew why they showed it at that time...no one would watch it at any other time. Anyway, Abigail was 7 lb. 12 oz. and 21 inches long. She is ADORABLE! Well, I have to finish dinner. Chicken Salad! YUMMM!

What a Day

Yesterday was quite a day. We are back to potty training Carson. He was doing so well until Nanny passed away. We went off of our routine then. Since I have this week off from school, I thought I'd try again. Everyone has 500 ways of potty training. I finally just decided to create my own way of doing it. Carson has a little seat on the toilet (that means I don't have to empty out a little potty YAY!). He has his little step stool so he can get on the potty by himself. I decided to just go straight to underwear instead of pullups because then he can feel when he is wet. (Plus this morning I asked him which he wanted a pullup or underwear and he grabbed the underwear.) Yesterday we went through 4 pairs of underwear. Potty training has got to be one of the most frustrating things ever! Carson can sit on the potty for 15 minutes and as soon as he gets up, he goes in his underwear. It's especially frustrating because I know he knows how to go on the potty because we were doing good earlier. Anyway, the rest of the day he was in pullups. That night, he helped me make a chicken pot pie. I kept smelling it. It smelt like it was burning but it had only been in the oven for 20 minutes and it takes 50 to cook. Finally I checked it, and of course it was burnt. That is the first meal in almost three years of marriage that I have burnt. I looked at the temperature of the oven. Somehow I decided to up the temperature by 100 degrees from 375 to 475. Oh my goodness it was crazy!! I scrambled to put together another meal because Jordan was coming home in like 10 minutes. So I pulled out the trusty DiGiorno and popped it in the oven. Caron helped me make a salad to go with it (which really means he ate everything that I cut up and threw in the salad bowl). Dinner was a few minutes late so Jordan showered before eating, but it was still good. I am hoping for a better day today. So far it has been good. Carson is still wearing the pair of underwear from right after he got up so underwear count at 10:35 is 1! He's gone potty twice and done his morning poop so hooray!! We'll see how the rest of the day goes.

Father's Day

These pictures are a year old or so but they are my favorite of Carson and Jordan and since Father's Day was yesterday I thought I'd post them.


We had a great Father's Day yesterday! Carson's gift to Daddy was a 3 hour nap. Carson never wants to nap on Sundays when we want to. However, yesterday he did and for THREE HOURS!! (His naps are never that long!) Anyway, we went over to my grandparents' house. Most of the family was there. I love spending time with family. We came home late and had a pillow fight with Carson. I love spending time with my two boys!! Speaking of boys, Carson is nothing but boy now. There is no baby left in him. I still call him "the baby", but he has grown so much in the past few months. It's time for another baby!!! We have been talking about this for the last year because I have been so baby hungry. (I know it's weird, but if you have never experienced it trust me you will!) Any time that we are doing something with our little family of three, I just keep feeling that we're missing someone. It's the strangest feeling. So stay posted because we may have an announcement in the next few months or so.

John Deered and The Passover

This weekend my brother, Chance, was telling me about a missionary who served here. Since he's been home he has married and had a kid. I was in disbelief because when we had him over I thought he said he had been Dear Johned (his girlfriend broke up with him via mail while on his mission). However instead of Dear Johned coming out of my mouth, John Deared came out. So I told Chance, "Wasn't he John Deared??" Everyone busted out laughing. Now I will always have to stop and think before I use that phrase.
This incident reminded me of something the little girl I nannied, Hannah, said. I had just picked her up from her Baptist preschool on the beach. We were driving back to town and stuck in traffic. Hannah was keeping me entertained while we were at a stand still. She went on to say, "Miss Mag-in (that's how she has always said my name), the Passover is almost done." I am thinking okay isn't the Passover around Easter time?? This was July. I thought I misunderstood her, so I asked her to repeat what she said. "Miss Mag-in, the Passover is almost done." At this point I am thinking what in the world is this preschool teaching her?! She could tell I was puzzled. She expounded, "You know the thing they are building that makes the 'boom' sound when the work on it." She pointed to the overpass they were building right next to the road we were on. It was hilarious!!

New Haircut

My hair lady moved to North Carolina a year and a half ago. I've had my hair cut twice since she moved. However, I'm in a hair funk. My hair is always pulled back in a ponytail. I need some serious hair therapy. My hair is crazy though because it's wavy/curly. Some days it curls really well on its on. Others, it's more wavy. This makes it hard for me to find a hair style. We were watching Stranger than Fiction the other night and Maggie Gyllenhaal's hair in the movie is like mine. I kind of like her hair all short. It works for her, but I don't know if it'd work for me. It is time for a change though!! Any suggestions for a hair cut and style?

Blue's Clues and a Necklace

Carson is obsessed with Blue's Clues!! Let me just say that I'm fine with Blue's Clues since this time last year we were on Barney! Today I was grateful for Blue's Clues because with the whole penny incident this weekend, I was not able to work on my take home exam and inclusion paper. I worked on them both last night, but I needed sleep so I went to bed and got up early to finish them. When Carson got up this morning, he asked for Blue. So I turned it on and hurried to finish my papers. My poor little latchkey kid. I know it's probably bad, but it's the only way I can get a few things done (whether it's homework or quick housework). I kind of feel guilty that he watches a lot of Blue's Clues. He cries though whenever the last song comes on ("Now it's time for so long..."). Don't get me wrong, we spend TONS of time outside. I'm just grateful for an episode of Blue's Clues because I know I have 30 minutes to devote to cleaning or homework.
On a different note, I'm a winner AGAIN!! Okay so in the last two months I have won more than I ever have in my life (and that's only twice). You have to check out Lisa's jewelry. I won this gorgeous piece. Check out her stamped jewelry!! Now I just have to figure out what I want stamped on it. Do I just put Carson's name or should I put Carson and Jordan?? I'm not the decision making person. Any ideas?? Leave a comment and let me know what I should get on my necklace!!

The $60 Penny

This weekend was a crazy one for the Gold family. Carson loves money and knows he can find some change in my wallet. Thursday night, he had some change that he was playing with. He was quietly putting it in his shovel and moving it from container to container while we watched The Prestige (GREAT MOVIE!!). All of the sudden Jordan picked Carson up and ran to the garbage can. He was trying to gag him because he saw him put a penny in his mouth and start to swallow it. He couldn't make Carson spit it up. I called everyone about whether or not I should take him in to the ER. Our deductible for the ER is $300 for single coverage (Jordan) or $600 for Carson or me. Since I'm leaving the Gap in August while I student teach, we have been pinching pennies for the last few months trying to build up our savings. Needless to say we did not want to fork over $600 for the ER if we didn't have to. After calling both of our moms and my stepsister who works in the ER, we decided to wait it out. Carson was his normal self right after the incident, so we weren't too concerned. My dad and I Googled swallowing a penny and read about a study they did at Duke. They found that if kids swallowed a penny minted after a certain date (I think it was like 1982), they ran a risk of developing stomach ulcers if the penny was in their belly for two days. That is because after this date pennies were made mostly of zinc rather than copper. Pennies minted before this day were not harmful. When I read that I thought okay seriously if I knew when the stinking penny was minted, do you think Carson would have been able to swallow it?? ANYWAY, about 24 hours later Carson started to run a fever of 103. This is the worst part of being a parent!! I HATE seeing Carson sick and knowing I cannot do anything about it but give medicine and wait. To top it off, I had to go to work with him crying for me. I always wanted my mommy when I was sick. Jordan took Carson to the doctor Saturday. (I LOVE that our doctor is like the only doctor open for a few hours on Saturday!!) The other doctor in the office was on call. I don't care for him as much as I do Dr. Kenawy. Anyway, Jordan said he walked in and said, "So Carson has a swollen penis." I think I would've died laughing if I was Jordan (good thing I was at work). If I was the doctor I would've been so mortified. Jordan corrected him and told him he swallowed a penny. How funny! The doctor went on to say that the fever was not related to the penny because he swallowed it a day ago. He said the effects would have been within the first few hours. He did order x-rays though. I ended up leaving work early because it was dead and I wanted to be with Carson. We went home and tried to make an appointment at the Diagnostic Center, but they were only open Monday-Friday. We decided to wait it out some more. After checking diapers for a penny without any luck, we decided to take him into Sea Wind as soon as they open on Sunday. I LOVE Sea Wind. They are always so nice and it is very clean there. Dr. England was on duty. He is AMAZING!! He really sat down and talked with us and seemed concerned. After checking vitals, they wanted to do an x-ray. I thought it was going to cost a lot for the x-ray. When the lady said $30, I was so relieved!! The nurse gave us a children's hospital gown for Carson. The moment Jordan put it on him, I was so glad my camera happened to be in my purse!! It was definitely a Kodak moment!!

The pictures aren't the best quality because I was snapping them as fast as I could because I didn't want the staff to walk in while I was doing it. (I know, I'm psycho.) Anyway, there was no penny in the x-ray so we must've just missed it coming out in the diaper. It took the whole weekend and $60 to get this situation under control, but I'm grateful for the outcome. Carson definitely takes after his daddy, always getting into something!