Debra Lea... the anti-blogger . . .

I guess its official.

I am now claiming to be an anti-blogger, not because I hate blogs. Nope. Not at all. I'm still reading all those great blogs out there.... but I've been refusing to post a comment.

And then there's the little thing about me not writing a new post for what, 4 months?! What is up with that? ;)

-sigh-

Why, may you ask, am I not posting or commenting like the best of 'em?

It may or may not have something to do with this little person inside of me. Oh and puking my brains out and snacking on IV fluid for the last 5 months. YUM.

It may or may not have something to do with how mean I've been for months because of previously mentioned condition, hey low blood sugar does that to me.

And if I'm ornery then you know what that means. My comments are all grumpy sounding and let's not even talk about all of the posts I've started and just gave up because my words just reeked of disagreeable rumbles.

Oh and it may have a lot to do with how guilty I am for not sending out thank you cards for all of the wonderful people surrounding me that have made me smile while I'm mourning and moaning and groaning and being a hermit.

See I told you I'm no fun when I'm feeling ill.

An anti-blogger. Yep. Sounds about right.

A farewell . . . .

It's been a month since my brother's funeral.

I've reflected on the past.

I think about the days ahead.

And I sometimes cry,

a lot.

Man I miss him!

What an amazing man my brother Mark was. Always serving others, making lives wonderful and spoiling my kids with bubble gum and other sweet delights.

Mark had such a zest for life-whether it was taking my kids to the zoo or picking up another niece or nephew for a football game; he loved creating memories and making people feel special. He was always thinking of ways to get others to laugh and enjoy life as well. . . like the great water fight of '09. I don't think any of my family will forget when Mark brought out a whole load of water guns and balloons and handed them out to all of our kids (during a service project at my house, mind you). Oh the look on the kids' faces when they got the grown ups soaking wet... priceless.

That was one of my last memories with Mark.

As I look back, I am so angry with myself that I didn't see his pain. His sadness. How could I just let Mark suffer like he did? I didn't even know, I didn't choose to know the extent of what he was going through. I looked at how happy he made everybody and assumed that things were okay. Stupid assumption.

During the five days that we searched for him and especially the days and weeks since, I've tried to figure out how I could be so selfish, when I had such an amazing example of selfLESSness right in front of me.

Mark Spencer Richards 1983~2009 Born Jan 19, 1983, passed into Heavenly Father's arms on July 24, 2009. Mark Richards was a Son, Brother, Uncle, Friend, Husband, and Daddy. He was well dressed, a champion wrestler, always tried to better himself and others, generous with his time and money, and took care of everyone around him. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him. Married Brianna Nicole Roper August 10, 2002 in Taylorsville, Utah. Survived by Brianna Richards, daughter of Mel and Lori Roper, his wife and love of his life and his son Carter. Parents, Mike and Myrna Richards, brothers and sisters, Eldon (Cami); David; Laura (Aaron); Debra (Greg); Danny (Allie); Boyd (Rachel). Preceded in death by his sister Rachelle.

Mark, I love you so much. You have been such a great example in my life and I'm so proud to call you my brother. I'm so grateful for all the many memories that I have with you and I will hold onto them forever and ever.

I'll never forget the time that an RC Willey's delivery man showed up at my door, after my back surgery, with a new King size bed... although it was supposed to be from an anonymous donor, I got the delivery man to tell me who it was from. Thank you.

And remember that time when everyone was getting together for a Memorial Day celebration and my financial situation was such that I couldn't even afford the gas from Spanish Fork to Salt Lake? Thank you again for watching out for me and sending me some money to make the trip. Again, you tried to be anonymous, but seriously...I know your handwriting better than you think. ;)

Then there was when Greg and I were newlyweds and you came to stay with us a couple of times. It made me smile that you were so excited to see junk food in my pantry. Growing up we rarely had any and if we did it would disappear in a flash. But what do you expect from a big family like ours?

I even look at our childhood with fondness. All of the teasing and torment that we dished out to each other . . . I'm sorry and I hope you know that I love you for those years. I love to think back and laugh at how easily you could get my goat.

Oh Mark, I'm going to miss you so much. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of my life.

I look forward to seeing you again.

I love you.

your sis,

Debra Lea

What's in a name? . . .

It's Lea. My middle name is Lea.

It rhymes with catastrophe

and anchovy.

and banchee.

and whigmaleerie.

I just thought you ought to know. ... . just in case I decide to become really good at something and get all famous and stuff.

you're welcome.

Greg and Debra plus 8 . . .

I've always wanted a big family, I guess its because I came from one? Well I had a chance to practice being a mom of a gigantic family with some nieces and nephews....




Picture it...

my THREE

+ 5 cousins.

A warm Vegas sun.

and a swim pool.

and, oh yeah - 4 t-ball games, volleyball practice, basketball practice, gymnastics, Speech, pre-school, YW/YM, activity days, a youth dance, family pictures, a school carnival etc. etc. for 12 days. And a car that would seat 5, for the latter half of the trip anyway.

Talk about a blast.

Is that the right word for it?

I think so.

I should have been a judge...

I'm a little judgmental.

okay.

maybe I'm A LOT judgemental.

But I don't do it on purpose....most of the time.

Usually I'm just sailing along, doing my own thing and then out of no where ...WHAMo --a thought pops into my head and I'm left thinking, "Gosh Debra Lea, that was a pretty crazy thing to think about that situation/ person/ animal etc. etc. etc."

And then there's the times that I'm purposefully judgmental.
Yep, I actually do that sometimes.
Embarrassing, I know.
Take the other day, for example. I was running around crazily with my mile long to-do list and time was of the essence. After running through Costco like a mad woman, I was hopping into my ultra cool mini van where I noticed that the man parked next to me was lighting up a cigarette....with his two young kids in the back seat. This just happens to be one of my BIGGEST peeves ever. All kind of less than complimentary thoughts were running through my mind about this man and I was judging him with the harshest of my judgments with only knowing this one thing about him. He must be an all around terrible man, right? I continued thinking this until we both were backing up at the same time, me in my rushed sour scowl and him in his careful, watchful, courteous smile. There was an awkward brief moment when both of us were edging our way out and motioning the other to go and in the end he, of course, let me back up out of my stall first. I was so grateful yet so embarrassed for my thoughts.

This experience really got me thinking.

What if all of us wore our struggles out there, for the whole world to see, to judge. And people only saw our mistakes and judged us before they saw the good in us?

Is it the good or the bad, the hardships or the triumphs that really define us? Its all of the above of course. Then why oh why do I do the whole judging thing without having the whole story?!

Just some food for thought.

Kaydee turns six . . .

I love birthdays. No, I mean I really love birthdays and Kaydee's was definitely not an exception. Can she really be 6? It seems like just yesterday I was posting of her fifth birthday celebrations.

-sigh-

Kaydee's favorites of the big day (in her words):

• putting my shoes in the volcano
• getting some WEBKINZ
• eating pancakes and bacon in bed
• walking through the jungle
  
• eating the spotted dinosaur cake
• playing heavy heavy hang over
• getting the didj
• all the friends that came to my dino party
• passing out treats at school
  

We had a great and exhausting day. Lots of fun and friends and a major sugar overload. Most of the sugar came from the cake... that took a little bit longer to make than expected and an angelic next door neighbor that offered to help me because she just "happened to want to cook a bundt cake" out of her own ingredients at 10:00 at night. I don't even know how to begin thanking someone for that kind of sweetness. Seriously love that Michelle neighbor of mine.

All in all, the cake took over six hours to create. If it wasn't for the stinkin' face caving in at the last minute it would have taken a little over four and look a ton better. grrr.
Let's just say that you did not want to be present in the Debra Lea household when I was putting the final touches on the triceratops face. Insane ball of emotional stress wacko-ism might just be a tad bit too nice of adjective to describe my loveliness at that precise moment. Thank goodness that my dear Greg didn't mind *cough* one bit that I was barking orders at him to save my triceratops face. You would have thought I was doing plastic surgery on a celebrity for how panicked I sounded. I finally stopped fussing with the cake when Greg reminded me (again) that the kids would love it regardless, however they probably would not like me still in my pajamas.

As for the birthday party, Kaydee chose the theme : Dinosaurs. and Boy did we have fun with that one. I wish the pictures that were taken could show the energetic atmosphere and excitement of the kids. You gotta love the pictures though since the reason we got any was because I randomly handed the camera to someone and told them to take a picture. I especially love all of the glowing windows in the background... We had such a great time and I think we could sum it up as a great success.



Kaydee, I sure love you. You surprise me everyday with your sweetness and your humor. I absolutely LOVE it when you give me that super cute grin in the morning and ask for your snuggles. You've grown up so much this year, going to Kindergarten and all. You've learned how to read and add numbers, how to play with others and let your imagination entertain. You've created some beautiful art pieces that would impress even the most fussy of the art critics. I hope that you continue to cultivate this amazing personality of yours because I am continually awed by it. Our family wouldn't be the same without you. I love you. Happy Birthday my sweet six year old!

did you miss me?...

Yes. That's right. I was on a blogging hiatus.

And ya wanna know what's even better, I don't even have a great excuse for it either.

Laziness? yes.

pure lack of motivation? you betcha.

Enjoying a little life without so much throbbing in my head? yep.

Not to worry. I'll catch you all up on my ultra fabulous life. Someday.

Maybe even soon.

potato bug . . .

Tater Bugs.

I'm usually not opposed to those roly poly buggeroos. They're harmless, right? It's only when my dear daughter decides to accidentally drop one down my dress during Family Home Evening that the nightmares start--for everybody. Just be glad that you weren't present for the event.

There I was, like a good little mom, innocently sitting there on the couch-- listening to the wonderful lesson that Greg had put together about seeds and faith etc. etc. and Nanners was playing with her new pet, the potato bug. This potato bug was not a nice potato bug, you could see it in his eyes and I could tell before Natalie made her sister's Easter bucket his home that he meant to disrupt our family home evening. Seriously, I just know these things. And sometimes I just make these things up after the fact because its my story and I can do that.

Anyways. Nanners brought the bug over to me for examination and somehow during the process lost the bug...in my dress. Notice I didn't say on, but IN as in INSIDE my dress. This is where it gets interesting. I kind of freaked out, as reverently as I could because it was during family home evening after all-- I jumped up, danced around a lot and even unbuttoned a couple buttons on my dress. I have to admit, I was a little proud of myself because I didn't let the yelping or squealing start until 5 minutes after the ordeal began. I did all of this while my little family just watched in amusement. Especially Greg. At least I was contributing to family night, right?

After more than 10 minutes of searching on myself and in the couch I had to cry defeat. The roly poly monster had won the right to give me the heebie jeebies for the rest of my life, or at least the rest of the day. I swore I could feel him crawling all over me. Ewww.

Over two hours later, I was running around the house doing my usual Sunday frenzy of activity when Greg gave me a love pat on my bottom. Yep. You read that last sentence right. I wouldn't have written it if it wasn't very pertinent to my story, I promise. As Greg patted my bottom he felt an unusual lump on my bum and wouldn't you know it... it was the mr. Potato bug himself. Alive and doing well. The perv.

I have therefore outlawed Mr. roly poly and all of his relatives from entering the Debra Lea homestead. You think that's a little too harsh? YOU try having a potato bug crawling around your skivvies for a couple of hours and then we'll talk.

gottcha. . .

uh, No mom .... I did not get into your beautiful teal eye liner without asking and that is not why I am hiding behind the couch....

enchanting? . . .

The other day I got a compliment. Well, I think it was a compliment. I was told that I reminded someone of Giselle off of Enchanted. . . . hmmm.

And just so you can see the resemblance....
I'm pretty sure I look like her twin... I'm just sayin'.

;)
In all honesty, I'm not sure why I reminded this person of Giselle or if they meant it as a compliment at all. But if they did, it might not have been anything to do with my almost exact facial replica of the character, and everything to do with how I walk with my arms out in mid-air all of the time. Or maybe my clothes look like they are made out of old drapes. Or it could be that my house looks like its been cleaned by a bunch of rats and other vermin. (I really hope its not this one) Or that I have a blissful outlook on life, etc. etc. The possibilities to this compliment are endless.

So thank you.
Really.
You sure put a smile on this girl's face.

Let your voice be heard . . . .

I'm deeply troubled by some information that I received tonight and because I believe that the wonderful people that read my blog believe the same way that I do I'm pleading for you to stand with me on this issue. Read fast, because there is just a small window of time to do something about it.

Here's the deal:

In layman's terms--Right now, the doctors and other medical staff in our country have the ability to refuse to perform a procedure that they feel morally or ethically opposed to. They don't have to do it and they can't be punished for not doing it. However.....Our new president, along with his administration, are repealing this policy. The new policy would require all doctors and all medical staff to perform any procedure that is asked of them, including (but not limited to) abortions.

This new policy is just asking for trouble. If its put in place, there will be major consequences for those doctors and facilities that refuse to do procedures. Or these doctors and nurses--who've spent thousands of dollars learning what they know and becoming who they are and saving the people they've saved--can simply leave their profession?

Do you see what I'm saying here folks. They can follow the demands of the administration or leave the profession. This does not sound like freedom to me. And, oh yeah... what about the whole Hippocratic Oath thing? You know "Above all, do no harm". I STRONGLY feel that each doctor and medical professional should decide for themselves which procedure they will do based on their own ethics and morals.

This is a terrible new policy.

Lucky for us, there is about 24 more hours that you can put in your opinion about this issue. (the petition expires at midnight of April 9, 2009)

Go here to find out more

or go to the link below to add your name to the petition.

http://www.freedom2care.org/action/message/patient

I believe in our country. I believe in our freedoms.

Please spread the word!

uplifting...

Oh how I love General Conference! I've looked forward to this weekend for months now. Listening to all of the amazing and uplifting talks yesterday and today, however, I started to feel a little self-conscious. Maybe guilty is a better word? I think my sweetheart summed my feelings up perfectly when he said, "I hope other people enjoyed our General Conference"

Did anyone else feel that way.....or are our suspicions correct? Were all the talks written just for Greg and I?

Seriously, I swear they were. :)

I am so grateful for these inspired men and women and their dedication to our Father in Heaven and Savior. My life is so blessed because of these choice people.

I feel uplifted.

Happiness just might have a price tag . . .

Today I'm smiling.

And its even real.

and bright.

Actually... I'm way past smiling. I'm giddy.

I just found out that there is finally a generic for the crazy expensive medication that I have to take. Do you know what that means?! I'm saving $220 a month.

I can barely contain my joy.

In fact, I kind of look like this:
except I don't have 'istockphoto' written on me.

Oh happy day!!

Don't be such a cry baby . . .

It's a very rare occasion to see tears streaming down my husband's face. In fact, in the nine and a half years we've been blissfully married I've only known him to cry a handful of times. So when I observed my husband's eyes starting to glisten the other night, I knew it had to be blog worthy.

He was watching this:

That's right. He only cries when he finds something so unbelievably funny that he can't help himself. You can only witness this event under the right circumstances though, i.e. when he is sleep deprived and its really late at night, or when he's had a little bit too much root beer to drink. Okay, I might be lying about the latter example...

Other clips that made his beautiful brown eyes overflow?

Pure Luck: Who could forget this gem? From about a minute into the show and all the way through it, Greg is happily watching. However when Martin Short gets stung by a bee....

Galaxy Quest: The part where the Alien monster gets transported inside out. Gets him every time.

Top 100 Most Outrageous Moments of all-time: These beauties are so funny and since we have the episode recorded, we've watched it a lot. The best times are when Greg lets the tears flow in anticipation of his favorite clips.


Am I sad that I've never seen my dear husband shed a tear out of emotion? Nah, I love this feature of my eternal companion and besides, tears with laughter are so much more fun to watch.

When life gives you lemons . . .

It all started when Greg came home with a ton of these lip puckering sensations. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I was so excited because, you see, these are no ordinary lemons. Oh no...... they're special. They're a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange and they're amazing to cook with.

The problem lied with the amount of the lemons that Greg brought home. Over 2 dozen. I like lemons as much as the next girl but there was no way that we were going to be able to use 2 dozen before they spoiled.

And then I had an idea.

We were going to challenge our neighbors to a cooking competition.

Yes, that's right. A cooking competition like nothing that you've ever seen. It was going to be fun, a little courageous and well, downright silly. We called it the "I can't believe it's not Iron Chef" competition.

It turned out awesome.

Some highlights:

• secret ingredients: Meyer lemons, Ricotta cheese, Zucchini and LUCKY CHARMS.
  
• The opposing team used all of the secret ingredients in their dessert. I'm not kidding. And it got a thumbs up from the judges.
  
• The kids were amazing judges, they would not be bribed.
• My kids were introduced to new foods.
  
• Costumes. What would a cooking competition be without stellar dress-ups?
• um, the fantastic food... but that was probably a given.
• Staying up way past our bedtimes. On a school night.
• Memories to last a lifetime.
  

The only drawback for the day was the migraine that hit the morning of the competition. 3 hours of physical therapy got me through the worst of it though and all we had to do was change our menu, start the competition a little later and omit the prizes. Next time baby, it'll go as smooth as honey.

The ironic thing? Greg bought the lemons for a purpose... they were for a fabulously authentic Italian dessert that he had been dreaming about making for months. You guessed it. He didn't even get to make the dessert. Maybe he should buy more lemons next time? ;)

Families Can Be Together Forever . . .

We took our family to the Draper Temple open house March 9, 2009. It was one of the most loverly experiences of my entire life. I'm pretty sure my favorite part of this whole experience was preparing my family for what they were going to see and re-briefing what the temple is all about and sharing my testimony with them about Eternal Families. These conversations also led me into reminding my kids to be reverent inside the temple, I guess I drilled this reverence reminder inside their sweet little heads so much, in fact, that when we were walking through the temple's halls and going up and down the stairs, Natalie kept shushing everyone around her and walking on tip toe. Oh I love that three year old of mine!

And then there was the weather issue. Brrrr. and I repeat. BRRRR!!! It was such a wet, cold, snowy day. We were so glad to get onto that nice heated 'red' bus to take us to the temple and then bring us back again.

The inside of the Draper temple was breathtaking. Seriously. I loved all of the murals and my girls loved the Celestial room. They were all pretty convinced that they needed a chandelier like the one in the Celestial room to hang in their bedroom... could you imagine? I'm pretty sure it would take up their whole room.

Lastly, we enjoyed refreshment. You gotta love that, right? Well, we sure did. Probably a little too much.

I am so grateful for the amazing opportunity of seeing inside this temple with my family before it was dedicated. I pray that all my children will make the choice to come back to the temple when they are older so they can enjoy the tranquility and beauty and strength that can be found within its walls. I am ever so grateful for the covenants that I've made and the blessings that I've received because of our Father's Holy House. I love the temple.

Carpool . . .

I carpool with the best of ladies. Seriously. I am so lucky to be part of their child taxiing group... 'cept I think that they may be ready to trade me in soon. Especially after the stunt I pulled the other day.

Imagine, if you will, this little scenario...

My turn was coming up to drive the kids in the morning, which means not only having the kids up and at 'em, ready, fed and out the door at 7:40 am but myself as well. No promblemo, right? Ya, if it wasn't for my horrid headaches and lack of sleep. Since my friend knows of my situation, and being the ultra sweetypants that she is, days before it's my turn to drive in the mornings she pleads and begs for the privilege to do it instead. She asks at least a dozen times and every time I tell her, "no, I can totally handle it."

Fast forward to the first day that I'm supposed to drive for the week...

8 minutes before school starts, there's a knock at the door. and then another.

I'm dead asleep-- as is everyone else in the Debra Lea household, the knocking continues and I semi- wake up, look at the clock and tell Kaydee to tell the neighbors to "go ahead without us."

Then the realization runs through my body. I'M supposed to drive. I jump out of bed but am so dizzy from the meds and waking up from such a deep sleep that my body is teetering all over the place. I try to grasp on anything to keep my body upright all the while trying to explain to a just waking up Greg that he needs to drive the carpool today. I look out the window to see the confused fifth grade neighbor tell her mother that we told her to go ahead. I grimace from embarrassment and scramble around frantically to try to find my cell phone. By then my other friend (the one that offered over and over...) has already pulled around the corner to do my duty.

-sigh-

Then I can't remember my friend's cell phone number (the one that is now driving the kids to school) to explain and apologize. So I call my next door neighbor friend and tearfully apologize and explain the whole situation to her. I explain that I'm nuts. That plus not falling asleep until past 4 a.m. for a week, a dandy of a headache + a prescription that I rarely choose to take, but I took the night before= a really crazy Debra Lea-- that's barely standing.

I'm really crying now.

I tell her how our other friend asked me over and over if she could drive but that I thought I could handle it. and This is how I handle it. Then I burst into laughter. Uncontrollable laughter. which is apparently contagious because my friend was laughing just as hard as I. -whew- because I tell you what, if she weren't, this whole situation could have been REALLY embarrassing.

and then she brought me dinner that night.
I couldn't ask for better carpooling friends. or friends period.