family pic

family pic

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

peyton marie o'brien


I delivered a niece yesterday @ 4:44pm iowa time and she weighed in at 6lbs. 9oz and 20 in long. wowsers i am good!



CONGRATS AARON, HEATHER, AND HALLIE!

Monday, July 28, 2008

hmmm what to call this post???

this post is just a mumbo jumbo of random unrelated things going on and reviews of the usual books and flicks.

to start off with ... the boys annual snake river trip

so one of the things i really admire about nate is how tight he is with his friends, loyalty, camaraderie and support. these boys have been friends for years longer than i can count now that they all have reached an older age .... they have been friends since their kiddo days! every year just the boys (no wife's no kids) go on a trip and for the past few years its been to run the snake river. this is nate, devan, boogie, and garrett on the beach.


a little camera man swapping ....

usually there are 8-10 of these strapping 30 something lads ... this year only 6 made it. barrett, kevon, devan, boogie, nate, and garrett. Nate said this year was the funnest by far and wished that his other buddies had made it. the river and the rapids are very high and they ended up making a dangerous 3 o'clock in the morning full moonlight river run. you know what they say, if you have a boy you have half a brain and 2 boys is no brain at all .... so 6 of them and trouble is the only thing i can think of. i am so glad they all came home in one piece.




so how priceless are the looks on my kids faces? nate and i are trying to cram in some good quality time with the kids and a few things that we wanted to do this summer ... like fishing. the kids had a ball and thank goodness they have a dad to teach them the stuff of the earth!

its times like these in our life that i realize how busy we get and how quick we loose sight of whats important and how we should be living all of the time .... why does it take a deadline of life in the balance for us to actually do what we say we will with our kids? we need to be better about this!

k so here is a blog that is a must read .... its the best piece of satire ever blogged click here

book i read this last week ...

its a good one peeps! k so its a mystery novel ... brilliantly written! there is nothing more interesting and complex then a secret or secrets for that matter. the inside jacket reads "The thirteenth tale is a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling."

A CALL OUT ... so i tend to read a lot in the hospital. not much can be done other than staring out your sick child. so i am not one to comb over the library in search of something that may or may not be good and may or may not be a waste of my time. so people send me via email or comment on this blog a list of your favorite reads ... it would be best if they were more a good escape type literature so that i can leave the hospital room if only in my mind. and dont make me make this call out twice! you say you want to HELP ... i am telling you how!

next movies i have recently seen ....

yep we jumped on this bandwagon! its not like nate and i to take the whole fam to a full price movie, its too $$$. we hit the dollar movies often (or at least the kids and i do, sometimes nate joins us.) when we do its usually a special occasion and it happens rarely. we actually attempted to hit the dollar prince caspien on the weekend but of course it was sold out just our luck. i was really in the mood for a movie and at least 4 different families with kids at comparable ages told us to go and to take the kids. so what did i think? well lets address the kid aspect first. these friends were wrong i totally felt this was way to much for the kids! i kept trying to cover eyes and i felt anxious and concerned and had it just been me i probably would have taken them out but nate just looked at me like i was being a silly overprotective, over reactive mom. did the kids like it? yeah they loved it! i dont know if thats a good thing however. saylor now wants to marry batman even more then before! so what did i think of the movie ... a little too dark and twisted for my rave review but the special effects where fantastic and heath ledger did a great job playing someone i now loath. i loved morgan freeman and christian bale does do a fantastic job and just is so smooth! it was good overall and the ending brought it back the traditional super hero underlying good principal. i give it like almost 4 stars for me not so much for the kiddos even though they would disagree.

next ...

its so hard to wrap my own weak mind around that there are people out there in this world that smart! good movie ... very interesting and entertaining a bit slow here and there but overall a good flick about a past time game with future attributes!

thats it for tonight ... until next time.

Friday, July 25, 2008

I suggest you stand on your head


many of you know that i have been practicing yoga a lot recently ... yoga is very beneficial to the body and mind in numerous ways, i always learn something new about my body or mind every time i practice. in a recent class i learned that standing on your head improves your immune system. what you ask? k so your lymph has a million cagillion things to do with your immunity right? well what works the lymph through the body? anyone know? i said thyroid ... but what pumps it all through? muscles. something that can awaken your lymph, send it soarin through the bod, and increase the muscles that work the lymph is as simple as a daily headstand. and you dont have to do it like this to benefit! there is nothing wrong with using the wall! i do.

Friday, July 18, 2008

we know ... finally

We finally know whats going on with saylor and her bladder reconstruction and so we finally know whats going on with our lives.

so this may be a long boring post full of my usual grammatical errors so read it if you like and if you dont then i guess you will either here it from us sooner or later or hear it through the grapevine.

i feel so extremely relieved in so many ways to just KNOW so i can deal with it. in others i feel very scared and emotional. this has been a very spiritual experience and process as it always is with her. For a few weeks now i have been overwhelmed with the responsibility of making this life decision, i have worked on handing it over to God and giving her back to Him, submitting to His will and hoping that doesnt mean she will really be returning to His presence anytime soon. So many of our family aspects of life feed into this situation and its so complicated and so risky. I have prayed my little heart out that it will all fall into place just as it should be, and that i will be able to accept whatever that "just as it should be" is. i have given requests to my kind loving Heavenly Father and some of them He has not granted, for good reason i am sure, and some He has. Today at the hospital i felt very inline with His will for her. though i am filled with emotion i know we have made the right decision, together as a 4some (saylor, nate, me, and God) ok and maybe some docs too!

so Saylor will be admitted to primary childrens medical center on aug 13th for some preop procedures and the surgery that they call "the big boy" will take place on the 14th. she will stay at least a week and come home with medical equipment hanging out of her body and parents who are supposed to be capable of being a home health care nurse etc... which we totally are by now cause we have honorary medical degrees we arent just nurses we are like almost docs! and i am pretty sure i own a wing or at least a few rooms at the hospital too! so that makes me a benefactor right? JK i am buying her life everyday and its SOOOO worth it!

we will use this blog to keep you updated. i will take the camera and the laptop to the hospital and i am sure post everyday. there is only so much to do in that same room all day everyday for a week or so. we would love any visitors that would like to come bearing anything they want to bring! just not on the 13th or 14th. the recovery is long and hard so she will enjoy visitors and things to do and people to talk to for months to come i am sure.

thank you again and endlessly for all the faith, prayers, love, and support!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

josh & gossip at camp

lets start with josh ... let me introduce you

is he not such a doll? so josh is one of saylor's friends. he has SB too. they are about 1.5 years apart, he is younger. he just moved here and we have enjoyed every morsel of opportunity to spend time with this darling boy. he is so affectionate and loving and i cant hug him enough. its good for them both to have each other ... they both love to swim and josh has a pool so what better place for them to play? this was last monday.




GOSSIP AT GIRLS CAMP - sorry no pics of this ...

so some of you know that earlier this week spent a little time at girls camp. no i am not serving in the YW i am still in the good old RS. however i was representin and was asked to speak to the YW on any inspired topic of my choice. Nate also went with me, they needed his trailor, truck, muscles, and priesthood. this was not quiet the getaway that i anticipated when i found out the night before we left that we could not sleep in the same location ... anyhow ... so the topic of my picking ... GOSSIP. i know i am asking for it, seriously such a hard topic to talk to teenage girls about. but when given inspiration you must follow, that is you want to be obedient. of course it did not go as well as i had planned, i suppose my expectations of the girls to share in discussion about this sensitive subject where to high. if only one girl came away with a different perspective or spirit then of course it was all worth it, i doubt i will ever know but i will just pretend that surely at least one did.

some interesting resources i came across while preparing my talk ...
1. the new york times - article about an all girl jewish high school trying to rid themselves of the terrible habit of GOSSIP that was destroying most of the self worth inside souls. they challenge themselves at the conclusion of morning announcements to not speak ill or gossip about anyone for at least 60 minutes. the participation and change in the girls was astounding. i to challenged the YW in my ward to participate in this challenge while at camp and gave them a reminder "shmirat halashon" means guarded speech.
2. the strongest weapon known to man is the toungue
3. comparison of the butterfly effect (sensitive dependence on initial conditions) to gossip - perhaps the reverbatation in heaven of words
4. Jules Feifer - except i feminized it.
“Ever since I was a kid, I did not want to be me. I wanted to be sarah, and sara didn’t like me. so I tried walking & talking like sara, I tired participating and excelling in all the things that sara did. Then sara began to hang around megan. Then I got all sort of messed up. I began to walk & talk like sara walking and talking like megan. Then I realized that megan walked and talked like Kristin and Kristin walked and talked like Natalie. So here I am walking and talking like sara’s imitation of megans version of Kristin walking and talking like Natalie. and who is Natalie trying to imitate of all people? Carrie – the annoying girl who trys to walk and talk like me!

tomorrow morning early is saylor's VCMG then clinic then a renal ultrasound and hopefully a surgical decision and schedule.

Friday, July 11, 2008

another media review ....

ok ok i know your all thinking what is happening to audrey? does she have a life? what is going on. i am not sure either .... just on a wave i suppose that hasnt tunneled out. perhaps its some sort of coping method or some sort of nesting, get all that i want to get in .. in right now, before my life and emotions get rocked upside down!

anyhow its what i have to write about right now so just enjoy my reviews and quit worrying!


read this in one day ... today! it was just what i needed and oh sooooo soooo sooo good! i loved this one! a good friend of mine recommended this author and i picked up what i could that was available at the library. this happens to not be one of her favorites but i just couldnt put it down i loved it! great writing style that just keeps you enchanted and wondering. raw could be real life! i cant help but see a little of my messed up self in all these disfunctional families. it reminds me that I AM and WE are PERFECTLY IMPERFECT and i am so happy to be that way. so need a good read? Lynn Austin check her out!


Yesterday while driving around on my many many company errands and a visit to a friends i listened to this book on tape. thank you library. so i really like self help kind of books on areas i really need to improve in my life. but truth is i wont read them ... they dont hold my attention. i would so much rather be reading or doing something else. its frustrating cause i want to improve. then i discovered that these are the kind of things i need to listen to ... and i really get it that way anyhow! so i have been trying to brush up on my (our) financial skills and change some of the ways we handle money and learn a little more about investing etc... so dave ramsey who my friend led me to (same one that led me to jane austin ... isnt she a GEM? seriously! ang has been my bestest friend (next to nate) for many many years and i love her dearly ... she always knows what i need when i need even if she doesnt know that she knows!) k so back to dave ramsey so i decided to pick up what i could on tape or CD and give a listen. finished this whole one yesterday, laughed a lot, learned a lot and definatly benefited ... everyone could benefit from a listen to this! even though i do know i have a few friends in financial denial that i am sure would only be angered by this .... how can i thump you on the head gently enough to wake you up?

one of his best pieces of advice .... "never do anything with your money or invest money in something you dont understand!"


watched this with my darling storie kate on wed afternoon. i was pleasantly surprised that my 8 year old little girl sat through this somewhat boring film that could be hard to understand (it was for me!) with all its sophisticated classic novel kind of speaking. that being said, i enjoyed it. it gave me new perspective into the writings of jane austin and also that heart melting moment was still there. i am always ready for a good love story.


i did finally finish this one up but it was a bit hard to get through. i dont know if i just wouldnt have liked it any old time or if for now it was just to hard for me. also had a bit of unnecessary language, not too much but a bit! ok well any at all is too much i guess! so its about a girl sick with acute kidney failure and her family and how they all deal with it. its a novel, but still. hard to read right now. in the end i wasnt to thrilled with the book overall. its not a good read dont waste your time.


k so other than that what have we been up to ... well just summer time, house work, studio stems work, yard work, mom work, money work, etc... kids have been busy getting dirty, riding bikes, swimming, riding horses, catching movies with the grents etc... nate has had some down time this week and i have loved having him around. but i think he may be sick of my nose stuck in a book and he is bored. he has run out of projects and jobs to do around here ... at least that dont require money because i wont let him spend that right now! ha ha

i recently got hired on to be a design consultant for a seattle based interior design firm. its by project by hour ... good gig. came at just the right time as i cant handle doing weddings while saylor is sick. so i hope it will bring in a little extra cash flow in my down time.

thats the jist the coming week is a bit crazy with ward parties, nate and i going to girls camp and me speaking so needing to get that done ... jeeeez! and then saylors tests and meetings with docs at the end of next week. i am anxious to get to that day. isnt weird how you picture what you might feel like or look like on that day, what the ride home might be like? that day you know where the life of one of your children will be discussed. its very sureal but i am anxious to get done with it.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

wait it doesnt grow on trees?


NOPE IT DOESNT!

i read some really great advise in a mag article about saving money ... it was so profound to me and such really good advise that i thought i would share ...

IF YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF "CAN I AFFORD THIS?" YOU PROBABLY CANT!

Monday, July 7, 2008

movie review

so last week you got my little book review and since life is a bit to brazen right now for me to speak of i think i will stay amongst the shallow topics. this last weekend we rented a few flics.

first ...

VANTAGE POINT - for all you 24 lovers out there this one will catch you at first. Nate & I love the 24 series. we really liked this movie it was a good one ... that is until the last 10 minutes. it ended predictably but worse than that was how abrupt it finished. it felt so weird like the movie was unfinished. like they ran out of time. it left me so disappointed.

second ...

ELIZABETH - this one will go down on my list of all time favorites. what a well done film , great acting, great scenery, great makeup & hair, exquisite costuming, great history ... over all a GREAT movie! i loved it. i felt for the queen, i longed for her to have love. i respected her wisdom, her courage, her strength. her realness in spite of being who she was. her portrayal of feelings. that time period just simply fascinates me how political life was and the way in which all things were accomplished.

Saturday, July 5, 2008