Levi & Amber, take note....

The story behind this is that the couple have always loved dancing and either met at a dance or during a dance class, something like that. They came up with this idea and got the entire wedding party involved, on the sly though so it would be a huge surprise for the wedding guests. But here is the kicker... they only practiced for an hour and a half, right before the actual wedding started!! They just decided to do this less than two hours before the wedding. That takes balls, man.

Ryder's first time on the boat!

The other morning Hubs and I found ourselves in a rare situation -- with the three oldest kids having spend the night at gramma's, it was just us and little Ryder. So we decided what better time to get Ryder out on the boat for the first time, get him used to it so he can start going out with the guys. He has a slight terror of the water, clings frantically when we go swimming, so it would be interesting to see his reaction to this.

He was very excited to watch the process of unloading the boat into the water. Wasn't too sure about Daddy putting him in there though...

When we started moving across the water, Ryd was not too thrilled. So I sat him on my lap and pointed out all the other boats; when the water sprayed us, I laughed and "Woo-hoo!"-ed and slowly Ryder started to relax and enjoy himself. We reached our fishing spot destination, turned the motor off and dropped anchor, and Ryder hopped off my lap so fast and parked himself right by his Daddy. He wanted to help daddy go fishing.

Isn't he adorable? Look at that serious little face. And his little hat!

We pulled the boat into this little cove area (to act like a windbreak) so we could have our lunch. When Ryder saw the food coming out of the cooler bag, suddenly he had no fear of the boat whatsoever. He got right up and moved to the center seat, and just stood there happily munching away. Daddy put out for him small pieces of rice cake pizza and smoked fish, and he gave Mama the giggles with his method of watermelon eating: open mouth, put food in, then slowly shove the whole thing in while chewing and swallowing at the same time. It looked like a cartoon, like Bugs Bunny eating a carrot, lol. Oh, and the ropey drizzles of watermelon juice/spit that would just pour from his mouth, nice.

Daddy bringing out the pizza.

On the way back, Ryder wanted to sit right by Dad, and he even helped steer the boat; it was cute. He was feeling pretty confident and happy about this boat thing, and just casually sucked back a bottle while steering the boat. Ty actually gave him real control one time and we were stopping and jerking, slowing down, speeding up... Ryd was giggling and having a ball.

We had a great time! Can't wait to take him out again.

UPDATE Mission: Butt Out Pt. 2, Day 6

Its now Day 6 and I feel like I'm slowly starting to lose my mind. I can't say that I'm having any physical withdrawal symptoms, other than the occasional headache, but its my mental state I'm worried about, lol.

You don't realize how much of a crutch smoking becomes for you until its no longer there. Before, it was like if I was stressed out, anxious, nervous, bored, hungry, or whatever, I could have a smoke (or two) and it chilled me out and gave me something to do. Now I don't have that and I think I might be going slightly insane. My mind goes in circles, over and over, always thinking thoughts and there's no nicotine-break to stop the cycle. My hands want to do something, they want to repeat that hand-to-mouth motion, so my mind says "Eeeaaatttt sssoommethingggg..." so my hands can do the motion. But I flat out REFUSE to replace smoking with eating, oh no, I am so not going down that road. Instead, I give my hands the motion of bringing a glass of water to my mouth, less satisfying but less fattening, lol.

When it gets to the point where I just can't stand it, then I have to put my body in action. I have to physically do something that will give me a feeling of satisfaction. (And seeing how I chose to do this during Aunt Flo's visit, my favorite activity is off limits, boo!) So as a result, I have now accomplished the following in my house: installed two hanging candle holders in the livingroom, put up the picture shelf in the hallway, sorted and put away a box of filing stuff in my room, cleaned all the upstairs bedrooms, cleaned the microwave, and did ALL the laundry (even blankets and pillows). The next projects I have lined up for the coming days are: scrubbing the ever-lovin' shit out of the dining table and chairs, sorting the other box of filing in my room, vacuuming the cobwebs in the high corners of the walls, cleaning and organizing all the kitchen cupboards and cabinets. There are many more such projects but I have to ration them to get me through the coming month.

And I'm proud to say that I haven't touched a drop of DP in these past 6 days, as well. Or any other type of pop. Its been just water and the occasional glass of juice or milk. It totally sucks but I am doing it. And I've lost six pounds so its worth it. Woohoo!

My 200th Post! And I can't even have a smoke to celebrate

200 posts on the ole blog... *clearing my throat*... "I'd like to thank the Academy... my fans and followers, who read my posts religiously and give me support and encouragement, and the occasional comment... and, of course, my husband and children, who give me inspiration on a daily basis for my posts. Thank you, thank you everyone!"

It is now Day Four of Mission: Butt Out Pt. 2 (because Pt.1 went so well, haha) and I must admit I'm doing okay. The worst times for me are in the early morning and late at night. I used to wake up in the morning, the kids all still in bed, and I'd sit down at the computer with my cup of coffee and chain smoke my way through the entire pot. During the rest of the day, I might have the odd smoke here and there, but I usually get busy doing other stuff that I don't even think about it. But late at night, when the kids are in bed and its just Hubs and me, watching tv, out come the ciggies and the Diet Pepsi.

I don't even know why I suddenly decided to quit, but one night I smoked the last butt in the pack and I thought to myself, "I'm not going to buy more in the morning." I woke up and purposely did not make a pot of coffee, I just drank a couple glasses of water. And come that night, I sat and drank water while watching tv. It just about killed me that first night, giving up not just the smokes but the Diet Pepsi, because I am hugely addicted to that stuff. But I can't have one without the other, so that's the way it has to be. (Plus, I have an idea if I stick with the water instead of the DP, I'll drop an easy 10 pounds!)

So its now been four days... four days of withdrawal, bitchiness, headaches, grumpiness, fierce cravings for caffeine and nicotine (still no coffee or DP!), and did I mention the bitchiness? Haha. It doesn't help that I chose to do this while it was that time of the month for me. Poor Hubs and the kids. Those first two days I was like a walking ticking time bomb. Ty took the kids to the park many many times, lol.

And so now that I have all this 'spare' time on my hands-- itchy, tense, nervous, spastic hands that need something to do other than hold a smoke-- I find that I'm doing, ugh, I hate to even say it... housework.

This morning, knowing that I was going to do a blog post (something I've avoided because it used to go hand-in-hand with smoking), I needed a diversion and so I completely cleaned and organized my computer desk. I'm talking even pulled out the hard drive and dusted all the cords and vents.

So I'm hopeful and optimistic that this time will be the one. I'm stubbornly adamant that I will not go to the store and buy a pack, and even though I know Hubs would go for me in a heartbeat if I asked (he likes to keep me happy, lol), I won't be asking. The only situation I'm dreading is being in a social setting with smokers. I think I will handle it okay, but who knows, right?

But you know what's funny? I'm missing my DP more than the smokes!

Ohforpitysakes...

The Shaw guy came over yesterday to set up our new digital phone, cable and internet lines (obvs, we've switched from Telus). I'd known he would be coming over and so had the boys do a clean-up of the downstairs while I did upstairs.

So the guy arrives, I see him get out of his van and the first thing I notice is wow, hubba hubba, he's got a set of shoulders and arms on him! So I do the natural woman-thing, run to the mirror to make sure the hair and face are okay. He comes in, we introduce ourselves and he gets right to work. Most of what he had to do was downstairs, fixing up the lines and whatnot, and so it was just natural that the kids and I hung out down there to watch him. I'm sure those guys hate that, being stared at and having people ask them hundreds of questions, but it was kind of cool what he was doing and the kids were in awe. Ardan said to him, "Wow, it must be hard to be a cable guy!" and Gunnar, because I had just told him about the movie Cable Guy and Jim Carrey's role in it, goes "Cay-bulll guyyyyyy" (like from the movie). The Shaw guy and I looked at him and burst out laughing, so Gunn thought he was the king-shit after that, haha. The guy kept up a steady chatter with me and the kids, commenting on my little 'musicians' (the drum set, keyboard and guitar) and he was in shock to hear I had a fourth kid (who was upstairs sleeping), haha.

So whatever, an hour had gone by, he's still working at it and then Tyler comes home early from work. It was funny but I was like 'Doh!' because now I'd have to really hide the fact that I was ogling this guy's upper body. Then I felt guilty for thinking like that (not guilty about the ogling though, hey, I can look!) and so I fussed and fawned over Hubs for a bit and then made the introductions. Ty and the cable guy got along like long-lost buddies, talking about fishing and camping and whatever. I was feeling very superfluous but no way was I going back upstairs.

Anyway, two hours had now gone by and the guy finished up with his work. He came upstairs to check that the internet was working and the three of us adults watched a bit of the Michael Jackson Memorial show on tv (the guys traded a few MJ jokes while I shook my head). We said our goodbyes and thank-yous, and then he was gone.

And then I happened to walk past the mirror in the hallway and noticed that the middle button on my shirt was undone, had in fact been undone almost the entire time! So my gaping shirt had been open in what probably looked like a blatant come-on or something, my bra totally showing and obvious, and there I had been, hanging out down there the entire time ogling his chest!!! And I can't believe that neither the kids or Hubs noticed, and told me!

**GROAN!!**

ACK! Omg! *cough*gag*

We took the kids out for a bike ride last night, right before the big storm hit. We went all the way down the road to the far-away playground, let the kids run wild at the park while we sat and watched, then made the long trek back home up the hill. As I was coasting down the hill towards home (letting my limp-noodle legs take a rest after lugging the carrier up that damn hill), I had my mouth open, taking deep breaths from the exertion.

All of a sudden, a friggin' bug flew right in my mouth and landed on the back of my throat! I immediately brought the bike to a screeching halt and made a flying jump into the ditch before I'd even fully stopped. At that point, I wasn't even thinking about poor Ryder in the carrier behind me; all I could think of was the bug stuck in the back of my throat, wiggling around and trying to flap its wings.

So there I was, in the ditch, bent over, dry heaving and choking and gagging. Hubs and the kids had stopped to see what the commotion was about (Lena's bike had come to a sudden stop when she rammed right into the back of the carrier, oops! Sorry, Lena!). They were all laughing hilariously at me as I gagged and coughed and puked the bug out.

And to add insult to injury, we weren't even close to home. So I had to haul my gasping body back onto the bike and lug the carrier back all that way. I was dying to take a full lungful of breath, but what with my sinus situation I couldn't breathe fully through my nose, and since I'd just learned the hard way I couldn't breathe through my open mouth, I had to heave and strain for a breath with my lips pursed open the tiniest bit.

I'm sure I looked like an idiot, definitely felt like one.