Update

Freezer: 27 degrees and rising.

Apparently a dusty compressor wasn't the problem.

Do yourself a favor...

And never buy a GE appliance. Our compressor went out two years ago, which was repaired for free (all five times. Sounds great, but we were out a freezer for 5 weeks). Today someone came to fix the freezer. All he had to do was vacuum the compressor (by removing a panel off the back of the fridge). That's it. $101.41 to vacuum the compressor. I told him that the previous repairmen never told me I needed to do that (which they could have mentioned one of those 5 times). He told me it was in my use and care manual. Well, I checked the manual and NOWHERE does it talk about cleaning the compressor. Apparently I was supposed to just know to remove the panel to make sure it's not dusty inside. I've never heard of nor seen anyone ever pull the fridge out, remove a panel, and vacuum the compressor. I called customer relations (for the millionth time), and was told that the fees I paid today could not be waved and were not refundable. All this for a dumb freezer that's 3 1/2 years old. Happy anniversary to us.

On a brighter note, Mike arranged for his mom to watch the boys tonight so we can go out. Yay!

Major Picture Backlog

These are in no particular order, as they are from the last several weeks and I took them off two different memory cards. More recent stuff is at the top.

We had a great Relief Society focus group at Western Gardens. Lance gave us some fabulous information about designing and planting pots.

Will has completely destroyed these cheap plastic blinds. They look worse every day. They'll be replaced with something a little more sturdy.

Me and my mommy on Mother's Day! At least something went right that day!

Will is such a fun baby!

Newlyweds no more! Renee and Eric celebrated their 1 year anniversary! And they moved out today. They were here for about 9 months, I think they were ready to be on their own again. Their new apartments sound pretty nice. We're thinking about a pool party there for Will's birthday.

Two of my dear friends from high school came over for lunch and girl talk, and to show off our cute babies to each other! Sam was in the other room, not to be disturbed.

See ya aspens! Actually, we'll be seeing them all summer...those little suckers they send out are nearly impossible to get rid of! That's why they had to go. We have hundreds of them all over the back yard.

It's a miracle!

Eating Spiderman mac & cheese in a Spiderman bowl with a Spiderman spoon.

Hmmm, what's this?

I like it!
If my sticky hand touches the drawer, then it will taste good too!

Getting into more suckers!

Sam gave me this present...a spiderman puzzle piece, book about Jesus that he made in church, and two cars. He was so proud of himself for giving me such a great present.

Happy May Day

My older brother graduated from the U! That's me with my 2 brothers, 2 sisters, and our great mom.
Will loves all kinds of balls!

Mother's Day

I really love the idea of Mother's Day. Honoring the women who make the world a better place every day by small and often unseen actions...devoting one day to them is really the least we can do. However, I'm campaigning to cancel Mother's Day next year, at least at my house.

• The freezer broke...again (it's as old as Sam)
• Which made us late for a baby blessing (just missed it)
• I somehow messed up my wrist and couldn't use my right hand
• Will missed his morning nap...fun
• Sam went to bed late the night before...fun
• I picked up some yucky bug and was sick Monday

I've got a repairman coming tomorrow (somewhere between 8-5), and it's only $65...for the trip charge. Then he still has to fix it. I'm calling tomorrow to see if they'll wave the trip charge since they sold us a total lemon. It broke 2 years ago (the compressor blew), and after 5 appointments with 5 repairmen in 5 weeks, it finally started working again. SO FRUSTRATING! [It wouldn't have been as bad if Mike's back hadn't gone out at work that day...two days before I was having some minor surgery. Injuries need ice, which is hard to get when you don't have a freezer!] Now all my frozen food is in two different freezers (thanks Grace and Jami!!). Argh. Happy Mother's Day. And go Jazz, Sunday's game was awesome.

Funniest Ever!

We watched game 3 (Jazz v Lakers), and we even let Sam stay up late. It was an awesome game, Jazz won! Now I don't feel like I wasted my time watching. Anyway, a solicitor came to the door selling magazines (we get these people at our house ALL THE TIME). We always say no, and their parting words are always insulting, or at least rude. My favorite was the girl who implied our condos were cheap by saying, "But...look where you live." Yeah, now I'm really not going to buy your dumb subscription. Anyway, the guy that came to the door happened to be black (to be pc, African American). Sam had been watching the game for about 20 minutes, so when he saw the salesman (who was wearing basketball shoes) he said, "Hey, I was watching you on tv!" I'm glad I wasn't there, because I laughed for 5 minutes when Mike told me. Such a funny kid!

Out of Gas

I may not ever get caught up on my pictures. Today I ran around like crazy doing laundry, embroidery, delivering shirts to Mike, etc. Now I'm just tired. Mike went next door with Eric and Renee to watch the Jazz game (we don't have TNT). I'm glad I'm not watching. The officials ruin the game, and I'd rather just hear about it when it's over. Anyhow, I was 30 minutes late to my YW activity because Will touched a hot pan (hot enough to hurt, but not hot enough to damage), and the only way we could calm him down was to give him a bath. He was totally happy in the tub until I washed his hair, and then he started screaming. The water wasn't very warm because we wanted to sooth his hand, but then he wouldn't stop screaming until I nursed him. Then I had to get Sam out of the tub and in his jammies, and when I was done doing that Will was ready to go to bed, so I put him down. When I got home from my activity (at 9:00), Sam was still up and the kitchen hadn't been cleaned up from dinner. I put the food away as everyone was leaving to go watch the Jazz game, and then I put Sam to bed. I'm done. Pictures will have to wait until...a less strenuous day than today.

Sidenote: Eric and Renee decided it's time to make their own way in the world, so they're moving into their own apartment in about a week. They'll have a pool, tennis, racquetball, and lots of other fun stuff, so we'll probably spend a lot of time there this summer. We're thinking a pool party for Will's birthday.

Sam says the most hilarious stuff all the time. I need to walk around with a pen and paper because I can never remember it all. The other day I actually had the presence of mind to write a couple of things down:

[We upgraded to a 4-slice toaster]
Sam: Do we have two toasters?
Mom: Yeah.
Sam: Oh, that's better than having one.

[Sometimes Sam gets the cookie cutters out and plays with them, which includes making them talk to each other]
Sam: Here Mom, you be this cookie cutter. He can talk. He says better things than you.

It rained a lot today. As we were looking out the window at the wet dreariness:
Sam: Is it raining?
Mom: Yup.
Sam: Oh, is it a terrible day?

Ugh

The computer crashed on Wednesday. It snowed on Thursday. Friday was freezing. What a depressing week.

I have lots of pictures and stuff to catch up on. Maybe I'll have a few minutes tomorrow since Mike will be home with his computer.