Do I Dare Open It?

Our new tv came today. I have to admit that I'm having some anxiety about opening it. I just keep telling myself that there's no way the same thing could happen twice.

The tv is up now, and no signs of any uninvited guests. :)

New TV + Roaches = Stress

On our cross-country move, our tv somehow lost it's color. It would only play in green and purple. So, we decided to buy another one. We went with a flat screen that we purchased at Walmart. No stress in that, right? WRONG!! Everything seemed normal. We sat the boxed tv in front of our fireplace for the night. In the morning, I saw a little bug near our stairs. I thought it was odd because I hadn't seen any bugs in the house since we moved in. Anyway, I opened the tv box, put the base of the tv on, and put it up on the edge of the kitchen counter that is between the family room and the kitchen. (We were getting a tv stand the next day.) That same day, I could've sworn I saw a tiny cockroach run across my kitchen counter. I killed it and went and bought bug spray that very afternoon. I was just hoping it was just a random sighting and that it wasn't from the house. So, nothing else unusual happens that day.
About 1am I hear Linda upstairs coughing. I decide to get up and get some cough medicine for her from the kitchen. I flip on the light to find about 20 little cockroaches scurrying around the kitchen counter that the tv is on. PANIC! My mom is here visiting and I yell for her(Robert is not coherent at 1am). We were quite the scene. Neither of us have our contacts in and we're trying to smash these little roaches as fast as we can with whatever we can find...all the while getting the bug spray and going to town on the kitchen counter & surrounding walls.
Now, you have to know that my worst nightmare is a house full of cockroaches. Once you have them, they are extremely hard to get rid of. So, I am completely stressed out about how I'm ever going to live in peace constantly worrying about roaches.

Long story short, after a lot of thought and investigation, we figure out that the tv we just bought is full of roaches!!! We set it in the garage to see if we were right. No more roach sightings on the counter, and there were little roaches around the tv in the garage. Disgusting. I surrounded the tv in the garage with bug spray and roach traps just in case. Robert took the tv back which was an ordeal in itself. I can now live in peace in my home. However, I am having it professionally sprayed next week to ensure that any of those nasty things that may have escaped in to the house are dead.

What an ordeal. I would've never thought in 100years that that could happen!

Aunt Laura's Wedding

Grandpa and Linda dancing.
Linda, Jane, and their cousin, Hailey, dancing at the reception.

The kids are dressed and ready for the reception. Obviously, Laura's colors were red and black. Cute kids!

Laura(Robert's sister) & Zane with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson

Claire and Bruce enjoying their wedding favors. The kids did a lot of work helping me make the wedding favors and had to stare at boxes of Hershey's chocolate for weeks without being able to touch. Finally, they could endulge.

Bruce's Instrument of choice

Bruce has been asking me for a long time if he could play guitar. I hadn't really thought of putting my kids in guitar and didn't know where to look for teachers for it. Bruce's school is very big on music and I got a letter in his backpack saying that they offered guitar lessons at school! So, here is Bruce with his guitar. He goes once a week after school. He has already learned a few cords and is enjoying it.

31years old

I turned 31 years old yesterday, the 25th. I am so grateful that the Lord has allowed me to live these past 31 years and for the countless blessings he has allowed me to have. Grandma and Grandpa Thompson watched the kids while Robert and I went out. The kids each gave me a gift, which they were very excited about.
I was born in Price, Utah by c-section. I came a month early, weighing in at 6lbs. 11oz.

Skunked

Robert rides his bike 2miles from our house to the Coaster each morning...VERY early in the morning. Our house is only a block up from a small river and the trail is along the riverbed. Each morning I wake up to an email detailing his adventures on his bike ride. I've never met anyone that has been sprayed by a skunk. Robert just may be the first. :)
Here are a couple of his adventures...

1/22 - It wasn't rainy when I left the house but it started to come down on the bike trail. I got pretty wet by the time I got to the train.
A skunk decided to sleep on the trail this morning. I was inches away from hitting it. It woke up and scurried down the hill.
My light was dim this morning. I'll have to come up with something else. As it warms up, I might run in to snakes on the bike path. (lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my)...

1/25 - Another skunk this morning. This time it was worse because the skunk started running away from me in the direction I was headed along the bike trail. I didn't know if I should pass the skunk or stop completely. I just held my breath and went by it.
I saw up ahead of me what appeared to be a raccoon. I had plenty of time so I rang my bell a lot and it made it gallop off the road...