The "Secret" is Out.

I am completely depressed. For months I have been searching high and low for the perfect swimming suit. Im not even exaggerating when I say I have literally been to 20 plus stores for a suit that would fit, not only my bottom, but my top.

One pieces this season were all dark colors. Some were ok, but nothing I loved. I was looking for a bright color, since I noticed that the past 5 suits I have purchased are blue or green shades.

Tankinis were YUCK!! Most are too short and still show your tummy if you raise your arms. Most fit in the belly, but not in the chest. And of course, with a tattooed gut and stretch marks, who would by a bikini right?!?

Finally, I decide I will order the suit I liked the most. Even though I couldn't try it on. I read about it, saw that it would be in my cup size, and ordered it.

It finally got here in the mail. I love the color, the bottom, the halter style.
WHOMEVER IS MEASURING THE CUP SIZE AT VICTORIA'S SECRET IS SERIOUSLY CRAZY AND BLIND! The secret is, they want you to let people oogle your goodies. So they make your suit tiny, in all the wrong places. Doesnt "full coverage" mean, it will cover fully???
Not only was there very little to cover my goods, but everything was falling out the center and side because there was so little fabric to hold your girls in. I am seriously depressed. I still have no suit, and the water season has begun. Cant someone just make a suit for women with small rib cages and huge boobs? I mean seriously, there are plenty of women with this problem...hello?! (I would write this same plea to the church for garment tops, but I would be afraid of being rebuked.Its not that I dont buy the right size, the arms just fall off if you buy the right chest size because people assume if you are busty, you are fat all over!)
Ok, I am sad, I mean really sad. I have tried tons of online shops. Even those "modest" suit companies from Utah (who are they kidding?!). Its a bust...literally!

Memorial Fun

Memorial weekend, guess who came to visit? Grandpa Banzhaf flew in from Tucson to spend 4 days with us. So much fun.
Mike and Grandpa went to Gettysburg, took some tours and spent time in the new museum. They had a blast.

It doesnt take much to convince the boys to snuggle up.

Grandpa, Mike and the twins went to Ringling Bros Circus. It was the boys first time to the circus. I think they liked it. The motorcycles were a big highlight.

As is tradition, when Grandpa comes, the trains come out. Tanner loved Mikes new "baby" The Pennsylvania Coal car. Its wistle made Tanner laugh everytime it came about.

All Aboard! All the boys love the trains.

Even the big boys still love trains...

Asher warmed right up to Grandpa.

Thanks for coming Grandpa. We love seeing you!

Oh, and I cant not mention Mikes beautiful clamatis that he grew that is behind them in this picture. Its his crowning achivement this spring.

Jots and Tittles

No, this is not an announcement. Just something I wanted to mention in my blogging.

When I was in the 8th grade, we studied Shakespeare. We read many of this plays and sonnets. For some time after this I had this obsession with the name OTHELLO . I thought it would be such a great little girls name. I even found an old journal from my high school creative writing class where I mentioned my love for the names OTHELLO, and GLORY for my future daughters.

Here I am 13 years later, no daughters, standing in the park when I hear a woman calling to her little girl "Come on Othello". Did I just hear that right? About a week goes by and I see this same woman at the park again ( come to find out they live in my neighborhood). She is calling for this little girl with golden skin, dark hair, dark eyes. I ask the woman "Is her name Othello?". She replies "Yes, Othello Luna".... My jaw dropped.

Ok, I know no one will agree with me, but that is the coolest name ever.- She is destined to be something cool...I know, I know...stop dreaming about baby girls. Its not in the cards for me. But, I still have dreams right? Too bad Mikey doesnt like the name Othello.
I am still keeping Glory, in my top three favorite girls names. Even if girls are not in my future.

A week of fun with Grandma!

Grandma Babbel came from Utah to visit us in Pennsylvania this past week (May 11th-19th). It was so much fun. Here are some of the things we did. Towards the end of the trip Zach, Tanner and Asher all ran fevers. Turns out, Asher has herpangina, which is a mouth full of sores. The other boys didnt display much, other than fever. This explains alot, right Grandma!? The boys were troopers to travel so much. I am grateful that they had these memories with their grandmother.
We played at the Park and had a picnic in the lovely weather

We went to Washington DC and visited the National Zoo

We rode the subway into downtown DC . The boys loved the subway. D.C.'s Metro is really clean and is very user friendly. Even with our crazy boys we had no issues. It was great!

Washington Monument
World War 2 memorial


Snacks and Ducks at Lincoln Memorial


We left the kids with the Chamberlain's and went to Manhattan. It was a gorgeous day and the city was hustling since we went during the work week. Other than our 30 minute late train from Newark to Penn Station, we had no issues. Great company, good food, and wonderful memories!

Battery Park. Sphere from the Twin Towers
NYSE
Grand Central Station. Mike and I always come here and go to the basement for Ciao Bella Gelati. Try it, its Heaven! As a first timer, it was fun to see what someone else thought of our find. I think Soni agreed that it is amazing!

Have you ever wondered what they do to the ice rink at Rockefeller Center in the summer time? Well, behold...

I have had some great fabric sitting here for a month or so, just waiting for Grandma to come and make the boys some new blankets. As you can see from the picture, Zachary's blanket (in the middle) needs to be "laid to rest". It was Mikes blanket when he was a baby. Zach found it at 18 mnths old and has never let anyone take it away. He loves it. I can see that this will be a huge issue for him. Even after he got his new blanket, he got out of his bed that night to get "his blankey". I will post some close ups of them later...they are too cute!

Grandma brought presents. And everyone loves their creatures.
We love you Grandma! Thanks for visiting! We cant wait to see you again!

Yippee, Im blonde again!

Its about time I was blonde all over again. Lets just say, my roots were so dark, I looked like a chocolate dipped banana, for a while now. Mike took this picture when I got home. YIPPEE for blondes (now if I could only do something about that face! lol)
I dont know if blondes have more fun, but I have always loved my blonde hair.
Even if I have to fake it now that I am older, I dont want to go too dark.
And according to Wikipedia. Im one of the 1.8% people in the world who were born naturally blonde. Lucky me!

Spring Photos

These are some pictures that were lingering on my camera. Just random shots from the past few weeks.

Kiss Hershey Back is a community clean up event that Penn State Med students put on. Its a good experience for the kids to see the others pitching in and helping to take care of our community. Later that evening, they host a big dinner for everyone who helped. An appearance by the Hershey Bears Hockey mascot made Zach's day. Asher wasnt so sure. And Tanner just wouldnt.
The other pictures are of the kids playing in the yard. My front door sign that I made for Spring. And post SUPER WHY birthday party boys...

















Zach & Tanner after Liams Super Why birthday party! They loved it!

Please give me patience to deal with my blessings...

WARNING: This is murmuring at its pinnacle.... I apologize to everyone who has a perfect life, with perfect kids. But, I do not.
I do have wonderful children who are still learning and growing. And with time and love, I hope to not have many more entries like this. Being a mother, I am reminded that "all things shall be for thy good". I pray this is true.

So, to "keep things real" in my journal, I suppose I should write not only the good, but everything in between, right? In the process, this may make others feel better about their current situations. And maybe I will look back at this entry and laugh, but Im sure that wont be for many, many years.
The past 6 weeks has been a constant struggle with the twins. Im not sure if its just the age, or if they are boys. Could be both or neither. Needless to say, I have shed many tears over their behavior. Though I love them dearly, Im starting to feel like a failure of a parent.

Zachary refuses to sit in primary. He has told me several times "I hate to sit quiet. I don't like listening to people talk". The only thing that has kept his attention has been his teachers 8 mth old baby girl, who Zach adores. Every week, Mike ends up reprimanding him over it nearly every week. Mike spends so much time in the hall with kids during church. Im grateful that he usually gives me a break so I can enjoy the meetings to recharge myself for the upcoming weeks. I just feel bad that he is constantly dealing with this issue.

Tanner pulls Ashers hair every moment he can. Even when Asher is sitting in my lap, Tanner will come and rub his head hard. Even with threats of time out or bed he still cannot keep his hands to himself. It is like a compulsion. Im not even exaggerating...it is never ending. If Asher is near, Tanner is pulling or rubbing his hair. So, Asher is avoiding Tanner like the plague.

My children think they can pee in public, no matter where we are. Tanner pulled his pants down in the back yard, to water the neighbors flowers. He didnt feel like going to the bathroom in the toilet, so he peed next to his bed on the carpet.
The young women at the church roadshow practice came to tell me that Zachary was relieving himself outside on the church lawn. This has happened multiple times. In a variety of locations.

While I was at the gym, and Mike was putting the baby to bed, the twins got Hershey's syrup out of the fridge. They decided to take it to the basement. Dump it into the toilet, the sink, the floor in the bathroom. Draw on the playroom floor with it. Color on walls, and the TV. Then they tried to hide it by getting towels from the sorted laundry to cover it up. Of course, they choose the best, newest, whitest, towels in the bunch. Then they throw the empty bottle in the toy basket to hide it. It took me 3 hours of soaking, scrubbing, and crying to clean up the mess.

I left them in the bathtub while I dried and dressed Asher. When I returned, an entire roll of toilet paper was in the tub. The ceiling was dripping wet because they were throwing a washcloth up at it. The bath mat and walls were drenched. A bottle of shampoo had been emptied into the tub.

On Sunday, we visited my parents house. My youngest brother had finally gotten a pet (something a family with 10 kids doesn't do until they only have 2 kids in the house). A cute Guinea pig. A few hours later, he tearfully reported that the Guinea pig was dead. The twins had taken it out of its cage and "hurt" it. I wont go into it all, but it was brutal and awful. We had funeral. But, how do you explain dead to a four year old. So sad!!!

I love my children dearly...but DEAR HEAVENS! Will they ever grow out of this????

More Roadshow

People have been asking me if I recorded any of the other roadshows. I guess its only fair to show our fellow wards. Here is the link to the youtube post. Unfortunately, I didnt get all the wards, I was a little distracted.
Jen and I were laughing through most of them so, you can hear us a bit...sorry!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_cwh-lsGiM

Conspiracy Therory

At the end of the year I will be printing this into a hard copy book (blurb does this for those who want to do the same thing. Go here ) as my journal for 2009. And just in case, what I am about to relate, should come to pass, I want it documented. Then I can say.."I told you so!"
Normally, I dont believe or listen to conspiracy theories. Lately, however; I have been coming up with them all by myself. I consider myself an optimist. Especially when it comes to the world, our country, and life in general as far as government in the US is concerned. With that said, I will confess...I didnt vote for our current president. There were many things about him that were unsettling to me. Not that I LOVED the other guy, but two things bothered me about Mr. Obama more than others.
1) Oprah Winfrey- I enjoy her show most of the time, but not her agenda. I certainly dont want her using her viewers to choose a president for me.
2) "Birds of a feather flock together"- I think you can tell alot about a person by the company they keep. Bill Ayers....need I say more?!~
Basically I have had to adopt LOYAL OPPOSITION given the countries choice of President.
Loyal Opposition is defined by Wikepedia as " the concept that one can be opposed to the actions of the government or ruling party of the day without being opposed to the constitution of the political system".

So, anyway. I have been watching, holding my breath and hoping for the best. Then arises SWINE flu.
So in my mind it all unfolds like a Box office thriller. An outbreak of a deadly flu strain mysteriously appears. The US government, who's president has been harping SOCIALISM for years and is currently scrutinizing the National Health Care, sees and opportunity. Or maybe, he created the opportunity?!?- His administration decides to downplay the seriousness of the virus, their motive... to actually infect masses across the world. Sending the message to lawmakers and the public in the US, that all people need socialized medicine to seek treatment. Especially low income areas who are spreading the virus due to inability to have insurance and see doctors. All the while, the agenda of the current leaders are being met. And before you know it, we are living SOCIALISM. In the end, a secret is revealed, that they have had a vaccination for the disease the whole time. They were just holding onto it until the right moment. Bringing to fruition the dread of every conservative...Government ruling every aspect of our lives.
Read the book 1984 (think BIG BROTHER) for further plot and outcome to this saga...

Does that sound about right?--- Hum....I really should make movies, I mean geez...too easy!
Life becomes art, or art reflects life? Im convinced that its all a conspiracy.
So, yes, I will be wearing my face mask to the Smithsonian on my next visit in 9 days. I dont care what Obama's cronies say.