A Surprise Gift!

Last night Ryan and I were online looking at random sites for used minivans. We just sold our trusty little Toyota Tercel yesterday(sniff) and now have one working vehicle to share between the both of us. So we are using the money from the sale of the car, plus money that we have been setting aside over the last few months to go towards a minivan. Never did I think I would be a minivan owner someday, but with two kids and twins on the way it's our only option as far as fitting everyone in comfortably. I know I will enjoy driving it once I get one, but just the thought of having THAT MANY kids to OWN a van is kind of weird to think about...for me anyway. (Didn't I just graduate high school a few years ago?)

Anyway, while we were both hovered over our computer searching for great vans the phone rang and this was how it went...

"Hi, is this Christy?"

"Um, yes..."

"My name is (wish I remembered her name!). I am with an anti-abortion group from Pocatello. We had a booth at the Spring Home Show and... (At this point I am thinking ok, she wants a pledge...how much, if any, can we donate...?) your mom entered a drawing for a gift basket and won."

It took me a moment to realize that she didn't want any money, that she wanted to GIVE me a gift!

What?!? Really!? Is this a joke?

I guess my mom had entered a drawing and won! But my mom told the lady to give the gift to me! So about 20 minutes after the lady called she showed up at our door with a basket of cute baby blankets, diapers, bibs, bowls, lotion, spoons, bottles, just a bunch of baby stuff! So exciting. I couldn't thank her enough. How cool is that?! Thanks Mom for entering and winning! What was really cool, is there is TWO of almost everything...What a blessing!

INSTALLING HUSBAND

(I copied this from a friend's blog. Thought it was pretty funny!)


Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NASCAR 6.0, NFL 5.1 and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed, Desperate..




DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6. 1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0-program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck!

- Tech Support


(I have to say, even though this is a hillarious post, I think my husband is pretty darn amazing and wouldn't rate him a 1.0 ever! I definitely got the highest upgrade possible...hehe. I love you honey! Ok, sorry for mush. Oh and a wonderful mother-in-law too! Love you Mom!)

Live Benefit Concert!!!

Hey friends, this is Ryan. I'm the one lucky enough to be married to Christy. YESSS!!

Anyways, I am blogging today to invite you all to a benefit concert for a beautiful mom, Lori Udy, that was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy, but unfortunately the cancer metastasized to her lymph nodes and has since infiltrated other organs. She doesn't have too much longer to live.

Not only does her family have to deal with her end-stage cancer and saying goodbye to her, but they also have mounting medical bills that they cannot afford.

My good friend Rock Permann was talking to his lovely wife, Whitney a few weeks ago about a benefit concert that her group, Mercy River, and American Idol contestant David Osmond are going to be putting on to support the Udy family, when Whitney said, "what about the Pop Rocks?"

For those of you who don't know, I was in an A cappella group back at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, called Pop Rocks. We sang in lots of concerts and serenaded many people during our short time together. Since then we have all separated as we got married and moved away, but we have tried to keep in touch.

Back to the story: Rock thought about it a while and then decided to give it a shot: invite the members of the Pop Rocks to reunite for this benefit concert 9 years after the original Pop Rocks had dissolved.

When I first got the invite from Rock to reunite, I realized that I had a PA conference that weekend, so I ended up declining with a very sad heart. But soon I found out that every single one of the other original Pop Rocks were going to be able to make it, so I talked to my PA professors and they told me that for this occasion they would allow me to miss a part of the PA conference. Sweet! I called the guys and we made plans to somehow remember our old songs and sing!

To make a long story short (too late...), the concert is going to be at Rockland High School in Rockland, Idaho on April 3rd at 7 pm. tickets are $10, all of which will go directly to the Udy family to help them with the enormous amount of medical bills they have.

If you can come, PLEASE COME! This isn't about me, the Pop Rocks, Mercy River, or David Osmond, it's about the Udy family. Please let others know also! Make it into a date night and invite your family and friends! If you have any questions, please post a reply and we will be sure to get right on it.

***If you can't make it to the concert but would be interested in donating to this remarkable family please go to http://www.loriudy.com/ and click on the tab-DONATE. Thanks!

Get to know your friends-even better!

If you have come to my blog consider yourself tagged. Copy and paste and play along and please leave a comment so I can read yours and learn more about you. This is a fun little Question and Answer game.

What is your blogger name? At Home with the Hodges

When is your birthday? Dec 6

How long have you been blogging? A year this month

Who tagged you? My best friend's mom, Trisha, and My best friend Kimberly

Tell me your five most favorite body parts? Eyes, Ears, Hands, Feet and Legs

What do you wish most for your birthday? oh not much, just to have a semi-normal day!

What color are you nails right now? No color

Have you had any depressing thoughts lately? I am the mother of two small (crazy)children. . . and twins on the way...how could I be depressed?!!! ;)

What’s your plan for the next month? My husband has a P.A. conference in Sun Valley, followed by a PopRox reunion(his old accapella group from college that they started) in Rockland for a fund raiser for a girl who has cancer, Hanging out with Alan and Cristi from California!, General Conference, Seeing our friends Nate and Joanna from Boise, Easter, Doctor's appointment/ultrasound,My dad's Birthday, Madisen's Birthday, and hopefully I won't be put on bedrest!

At what age did you have your first crush? I was in kindergarden. I was "in love" with my brother's best friend, Mark. What a dreamy boy he was! haha!

Have you attended any school reunions? No...not yet!

Are you a clean freak? No and Yes. I can't stand my house when it's disorganized or dirty but yet sometimes I just don't have the energy to do it all- I think I would go crazy! BUt I really like things clean.

What era do you wish you were born in? Hmmm... I haven't really thought about this before...I don't know, I'll get back to ya!

Are you a vegetarian? No WAY! I like meat too much.

How many pillows do you sleep with at night? Just one

Are you a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper? a light sleeper...which can be quite annoying sometimes!

Do you secretly wear granny panties when your man is not around? No (what a weird question)

What is your ultimate dream job? Well it would be nice to get payed to be a mom!!-it would make some days bearable- I would have to agree KIM! :)

What is your dream car? either a Lexus or a Honda of some sort

Do you wake up easily in the morning? Not usually, it takes me a while to get up and get going most days

Do you like hairy men? I like my husband- who is perfect for me!

Which would you prefer: a two-hour spa massage, a two-hour Thai massage, or a two-hour foot massage? D. all of the above! (I would have to agree Kim!)

Have you ever wished you had a different name? yes

Have you ever passed gas in public and pretended like you didn’t smell anything? HAHA! of course! Who hasn't? (Don't lie to yourself!)

What is the most extreme sport you have ever done? is wakeboarding an extreme sport??

Do you prefer traveling in Europe or Asia? well since I haven't been to either place I can't really say, but I am sure I would love both. Although, I have always thought Italy would be fun!

What is your favorite food? Mexican for sure. But I like Olive garden too.

What is your most embarrassing moment while out on a date? Oh do I have to say? I peed my pants... no more details are needed.

Surrounded by Poop

*Warning: This post contains graphic details and images about bowel movements. It also contains words such as: Poop, poo-poo, "loaf" and diarrhea. If you have a weak stomach I strongly suggest you do not read.

Madisen will probably be embarrassed in the future for me telling this story, but really what our parents for, other than embarrassing their kids?! (I know I had my share of embarrassing moments that my parents so lovingly bestowed upon me and I got over it, sort of). Madisen has always had trouble doing the "deed". I am not really sure when it all started, between the ages of one to fourteen months I believe. Around that time she had a solid loaf come out of her and I think from that one bad experience she has somehow got it in her head that holding it in will be better and not hurt as much as pushing it out will. So from that time on she has resolved to holding it in- literary. I don't know how she does this! It's crazy. She has the strongest bum muscles ever. When she is flexing to hold it in, you could grab her by the arms and hold her up and she would be parallel with the floor. It's really sad actually to see her like this, but I don't know what else to do. I have talked to three different doctors about this, and they have all said similar things, that she will, "grow out of it", "there shouldn't be any long term effects", "give her plenty of fiber in her diet", we have tried it all! Even buying Miralax for over a year, which is a powdered substance we added to her drinks and it dissolves, making her bowels softer. Yet, no matter how soft, or even runny her poop is, she still holds it in!

Back in December our poor child had a bowel moment that was so big from holding it in for over two days that it clogged the toilet. It was bad enough, that we had to borrow a snake tool to push it out. After several hours Ryan finally released the "beast" and our toilet was restored again to working order. Well, Wednesday the same thing happened again. Madisen clogged the toilet! It's hard to imagine a three-almost four year old can produce something so large. I worked on the toilet all moring, plunging but got nowhere, and gave up hoping Ryan could again restore our toilet.

However, later that afternoon my parents(bless their hearts) stopped in for a visit, and my dad, the awesome dad he is, got right to work on the"problem". Yet, as my dad was plunging away, the worse thing could have happened at that moment. From all the fiber I had given Madi over the last 24 hours, it had FINALLY caught up with her and she had some serious diarrhea which of course got everywhere! Since the toilet was not working, and I didn't want to take her all the way downstairs to the other bathroom as it was leaking everywhere and with her crying and me freaking out, I grabbed her and put her on Avery's little potty so she could do the rest there. I tried calming her down(which really didn't work) and started cleaning up the horrible mess. I had to take her pants, her socks and of course her underwear full of poo-poo off, as it was dripping down to the floor. I threw her socks in the sink and started rinsing off her underwear in the tub.

As I was doing all this, I stopped and looked around frustrated and overwhelmed by all the poop surrounding me that all of a sudden it hit me so hard, I started laughing like I have never laughed before!!! I realized how bizarre and horrible it all was at the same time, that I couldn't do anything but LAUGH!!! It was one of those moments when you just have no control over anything and all you can do to relieve the stress and the tension is to just laugh. So that's what I did...for over three minutes straight! My insides were rolling and I am sure the twins were thinking the same thing Madi was, "What's going on? Mom, are you going insane?!" My parents out in the other room didn't know what was going on either, as one minute I am trying to calm Madi down by yelling at her to "calm down!" (haha!) and the next, laughing so hard my insides felt like they were on fire! It was just a smelly, nasty situation to be in. One that I would never wish on anyone, but everyone knows with kids it's impossible to escape!

To make a long story short, I was surrounded by poop and it somehow became funny. :)

Bedtime Story

Reading a bedtime story with Dad. I love how Avery is totally focused on the camera and Madi not at all. Shows their personalities so well!

New Tradition

Those that live here in Pocatello Idaho, know that there isn't a whole lot to do with kids especially in the winter months. Which hasn't really bothered me, because I like small towns and the people and friends we have made here make up for that! Yet, sometimes I wish there was a Chuck E Cheese's or a Fun Center to enjoy with the kids every once in awhile.We do have a "Zoo", I don't know if I would go that far in calling it a "Zoo"...maybe a few cages with wild animals. Haha! But during the winter we can't go there anyway. We also have several lovely parks that we go to often in the summer time of course. So other than that there's not many places to take kids...maybe I am just not creative enough!? Anyone here in Pocatello have any ideas as a fun outing with kids?

It's weird even though we are living off student loans and scholarships (which many of you are in the same situation) until Ryan graduates in 2010, we really have to keep family fun time to under $10... Yet, I have never felt so blessed in my life! You will probably think I am crazy for saying this, but this stage of life- being poor and college students has been anything but a trial! It's been such a blessing and when my husband is out of school and we start making actual money, I am not sure how I am going to feel about that. Of course I will be excited, but in a way I almost feel sad. WEIRD, I know! We still have another year and half of school, so I don't know why I am even feeling this way, I am sure by the end of it all I will be glad to be done, but it's just been a great ride for us so far! We have grown closer together through all of it and maybe that's what I am afraid of losing.

ANYWAY, totally got off the track there! haha. Now I can't remember what this post was about! Oh yeah, Our new family tradition we started with our girls is taking them to the mall play area every Friday night. Sound lame, eh? But the girls love it! They can run around and get all their wiggles out and Ryan and I take turns going out and window shopping while they play. Then we either go out for some icecream after or get something to share at the mall. We have gone so much that it just became our family outing every Friday night. Madi even asks me every week now, "Are we going to the Mall to play?"

The girls love to go down the slide backwards on their bellies! They do it over and over again making mom dizzy.

Avery likes to climb up onto the frog and stand up. It's funny how proud they are of themselves when they do something challenging. I always worry that she is going to slip and fall off! This time we caught her "conducting", as she has learned from the lady conducting the music at church.

Now you know if you haven't been able to get a hold of us on a Friday night, it's not because we are avoiding you, we are at the Mall! Come join us! :)

An update! Don't get TOO excited though.

I have had some mild requests/complaints as to why I am not updating my blog regularly anymore...I am assuming by these requests/complaints that my "reader satisfaction level" has gone down...drastically. Kidding! haha! I don't know why I haven't had the desire to blog or to even be on the computer as much. I have lost that "lovin' feeling" and need to get it back. I was thinking in many ways it's a good thing I am not on the computer as much. Yet, the more I think about it, I still managed to get nothing EXTRA done around the house or any new/old projects completed! One would think given all my extra time away from the blogging world that I would have created food masterpieces that even the Chef Ramsay would be impressed by! But sadly, I haven't done much of anything. So the question remains: What have I been up to then?

Well, making two babies of course! That's taken a lot of work, right? Sleeping a lot- taking naps, also thinking a lot. Yes, thinking and reading. I figure once the babies are here, I won't have time to use my brain much too just, think. I will be on auto-pilot doing the same things over and over again; feeding, changing diapers, laundry and cleaning up messes. That being able to think and read will become a thing of the past. And those certain parts of my brain will lay dormant for the next few years until one day all the kids will be able to fend for themselves and I will once again be able to pick up a book. So I am trying to savor the time I have to just think.

Last night I got the chance to talk to one of my best friends from high school, who's birthday is TODAY! (Happy Birthday Kimberly!!!) I was telling her that I have been feeling a lot better lately, in that I haven't been nearly as sick. I was also telling her that I haven't thrown up in two weeks! Except that track record was broken this moring... as all of a sudden as I was feeding Avery breakfast, I coughed and the next thing I knew I was standing over the garbage can, throwing up. Gross I know. Sorry if I made your breakfast come up. I still have moments where I feel nauseous, but it really is nothing like before! So I am thinking I am done with the whole sickness part of pregnancy, which I am so thankful that it went by fairly fast. Yet, I am always tired. I feel like I am always in a state of yawning. So, if you are talking to me and I start yawning, please don't be offended, I am just...tired. Just talking about yawning, makes me yawn, in fact in writing this post so far I have probably yawned over a dozen times at least! That's not a good sign...

Now that I have mastered THREE incredibly boring paragraphs, and have put most readers to sleep, especially those that took an interest in my 'lack of blogging' I suspect, won't be complaining about that ever again! :) Thanks for caring and enjoy reading my thoughts from my brain, however pathetic they might be.

Ok now to the picture of the growing belly... (I actually did my hair for once!)

There you have it. An Update!