Prayers Needed

Asking for your thoughts and prayers for friends and family in Samoa. So far there have been two deaths associated with family that we know of and we are hoping there will be no more bad news. My heart and deepest sympathy goes out to Rick, Lavon and Alana.

We have yet to hear anything concrete as the news has been very slow to report for obvious reasons. The latest I heard was 111 dead with the toll expected to rise. There were 4 tsunami waves that hit one after the other that were 15 to 20 feet high and reached over a mile inland. Whole villages and cars were swept out to sea. This was caused by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake in the ocean south of the Samoan islands that witnesses claim shook the islands for up to 5 minutes.

All the land lines are down. There have been a few people who have been able to get out with cellular phones and Internet but for the most part it has been impossible to reach family and loved ones. We are not even sure exactly what areas were hit. We know Pago Pago was hit hard as well as Apia but that is all the news is reporting.

Please pray they are able to get aid organized quickly and rescue efforts are well underway. Please pray that the death toll stays relatively small although 111 is already too high. Please send out a special prayer that Superman's family and loved ones were able to reach safety and that the damage in their area was minimal.

UPDATE***

If you live in Utah, you can go into any Zions Bank and tell them you wish to donate to the Samoan Relief Fund and 100% of the proceeds will go to help the families in Samoa.
If you do not live in Utah, go to www.fox13now.com and they will have the donation information. Any donation, no matter how small would be appreciated.

Balancing Act

Superman is 47 years old today! This past year has been a real test for us. Between the kids and the economy and moving AGAIN, things have been crazy! I've been up and down and all around and I don't know how he's held on for the ride.

I have never been in a true partnership with someone I love and it's been an eye opening experience for me. In the past, whether it was my parents, or my friends or myself, there is always one thing that seems to tip the scales towards unhappiness, divorce, affairs, whatever. Most of the time it's money, sometimes it's other things but Superman and I seem to be able to BALANCE. Just when I feel like I'm sliding toward the abyss he takes on a little bit more of me and puts things right again. He truly is my hero.

The truth is, I used to dream there was someone out there who could just LOVE me. Someone who could make light of my moods and set me straight without making me feel crazy or stupid. Someone who can make me smile through my tears. Someone who makes me feel beautiful even when I have morning breath and my mascara is smeared. I used to WISH with my whole heart that whatever guy I was with could live up to this ideal I had conjured in my head and they never could.

So I gave up. I was over thirty, my daughter was about to become a teenager and showing her independence and I decided that if that perfect man wasn't out there then I would just be alone. I would never settle. And then there he was.

And no, he's not perfect. But he's perfect for me. He BALANCES me. He lifts me when I'm dipping too low and brings me back to earth when I'm flying out of control. He really listens to what I'm saying and he tries to understand me. Just the fact that he TRIES is enough for me.

I don't know why he fell in love with me. I truly don't. I can be demanding and moody. My thoughts are always rushing ahead and usually my mouth is going right along with it but he slows me down. He calms my soul and helps me to see that there is more to life than just the World According to Me. I can't believe he's still by my side after all this time and he shows no signs that I'm wearing him down.

Baby, for your birthday I wanted to take you to Paris and show you paintings by Gauguin. I wanted to fly you to Rome and show you sculpture by Michelangelo. I wanted to hike to the top of Peruvian mountains and show you lost worlds and I wanted to watch the sun set from the beaches of Tahiti while we hold hands and sip our Pama on the rocks. I would if I could, my love. I hope that someday I can. Because the world is what you have given to me. You have opened my eyes to joy and life and love. What could I possibly give you in return?

All I have is me, my love. And you have me, all of me, heart and soul. Happy Birthday.

OOPS!

I was going for strawberry blonde...

I'm thinking that maybe the blonde part didn't work cuz it sat in my bathroom cupboard for...oh, I'd say maybe...two years?

So...this is what I got. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's kinda neon. My kids and their friends think it's pretty cool. Superman loves it. I think it's that whole "other woman" fantasy that men have. Or... maybe it's the "prostitute" fantasy. Whatever, he's diggin' it.

But I'm just not sure. It's been a week and I keep thinking I'll recolor but I'm afraid I'm going to get something worse. Or I'll go bald. (sigh)

So here it is... let me know what you think. Do I deal with it or do I attempt to fix it?

In other news...

Some of you were wondering whatever happened to my baby girl's daddy trying to contact her on her myspace account. You remember, the post where I was completely FREAKING OUT! Well, I took your advice. IZ and I had a good talk about things and she also read my post and your comments, which helped out a ton and she sent her sperm donor (harsh) back a message and we waited. And waited. And waited.

Every once in awhile I would ask IZ if she heard anything and then one day she checked and his myspace account had been removed. Just like that. When I asked her how she felt about it her answer was that she didn't really care. But I think she did care. And I think it hurt her.

Me? I was relieved. But a part of me was angry. You just don't DO THAT! You don't suddenly poke your head out and say "Here I am! Look at me!" And then just as suddenly disappear. Not when it's the feelings of a young teenager at stake. I guess I didn't expect anything different. And neither did she but I think she was HOPING.

I don't know what he was thinking but what I want to believe is maybe he got scared. Maybe, just maybe, the part of him that is capable of being honorable knew that deep down he would screw it up and he didn't want to do that to her. Maybe. Or maybe he was just being a total &*%#head. Unfortunately, that's probably closer to the truth.

What I KNOW is that IZ is LOVED. DEEPLY LOVED. Not just by me but by Superman and her grandparents and her many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. I need her to know that she is surrounded 24/7 by LOVE. And that she is beautiful and magical and talented and kind. She doesn't need her father around to know WHO SHE IS! It's reflected back at her by the people she has in her life.

As for the rest of my girls, things are great. School started a couple weeks ago and so far, so good. LT is in middle school, which means her first locker and switching classes and feeling oh-so-grownup. She is loving it. Stella got her driver's license over the summer and I am so loving being able to send her to the store or to pick up IZ and LT when they need a ride. And she started playing tennis for her school and has been on way too many road trips to count. She's having a ball.

Superman has been working out of town quite a bit lately. I really hate having him gone but he IS Working, which is more than I can say for a lot of people out here. We count our blessings no matter how they are packaged.

It is getting colder on Planet Vernal. We get thunderstorms almost everyday. Last night was a real light show and me and the girls turned out all the lights, snuggled on the couch with the dogs and just watched the storm. It was AWESOME! One of those moments that I wish I could record so I could take it out every once in a while and replay.

I really can't ask for more right now. My cup is overflowing. Well, maybe one thing. Can we rewind to last Saturday when I dyed my hair? Then things would be just about perfect.

Summer Daze

Summer is almost over on Planet Vernal. It gets dark right around 7:30 and the temps at night are in the 40's and 50's. If you ask me, summer went by way too fast. These pics were taken about 10 minutes from my house at a place called Red Fleet.

Aqua girl here is actually my 10-year-old niece, Shane. We brought her and her twin sister, Reed, home with us after a trip to Las Vegas. They stayed with us for two weeks and even though one of them suffered some pretty serious bouts of homesickness the first couple of nights, I think they had a really good time.

Since it was fairly late in the day when we finished our swim, we decided it would be easiest to just BBQ some burgers at home. Reed overheard this and said to me "Are we going to cook burgers on the grill and listen to music and eat outside and sit in lawn chairs and talk about the good old days?!" When I told her that was EXACTLY what we were gonna do she said "Oh my gosh! I've wanted to do that my WHOLE LIFE!"

So just to up the ante, Superman and I pulled out the tent, let the girls outfit it with air mattresses, blankets, flashlights, stuffed animals and board games and they spent the majority of their nights giggling in the backyard under the stars. It made me want to be a kid again. (sigh).

The girls LOVED the dogs and were completely fascinated by IZ's pet rats. Yes, I said rats. Two of them. One of whom is HUGE! We're talking large kitten huge. And the other one had an ear problem and always has her head sideways. She's our sideways rat. She's much smaller and actually kinda cute...kinda. The last night the girls were here, Reed brought the small rat into the backyard and our Great Dane, Cleo came over for a sniff. Reed, not knowing any better held the rat out to Cleo thinking, I don't know, that Cleo might lick it or something. But no...faster than any of us could react Cleo had the rat in her jaws. You could have heard my shriek for miles, which caused Cleo to just as quickly release her hold on the poor little thing. I was seriously expecting a headless rat but THANK GOODNESS!!! the rat was in one piece and just fine. I almost had a heart attack.

We did lots of fun things this summer, in between Superman's grueling work schedule. Lots of BBQ's. Lots of time hanging out with our friends. A couple of road trips. One to Las Vegas where we didn't win ANY money. Oh wait, that was just like the last trip to Vegas. We DONATED! To the cause....of....hmmmm....

Anywho, I'll just share some more pics of Red Fleet since it pretty much sums up the summer for us and the kids. Enjoy!

LT, Reed and Shane on the rocks at the lake shore.

The whole family, except photographer me, Stella, Superman, LT, Shane, Bre (IZ's BFF), Reed and IZ.

Stella's graceful dive.

Beautiful Stella.

Reed's Cannonball!

Bre and IZ

Reed, Shane & LT

My Superman

Shane, Reed, LT

Superman's SPLASH!!

Hope everyone had a WONDERFUL SUMMER!