It's late...

It's late, it's late, it's late! I should be sleeping, but as I am apparently not, I may as well jot down a quick note on the old blogarooney. Since I last wrote...

...I colored and cut my hair. I posted a picture to show the new do, which doesn't even look like that anymore. It is a few shades lighter already... always happens to me. I have to color it extra dark for it to lighten up to the shade I actually want. I do like it, though. I quite liked the dark, but it's tough for me to get it to stay in. Why fight nature, huh? I have a lot of gray coming in now, though, and the highlight I had before was better at hiding that transition. A highlight may be calling my name, again, in the not so distant future. I gave Marin the same haircut and highlighted hers a bit, cut Audra's into a bob, and gave Vanessa some extra highlights, as well. It's been a busy hair month!

...two of our goats passed away. Our mama goat, Isabella, and her baby, Clover, passed away on the same night, but at separate locations. I had Isabella over to a neighbors to breed with his billy and he found her dead the next morning. I personally think the other goats were too rough on her and she didn't have anywhere to get out of the cold, like she does here. Had I not been such a comatose wastoid that day, and had checked out my neighbor's setup, I would not have sent her to her death. As it was, I was not feeling good, stayed in bed all day and sent the kids over with her. I didn't hear about how rough the other goats were with her until AFTER she was dead. She was totally healthy, though. Big bummer. Her baby, Clover, didn't grow as big and strong as her twin, Dora, and I think the cold just finally got to her. We could see she was ailing, brought her in that night to sleep in the pet porter, and she was gone by morning. Dora is fine and living with our other nanny goat, Belle. Still a sad, sad day for the van Uiterts.

...Kevin turned forty-four on December 4th. I wish I could say I made it a day he would always remember, but I had one of those weird allergic reactions I get, from time to time, which shut me down for the evening, was stressed about one of my daughter's school teachers, and ended up sending Kev to the ward Relief Society Christmas party alone. Poor guy. He's such a sweet guy... patient and understanding... and now one year older!

...our table caught on fire and was working itself into a towering inferno of plastic dishes and gingerbread house boxes when we finally discovered it. One or two of our beautiful children lit some candles and placed them way too close to a plastic bowl, which somehow caught on fire and turned into one to two foot flames licking upwards to the light fixture. I grabbed glasses of water and doused it in a jiff, but not quick enough to save the table from being seriously scorched on top. Maybe this is a blessing in disquise...my mini horses need another shelter and I think the table would do just the trick. Throw a tarp over it, and wallah... horse shelter extraordinaire! Really, though, I'm glad Marin spotted it. She, Audra, and I were busy hanging the last few ornaments on the tree in the front room when she noticed. It's not every day you see a real live fire on your dining room table. Kevin says we could have had a new house, had we not been so quick to discover it, and in some ways I could dig on that. But, truly, who would want to lose everything at Christmastime in a house fire? I actually dread that thought and fear, from time to time, that something like that will happen while we are gone (pellet stove, etc.) and my poor animals wouldn't have a way out. The three dogs, two birds, rabbit and the snake would be crispy critters, and I just can't stomach the thought of that. Anyhow... all's well that ends well, right? Catastrophe averted, Christmas tree decorated, table cleaned off (took a fire to do it, but hey...count yer blessings is what I always say...), and one less tupperware bowl to wash!

...I have made good friends with a sweet gal from Uganda. She lives down the street from me and I have felt impressed to visit her from time to time, and upon doing so, have found that we are like soul sisters and a great joy to each other. I feel for her, being so far from her family and home, and have encouraged her to plan a trip to Africa this year. Kevin has always wanted to go on a safari and now we have a friend that can show us around Kenya and Uganda. Maybe next year...

...I have been visiting Sandy Voge, who I call 'my energy lady', and she has been working on me every week to help balance my emotional/physical energy meridians. Through her work, she has found that my thyroid is not functioning properly, and that I am starving for iodine in my diet. A good friend of mine recommended that I have my thyroid checked out, because she had experienced similar problems in her life with emotional balance, fatigue, etc., and had a life changing experience by just taking iodine. I took her advice and had Sandy check me for it, and wouldn't you know... I need iodine. I'm just starting on it today and am hopeful to regain some balance in my life. Apparently, the thyroid is really important for proper body/mind function and mine has been jacked up for a long time. This could be the answer I've been looking for! I'm excited to find out!

...Dayton and Vanessa have been playing basketball up in Hyrum on Saturdays and are both really enjoying it. Dayton gets taller by the day, I swear, and Vanessa is fast on his heels. She is taller than I, now, and wears a shoe two sizes bigger than mine. Dayton is probably 6'4" now... I need to measure him again. All I know is that he was as tall as Kevin's brother at Thanksgiving and I think Brian is around 6'4" or 6'5". They are both finding their confidence out on the basketball court, though, and we've sure enjoyed watching them play. It's fun to meet the parents of the other kids, as well. Vanessa's friend, Milanna, is such a sweetheart and besides playing on the same team, they go to school together, as well. Her parents are simply marvelous and we've really enjoyed getting to know them better. They were kind enough to take us to a Utah State basketball game a few weeks ago and it was so much fun, we're even thinking of becoming Aggie fans, ourselves. We've always liked USU, but aren't true fans of ANY college sports team. We're thinking we might just have to do something about that :0)

Well, it's after 2:00 a.m. and I have to be up in four and half hours to take the kids to school. Field trip day... they are really excited! We have lunches to make, cameras and ipods to take, and no doubt naps for me and Audra when we get home from dropping them off! Goodnight!