Tragedy

Tonight I learned that one of my friends was killed in a car accident. I am shocked, sad, mad and glad all at the same time. She was young, younger than me and I have known her for about 4 and a half years. She fell asleep at the wheel and hit the guardrail. Those of you that are from Billings that read this will know that there have been so many fatal accidents lately, but hearing about Lyndsey makes it all seem much more real

I worked with Lyndsey at the Roadhouse. She was an original employee like me so we had been together since day one, actually we had both worked at the Cracker Barrel before the Roadhouse but I didn't really know her well over there. Working with someone in a setting like the roadhouse is very intimate, you see a person's biggest faults, the best features, you see how they handle pressure in both positive and negative situations, often times your income can depend on your coworkers. She struggled with life and overcame A LOT of hurdles. For a long time she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. She took a break from school at the same time I did, only she went back and finished. She was teaching at St. Labre and coaching too. She was so truely happy for once in her life. To hear that her life had been taken was a hard thing for me. I hadn't lost anyone really close to me like that before. Sure I have had grandparents pass away and an uncle and a few others, but for it to be someone that I interacted with on a daily basis for so many years, someone who I spoke with regularly about my goals, my thoughts, my passions it has been hard. I am going to the funeral tomorrow and I hope that it might bring a little more closure, but I just keep thinking that she was so young and had so much left that she wanted to do. I know that she is in a better place, a place were she can be ETERNALLY happy. I miss you Lyndsey and I will be thinking of you often, keep smiling.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I just had to get on and blog about something that Ethan said tonight before I forget it. I'll start with a little bit of history. Potty training Ethan was pretty dificult, it took quite a while and he had issues with going number 2 before we ever started potty training him. We had been trying off and on since he turned two but he just was not physically ready. So we finally got him potty trained right after Preston was born, he was almost 3 1/2. The only thing that we struggled with was that he would hold his number 2 for days and days. He had been doing this for quite some time while he was in diapers and it was causing issues. My nephew had had severe problems with this same thing a few years earlier so I was very nervous. My sister, who is a nurse, suggested that I put him on some milk of magnesia for a week or so, just to get him all cleaned out. Well we did and it worked pretty good, but he kept holding it and starting the cylce over again. I know that I am sharing a little more than some of you may want to know, but this was a BIG deal in the wynia house a year ago. So anyways we obviously would make a big deal out of it every time Ethan went #2. Eventually he started to get the hang of it and would go more frequently.



What happened was that we would remind Ethan that he should try and go each day. Ethan isn't the greatest eater and (this is going to sound horrible, but I am just going to say it) we remind Ethan to go while we are at the dinner table. It was just a good time of the day when we were all quiet and together and so we would remember. Also, we found that Ethan ate his dinner best after he had "made some room." That is horrible I know!!!



Well tonight we were over at my mom's house to celebrate her birthday. I was sitting at the table with all of the children, feeding Preston and trying to make sure that Kendra and Ethan ate their dinner. Ethan leaned over and asked if he could try and go poop. I told him that was fine and so he ran upstairs and I finished feeding Preston and pretty soon I hear "I'm Done, I'm Done" being shouted from upstairs for the entire family to hear. At first it didn't register that it was my sweet little Ethan but then I remembered that he had gone upstairs to take care of business. I ran upstairs and got to the bathroom to help Ethan finish and as I am doing my parenting duty of wiping the bum Ethan informs me that "It was a big one" I have gotten used to this because if you remember we always made a big deal out of it in order to encourage him. But what he said next I don't think that I will ever forget. He then said, "Mom, I think that I lost 3 pounds!" I almost died, it was too funny to hear my little four year old make such a comment and I knew right away that this had to be his dad's doing, he had always made a bigger deal out of it than me. I went back downstairs before I actually started laughing so that I wouldn't encourage such talk.



I apologize for the crudeness that this post entails, but I just couldn't help it, he was so sincere that I just cracked up.

Digital Scrapbooking- The Final Frontier

Josh got his new laptop today and I think that I am as excited as he is. My mom got me a really cool digital scrapbooking program for christmas but due to our really slow and crappy computer I didn't dare load it. So with the arrival of the laptop I was able to try my hand at digital scrapbooking. It was interesting, and I definitely need to get a mouse, it is really hard to do this without one. I am going to try and share my first pages but we will see if I can actually accomplish this. The kids sat next to me the entire time so that also seemed to add to the process but I think that I am really going to like this!

March Madness Update

I know that all of you are sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to see how I do in the office pool. Well I am currently sitting in fifth place. If Kansas and UCLA make it to the championship game then I win no matter who the champion is. But if those two teams don't make it then I don't win anything. I have to say though that I have done pretty good. At least good enough to back up some of my smack talk so I will not complain. It has been a great tournament so far and have LOVED watching the games. So on Saturday night I will be smack dab in front of the TV. GO KANSAS AND UCLA!

The Big Move

I have been a little busy, if you can imagine, packing and getting ready to move. Last night was the grand finale and it was spectacular. I just have to give a big thank you to everyone that came and helped us move. It went SO fast, actually TOO fast if you can believe that. I got home from work and there were already guys there, that is when I knew that I was in for it. They had already filled the first trailer and were starting on the second one. Guys just kept showing up, and we were out of things to move. I was busy trying to pull those odds and ends into the final boxes. (Somehow we had a visit from the box fairy and magically most of my boxes had dissapeared.) My goal was to not have to throw anything into the van at the last minute.... sadly I did not achieve my goal. I did, however, find the hiding spot for my boxes, Josh had riped them and used them as padding while loading the trailer. I guess the blankets that I had left around the house were not quite up to par for the job because they ended up getting thrown into the back of the van. HMMM........... Unloading went well too, it was nice to meet a few new people and visit with some that I hadn't seen in a while.

The beds got put together and we had a place to sleep last night but had to hunt to find the bathroom stuff and food this morning. I did not think that I had so much stuff! The furniture doesn't quite seem to fit in the front room so we are going to have to get creative with that one, it is very frustrating. Today I hope to get the kitchen put together and get through most of the boxes, or at least get the boxes put into the correct room. I think towards the end they just started putting ALL of the boxes in the master bedroom. I am planning on cleaning the old house on Thursday and have my fingers crossed that I will be able to get it all done. You think your house is clean and then once everything is moved out of it the dirty truth is revealed.

So we can now be found on the west end of Billings and we are greatly looking forward to shopping at the wal-mart and target here on this side of town! (NOT) But I did get to leave the house 15 minutes later today and that is awesome!

Bracketology

What am I thinking? So this year is a little different when it comes to March Madness in the Wynia house. Josh, who now works from home, no longer has the opportunity to participate in the office pool for NCAA Basketball. This is a first for him, it is the only betting I let him do all year and he looks forward to it. Occassionaly I have joined in and watched a game or two with him and I almost always help him keep track of his points on his bracket, he has even won a year or two.

I, on the other hand, now work in an office and could not say no when it came to making up my own bracket. I know nothing about this year's teams except when it comes to BYU, which obviously doesn't hold much water to teams like Kansas and UCLA. I knew I was going to need some help. I enlisted the help of Josh and together we filled out a stellar bracket. I have even been passing around a little smack-talk (I just couldn't help it.) I am such a competitive person and sometimes it just leeks out. So over the next few weeks as I am busy packing away our ever belonging you will also find me listening to and watching b-ball, something that I haven't done in years. So wish me luck, and I better win or I am out $10 and Josh might just have to sleep on the couch.

Sale Pending!

That's right, we finally got an offer on our house! Our listing was set to expire on tuesday last week but at our last open house there was a couple that fell in love with the house so we extended the listing until Saturday but by Thursday we got an offer that we couldn't refuse! Josh and I were just about to give up, we hadn't planned on re-listing the house for at least a couple of months just to see how things went but everthing worked out. We are very very VERY thankful that it has finally happened. We close on April 4th so that doesn't leave me much time to pack, especially since I don't get home until 4:50 every day. We are going to miss our ward SO SO SO much, they are so great and we have been in this ward for almost 6 years now. But now we will be in my Mom and Dad's ward so that will be nice. I will also be closer to work so I can get a little more sleep in the morning and get home a little earlier. Kendra is actually excited about switching schools, we thought that she would be very upset but she is excited. I like the school that she is in now, I didn't think that I would ever say that, but the school that she will be in now is even better. It is actually the same elementary school that Josh attended, wierd I know. The house that we will be renting is actually two blocks away from the house that Josh grew up in, I think that is neat but I don't think that he agrees.
Kendra and Ethan were both so excited and wanted to start packing right away. I gave them each a box and told them to pack something in their room just to keep them busy. Ethan put all of the toys that he keeps in his room in the box along with all of his shoes. By Sunday he was looking for his church shoes, I couldn't help but laugh. Kendra Packed a little of everything, her blanket, shoes, and some toys. I don't think that she has had to dig anything out yet.
As soon as we are settled again I will post some pictures.