I hope they call me on a mission...

Chris got his mission call today! He is going to the Argentina Buenos Aires North mission. He goes into the MTC August 17. This is what some of our friends had to say:

Jesse Duncan: Congratulations, Warburtons! Exciting.

Carolyn Nielson: Yay!!! So exciting!

Gail Westcott: What a blessing it is to serve a mission. Tell Chris the Westcott's say congratulations.

Rachael Klinker: Very nice!

Darla Scoles: The Scoles say congratulations too!!!! How exciting!

Sheyenne Alvarez: How exciting!

Annie Werneking: Very exciting! Congratulations!

Rebecca Cothran: Congratulations!!

Karin Salisbury: Congratulations!!!! What a great blessing!!!

Anna Davies: Happy time for all of you! Good job, Mom and Dad (and Chris)!

Tabetha Roan: That is so cool!

Debbie Pratt: Woohoo! Spanish speaking, right?

Judy Bowden: Yeah!!! We are so happy to hear that Chris goes to Argentina. I'm sure he'll do a great job!

Rose Gaertner: Congratulations!!!!

Jenifer Hopkinson Smullin: Yay!!!!! Congrats! That is very exciting!

Tianna Sahim: Congratulations...He will be a great missionary.

Judy Wolter: That's so exciting. Now you can focus your worries to one country instead of the entire world! :)

Cynthia McCloskey: How exciting for him and your family! Congrats...

Kirsten Schwendiman: Definitely exciting! Congratulations from the Schwendimans. :)

Carol Dawson: WOW!!!!! How cool! Ceth comes home in July! Longest 2 years of my life!!!!!!!! But what a wonderful man he has become! Chris will be AWESOME! Tell him the Dawson fishing/hunting clan said "Fishers of men...REEL 'EM IN BABY!!!!"

MyLinda Butterworth: That is wonderful. I can't believe Chris is old enough to go on a mission already. I remember when he was getting baptized.

Lisa Peart: My sister went there. How exciting!

Stephanie Tietjen: How exciting!!! I've heard that Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. I think you and Gary had better get passports for your 20th anniversary. :-)

Jan Swanson: Oh my goodness!!! YAY and congratulations! That will be a tremendous blessing to those in Argentina, as well as to Chris.

Thanks everyone! It's a Spanish speaking mission. I've already looked up the murder rate in Argentina, what kind of natural disasters occur there, where he should go in case of a tsunami, what part of town he should avoid at night and what kind of fevers I should worry about...Dengue and yellow. Oh, and no one guessed Argentina so I will have to pay my own psychiatric bills. :)

Robin Mierzejewski: TOO FUNNY! He's going to be fine. My sister went to Argentina and she is still kickin'. :-)

Holly Azbill Garcia: My baby bro was at that mission....plus my niece is there now. So awesome!! Congrats guys.

Jathon Strauss: Congratulations Shannon! That is the same mission I served in, Buenos Aires North. I loved it and would be happy to answer any questions you can't find on the internet:)

Alta Batterman: That's great! He'll do just fine. The Lord will be with him!

Rebecca Bautista Cothran: Just think you have another country to visit now..Don't worry too much, the Lord protects his missionaries.

Audra Olsen: Yea!!! Congradulations!!! Shannon, you are hilarious!!!

Brandy Griffin Fox: You sound like my mom. ;-D

Kori Jean Olsen: How exciting! We are so proud of him!!!!!! Congratulations!

I googled how to get from Austin, TX to Argentina...you know, just in case I have to go over there quickly and Google maps said "We could not calculate directions between Austin, TX and Argentina." Well...what is that supposed to mean?! Can you be sent to a place that Google can not calculate directions to? How am I going to get to him if I need to?

Oh, and a few things to point out from the video:

No, Jared is not a monk...he's just wearing a blanket over his head.
Yes, Emily can be sarcastic.
No, Kinsey was not excited to be there.
Yes, I did lose 45 lbs last year...my 5 chins just did not get the memo!
Yes, it is cheesy to add "I hope they call me on a mission" music to the video but give me a break...he's my first one to go on a mission.
No, Jared did not guess Argentina...he guessed South America.
Yes, Jared did say that Gary owed him five dollars for guessing right.
Yes, Jared then changed it to ten dollars at the end of the video.
Yes, Emily called him on it!
Yes, I laugh every time I watch it.
Yes, Carson was very excited to be there because he got to see his Chris!

Oh, and yes...we are so proud of Chris!

The moral of the story....

shhhh...he'll tell you in the morning.

February - Just the Best Month EVER!

GROUNDHOGS I'm not sure how much wisdom there is in letting a furry creature decide how long the winter will be but he said that winter is over and I'm all for that! Spring has sprung here in Texas and the gloom and doom that settled over me in October has up and left. I love spring!! Thank you Punxsutawney Phil.

LOVE Valentine's Day. The holiday for lovers.

Okay...I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Lover...that word makes my skin crawl.

The holiday for love. That's better!

I gave Gary my Valentine/birthday wish list.

Kindle: I love to read but I am going blind (not really, I'm being over-dramatic...I'm just getting old). I haven't read a book in a long time because they are making the print much smaller than they used to and I can't see it!

On the Kindle you can make the print GIGANTIC so old, umm I mean blind people like me can see it.

A vinyl cutter: It cuts vinyl and other stuff I think.

Gary is the practical sort and doesn't see the need for surprises so he went to work and asked one of his co-workers about the Kindle and then called me all excited to tell me about it. He thought I would be thrilled.

I got mad at him.

I quit speaking to him.

Then, on a two hour road trip, I told him how he had ruined every single holiday for the last 20 years with his practical-ness! This is the response I got from him.

?????????????????????????

He was befuddled! Confused! Dumb-founded!

I was angry about something completely unrelated to the Kindle incident and took it out on him. For two hours. On the way to the temple. The loveliest place on earth.

I regret that. I love my husband. He deserves so much more than a mean and cranky wife!

He loves me too and he forgave me.

He's also tricky. He found the Kindle at Target and gave it to me the day before Valentine's Day. He also brought me flowers and a card. Surprise!! I really was surprised because Gary is internet-buying challenged and I thought he would say "I got you a Kindle for Valentine's Day so go ahead and order yourself one" but he found one, bought it, and put it in a gift bag with a card inside. I read the card and cried because even when I am mean he still loves me!

We celebrated Valentine's Day in style with a candlelight, Chinese take-out dinner. Candlelight dinners are always so romantic.....especially with four children. I spent most of the night saying "don't light your napkin on fire" and "quit dipping your fingers in the hot wax"! We gave each of the kids a can of refried beans and a bag of chocolate. They were ecstatic! Nothing says "I love you" like a can of beans!

PRESIDENTS My claim to fame is that I share a birthday with the first president of the United States. I always thought that was pretty cool. Gary had the day off but the kids didn't! He had a list of chores that he was planning on doing and spending time with me was not on the list. I guess I can't blame him though since spending time with me sometimes involves me getting mad at him. My birthday dinner and dessert was on his list of chores though! He spent part of his day off making food for me. Happy Birthday to good ole' George and Abe. Thanks for giving us a reason to have a day off while the kids were in school! You two are awesome!

BIRTHDAYS I have always celebrated my birthday with my sister. She liked to think of it as a birthmonth instead of just birthday! I think she also thought that it was HER month but I was here first so I insisted that she share! She could have the first two weeks and I got the last two weeks. Then we just decided to compromise and have everyone lavish us with gifts all month long! She is no longer here on earth to celebrate birthdays with me which always makes me sad. My friend stopped by on Lori's birthday to bring me a late Valentine treat. It was just a coincidence but I like to think that I was being blessed with chocolate covered strawberries and words of encouragement to help cheer me up on that sad day! Gary made stir-fry just the way I like it...no veggies, just rice and meat. He also made red velvet cupcakes in a jar with cream cheese frosting. So yummy! My friends and family helped me feel so loved. I was spoiled rotten this year. I am so grateful!

BANQUET Blue and Gold. We have once again entered into the land of Pinewood Derbys and Blue and Gold Banquets. Carson loves Cub Scouts. This year's theme was Cowboys and Indians. His den did a skit. Scene: Cowboys on one side shooting guns at the Indians, Indians on the other side shooting arrows at the cowboys. Just at the point that things are getting pretty scary, in walks the hero (Carson) who throws his hands out and says "BOP" (which is "STOP" in Carson-ese) and then he said "let's be friends!" The cowboys and Indians see the error of their ways, they put their arms around each other and walk off into the sunset. Cue the applause! So cute!

I will spare you the details of what happened before the banquet started...let's just say it had to do with poop. My friend told me I was going to heaven. Gary is not so sure about that but hey, it's my birthmonth I can dream if I want to!

Goodbye February, thanks for the memories. I look forward to seeing you again next year.

It's Your Mom!

Yesterday I called Chris.

He has been away at college since August although he did come home for three weeks for Christmas.

I have been worried about him (I can hear you now...Shanon? Worried?!) so I thought I'd just call for a minute to give him a pep talk. I stink at pep talks, by-the-way.

He answered the phone and I said "Hi, Chris!" He said hi back.

Then he said "who is this?!"

Gary says he didn't recognize me because my voice sounds different. I have a cold. A cold that I got after I ate spinach and healthy chicken noodle soup with carrots, onions, and celery. I also exercised last week.

Things I have learned this week:

(1) my son doesn't remember who I am.
(2) exercise and vegetables will cause you to take to your death bed.
(3) my husband will not use his sick days to stay home to take care of me
(4) Lifetime movies are the cheesiest....I could act better than that
(5) sometimes I miss cable TV
(6) mammograms hurt like the dickens
(7) having a pelvic ultrasound is no picnic ("you want to stick that wand where?!")
(8) pap smears aren't that fun either
(9) having 5 kids does bad things to a bladder (drink lots of water and hold it for over an hour?!--see #7)
(10) my ovaries did not explode
(11) all my tests came back normal (hooray for that)
(12) the pain I have been having is psychosomatic (just ask my husband)
(13) I might be a bit cranky

Some good things happened this week too, but right now I'm having a pity party and focusing on the positive would kind of mess with my plan to wallow in my misery. I know...that's so unusual for me...to focus on the negative!

If my father-in-law were here he would tell me that what I need is a good cup o' tea.

Well...back to my sick bed I go. There are several cheesy Lifetime movies I haven't seen yet.

The Sky Is Falling

Gary and I were driving home and got stopped at a red light underneath the toll road. I heard the cars driving over us.

Me: "I hope the road doesn't collapse."
Gary: "That would be bad...very bad!"
Me: "That thought never crossed your mind, did it?"
Gary: "Nope."
Me: "See what it's like to live in my head?"
Gary: "You do have a knack for worrying!"

Then the light changed. Phew! That was a close one.



See...it happens ALL THE TIME!

I don't have curly hair

I have this friend on Facebook.

She reads my blog, tells me I am funny and thinks I should write a book. She says she would even buy my book. I like this friend. She is very good for my ego and so so nice.

One day she said that she always knew I would be a good mom. My husband asked me who she was.

I told him, "I don't know and it's driving me crazy."

I have wracked my brain for the last year trying to figure out who she is. I thought maybe she was a friend from school but somehow I got the impression that she was younger than me. Then one day I noticed that she was a mutual friend of a good friend of mine from Florida. Someone I met after I was married and had children who is an awesome school teacher. So I thought that maybe she was a teacher. I have been going through my memory bank (which is sorely lacking in "funds") trying to remember all of the teachers we have had through the years. I was going to ask my friend to give me a hint. Secretly, of course, so that no one ever found out what a bad memory I had.

Then today my friend on facebook wrote this on my wall:

Shanon, just saw your post......thanks for your humor (can so relate to it) & here's wishing you & yours a very safe, happy & healthy New Year! *toasting* Look forward to reading your "works of art" this year (when's that book coming out?)!

See why I love her so much?!

Then our mutual friend wrote this on my wall (or her wall, I'm not sure):

Hi Gwen! How do you know my friend Shannon? What a small world we live in!!!

This was her response:

The wonders of "Quill" (ha!)....I used to look forward to seeing her when she was outta school & would come work there....good times while working. I just remember loads of curly hair, great sense of humor, lots of laughter....most peeps at Quill were really great :-)

I googled Quill (see I use google all the time!) I tried to remember what Quill was and when I worked there?! Then the light bulb came on.

Oh, my good friend Gwen. You have been a mystery to me for a while now. I finally figured it out.

I don't know you!

I love you though. Thank you for all of your nice compliments. They have really brightened my day on many occasions! Can we still be friends?!

Who Needs Cleaning

I put away all the Christmas decorations last week. I decided that the mantle was kind of sad and lonely without all the Santas and I was bored with what was up there before so I went looking for something new. This is what I came up with. It took me ALL day! I polled the family to see what they thought.

Kinsey: It looks great now leave it alone and take me shopping.
Chris: I think it looks too crowded. (I said who asked you? Now go away until you have something nice to say!)
Jared: I like the duck! Now can I go back to my game?!
Gary: Hey.....I like it, but I liked the 2000 other ways you had it too.
Emily: she was gone
Carson: Did you say something? I'm too busy watching Despicable Me for the millionth time.

I have made them pause throughout the week to ooh and ahh over it. I can't tell you how thrilled they are!

So, what do you think? Now, when I ask what you think, I really want you to just tell me how wonderful it is. Okay?!