L-R Ephraim, Elena, Emma, Anya, Cheanna, Duncan

• ~This photo was taken in front of the now-defunct Mineral and Mining Museum in Downtown Phoenix.
• ~It is almost a year old now, from when Richard’s folks were visiting from Idaho
• ~We drove to the museum only to discover that the hours were different from those on the website; it was already closed.
• ~The machinery may have had room for 6 delightful children, but getting them all to pose at the same time was much much harder.
• ~It was a fairly warm day in late April, with just a little breeze.
• ~Everyone can still wear the same shirts they are wearing in this picture.
• ~Four of six cannot wear the same shoes.
• ~Anya’s bangs are starting to grow out again after several self-cuts
• ~Anya had just given me the birthday gift of successfully transferring to big-girl underwear.
• ~Construction is always happening *somewhere* downtown….
• ~Cheanna would join the glasses crew in just a month or two from this picture

Much gratitude to my sister who makes all things bloggy possible.(Except for the content, of which she is completely absolved). Blogiversaries can come and go unnoticed for months, but my sister should not be in the shadows unrecognized (unless she wants to be, taking pictures and all that). We couldn’t be tooting without you.

I love you, sis. Thanks.

Just a few notables from the past 30 days:
~My surgery on the 2nd. It was successful and I am feeling much much better! I am not used to feeling this well, and I almost thought I was going into hypomania. How wonderful to know that I can set a new baseline for how I fare physically.

~Cheanna turned 12, graduated from Primary, and started into the Young Women program.

~Elena turned 9, and we celebrated our Solstice baby. Unfortunately the ice cream machine at McD’s was broken, so she didn’t get the cones like she wanted but we did get 5oz samples of their new Mango Pineapple smoothie. We tried to spin the missing ice cream into coming back another time. It was somewhat pacifying.

~Richard and Duncan went to Boy Scout Camp. Richard still has some nasty looking bruises on the back of his legs from some lake incidents. Duncan came back taller than I am.

~Duncan spoke in Sacrament Meeting on the assigned topic of ‘honoring womanhood’. (I’ll try to get a copy off of his computer and post what he wrote)

~Cheanna is on her way to Girls Camp, as a first year camper. We had to turn around to grab her book and her pillow. It looked like she did a great job of packing–time will tell, I guess.

~Ephraim success percentage at putting his urine in the toilet  is 100% . The other half hasn’t clicked just yet. But we are done with diapers!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <– that’s one exclamation point for every year I’ve bought diapers, with no breaks. Bring on the Diego Pants!

~Emma and Elena worked on their Swimming badge for Brownies this week.

~We rearranged our front room, replacing the desk with a loveseat our friends were going to sell at a yard sale. (We bought a desk from them also, so for now Richard and I each have a desk in our room) I really like the way it looks as I come down the stairs in the morning. More cozy, less crazy. At least until I look at the not-yet-labeled bookshelves… July project?

~We missed seeing the extended editions of the Lord of The Rings movies appearing in theatres this month, due to the one night, one showing per movie run. Tuesdays just aren’t open for us that way.

~Anya’s hair is growing back after her scissorcapade a few weeks ago. We tried to get it into a sort of pixie cut and it almost looks intentional. Almost.

~Having a Circle K so close is slowly creating a slushee addiction, especially when it’s in the 110s. Mmmmm, icy.

…and lived to tell you, my dear reader, something about it. We planned to leave the house at 5:30am, but got out the door closer to 6. Even with some road construction we made it to the surgery center in Scottsdale just after 7am, my designated check-in time. Yes, my dear reader, I had finally decided to take my wonderful OB/GYN’s advice to undergo diagnostic laproscopy. My most recent bout of pain in May was so severe (ie not responding to pain meds) that I called her office and asked for her first available surgery slot.

I’m at home now, with three bandaids on my belly, one where my IV was, and as my husband puts it, only slightly bridled enthusiasm for what this will do for my future quality of life. He got to see the pics that I will see at my post-op exam later this month, in particular the one of a not-very-healthy-looking left fallopian tube. That, and some fluid were removed and with them will go my recurring pain, is the hope.

I’m still a little groggy from the anesthesia and definitely sore, so please excuse some disjointedness. It was weird to be back in a hospital setting again after four years. I’m very grateful that Richard can take a couple of sick days for me and then spend the weekend at home taking care of us all. Despite the fact that, wearing an oversized button-up denim dress and simple slip-on sandals, glasses instead of contacts with no lipstick, jewelry, deodorant, hair accessories, etc, he said I looked like I was audtioning for a fundamentalist melodrama…

Time to shuffle on back to a resting position.

One for every year I’ve been blogging.

When my sister gave me a website for my birthday back in 2004, I had some trouble getting it going, despite her best efforts. (hit the mute button, it’s screaming “Update me! Update me!”) I’m still working on my html, she is still incredibly patient, and the sky’s bandwidth’s the limit…

Random Musings gave way to Kazoo–the Weblog which changed to wordpress powered The Bloggeriffic Kazoo.

Give me another five years, and I’ll make good on my promise, sis. (Does fixing up a guest bedroom count?)

-ADDITIONAL-

A quick count of posts puts my total at just over 500, or an average of 100 per year. Given that some of the older ones were series of single photo posts, my blogging to time ratio is pretty pathetic.

I have 290 Bloggeriffic Kazoo posts with 882 comments. I’m not going to go back and figure out how many comments were left pre-August 2006. If I had the time for that, I’d be blogging more, n’est-ce pas?

I’m at a loss for words this afternoon, so I will steal borrow birthday thoughts from loved ones.

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12 February 2009 marked the fifteenth anniversary of my baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My decision to be baptized is far and away the best choice I’ve made in my life. Every good thing in my life either flows from it or was enhanced by it.

My mind was all a flutter Thursday morning–moving details, painting decisions, and waiting for the much anticipated official recording of the escrow documents we had signed the day before. Fifteen years ago I probably felt similarly eager for the journey and fearful of the unknown associated with it.

If anyone had told me that evening that I would be a ‘temple mormon’ with six children  buying my first house (in Arizona of all places), I would have shook my head disbelievingly.

If anyone had told me fifteen years and two months ago that who, what, where, why and how–I would have been rolling-on-the-floor-tears-streaming-down-my-cheeks-gasping-for-breath-laughing. It won’t be that long before my time in the Church exceeds the years without it.

As I sat pondering in Sacrament meeting last week, I started thinking about the prayers and my baptism. I quietly reached for the little notebook I carry in my scriptures and wrote the following:

“I did witness unto God, my Eternal Father, that I was willing to take His Son’s name fifteen years ago.”

I did it again that afternoon, partaking of the bread and drinking from the cup. I’ll do it again next week, and the week after that, two weeks after that, three weeks after that, four weeks after that, six weeks after that…  I’ll get to appreciate the sacrament all the more for not having it the fifth week, right?

A most sweet fruit I’ve tasted over these fifteen years, filling my soul with exceeding great joy. Alas, my words fail me when it comes to expressing it. Just know that it’s there.

Last Monday was a special day, it’s birthday time for her!

Emma’s looks for approval to blow out the candle nestled in her favorite ice cream: chocolate chip cookie dough.

Emma has decided to be baptized and that ordinance will take place on the 28th. She’s interviewed with two bishops at this point because of the move–pretty sure that being approved twice is nice  =)

“I believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to be happy. We should remember to pray so that we can tell Him all about our day and tell Him what we need. and that we can pay our tithing and not for other stuff like games and clothes.”

You can click on the links below to read about Emma’s birthday in years past.

2006 

2007 

 2008 

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my dear reader, I give you: 11 Random Details!

After reading Kandice’s Behind the Scenes a few weeks ago, I thought “I should copy that concept of expounding extra photo details to use over here at the Kazoo”. And it was such a good idea that it went the way of nearly all good ideas in my life and sat untouched for some time. I suppose it finally found its way and came crawling out of that cerebral undergrowth today. Unfortunately, it seems to have dragged a lot of randomness with it.

Enough exposition, on with the show!

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What better way to celebrate than by traipsing down memory lane? Er, what’s that, Mr. Peabody? Nothing beats bad teenage poetry? Set the WABAC for 1993? Done and done!

These gems were uncovered as I sifted through a memory box this evening. Fifteen years later, would you believe, dear reader, that Google currently has no search results matching either “undergrowth of the cerebral plane” or “heart unchained into slavery”? Rock on, 16-year-old me!