Emma Goodman; MD

I am not a big fan of TV, but the one genre of television show that has always been able to capture my attention is the medical shows. We own four seasons of Scrubs, two seasons of MASH, and we have been Netflixing all available Grey's Anatomy seasons. I also used to LOVE ER when George Clooney was on there. My love of these medical dramas and comedies has already been passed on to Emma. It is not uncommon for her to as to requeest 'The Doctors' (Scrubs) when she gets to choose her movie for the day. She is also usually very content to sit quietly in my lap while Ross and I watch Grey's Anatomy- even though there aren't any stuffed dogs or crazy costumes like there are in Scrubs. I figured that this was mostly just because I will sit with her while we watch Scrubs or MASH, but if she chooses the Fish (Finding Nemo), the Pongo Puppies (101 Dalmations), or any other animated flick, I will usually let her watch it alone while I attend to some cleaning, or occasionally some blogging. Emma has always been very affectionate, so I figured her love of these meidcal shows was mostly tied up in the automatic snuggling involved.

It wasn't until a couple weeks ago I realized just how much she is picking up from these shows. Before we moved our computer desk to Ross's make-shift office in the basement, we had a corner of our room that held the computer desk, and underneath it was a lap-top bag with a bunch of old computer wires and other technical equipment that may still be of use at some point. I have some old headphones, and the extra set of my I-pod ear buds in there along with an old mouse and some cable wires.

I got out of the shower one day to find Emma (who had been napping when I got in) playing with all of these wires and I was about to get really upset until I realized what she was doing with them. When I figured it out, I ran for the camera and tried to capture that moment. When I ran off, she yelled after me, "Mommy- SSHHH! Donkey sick and resting! SSHHH! Quiet!" I did not tell her to do any of this, I just watched her. Defribulator?

Stethescope?

Oxygen Mask?

Intubation?

"YAY!! Donkey all better! Donkey gonna make it, Mommy! Yay!"

I found this so cute and I think she is such a smart little cookie, but this experience also really scared me. The medical things are not the only things portrayed in these shows. I am really concerned about how much of the sexual content she has picked up, or the swearing. We have tried to really monitor watch she watches now because we now know just how receptive she really is to the things she is watching. She really is a little spongue just soaking it all up!

Soldier Creek Camping Trip- 2008

OK- I know I am a week behind in most of these big posts. Sorry! I will try to catch up in my spare time today- so be ready for a few posts with A LOT of pictures!

Last weekend was the Wallace family camp out up at Soldier Creek. We decided very last minute that we were going to join all the Wallaces for this year's Soldier Creek excursion. Sara was our main reason for not wanting to go this year, and we pretty much told everyone to not expect us at all. I think I even told my Aunt Carrie the day before that we were not going. I had never been camping with such a young baby and wasn't really sure how she would take the cold at night. We also figured that since Ross took so much time off of work while his family was here that we would have to skip the camp-out so he could catch up. Well, on Thursday morning two of his appointments cancelled, and the third one had been pretty flakey the previous two times they had tried to meet- so we (Ross mostly) decided to pack it all up and we headed out.

Emma was in such a funny mood in the car! Here she is playing peek-a-boo with Daddy's hat.

The flies were really bad this year for some reason, which necessitated the lighting of the citronella candles. This meant that poor Jay got to spend most of the time in his time-out chair. :) He is allergic to citronella, and it made him totally miserable until the sun went down and the flies went away.

Sara was a pretty good sport and spent a lot of her time in her pack 'n play (which is also her crib- we are too cheap to get her a real crib! Emma used the same pack 'n play for 16 months until she upgraded to a twin bed that my mom gave us. My goodness, we have been in these parenthesis so long that I actually forgot all about them!).

This is Garrett- and this is pretty much what he looked like the entire time. He is such a busy little guy, and he LOVES to be dirty. My uncle Allen nick-named him Pig Pen (you know- from Charlie Brown). This started a fun game where we decided who everyone else was from the Peanuts gang. Jessica was Sally, Carrie was Lucy, Heather was Marcie, Dana was Peppermint Patty, Aaron was Schroeder, Spencer was Snoopy, I was the litttle red headed girl, Corbin was Linus, my mom was the teacher (Mwah mwah mwa mwaah), Annika was Lucy- it was an amusing game. I was also happy to see that there are some people who know just as much about Charlie Brown as I do. I thought Peanuts was a dying pleasure- so I was happy to see that the enjoyment of it is alive and well.

Here is my uncle Allen. I wonder what he is thinking so deeply about. . . This is a wonderful game called horse-balls. It is distantly related to horseshoes. Spencer was entertaining the kids by telling them it was a time machine. He had them do all sorts of silly things and kept them busy long enough for Eve to get her dinner cooked and ready.

Emma does not like to take naps- but she is even more stubborn about it when there are fun things (like camping) going on. This meant that by the end of the day she was getting pretty tired and extremely obnoxious. Caulene won the trophy for Favorite Sister of the Day by getting her to sleep. She woke up about 20 minutes later, but she was much happier, so mission accomplished.

My mom and sisters also got the pleasure of having Emma sleep in their GIANT tent. It was nice not having to worry about her, and they said she slept pretty well too. I was a little sad that she didn't even want to say goodnight though. Unfortunately we didn't have the same luck with Sara. She was cold and she ended up in our sleeping bag in my arms (Ross was far too passed out to help very much- his seizure medication does that to him) so I woke up (if I ever really slept) with an extremely sore shoulder. That pinched nerve was just killing me! We decided that since Saturday would mostly consist of packing up and driving home that we would just leave late on Friday night and sleep in our own bed.

This is the hairspray my aunt Lara uses on my cousins. "Help yourself to the Mane and Tail, but don't even think about touching the Verticolli!" Grandpa Wallace took us out on his boat for a bumpy and windy ride. We had a lot of fun! Jay even got in the water and did some water skiing. We were impressed because the water was really cold and very choppy.

Grandpa even let Emma drive.

Just like last year, the boat put Emma right to sleep.

We spent the rest of the day eating (lots of eating happens at these camping trips) and playing games. Pit, Charoodles, and Scattergories were the most popular this year. I also thoroughly enjoyed the fire. That is always my favorite part. We had marshmallows and smores and starburst, and we enjoyed some great conversation. When the fire started to die down and people were heading to bed, we hopped in the car (which Ross packed up all by himself- thanks Babe!) and headed home.

PICTURES!!!

For some reason I thought I had downloaded all of the pictures from the Deseret Village and the dinner at our house onto my computer already, so I deleted them on the morning of the fourth to make room for all of the many pictures I knew I would take. I don't know why I thought this as I hadn't had any time to even breathe, let alone goof around on the computer. I am really sad about this- I had some really cute ones, especially a couple of Judy with Sara, and some fun ones of all the nieces and nephews running amuck in our back yard. If any of you Goodmans (or Russells) have any cute shots that you didn't stupidly delete under a haze of prescription drug mania, please send them along!

This is Emma singing the temple song while we were waiting for Lucy's baptism to start. She always cocks her head to on side while she sings. I am not sure why though. . . This is little Max- the cutest nephew ever! He was so curious about Sara and liked to rock her car seat and share toys and things with her. Notice Emma on the floor in the background. I have no idea what she was doing- probably 'hiding' under the table though.

Here we are at the temple grounds staking our claim.

Jessica, Aaron, Spencer and Tanner. Nathan in missing from this picture because he spent a good amount of his time re-filling the squirt guns at the really slow drinking fountain.

Grandma Jones bonding with a very patriotic Sara Bear.

This kid is so funny! I don't know that I have ever met a more entertaining 7 year old! (This is Nathan)

We were so excited for Miley!!!!

Emma was much easier to entertain once we had Dana around.

Do not even pretend that you have EVER seen a cuter baby!

Here is Spencer proving his advanced maturity- or something like that.

I am not sure what is happening here- would anyone like to enlighten me?

Our little Daddy's girl. Check out those cool clouds!

See, Heather- I told you she liked you!

Here is my sparkling clean little cousin. Congratulations Annika!

This is my Aunt Lara. I have very few pictures of her without that camera in front of her.

Sara thinks Grandpa Wallace is the funniest guy ever. She was giggling so much at his funny little sounds and bird calls. He had a lot of fun with her.

Garrett and Annika got her laughing pretty hard too.

Here is Heather and her lovely assistants of Happiness. They did a really good job!

Grandpa Jones actually came out and joined us this year. He usually hides away in his room, but we were happy to have his company this time.

Here is our cute neighbor Danielle and her caramel apples of happiness! They really are fantastic, but we would let her come even if she didn't bring them. She cracks me up and I always love talking with her

The Hydrant Horsie! (Sorry it is so blurry Mom, I know you were excited for this one.)

What Would You Be If You Could Be. . .

OK- my blogging plan for the day was to post the Fourth of July Pictures, do a Memory Monday post about my dad's old leather recliner in Hawaii, and then maybe start on a post about our Soldier Hollow campling trip. Unfortunately, Blogger and I are not on speaking terms at the moment, and he wont let me put up any pictures- thus foiling all my lovely plans of bloggingness. Instead I will grace you with a survey, and hopefully I can commence all of those lovely image-intense plans tomorrow.

What would you be if you could be ...

A Vegetable? A Cucumber. It is fun to say and spell.
An Animal? I want to say something exciting like a cougar or polar bear or eagle, but I think I would probably just be a small house cat. They are stealthy and smart and mischievous, but they are also usually pet and loved and spoiled.
A Fruit? Mango!! I heart mangoes with all of my. . . heart. (I still want a shirt!)
A Color? According to the test I am most definitely blue, but if I had a choice, I think I would go with a nice pale pink or a bright fire-truck red.
A Household Object? A ball-point pen with just enough ink to make you think I am useful, but not enough to actually write anything of use without multiple scribbly sessions to get the ink flowing. I think it would be fun to watch people (like me) get all frustrated and curse at an inanimate object when clearly they are the ones at fault for not replacing the stupid thing the last time they needed a writing utensil in a hurry and realized that particular one had served its time.
Article of Clothing? Probably one of the cool pairs of panties that I had to get rid of a week before my marriage. I had the funniest underwear! It always made me happy when I thought about it.
A Drink? Either an ice-cold bottle of water or a mango-a-go-go from Jamba Juice.
A Famous Person? Kate Walsh. I could totally be her if I were 20 years older and elongated my face a bit. Ooh- maybe Deborah Messing- but she is way too comfortable with the gays. I could NEVER pull that off.
A Film Character? Mary Jane Watson.
A Cartoon Character? Ariel- only not 16, and I would cover up my ridiculously thin navel, and that 80's poofed out wedding dress would definitely have to go!
A Car? A red 1969 Camaro- at least I think that is the year I like. I would have to ask Ross.
A City? London.
A Country? Ireland.
A Mythical Creature? I guess I should say a mermaid what with my Ariel answer above, but I think I would make a pretty good witch. Ginny and I would totally get along.
A Chocolate Bar? Nutrageous- only I think they discontinued those because I was the only one who ever liked them. Sad, really.
A Book Character? I am expected to say Anne Shirley here, and I would if I hadn't met L. M. Montgomery's other orphaned author, Emily. Emily and I truly are kindred spirits. Anne and I have a lot in common, and I love that we share the same dreaded carrot-hair, but she was so extreme. Emily really spoke to my soul. Also, given the choice between Gilbert and Ned, I would take Ned any day! I know I am over-analyzing this a little, but I am a reader- that is what we do!
A Sport? Figure Skating. I loves it.
A Word? Ross says Feisty. I can't think of just one, so we will stick with that. Anyone else have any good recommendations?
One of Your Family? I think I am happy with who I am. There are traits that each of my sisters have that I wish I had, but in general I think we are all on the paths we should be.
One Of Your Friends? Again, I am happy where I am, but I sure wouldn't mind re-living my newly-wed, pre-children days like Carrie and Nate.