Why I don't shower everyday

I didn't realize that this was that big of a deal but maybe I'm wrong. The first thing that Sam said after he read my "this is me" post was, "I don't think I would have put in that part about not showering everyday." and then my brother made a point of commenting on my hygiene too. I know that's only two people but there are probably not many people I know who would comment on it even if they were grossed out by it. So I would like state a few of what I think are very legitimate reasons for not showering everyday. Exhibit A: Last night while in the shower, with my bedroom door locked I might add, I hear this-

Bryce- "Bla bla bla bla bla."

Me-(yelling) "What!"

Bryce-(sightly louder)"Bla bla bla bla bla."

Me-(yelling louder) "What Bryce, I can't hear you!"

Bryce- (a little louder)"McKay, bla bla bla a sharpie"

Me-(really yelling now) "What!"

Bryce-(now also yelling)"McKay drew on me with a sharpie!"

Me- (still yelling) "Oookay, take the sharpie away from him and put up!"

Bryce-"Okay"

(30 sec. later, bathroom door opens a crack)

Nate-"Mom, bla bla bla bla bla."

Me-(turning off the shower, still covered in soap) "What!"

Nate- "Can you help me with my homework?" *pause* "When you get out of the shower."

Me-"Yes. Nate. Why is my door unlocked? Can I please shower in peace?"

Nate-"Okay"

Me-*sigh*(turn shower back on)



Here's the thing, this was nothing compared to usual. I was only interrupted twice. Amazing. The few times that I am not interrupted in the shower are the times that I really have to worry. You see if they are not bothering me that means that they are getting into some other sort of trouble. Worse trouble. Full boxes of cereal spilled on the floor. Toilets full of toilet paper. Markers on walls. You name, they've done it.

Why, you might ask, do I not shower in the morning before the kids get up or at night after they go to bed. Well, people, I'll tell you why. I'm Tired! Soo, soo verry tired.

I'm guessing that there may be some of you who feel the same as my dear husband and wonderful brother, and find my personal hygiene to be unacceptable or at least something that shouldn't be advertised. That's fine, but I am also guessing that there are some of you who like me do not have the pleasure of taking a daily shower. So I have posted a survey to find out just where I fit in. Please take a sec. to answer the survey. Don't worry it's anonymous. If you want to be brave and out yourself feel free to leave a comment.

Taven in the News

This is pretty funny. Taven is my nephew, who lives in Lawrence Kansas. He's 3 yrs old and he's stinkin' cute, even if he is a bit misguided in he political views (o:

Senior Pics.

I got to have so much fun yesterday taking pics of Sam's cuz McKae. She is so cute and willing to do anything for a pic. We already had a lot of shots and I asked her if there was anything else she wanted to do. I don't think she was ready to give up her spot as center of attention so she said, how about I clime the tree, then she said what if I jump that fince and we take some over there. Of course I was having a blast and was up for anything she wanted to try. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

This is me

Some one told be once that I was one of those people who give "too much information" I don't fell like I'm one of those people but maybe I am. Never more that right now though. I wrote this more for myself than anything and I didn't know if I should post it or not. Then I thought what I heck, most of it won't come as any surprise to most of you and if it does that's okay. It's who I am. At least some of who I am, and Im just in a sharing sort of mood tonight. So here you go.

This is me, Natalie. I’m 31 years old. I have short dirty blond hair with grown out highlights. I have green eyes, which I think are my best feature. I weigh myself every day, sometimes twice a day, okay, usually twice a day. I recently lost 35 lbs by working out a lot and being hungry a lot. I have 40 lbs to go to reach my goal which is 25 lbs heaver than I was before I had kids. That’s right; I have kids, 5 of them, three boys, two girls, ranging from 2 to almost 10. I have been married for 11 years. I hate being pregnant, but I love having babies. If Sam would go for it I would probably have 3 more. Good thing for my sanity, Sam’s not going for it. I have depression. I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. I’ve seen counselors and I’ve been on meds for 4 years now, and even though they have helped, sometimes things still seem so dark and hopeless that I don’t want to go on. I have lots of friends, really good friends. I have very talented friends and sometimes I get really jealous of their talents. I love to read and sleep and watch movies and TV and go on walks and hikes and take pictures. With a little encouragement from a friend I have finally decided what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a photographer. I love power tools and making things. I would rather be barefoot and usually I am, even in the winter, even outside. I’m mildly afraid of heights. I love having a clean house. I hate cleaning my house. I’m usually always on time and I hate when others are late. I really tried to like scrapbooking, but it turns out that I just don’t. My favorite vacation is Lake Powell. I just found out that I still love skiing. I love laughing. Sometimes when I’m with my friends or family we laugh until the back of my head hurts, I mean really, really hurts. No matter how bad my day was, watching “The Office” will make me happy. I can’t sing, but when I’m in the car I do anyway, really loud. It took me as long to pick the font and color for this page as it’s going to take me to write it. My favorite day of the week is Friday. I like taking the kids to the zoo. Our dog drives me crazy. I like gardening even pulling weeds. I love playing volley ball and in high school I was really good at it. I bite my nails. Not like a regular nail biter. I bite them so short that they bleed. Then when there is no more nail to bite I bite my cuticles until they bleed. I know, gross. I’ve never had a speeding ticket. I like my pants to be long enough that the bottoms wear out from stepping on them. I don’t wear belts ever, never did except when I was little and my mom made me. I’m a procrastinator. I’m a horrible speller and without spell check this would be almost unreadable. I’m good at math (I just wrote meth, and then had to change it. I’m not sure what that says about me.) I’ve never done drugs. I smoked a cigarette once when I was 14. I had my first kiss at Mennonite Camp when I was 11. His name was Nick. I’m not afraid to try new things. I ate a raw oyster once and was sick the rest of the night, really, so, so disgusting, but I did it. My favorite color is red or green or blue or brown. It depends on my mood. I don’t shower every day. I care too much about what other people think. I love going to plays, my favorite is “Wicked”. I love steak. I’ve seen Twilight 5 times. I have a love hate relationship with traveling. I love being in new places, I hate getting to new places. I’m really patient except for when I'm not. I enjoy crying in movies. I value honesty in people above all other traits. I try to always be honest and if being honest might also mean being hurtful I try to keep my mouth shut. That doesn’t always work. I am the Box Top coordinator for my kid’s school. I am assistant leader for Abby’s Girl Scout troop. I am an Independent conservative. I am very much pro-life. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the teaching of the church. I love my family, the one from which I came and the one that I have made. These are just a few of the things that are me. Some of them are embarrassing, some are personal (hopefully not so personal that I’ve made anyone uncomfortable, but then again I shouldn’t care so much about what you think), some are things I’m proud of, and some just are what they are. I like finding out new things about myself. For instance, I really like teaching primary. I didn’t know that until recently, and I think I'm really good at it too. You would have to ask my class to know for sure. I hope I continue to figure myself out as I go, the good and the bad. I just hope that in the end there was more good. By the way the picture at the top is only kind of me. Obviously it’s been edited with special effects (another thing I like doing, editing pictures with special effects).

"It started out with a kiss. How did it end up like this? It was only kiss, it was only a kiss."

I'm a little late with this post because Sam's and my anniversary is so close to Christmas I just didn't have the time to do it then, so I'm doing it now. On December 20th we celebrated 11 years of wedded bliss. I can't believe how fast it's gone by. Well except for that first year when I spent every waking moment wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into, and each of the nine months that I spent pregnant....5x9=45 mo., and those 10 mo. that we spent in Sam's parents basement. Other than all that it has gone by really fast.
Leave it to me to start out by putting a negative spin on the whole thing. Let's see if I can redeem myself. We have definitely had more good times than bad. Sam has always worked really hard so that I am able to stay home and raise our kids. Together we have created an amazing family. We've taken some awesome vacations together and have a very blessed life.
People talk about the seven year itch. We didn't go through that. In fact I think that it was around year seven that we started to find our groove. I heard a talk once where the man speaking was relating a story about a talk he had heard. In this talk the question was asked, "What one thing will guarantee that a marriage will last?". People in the audience gave answers like, "Love" and "Communication". Of course those things are important but the speaker said "No, the one thing that will guarantee a lasting marriage is commitment." I hadn't really thought of that before then, but when I heard it, it rang true.
So, I am grateful to Sam for his commitment to me over the last 11 years. No matter how hard things were or how crazy and difficult I am to be around sometimes, he is always there for me and for that and so many other things, I love him.
Here's to another 50 or 60 or 70 more years of ups and downs and love and laughs. Happy anniversary Sam!

Happy New Year!

At the opening of this new year I hope you...
are happy,
healthy,
and grateful,
do something fun,
make some new year's resolutions to break,
and one or two to keep,
and most of all I hope you have joy in the new year.
Here's to an amazing "2009"
*Cheers*