The Late Gina

It has now been a month and a half since the passing of our dear Gina, and I feel like we are through the mourning process and can now celebrate her life.

Ok, so I've made light of this a little, but for both Andrew and I, Gina was a member of the family.  To all you cat haters out there, I understand.  If you check earlier posts, I was attacked by a cat last summer and certain cats still scare the bejeebers out of me, whatever bejeebers are.

First I will tell you about Gina:
In October 2010, Andrew and I had lived in Fort Collins for about two months.  I was working full time, he was going to school full time.  School ended up being a little more time consuming that he anticipated, which left me alone and bored most weeknights while he did homework or studied or wrote papers or read text books.  One night I asked dear Andrew if it would be alright if we got a kitten, so I could have a friend.  He replied with, "That might be Ok.  Let's look into that."  I do not think he expected me to have found a kitten by the next afternoon.  I called him on my way home from work and told him I had found a woman whose cat had just had kittens and she would give us one for free.  Andrew's retort was, "I said we could look into it, I didn't think you'd have signed the adoption papers already..."  But he loves me, so we went to look at the kittens.

We picked the smallest kitten, a little girl.  We promptly (at 10pm on a weeknight) went to Wal-Mart to get litter, a cat box, and some food for our newest addition.  Andrew picked the name Gina (I wanted Izzy but i wasn't going to complain because I had my kitten).  That first night was....rough.  She slept between us, crawled on our heads, bit our ears, and meowed and meowed and meowed, I'm certain because she missed her family. After two nights of that, Andrew had had enough and we turned our spare room into "Gina's Room"  For the first few months we had to shut her in there during the night or else she wouldn't sleep.  She would start meowing at about 2 or 3am, and one of us would go in, pet her for a second and then shut the door and she would be just fine.

2 days after we got Gina

When I woke up in the mornings I would let Gina out and she would sit on my shoulder while I got ready for work (Yes, my shoulder.  Like a bird.  Or when I brushed my teeth she would hope on my back and fall asleep promptly while I was spitting and rinsing.).

Andrew became a quick fan of Gina as well, and I would regularly find them "studying" together

We also regularly found Gina in interesting places, such as in a hole in the cupboard, and in Andrew's shoe holder thinggy!

Now, just before her one year birthday, we started having some male cats hanging around the house wishing to..."court" her.  Well, our 800 sq. ft. apartment couldn't accommodate a litter of kittens, so we had Gina spayed (after which the male cats were never to be seen again...)  The day we brought her home, the vet said she would be "drunk" for up to 48 hours.  I thought that meant drowsy, sleepy and a bit out of it.  No, she meant drunk.  The vet advised we put her in a room where she couldn't jump on anything.  I don't know about any of you but I don't have a room with nothing in it.  I put her in the bathroom thinking it'd be safest.  I kept hearing this "thunk...thunk...thunk" noise and when I went to check on her, she was attempting to jump onto the tub, but couldn't jump.  So....she was just hitting the side of the tub with her head.  While babysitting her to make sure she didn't cause herself significant traumatic brain damage I got a few videos.

Gina was an unusually social cat as well.  She had trouble getting along with children under the age of three, as well as other mammals, but any other creature she loved.  Andrew and I both grew up with lots of animals, particularly cats.  We mentioned many times how none of the cats we have ever had were as social as Gina.  She wanted to be around people always.  Even when she wasn't hungry!!  She had a habit of jumping into neighbors cars, scaring people on the walkway, and going into other people's houses, just to say hi!

Gina loved to be outside too, and she is a cat, so she loved to hunt.  Although she didn't hunt to kill, she hunted to play.

Her playmate, a little garden snake

It took her awhile to learn, but once she got the hang of climbing things, she climbed everything.  Trees, bushes, sides of houses etc.

 

 We took Gina to travel with us a couple of times, but it really didn't work out well, and she didn't enjoy it, therefore, we asked friends to take care of her, which she enjoyed because she loved people!  In April of this year Andrew and I went on a trip for a few days.  We asked our neighbor and friend to come let Gina in and out, and to feed her.  We told our neighbor that she could stay as long as she wanted, play with Gina if she wanted, and to let Gina out if she wanted.  When we left, Gina was outside already.

Well...during the weekend, Gina never came around.  Our friend said she came over twice a day and even stuck around for 30-45 min. one afternoon.  We got home on Sunday evening, about 8pm, and left the doors open and lights on so Gina could know we were there.  We started to get a little worried.  

After about 45 minutes of being home, I heard her meow, and she wandered into the house, looking tired and dirty.  She went immediately to her food dish.  While she was eating, I noticed a large gash near her tail, and called for Andrew.  We could not tell how deep or how big the gash was because it was covered by her tail and a lot of fur, but we could tell that she was not doing well.  She went and just laid down, looking like she was in a lot of pain.  She couldn't walk very well and the gash was pretty bad looking.  We decided that we needed to take her to the vet (and on a Sunday night that means the animal ER...which means expensive.)

When we got there, they told us they would need to use local anesthesia to numb her so they could shave her and find out what was wrong.  After several attempts at that, she was screaming and bouncing off the walls, not letting the vet touch her, so the vet let us know that she would have to use general anesthesia and have her out so they could check her out.  After about an hour or so, they finally came to us and told us we could go back.  Gina's butt was shaved and it was apparent that the "gash" was a lot worse than we originally thought. She had clearly been attacked by some sort of animal, possibly a dog or a fox. She had a terrible hole that extended across her rectum and up into her abdomen.  The vet told us she had about a 5% chance of living IF we decided to do a $3500 abdominal surgery.  I cried and cried knowing that we needed to put her down.  At this point it was about 10.30pm, we were tired and the evening had been incredibly emotional and trying as it was.  I cried and cried as they put her down.  

Andrew and I got home about 11:30pm and again, we were exhausted.  We felt the loss of Gina, as strange as it sounds.  For the next several days we struggled, because Gina truly was part of our family.  We felt awful because it looked like the attack happened early in the weekend, and we didn't get home until Sunday night.  I felt like we made her suffer.  It was sad and hard to deal with, but we managed.

That is the short version of our Gina.  I know, she is "just" a cat, and now that we are having a baby, the baby is going to be more important than the cat, but as I mentioned, she was important to us and we loved her dearly and she taught us a lot about patience and love and truly caring for a creature other than ourselves.

Pink Sheets

It may seem strange to you that I am writing about our bed, but this is what I thought of while cleaning the house (yes, despite the last entry, I DO clean the house...) and specifically putting the (pink) sheets on the bed yesterday.

Let me preface this with a little story:
When Andrew and I first got married we both had a really difficult time sleeping. We concluded it was because our bed was too small and that we needed to get a king-size bed. We both worried about kicking each other or pushing the other off the bed. Andrew so desperately wanted to build the bed frame however. I was skeptical to say the least, but who am I to thwart ones creative genius?? Well, Andrew built a king-sized platform bed frame, we bought a king-size bed, and wouldn't you know....king-size sheets aren't cheap! We bought a set at Ross to start with.

Now: a couple of months ago while in Ross again (we spend a lot of time there it seems..) I found some sheets that appeared Red. They were really nice, good quality, high thread count, you know...all the things that matter when buying sheets! Andrew told me he thought they looked kind of pink, but I insisted they were maroon or red or something other than hot pink. He let me get them. Well....after getting them home, washing and drying them and putting them on the bed I saw that, alas, they were (and still are!) hot pink.

Yes, Hot Pink. So, although it is slightly embarrassing when we take our pillows somewhere for us (especially Andrew) to be traipsing around with a hot pink pillow, it's what we've got! And ya know what, when all is said and done, it doesn't really matter that much because...the bed is made!

(The cat is NOT just an accessory). Coincidentally, 3 1/2 weeks later for Christmas we got a brand new set of nice, neutral, brown sheets. Hey, you can never have too many sheets right?

Anyone trying to say the sheets are NOT pink is like saying that my parents house is not pink. If you have ever seen my parents house, you KNOW that it is...PINK. Yes, they live in the desert of Arizona and so many people say, "Oh, I'm sure its a taupe, or a brown, or a sandstone color. Maybe even mauve. Typical colors for adobe type houses." No, my parent's house is pink. With purple trim even! And we love it.

Gender Roles

Andrew and I often discuss how we tend to gravitate toward the opposite gender role than that of which we were born into. We regularly joke about this and wonder if it will cause our children much angst. Let me explain to you what I mean.

Andrew is currently a full-time graduate student at Colorado State University. He has had a couple really busy semesters, but has also had a couple semesters that have been ridiculously light. I currently work full time and commute about 35 minutes each way to and from work. I also work what we will call "overtime" hours, which has made it so recently I've been working about 50-60 hours per week. This is how the morning works:
I wake up at 5:40am, start getting ready. Andrew wakes up at 6:05 am, asks what I want for breakfast and lunch and heads downstairs to start getting it ready. I come downstairs, he hands me my breakfast, and finishes making my lunch. I finish my breakfast, he hands me my lunch, my keys, my purse, my workout bag, my coat and kisses me goodbye, sending me off for the day while I hollar, "Please remember to clean out the litter box this morning!", that is 6:25 am.
Often times I will not get back up until 8 or 9pm due to work. He calls around 7, asks if there is something I'd like to have for dinner. Usually something is ready when I get home.

Example number 2: My idea of relaxing on a day after work, or on the weekend after a crazy week is sitting on the couch staring at a movie or at the tv, or even just at the blank screen. Andrews is the make granola or bread. I've never made bread in my life. Andrew makes it every couple of weeks. He also makes awesome granola for us to have for breakfast. He also really likes baking cookies. A lot. I don't.

Next: It was Andrew that made the final decision to start trying to get pregnant.

And then there are funny things like Andrew's field of study is Marriage and Family Therapy. He is sensative, soft spoken and an awesome listener. I am an Athletic Trainer. I deal with sports injuries, blood and broken bones all day long. I have to yell at people and tell them to calm down, fight with parents and coaches and high school kids all day long.

Something we have very much in common is the fact that we both like shoes. Yes, I still have more pairs of shoes than he does, but he has a lot more shoes than the "average" guy (whatever that is...). Story: when we were moving 2 months ago we had andrews shoes packed in a large plastic bin labeled "ANDREW'S SHOES". He specifically told me, only 1/2 joking, that he didn't want any of the guys taking that bin out to the moving truck. He said he didn't want anyone knowing his secret! All of the sudden from the back room I hear one of the guys helpping us start laughing and say, "holy cow! This ENTIRE bin is FULL of ANDREW'S SHOES??" I naturally run back to the room and say, "er, you weren't supposed to see that!".
On the good side of that, we keep eachother in checks and balances when it comes to the purchasing of footwear.

Andrew likes to grocery shop. I hate it. If we don't have a minor spice or ingrediant for a meal I say "Skip it, we make the meal without it." He says, "Ill be back in a jiffy! We NEED to have paprika in this recipe!"

Don't get me wrong though, ladies and gentlemen. There are plenty of manly things that Andrew is good at. He changes the oil, brake pads, rotors etc on our cars. He's a crazy good long-boarder and hockey player, he's a great raquet ball player, snowboarder and skiier. Plus, he cannot seem to understand why I make such a big deal about when the bed doesn't get made, floors mopped, cars vacuumed, dishes put away etc, and if he had it his way, we would have a picture of Albert Einstein's head on our bedroom wall forever because "its cool".

I just love Andrew. We have a lot of fun together, we laugh even more, and we balance eachother out really well. The way we have worked out our specific roles works for us right now. We will adjust when then time comes.

The Peanut

Most of you know it, but I guess we had better "prove it". There is going to be a Rigdon Jr., or Juniorette joining us in June (all those J's were not planned...). The kid has been baking for 23 weeks now. We have had an 8 week ultrasound and a 20 week ultrasound.

16 Weeks

We will not bore you with all the details of peeing on a stick, morning sickness, and an ever growing belly, but here are some fun pictures! This first one is when Brittney first started noticing a difference, but no one else could....

18 Weeks

Christmas in Colorado Springs, a little tiny itty bitty belly with the Lemons family. We announced to the Rigdon side over Thanksgiving, and to the Lemons side about the same time, but this is the first time we saw the Lemons' since being "with child".

21 Weeks

Someone told us once (actually, everyone says it..) it was good to go swimming whilst pregnant. It's good for the baby, they say. Well, we walk into the indoor pool at CSU and the 18 year old lifeguard approaches Britt and asks her to put on a "real bathing suit". After explaining that this WAS a real bathing suit and going back and forth with her for a few minutes Britt gets frustrated and says, "Look, I'm pregnant and my boobs are too big so I have to wear a sports bra underneath it!" Lifeguard girl gets VERY uncomfortable and excuses us.

What is one supposed to DO with a diaper?

23 Weeks

The Man behind all the mischief

Andrew is pretty excited. He sends text messages with potential names every day. All the boy names that he likes, I like for girls. All the girl names I like, he likes for boys. Slight dilemma. Now the next question many might be pondering is, "well goodness, if you are 23 weeks along, AND you've had the 20 week ultrasound, what IS it? A boy or a girl." We are not finding out. No, not because we love a good surprise! But, for those of you who are familiar with Father Lemons, Vince, you know he is a betting man. A Gamblin' Man. He has a new hobby of offering mothers to be and their baby daddy a significant sum of dollars to NOT find out the gender. Not a soul has taken him up on this generous offer. And we are quite sure he expected us to follow suit. He forgot in the moment that he made the offer, however, that we have enough school debt and are poor enough that it doesn't take a whole lot of money to convince us. So not only is our little family growing, but we are making a few bucks off of it!

So there you have it. Some of you may be thinking that the two of us will make scary parents, and you are correct. There isn't much we can do about that now, and all of you "forever held your peace" when we got married!

OUR story

Ok, maybe we are not the best at maintaining a blog. I don't feel like its right to say we are going to "get back to it" because 3 blog posts don't really count as being committed to blogging. But we will attempt to do better.

How we met

Some of you know Andrew, and some of you know me, but only a few of you know US. So I figured it was about time to tell OUR STORY. Andrew and I have an interesting history, to say the least.

September 2005: yes, the story begins over 6 years ago. I started my sophomore year at BYU and I needed a job. I got a job at the Global Service Desk. That is the tech support office for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I worked on a team that was the home base for people who were installing wireless internet into church, institutes, seminary buildings and family history centers across the United States. Andrew was on that team, along with several other BYU students. Well, everyone on the team was SUPER nice to me, except Andrew. He wouldn’t say two words to me. But alas, you can’t win them all, right? I happen to be so charming, however, that I broke through his shell and we became work pals. One day at work we were talking about BYU homecoming week and how the next day free pancakes would be served. We decided we would get some friends together and go together. I think we both were semi interested in eachother, but we gotta start slow.

We became good friends, but I started dating someone else, and dated him for several months. Andrew and I stayed friends through that whole semester, and in January, my boyfriend and I broke up. But no no no, Andrew and I did not start dating then. We started hanging out a lot though.

"Hanging out" at his apartment sometime in 2006

Fast forward to April, end of the semester, I was about to go to Vienna to study abroad for the summer. I asked Andrew on our first date (he was kinda shy back then, guys..). Our first date consisted of going to Color Me Mine and painting sushi plates for eachother (which we still have!). That evening, we got back to my apartment. Previously in the evening Andrew had told me that he walked in on a Mary Kay party the other day and participated in the Satin Lips event. Well, in my apartment, before he left, I gave him a hug and he looks at me and said, “Ya know, I still have Satin lips…” Well, I caught the hint. First kiss, accomplished.

I went to Vienna, and just before I came home I remember thinking, “uh-oh. I hope he doesn’t think we are TOGETHER!” So I wrote him a very clear email stating that I wanted to be friends and I didn’t want him thinking that we were a couple.

Through the next few months we hung out a lot, we went on a date or two, but I could not commit to dating him. In fact, he asked me to give it a shot, and I did for two weeks. But then I broke up with him. It just didn’t feel right and I don’t know why. Once again, I started dating another person just after Thanksgiving (we are now in 2006). Well Andrew and I didn’t talk too much between then and April, when the semester ended and I went to Arizona for the summer. Well the guy I was dating and I broke up that summer. And in fall 2007 I went back for my Senior year of BYU.

That first semester I decided that I needed a break from school and I wanted to go on a mission for my church. I distinctly remember Andrew saying to me, “you don’t seem like the type of person to go on a mission.” I also remember thinking, “I’ll show YOU!” We were very good friends that semester, and just after Christmas as I was preparing to go on my mission to South Korea, Andrew came down to Arizona to visit.

Well I was gone for 1.5 years. But I had a distinct thought towards the end of my mission that Andrew and I would probably start dating when I got back. Again I thought, “I dunno if that’s what I want…” But I went home and by that point (after knowing eachother for 4 years) Andrew and I had become best friends.

My best friend and I, goin to the temple

Through several years of up and downs and working together, and spending so much time together, we really were best friends.

I think we were cleaning the floor..?

Well Lucky for me, Andrew was still living in Provo and working in a nearby town. He had graduated a few years earlier and was just working.

I went back to finish my degree and we started doing things together every day.

Getting ready for a BEATLES party

Jammin to Beatles on rockband, we are THAT cool!

The first time he kissed me (this time) I said, “what are you doing??? We are not dating!” He said, “Hey, I never said we were. This doesn’t mean we are exclusive! CALM DOWN!” well slowly but surely we started dating. We saw eachtoher every day even though both of us were so busy in our own worlds.

Welp, fast forward to April 2010. I was getting ready to graduate, I didn’t know where Andrew and I were going, and he was unsure about getting married. I decided that after graduation if Andrew hadn’t made a decision by graduation, then I would need to break it off and move home to Arizona, because there wasn’t anything for me in Provo except Andrew. Well, coincidently enough, the day I had planned to break up with Andrew, he proposed to me.

He went to his house to pick him up, my family was coming into town for graduation and we were going to dinner with them (my roommate had convinced me to wait to break up with him…she knew something…). Well Andrew said his brother had a dead battery at work (which was the same place we worked at together) and asked if we could go give it a jump. So we went out there and they “jumped” the car that did not have a dead battery. His brother told us that we could look around the building etc since it had changed so much since we worked there. I thought, “uh, ok. Its raining, its 40 degrees outside, and my parents are waiting for us…but sure, lets look around.” We went inside, talked to some people, and then Andrew says “Hey lets go walk down the path and look at the place I camped at a few times!” I said, “Andrew, its cold…its raining….” Andrew: “please?? It was so fun! Plus remember how we used to go on walks out here all the time! Lets go! Just really fast??” Brittney: “fine…” (ps…im not a fan of cold….). So we are going down this path, its raining, and we see two baby cougars walk out from the brush. Andrew: COOL! Lets get closer!” Brittney: “HELLO??? Baby cougars means MAMA cougar is somewhere…lets GO!” Andrew: “Lets go around them…come on!” So we are walking through the muddy grass when he grabs my hand and I turn around to say “WHAT?? ITS COLD OUT HERE!” and instead I see him on his knee. BOOM, engaged.

8 weeks later we were married.

4 weeks later we moved to Colorado.

2 weeks later I started my job as an Athletic Trainer.

1 week later Andrew began graduate school after 3 years of no school.

And here we are!

Lemons Family Rules

Dedicated to Joyce and Vince Lemons (Oops, Joyce Eagar-Lemons :))
BRITTNEY: While speaking via Skype with my mother-in-law, she told me I really ought to document some of the rules my parents had for us while we were growing up. I know that all children are different and so parents need to cater their punishments and beatings to the personalities of the children. And that's what my parents did. Oh...is that what they did. Now many of these rules had sub-rules so that all of the "loopholes" as my MIL calls them, are covered. My parents (Joyce and Vince, lovely people really, despite my memory of some of the punishments) also had a sub-clause that stated they could add or take away from rules, punishments and beatings as they saw fit..because they were the parents. That's the worst phrase to hear as a kid: "because i'm the parent". Shudder.
Rules, in no particular order except perhaps the ones I remember most are being listed first because they were seared into my head.

1. You must eat all food on your plate. Always. Sub-rules: you must take at least one spoonful of everything prepared for dinner, but you do not have to have seconds if you do not like it. If you choose not to finish everything on your plate, you do not get any other food to eat until the next meal. No snacks, nothin'. Now, if I, as the child, did not serve myself, and say my father served me dinner, maybe the portion was too big. But i had to try everthing on my plate. Sub-rule 2: this rule applies when at friends' houses as well. Mom: "I don't care how much you do not like broccoli, if it is served at someone elses house, you will eat at least some of it and smile while doing so."
Lesson learned: I can stomach anything. Seriously. Because of this, maybe i do not like certain foods, but i can eat anything, and i never find myself pushing my peas around my plate when im a guest at someones house. This came in handy while i was in Korea, i ate all sorts of "different" things there.

2. If you complain about what is on the menu for dinner, you are sentanced to a week of cooking dinner for yourself. Sub-rules: the dinner you cook cannot be instant (i.e. ramon noodles, mac and cheese, pb&j, cereal), it must be cooked, and it must include a meat and a vegetable.

3. Because there were five people in the family, the next rule worked well: everyone has 1 weekday/week where they clean up the kitchen after dinner. Each individual is responsible for their own dishes, but then whoever was in charge of clean up had to: clear the table, wipe the table and chair, wipe the counters, stove, sink and inside/outside the microwave, and sweep the floor. Saturdays we were usually gone, and sunday everyone helped out. Occasionally we would be blessed by someone else in the family getting in trouble and their punishment would be to have dinner kitchen duty for a week or two weeks. This meant you got off free for the week. Unless you were the one to get in trouble. Then it wasn't so great.

3. The "JOB BOX". My parents were anti-clutter and anti-stuff-laying-around-the-house. What'd they do about it? They had a job box. If a shoe, a sock, a backpack, a book etc. was left in "common area" (that means: not your bedroom), then it was allowed to be placed in the JOB BOX. If an item was placed in the job box, you had to do a job assigned to you by mom or dad to retrieve that item. No IOUs were allowed, so if monday morning i needed my homework folder from the job box, i had to do my job (usually cleaning spots of the carpet or shoveling snow in Colorado, or sweeping the walkway on Guam) before i could go to school. And those of you that are thinking "you could have snuck the folder into your bag"...wrong. Mom took inventory on the box regularly. And honestly, the punishment for "stealing" from the job box was far worse than the original job would have been. Also, no item was allowed to stay in the job box for more than a week. If it was in there for a week, mom would approach us with a job to do.

4. Promises were always kept. Good and bad. "If you get in trouble at school, you will get in worse trouble at home." True. Always true. "If you lie to us, the punishment will always be worse than if you had just told us the truth in the first place." True again.

5. You ALWAYS finish your homework before the TV goes on. And the TV never goes on before 5pm. We were allowed to watch 2 half hours hows (we usually chose Full House and Home Improvement).

6. Mom will do the laundry, but you have to fold your own laundry and put your own laundry away. And you will fold the laundry while watching your shows at 5pm. Laundry must be completed being folded by the end of the two shows (we had a tendancy to forget about the laundry and just watch).

7. You make your own lunch for school. You may buy hot lunch 1x/week. When you pack a lunch the following must be included: A sandwhich or something to sub as a sandwhich that must be approved by mom, a piece of fruit or some vegetables, and then we were allowed a string cheese or other nutrient filled snack, a less nutrient filled snack (gushers, moon pie etc) and a juice. I made my own lunch starting 1st day of 1st grade. Also, lunches get made the night before. Always. (We found ways around: for one year i took a pickle every day as my vegetable, and my brother took a mayonaise and cornflake sandwhich)

8. You never lie. Ever. Now my sister (Bekka you know i love you) had trouble internalizing this rule. Anthony and I got it down quickly because we hated being grounded, but Bekka seemed to enjoy it. Scenario: Bekka was about 7 or 8 years old. She was in the shower. Suddenly we hear "MOOOOOM. MOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!" coming from the bathroom door. I run to see what the comotion is about, cuz im nosy. Bekka has the door cracked open with just her nose sticking out.
Mom: whats wrong?
Bekka: I cut my leg, see??? (she sticks her leg out of the crack in the door, its dripping wet with water, and also dripping blood. It is clearly a razor cut...i deduce in my 12 year old mind at lightning speed that she had attempted to shave her legs while in the shower and cut her leg).
Mom: what did you do? (always a test to see if the truth will come out, since she already knows)
Bekka: I cut my leg!
Mom: HOW did you cut your leg bekka?
Bekka: well i was coming to talk to you and when i opened the door the corner of the door hit my leg and cut it. (smart, but just wait..)
Mom: well what did you want to come talk to me about?
Bekka: i wanted to tell you that i had cut my leg! I told you!
Mom: but...well how did you cut your leg?
Bekka: On the door.
Mom: And how did that happen again?
Bekka: I was coming to talk to you and cut it.
Mom: and what did you want to talk to me about again?
Bekka: I needed to tell you i cut my leg!
Now, this proceeded for another round or two and then my mom finally asked bekka if she cut her leg with a razor, bekka confessed and was either grounded, or sentanced to kitchen duty for a week.

9. No bouncing/kicking/throwing the ball in the house, no jumping on the furniture (beds included). "If you break it you buy it" meaning, if you break it, you have to fix it or replace it. Now, this did not apply to dishes that get dropped, or other accidents. But if while kicking the ball in the house it broke a lamp, we had to forfeit our allowance for however long it took to replace the lamp. Or, if while jumping on the couch (or wrestling with friends on the couch as one case has it) and the middle wood pannel breaks, you have to purchase the wood to fix it and fix it (with the help of dad).

10. You can disagree, but there is no need to argue, yell, scream and fight. And if you do, you get to hold hands on the couch with the sibling in which you are fighting with on the couch for a period of time determined by the parent (typically dad), because you love eachother and will learn to be near eachother without hitting eachother. This typically resulted in us wrenching eachother's hands trying to cause as much pain as possible without letting out any sort of noise to let dad know we were still fighting, because that would result in more time on the couch.

Now, it may seem like these people were cruel, but alas, they weren't. They were necessary. As we got older they loosened the reigns a bit (because we were so conditioned and kept the rules naturally). Mom told us they figured if they were strict with us as children (and most of these rules i remember from when i was in elementary school), then they would be able to trust us more as we got to be teenagers. I think, in general, this worked the way they had planned. So if any of you want to implement any of these in your household, i say go ahead.

So here in Foco (that's Fort Collins Co. to all of you non colorodoans) our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) is undergoing a big media effort to help try and dispel some of the myths that people might have about our faith. They are going to be showing lots of videos about people in our faith like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqoAGBnLcgo&feature=related. There is also a site www.mormon.org that let's you see other profiles of people in our faith and learn more about that church. It's kind of cool to be part of a project like this.