Sleep, how I miss thee

Before I had children, I didn't believe in sleep-deprivation. Now that I have been walking around with it for over 11 years, I tend to agree that it's real. Why, oh why, is it so hard to get a night of uninterrupted sleep? You'd think that children would be so warn out from playing that they'd pass out and nothing could wake them. And yet, I haven't had a night without being woken up by one of them in....I can't even remember! (Except for my blissful weekend in Vegas, of course. But then I was sleeping on a board instead of my nice pillow top mattress, so it was a trade-off.) It's so sad that as I am making breakfast, I'm trying to figure out when my schedule will let me take a nap that day.
Have you ever seen those Dateline investigations where the kids sleep through the fire alarm? Yeah, that wouldn't be one of my kids. Each night it's one thing or another. One of them needs a drink, or is hungry, or just thinks it's time to be up. And since Hailey is the only one with her own room (and is the only one that doesn't wake me up), I have to shush them up before they wake the sibling in the room. Because then all hell breaks loose. I am not very nice when I'm tired. It's amazing how much anger you can convey in a loud whisper. I'm sure I don't help things when I say "Shhhh!", with all the sympathy of a jail warden. When they have a bad dream or are sick, I couldn't be nicer in getting them what they need or helping them not be scared. It's the waking up and refusing to go back to sleep when there's nothing wrong that I freak out about. Am I alone in this?
As I lay in bed at 4:30 this morning, knowing I only had 70 minutes until the baby would wake up for the day, I longed for the time when I will close my eyes at 11 pm, and don't open them again until 6:30 am. Everyone says I will miss these times, once the kids are older and all in school. I can guarantee that nighttime will not be one of those times.

ETA: I should explain that I don't get mad at the baby when she wakes up. Frustrated, yes, but it's not like I get mad at her. It's the kids in the 7-3 year old range that get to me. :)

Stephenie Meyer

My book group and I all love Stephenie Meyer's books. Her latest book "The Host" debuted at #1 on the NY Times bestseller list last week. She came to Utah last weekend on her book tour and we were lucky enough to get tickets and see her at Thanksgiving Point. She answered preselected audience questions and then signed our books. Unfortunately, none of my photos turned out very well. That weekend our group was also very happy to host the founders of the Twilight Lexicon, Lori (Alphie) and Laura (Pel). We had a big dinner for them and we had a lot of laughs (as always).





I love Stephenie's stories. I would recommend them to any of our female readers, as they are quite romantic, yet clean, which is so hard to find these days. If you haven't read them, and decide to give them a try, avoid reading the back cover of any of them, as it gives away a lot of the plot. I was so surprised that I liked the series (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse), because it is considered Young Adult fiction, but I shouldn't have been. Didn't I learn from Harry Potter that good storytelling is just that, good storytelling?
Her newest book, The Host, was quite a surprise, too. If you had told me a year ago that I would read a book about aliens and love it, I would have laughed out loud. But this book was amazing. It's not so much about aliens as it is about the power of love and it's ability to change people. I won't say more, just know that if you are looking for a new book to read, I highly recommend it.

Rachel's first year

Look who's 1 !!!!

Today our sweet, beautiful, hat-loving, funny-face making, happy-screaming, insomniac baby is one! In some ways it is hard to believe it's been a year since she was born, but most of the time, we can't remember life without her. All morning I kept looking at the clock and remembering, "That's when I had my first contraction", etc. I know, kind-of cheesy of me, but I couldn't help it.

Rachel has brought us so much joy and laughter. It's amazing to watch how much all of the kids love her. They can't walk by her without kissing her, or making her laugh. It is so sweet. The last few weeks she has started making the funniest faces while she's eating, tightening all of her muscles in her arms and face and screaming at the top of her lungs. The best is when she also scrunches up her face. We laugh so hard and she is so pleased with herself for making us do it. I don't know where she gets it, since Greg and I are so reserved and never performed for anyone ourselves. (Hee hee).

Greg was up in Idaho and came home this evening, so we waited for him to do the cake and presents. She loved making a mess of course. And the kids loved helping her blow out the candle and unwrapping the gifts. ie: they did it all themselves. She loved all of the attention and was worn out by the time we put her to bed.


We love our Rachel and are so glad she came to us. The Poulton Gang wouldn't be complete without her!

Ethan Kevin McGuire is here!

Kevin and Shawn had a healthy baby boy last Thursday afternoon! I've been waiting to have some pictures, and his name, to post with my wonderful news. (It took them awhile to name him, just like it did for Greg and I with all of ours!) He is so cute and I can't wait to hold him. He definitely has those Wright cheeks. Shawn did really well, she was only in labor for 7 hours. Since he is her first, that's awesome! I am so excited for them. Being a first time parent is such an amazing, overwhelming, all-consuming thing and I know they will handle it well. Ethan could not have come to better parents. Congrats LITTLE brother!

Weekend getaway

I have been such a slacker getting this updated with everything we've done lately. Life has been crazy this week.
So after we came home from Idaho, I had one day to do laundry and then Greg and I headed to Vegas for some much needed 'us' time! Greg's folks watched the kids, and we drove all day Friday to Sin City.
We used Hotwire, since it was a last minute trip, and we requested a 4 star hotel. Not being very familiar with Vegas, when it showed us a map with the hotel's location, we thought it looked like a good spot. It wasn't until after we'd paid for it that we found we were booked at The Golden Nugget. Do not stay there. Ever. It is in the old part of Vegas, the seedy part. The interior, including the rooms, have been redecorated, so they look nice. But it's all just an illusion. We arrive in our room and sit on the bed. Uh-oh. It had to have been older than both of us. You could feel every spring and it creaked like no tomorrow. I decided to take a shower after our drive, before we head out for the night. But the shower was full of dust, as were the faucet knobs on the sink! It was filthy. So after a not very nice phone call to housekeeping, they came and took care of it.
We went downstairs and had some dinner, people watching the entire time. I am going to sound like such a snob, when I have no right to be one, but the people staying there weren't exactly what you would call sophisticated. There was an element I couldn't quite put my finger on while there. But when we went to the Venetian Shops after dinner, we breathed a sigh of relief. These were more our kind-of people. Does that make sense? Not like we could buy anything or had the money most of them did, but it felt better.
The next day we parked at the Bellagio, and wow. What a beautiful place. We promised ourselves that someday we are staying there. We got a gelatto and went out and waited for the fountains, but got impatient and crossed the street to Paris. That was kind of a let-down, so we went next door and did some shopping at the Million Mile shops, attached to Planet Hollywood. We ate lunch and saw the guy who played Jaws in the James Bond movies. While there, Greg talked me into getting our caricatures drawn. I think he did a really bad job on Greg, personally.
I guess I should have mentioned at the beginning that the whole reason we went down is because Greg's friend Ken Craig got free tickets to see Van Halen that weekend. It was a benefit concert for Tiger Woods' foundation. So that night we met Ken and his wife Katie for dinner at Company, a new restaurant at The Luxor. It was so fun to hang out, as I've never spent much time with them. (Ken and Greg became friends their Freshman year at BYU.) After dinner we went to the concert, and let's just say we were probably the only ones not drunk or high in attendance. While waiting for the concert to start, Greg spotted Robin Leach! (I tried taking a picture but it was too dark.) For some reason, I'm thinking he was just there to support Tiger. I can't really see him as a Van Halen fan, can you? But I guess they can span all generations.....
Tiger finally came hobbling out, as he'd just had knee surgery, and introduced the band and then the concert began. David Lee Roth was with them, so they played all of their old stuff, none of the Sammy Hager songs, which bummed me out. 'Jump' came out when I was 11, and I only saw the videos at friends' house, as Van Halen wasn't allowed in our home, and for good reason. Some of those songs were pretty nasty. But they sounded incredible, and Eddie was amazing. Seriously, I can't imagine having that kind-of talent. His son Wolfgang played bass for them, and David was up there with a cheesy grin on his face the whole time. Greg has always loved Van Halen, and I'm so glad he got to see them live.
Sunday night brought us home to happy kids. I am do glad we got away for a few days. We need that. It reminds us both that we're Greg and Kimberly, not just Dad and Mom. All in all, a fabulous weekend.

Las Vegas