The abridged UNAUTHORIZED biography of Peej according to his sister....(sneaky evil laugh...Bawhahahaha)

Since I've been a bit behind with my blog entries, I hesitated posting this. But, changed my mind after reading this post from my SIL detailing the fabulous birthday date she pulled off for my brother. So I feel completely justified in shamelessly exploiting the awesomeness of my oldest brother and letting the world celebrate his thirty-somethingish birthday by discovering the (sometimes evil) genius we so affectionately call 'Peej".

Our sibling tale begins as many often do; with the usual torture and misadventures that come from childhood...

I remember one morning while living in Pennsylvania, after a particular cruel breakfast served with the travaels of sibling rivilry, I retreated to my room only to find my bed completely covered in dirty diapers provided by my six month old brother. My room wreaked and I realized, I had been bested by Peej and his trusty sidekick (why couldn't I be the trusty sidekick?! Why, oh why?!). Stinky brothers filled with cooties: 1 sweet, innocent bystander sister: 0

One night, in the heat of anger at my two brothers, I remembered the words of my mother, "There is one place you never, never, NEVER kick a boy unless you are being carried away by a trench coat wearing, missing toothed man covered in gangly hair...(that's, of course, what I envisioned 'stranger danger' to be)" The admonition ran through my head and in a split-second decision I chose to exact my revenge. I enjoyed the momentary triumph, as my brother dropped to the floor and for a nano-second I was queen. It was brief, as nano-seconds are, because upon his recovery, I saw 'death' in my brothers eyes and knew I had to run for it or I was going to die! I ran as fast as I could to my room, followed by a spawn of something born out of rage. I hurled my body against my door with no lock and pushed against the force on the other side. The pounding eventually stopped and I carefully opened the door and discovered a fist sized hole in it. We lived in military housing and my parents lectured us on how we'd have to pay the government for a replacement, but eventually the house was condemned and torn down which also meant we wouldn't be required to replace a pane in a double paned-window. Woolston kids: 1 US Government: 0 Soccer kicking sister: 1 (squeeking by with her life).

We didn't always work against each other or atleast didn't after we realized the only way to survive our parents' wrath was working together to distract them from our follies. As was the case one night when our parents were out on a date. A fight broke out at the dinner table and I, once again, hit and ran. I threw a cup of water and hit Peej in the face. I ran for it when he grabbed a gallon sized pitcher and proceeded to chase me around the house. We ended up in what could have been a scene from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" with him holding the pitcher and me waiting for the next move. He threw. I ducked. The entire gallon of water splashed onto our parents' brand-new set of leather bound Encyclopedia Britannicas. We spent the rest of the night drying the books with a blow-dryer. One book never receovered. We just hoped Mom and Dad never had a need to open the J-S index. Peej: O Trish: .5 Enclyclopedia Britannica: $10 at a garage sale, 15 years later.

Even through all of this, I always felt proud to be his sister. I remember a time when life was a bit rough. Mom was sick and pregnant, Dad lost his job and we had to move out of the house we loved so much. We also had to move away from our freinds and school and into a two bedroom apartment. Every day when we got home, the new place was a reminder of the difficult situation we were in. Yet, most of what I remember from that time was the fun we had while playing in the yard and walking to school. Once as we were arriving, one of his friends asked, "Hey Peej! Whose that?" and his response was "This is my sister". He didn't even say it like he loathed me! I will never forget the automatic response of puffing out my chest out and walking a little taller. Yep! I was Peej's sister!

When we were teenagers, we played rounds and rounds of basketball in our driveway. He was generous and would start the game of '21' with me at 19 and counting each basket as two points (which meant I only needed 1 point) and him at zero, counting by 1. He ALWAYS won. Which doesn't say much about my ability to play baskeball.

Whenever I got in trouble I could deal with the lectures from my parents. In fact, most of the time, they just made me mad. But, if my brother ever said, "Trish, I'm really dissappointed in you." I was reduced to a puddle.

Once after a break-up with a boyfriend he didn't like anyway, he hugged me as I cried and didn't even get mad when I got mascara all over his shirt.



Then he met someone and everything changed. She was beautiful, talented and really the most perfectly ideal woman for him. Never before had I seen him in total love and devotion like this. My dignified, smooth as a cucumber brother was totally head over heels in love. I would hear stories about her and wish and pray that it would end well for both of them. It did.

When he decided to propose, he asked He-Man and I to set up the scene, make the dinner and pick up the ring!! I remember feeling a mixture of delight that I was the first person who beheld it and sheer terror that I would be hosed if anything happened between the jewler and her apartment.

It's impossible to express my love and admiration for my brother without including his wife. They are one of the most supportive, loving and generous couples I have ever known. They truly bring the best out of each other and handle all the pressures they face together with humor, joy and realistic expectations of each other.

As for their children, I rarely have seen kids who are completely mesmorized by their daddy (other than ours) the way they are. They hang on his every word as if they're saying, "Oh Daddy! I can't wait to hear what you're going to say next!"

He is a true and loyal friend. Deservedly, he has friends all over the world and is loved by so many. He's been hurt by people before who claimed to be his friend but perhaps didn't know how to be at the time. Yet he didn't dwell on it or let it navigate his life.

He's witty. Even as an adult, he's one-upped me a few times. Case in point, our beloved mug. The piece of ceramic that continues to be passed between the two of us. Everytime, the goal is to present it in the most surprising way possible. (I'm happy to report, I still am the reigning Mug Champ)

So, happy birthday, Peej. You have made the world a better place and we are all blessed to have you in our lives.


And now for your birthday present...

Behold! Mug's California Adventure!


Peej: 3

Trishelle: 529 (the last delivery gets atleast 520 points)

This is an authentic member of the San Diego P.D. It looks like Mug got to ride along on a stakeout!

You are my Sunshine...

I'm beginning to feel like I have a handle on my surroundings again. I've finally almost caught up on after guest/sick laundry (which was easily 25 loads worth), can get out of bed almost immediately upon waking up AND can actually navigate my way through the day with minimal nausea/starving hunger pains.

It is now that I accomplish what I set out to do two weeks ago when our Sunshine turned 8 years old. I'm taking the opportunity to rave, just as many lunatics do. In this case, my ravings are about the sweet 8 year old that graced us with her presence many, many moons ago...

I discovered I was pregnant shortly after He-Man and I took our obviously very romantic belated honeymoon to Europe...(I say 'obviously' because had it not been, we probably wouldn't have attained such a permanant souvenir) and I had been told by my doctor that due to some previous health concerns that it may be difficult for me to conceive.

The moment I knew, I knew it was her. Every time I craved a whopper or an Arby's Beef and Cheddar, scarfed them down then violently threw them back up, I knew it was her. I knew it was her when I would hear people speak of the ideals of having a 'big brother' first. I just knew. It's tremendously cheesy (I totally own up to it) that when the song, "I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You" came on, I was convinced the song was made just for the two of us. Her personality was so big, even then, I knew it was her.

5 days after my due date as I lay falling into an incredibly uncomfortable and frustrating night sleep, my water broke and it was GAME ON! 6 hours later, after experiencing the worst pain of my life and coming to the conclusion that controlled and thorough pain killers were a very good thing, she was born.

She was this complete package of the best of everything that He-Man and I possessed. She platinum blond naturally, with deep blue eyes, skin so light it was probably a half shade darker than albino and completely beautiful.

From the start she's been eager, thristing for for adventure, social interaction and bursting with life. Raising her for the first few years was easy and natural. She was my sidekick for everything.

As time has gone by and she's gotten older, raising her has gotten tougher but better, sweeter and truly more real. The first few years were surreal, almost like a dream. Now, every experience holds a lesson and an opportunity to love her more deeper with a sincere, complete love.

I love how Sunshine laughs. When she laughs her laugh it's infectious and fun.

I love that Sunshine is like me in the best ways, but not like me in the worst. She loves other people so much but does not allow the worry of what people think of her consume her and cause her to second guess herself.

I love how she is always trying to be better. In the past few years, perhaps because she was an only child for so long, she has struggled to look at things from others' perspectives. Yet, as she has gotten a little older, she tries to understand and be more sensitive to other people and their needs.

I love how she is so excited to share things with people, she's practically bursting to share what she discovered.

I love her unfailing love for others. She is so kind and forgiving that it never ceases to be an example to me. Seriously, she holds no grudges!

I really could go on and on but sufficeth to say, I often feel completely unworthy of the person she is and am so grateful that Sunshine is part of our family...I am convinced that she is truly destined for greatness!

Funny "Bunny"-isms

Bunny, whose nickname was affectionately endowed upon her by her Uncle T-Bone is undoubtedly the comedian in our family. She's funny when she's not even trying! The following are some recent quotes by her that have resulted in bringing down the house.


*Bunny, while observing the changing of a 5-alarm, stinky diaper plugs her nose and says,

"What if everyone pooed cotton candy instead?" Well Bunny, I think a lot less people would consider pink their favorite color.



*Last night I made goulash for dinner. I used extra large mondo-macaroni noodles. Apparently, this was quite fascinating to her and sparked Bunny's imagination to which she said, "Momma, if this noodle were as big as our house, we could live in it!" We of course, would go out into the world smelling like goulash...which may not be an effective way to win friends and influence people.


*We were planning for our large family gathering and explaining that grandma and grandpa, my mom and dad, not daddy's were coming this time. She looked totally perplexed and said, "Grandma is your Mommy?" Later that day, when she was playing with friends, she told, "It's so weird, but sometimes, Mommies and Daddies have Mommies and Daddies too...That's just weird!"
Who'da thunk?!

Rotavirus + Morning Sickness= YUCK!

I'm FINALLY beginning to feel human again after a bout with what I highly suspect as Rotavirus mixed with morning sickness. For a couple of days there I felt practically sub-human! But, now that it's just morning sickness that I'm experiencing, I feel like I can actually do this pregnancy thing again. As I've been coming out of this mess, I've become very aware of a couple of blessings that have come in the last few days...

I think it might be turning into SPRING!! It was warm enough for me to open our windows and air the house out yesterday...which was a very good thing after a half dozen people were sick with that nasty bug too!

Today, I think we finally reached one of our 9 year old students He-Man and I have been teaching. The morning began a little rough, but by the end I think he knew we really care about him. Evidence to support this is the sweet little gift he left on our porch.

Now that Button Nose is feeling better too, I'm reminded of how crammed full of personality she is. When I took the girls to Target last night I decided not to get a cart and let her walk at her own pace. She loved the new perspective and marveled at how big the store was. She even got a kick out of the fact that she got to exercise her freedom to walk where ever she wanted. The trouble is, I don't know if we going to be able to get her into a cart again.

Last but certainly not least, I love Sundays because it's the day when He-Man doesn't have to leave us. After church, we snuggle on our soft, plush couch and take a nap together under a fluffy chenille blanket. The nap would have lasted longer today if the smell of goldfish cracker breath didn't make me want to vomit.

I guess it's all perspective really. Before Rotavirus reared it's nasty head at us I was starting to think I didn't want to do another round of morning sickness. Now that it's gone, I get the feeling that only having one gastro-intestinal issue is completely manageable! Yahoo for perspective!

A Heart Overflowing...

How can I possibly describe how amazing the past few weeks have been?! I think the best way to do it is to post the pictures that accompany the experience.

As many of you know, my family has not been together for nearly 8 years. As time has gone by, my brothers, parents and I, along with our families have done our best to stay in touch and connected with each other, but distance does create a bit of isolation. In the past 8 years, there have been times when I've ached just to be with them. It has taken a lot of prayer and some sacrifice on everyone's part but we actually did it!! For 4 1/2 days we were together in one place!

Even better, when we realized this event was actually going to happen, we tried to arrange for Sunshine's baptism to be done while our family was here. For the first little while, it appeared that her baptism wasn't going to happen during the reunion due to constraints on the original location. (Basically, when children in our church reach the age of eight, they have the opportunity to choose to be baptized and make the commitment to try to live lives that reflect the life of Jesus Christ) But, the wonderful leaders of our congregation decided that Sunshine's baptism should be done at a time when our families could attend. They arranged for it to be done in our neighbor's jacuzzi!! It was a wonderful event and the outpouring of love from our friends and family was overwhelming!

Question? How many people can our living room and dining room hold for a religious ceremony?

Answer: 70+ This picture only shows the living room portion of our home!

Doesn't Sunshine sparkle? She was so happy!

Luckily for both Sunshine and He-Man, the water was warm!

After she got out, then it was freezing!


For baby blessings, wedding, baptisms and other religious and major family functions, my husband's family generally wear their Scottish kilts.

On the way to the baptism.

Peej, Aimee and Mom getting ready for the Valentine Crepe Fete...with authentic french crepes that Peej perfected while on his mission in France!

On Valentine's Day, we went to the LDS Temple as a family.

Just as though it were a gift from the heavens, it snowed last weekend for those of our family who live in the jungles of Okinawa and Los Angeles. It's something they don't really see there!

I love this picture of my brother, Joseph. He looks so happy!

This is Peej's beautiful son, Alex. He's even cuter in person!!

We have new picture software and I haven't been able to figure out how to rotate pictures yet. Bunny is beautiful, as usual!

Most mornings, the cousins would get up and just play togther.

Grandpa and a handful of grand daughters.

Everytime I look at this picture, I'm reduced to a fit of giggles. This is sooooo my brother!

The joys of playdough

My mom actually straightened her hair! My dad's eyes nearly popped out of his head!!

Luckily, there isn't a cap on the amount of girlie princesses a family can have!

6 degrees above normal...

It's taken me two weeks to construct this blog entry. My hesitation has been from a mix of emotions, lack of time and total exhaustion. BUT, I'm back in fighting form and ready to declare what it was that I was trying to declare 2 weeks ago...I am pregnant and I'm really happy about it. About a week ago, I started an entry that attempted to articulate my feelings but I couldn't quite what I was trying to say so I'm not posting it; and instead, I'm sharing an update.

Don't get me wrong, from the initial discovery, it was good news but at first there were added emotions of fear mingled with a little bit of confusion. I guess I shouldn't be all that confused considering we've already managed to produce three children of the female variety. I

guess the curiosity stems from wondering how on earth my kids know I'm pregnant before I tell them?

With Bunny, Sunshine told me that she was coming and her name was [Bunny]. I thought that it was cute until I realized she was right. This time, He-Man and I decided to keep the information to ourselves until Bunny curled up in my lap the other day and asked me, "Momma, do you have a baby in your tummy...'cause I think you do and his name is [insert nick-name here]."

So, we are going to be a family of 6. Great things come in 6's:

*1/2 dozen creme filled Krispie Kreme donuts
*6-pack abs...that are by this time, a pipe dream for me...sigh
*Hexagons
*a pack of soda, root beer, with a dollop of bubble gum flavored ice cream...to be exact.
*the number of strings on a guitar
*the number of geese "a-laying"...do you think that may hurt a little?
*the degrees of separation between you, me and Kevin Bacon
*the number of children I'd need to yet birth in order to have 9 kids

So in honor of the number six, I've decided to share 6 curiosities/observations/epitomies that I've had in the past few weeks.

1. Last weekend, I went to a 'Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband' concert at BYU. BYU is quite unlike any other place I've ever visited. Case in point, as my friend, Carol, and I were waiting for the concert to begin I noticed the back of some guy's T-shirt. It said, "Modest is the Hottest". I found this particularly interesting since we were on a college campus...at a concert...and the t-shirt was being worn by a GUY! At one point during the concert, the band invited a couple of people to join them on stage to help sing a song. I can safely bet that atleast 30 people rushed the stage, got their groove on and had a hollerin' good time...all while completely SOBER!

2. I was driving to the store the other day and happened to look at the driver next to me. I saw what I assume was a young mom driving a mini-van full of kids. The part that made it all the more interesting was that she was wearing big sparkly earrings and a tiara. It made me wonder if she had her driving tiara by her keys so it would be convenient to grab both of them in one step instead of wondering through the house looking for both. Then and there I decided that driving around in a tiara and jeans was totally for me. Where does one aquire a tiara without entering and winning a pagaent?

3. When a bald man walks around with a comb in his back pocket what are his intentions and/or how long are his eyebrows? I wouldn't know since I only saw him from the back.

4. What's the most effective way to remove gangly stray eyebrow whiskers from a spouse's brow area? Is it cruel to wait until their sleeping and pluck them with tweezers?

5. Who knew a Lego man could be dreamy?! On Christmas my nephew, Scud, showed me is prized gift from Santa. It was an Indiana Jones Lego Man complete with a scruffy beard and fadora. Lego Jones took me back to childhood when I swooned for Indiana Jones and Han Solo all at once. I wanted to kiss his bald, plastic head. Although, was there any question that the lego version of Harrison Ford is handsome too?

6. With 3 little girls, hundreds of froofy dresses, crowns, dress-up shoes and hair bows, what we would we do with a little boy? How would we raise him, completely immersed in a sea of estrogen, and keep him normal? What is normal? How do you raise boys? What are acceptable accessories for little boys to wear?