Christine's Blog

I think my blog is broken

2011-12-11T14:42:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday...from a month ago that wouldn't post

2011-11-10T09:53:00.004-07:00

Sam's Birth Story

2011-09-02T09:56:00.004-06:00

On Monday, I woke up just not feeling right. In the afternoon, I took a nap. When I woke up, I was getting mild contractions in my back. My contractions were erratic and never got consistent enough to go to hospital. About 10 pm, my contractions stopped except for maybe once an hour. I was a bit bummed, but since I had a scheduled induction for Tuesday morning, I was okay.

I woke up Tuesday morning at about 3 am and never got back to sleep. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 am.

We got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the pitocin. I wanted them to break my water so things would progress faster, but said I had to be on antibiotics for 4 hours first since I was positive for Group B Strep. So, for the first 4 hours, I stayed at about a 3-4 cm. That's the same that I was when I checked in. Dan and I were actually starting to get bored. And the contractions weren't even as painful as the ones from the night before.

Around noon, my doctor had another doctor come break my water. That's when things start to get painful.

I am not what you'd call "crunchy" or a naturalist, but I decided that I didn't want an epidural this time. Epidurals take like 12 hours to wear off of me. They make me feel like crap. And after a lot of leg/back problems in the past year and half, I didn't want a needle in my back or my leg numb ever again. So, I didn't get an epidural.

My sister Jenny went without an epidural about 6 months ago when she had a baby. She went without because her insurance wouldn't cover it and it would cost her like $1000. She gave me a book and a lot of advice. She said that she would breathe deep 3 times and then the contraction was over. This is what I did. Except I had to breathe deep four times per contraction. I would count, and sometimes out loud. I knew that if I just made it through the 4, I would feel fine again. And I felt totally fine between contractions. I could talk and carry on like normal. Until the next contraction hit. When I was dialated to a 6, the nurse offered me a birthing ball. It was actually quite comfortable to sit on. And it made the baby drop down fast. And I suddenly felt nauseated. The nurse said its common to get nauseated during the transition.

After 2 contractions while sitting on the ball, the doctor arrived and they decided to check me. The doctor said I was 7-8 cm. He then said that he wanted to check me during the next contraction. He wanted me to push just a little so he could check the cervix during the contraction.

Well, I pushed a little, and my body took over. I couldn't stop pushing. The doctor only had one glove on and the nurse had to try and catch the baby with a towel. The doctor quickly put two gloves on and finished delivering the baby. The pushing/delivery was one of the most intense things I have ever been through. It was such a shock to me, I'm not sure how painful it was or wasn't. I don't really remember since it was so fast and intense. I think it was one of the fastest deliveries the doctor has ever had.

Poor baby Sam ended up with a bruised face from his quick exit. I felt bad for him.

After a 24 hour stay, we came home from the hospital. Our kids our so excited about the baby. Alex doesn't seem jealous at all yet.

Sam is such a sweet baby. I feel extremely blessed to have him. And I am so thankful for Dan and his support.

Summer Fun

2011-08-20T16:27:00.005-06:00

We went camping at Payson Lake for a couple of Days. The lake was really beautiful. It was perfect for swimming and rafting. We saw some people with surf boards and oars. That looked fun! Maybe next year.

Dan bought a gigantic bag of gummy worms. I think that's what Anna and Alex subsisted off of.

Caleb being silly like usual.

This was the first time we actually brought our dog along. Our kids loved having the dog along. Our dog liked it, but wasn't happy that he wasn't allowed in the lake too.

I must say that Dan is much better rowing the boat than me. Its a lot harder than it looks. He took a lot of trips out to the middle with the kids. I only went out once or twice, and not very far. I mostly rowed in circles. I gave up on the oars and rowed with my hands for a while too. Rachel jumped out in the middle of the lake (its not that big) and swam back. She was wearing a life jacket, so we weren't worried she was going to drown. She thought that was great.
A couple of funny things that happened:

First, in the middle of the night on the first night, our bed in the tent-trailer partially collapsed. I guess the previous owner fixed it, but obviously not very good. We were sleeping---well I wasn't cause I had heartburn---and all of the sudden our bed dropped a foot. Dan was startled awake and said a 4 letter word. One of our kids happened to be awake and heard this. Let's just say, Dan probably hasn't heard the end of that. We made do with sleeping with the bed mostly pushed in the trailer instead of pulled-out. Dan is going to fix it the right way. I keep telling him we should get one last camping trip in before I have the baby, but he's too worried that I'll go into labor while we're camping.

The other funny thing was Alex. He decided that he wanted to go wash his hands in the faucet by the outhouse without telling anyone where he was going.
We suddenly heard him screaming and running hysterically towards us. Right as he got to me, he tripped and fell. (Ok, that wasn't funny). He said that a giant truck was chasing him. He happened to be walking right down the middle of a one-lane road, so the truck was slowly following him since he didn't get out of the way. I guess he thought they were chasing him. Probably doesn't sound too funny, but it was so laughable at the time.

We had a great time and will definitely go back camping there again.

Alex on a ride at the SL County fair.

Cassie, Caleb and Rachel decided to try out a ride that was a bit scary at the fair. Rachel and Caleb did not feel well after this ride. I guess they get motion sick. They didn't want to ride anything else after this one. I stopped at Wendy's for a frosty for everyone on the way home. Neither of them felt good enough to eat theirs. They did eat theirs later after recovering on the couch for a while.

Anna riding the motorcycle. My nephew Jake is in the background. Part way through the ride, he decided he didn't like it, and screamed the rest of the time. Anna and Alex didn't want to get off.

36 week appointment

2011-08-03T16:07:00.003-06:00

I am still measuring big. I am measuring 38 cm when I should be 36. I am dialated to 1 and 50% effaced. I sure hope this baby comes early. Here's a picture at 35 weeks. In all of my other pregnancies, I avoided ever getting my picture taken. This time, I figure that it won't last forever, and I want to remember what I looked like.

My sister Angie just highlighted my hair today. Jenny is going to give me a haircut later today. It makes me feel a lot better to get my hair done. Last week was ponytail week, as you can see from the pic.

There's an end in sight!

2011-07-20T10:37:00.003-06:00

I went to my 34 week (almost) appointment today. I am still measuring big. The doctor is guessing that this baby will be in the mid 8 lb range. He certainly isn't going to be a tiny one.
And they scheduled and induction for August 30th. They originally scheduled it for Aug 26, which was 8 days early. However, the hospital wouldn't allow that. So they had to change it to the next time the doctor delivers, which is the 30th. Hooray! I won't be pregnant forever!
I've had a lot of false labor recently. Some days, I cam barely walk 10 feet before getting a painful contraction. They checked me at 32 weeks, and the contractions weren't doing anything. Thankfully, last week, on the day of Rachel's tonsillectomy, the contractions stopped. I feel like Heavenly Father blessed me to be able to take care of her. I am slowly starting to get a few more painful contractions again. I'm not talking about regular Braxton Hicks contractions. These actually hurt and make it so I can't move.
Rachel has had a hard time since her tonsillectomy. The first few days, she threw up a lot. We decided that it was probably the pain medicine, and took her off the pain medicine. She stopped throwing up. But she's been in a lot of pain. She is only on regular Tylenol. She cries a few times a day, and wishes that she hadn't had the surgery. Usually that's when her throat dries out and the Tylenol wears off. In another week, I'm sure she'll feel better. I've been getting practice getting up in the night by getting up in the night with her.

Parade and hikes

2011-07-01T12:05:00.006-06:00

For scouts on Tueday, they had a hike to Ensign peak. Dan hiked it with our kids, while I stayed at the bottom. As you can see from the picture, it was really windy at the top. They saw a small rattlesnake on the hike. Rachel, not thinking, went very close to the bush that was rattling, to get a closer look. I'm glad she didn't get bit.

Last Saturday, we went on a hike to a waterfall with Leslie. The hike is only about half a mile. I was proud that I made it. I only had to stop 4 times for contractions on the way up. I didn't want to get left out on this hike. We dipped our feet in. It was really cold water. This is not a dangerous area, so it was perfect for our kids. Nobody could keep their feet in very long.

Leslie and Alex by the waterfall. Alex wasn't too fond of getting misted by the waterfall.

Yes, its me. Leslie took this one. Finally, a non-belly pregnant shot.

Dan with Alex by the waterfall.

I took our kids to the South Jordan parade. My sister Leslie came with me to help. She was buddies with Alex, to help him get candy. As you can probably tell from the picture, it wasn't warm.

We've been having a fun summer so far! On Tuesday, I took our kids bouncing at Classic. On Wednesday, I took them to the waterslides at Classic. They had a great time bouncing. After an hour, they were hot and tired. Alex is so fearless. He went up one call "Bounce Everest". When he got to the top rung, he fell backwards. It was probably 20 feet tall. Of course, its a bounce thing at the bottom, so he was okay. He stopped crying before I even got to him, and was going up the climbing thing again. He was a little more careful at the top that time. Then, he kept going on it again and again.

At the waterslides, Alex and Anna stayed in the kiddie pool area with me. Rachel and Caleb both know how to swim, so they stuck together on the big waterslides. I could see them most of the time from the kiddie area, so I wasn't worried about them. And the pool at the bottom of the waterslides is only 3 feet deep. They all had a blast and didn't want to go home when it was time to leave.

I enjoy having Leslie along when we go places. Its nice to have an extra adult along. And my kids love her.

Anyone know someone I could set her up with?

Her requirements: Must be active LDS. Must be in their 30's. Have a career that doesn't involve being a bagger, sign-waver, or working fast-food. Must not still live with parents. She's okay with dating divorced people or people with kids. She is very adventurous. She is a bit blunt---she tells things like it is. She is athletic and happy. She is a computer programmer, and has her own house.

Okay, so if Leslie reads this part of my blog, she might be a little miffed. But hey, I really just want to help her meet someone. :) So, if you know someone, let me know.

Dan's first Half-Marathon

2011-06-19T21:58:00.006-06:00

Caleb holding a sign for Dad. I thought it was cute that he wrote "Run like a road runner" at the bottom.

Mile 13.

Dan ran his first half-marathon ever! It was the Bear Lake Half-Marathon. I am proud of him. He is trying hard to get back into good running shape after all these years of marriage. He is already planning to do another half-marathon. We got him a running water belt pack thing for Father's Day.

We stayed in a cabin with Dan's family at Bear Lake for a few days. The weather was cold for this time of year, so the lake wasn't much fun at all. My brother-in-law Tom ran the half-marathon too. He is really fast for so little training. Dan's sister Liz was training for it too, but ended up doing the 5K instead because of an injury. They both did well in their races.

Watching people run makes me quite envious. But I wouldn't trade this baby for anything in the world. I tried to run a few times this pregnancy. It has been one of my hardest pregnancies, if not the hardest. I've had low iron and been extremely tired. I end up with contractions from walking up the stairs. If I do too much, I get consistent contractions and have to lie down. 2 months and 1 week to go.

New pics and some rambling....

2011-05-29T21:44:00.010-06:00

Me attempting to get Alex to smile for the photographer

Our family

My favorite kids in the whole world. :)

My blue-eyed boy. You would never know how mischievious he can be with that cute little smile. He speaks pretty well now, since he will be four in a few months. However he still says some funny things: Yeyow is yellow. Gwobwet it Goblet. (as in Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire.) Guess you can tell he has older siblings since he's seen several of the Harry Potter movies. We've been trying to do the alphabet with him. He hasn't been very interested. Today at church he suddenly starting naming letters. He's been holding out on us! He knows more than he lets on.

My brown-eyed boy. He's almost done with 3rd grade now!

My Anna girly. So girly. Likes to wear dresses or skirts every day of the week. I thinks she's only worn pants a few times this year. And that's just because she wanted to play in the snow. She's not actually so girly in other ways. When she sat with our neighbor at church she drew a picture of a fire-breathing chicken and a turtle with its eyes popping out. I think she's been reading too many of Caleb's silly books with him. Like Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy kid. I guess that's what happens when you have an older brother and a younger brother, and your sister is quite a bit older.

I didn't repost any pictures of Rachel this time since my last blog was about her.

I am counting down for this pregnancy to be over. The last few weeks have been really tough. My energy level is about zero. After I do a little bit of cleaning, I am so exhausted that I can't do much else. I am so used to being able to do whatever I want, and it is frustrating for me to have to slow down so much with this pregnancy. I have discovered something good: Pepcid AC. It works so much better than Tums. I wish I had discovered it on my other pregnancies.

We are probably gonna name our baby Sam (officially Samuel). That's the name that we keep coming back to. Rachel thinks its fun to poke my stomach and play "name that body part" when somethings sticks out. Anna and Alex like to feel the baby kick too. Caleb is excited about the baby, but absolutely doesn't want to feel the baby kick.

Dan is getting excited for the baby as well. He said to me at church, "All these babies are getting me excited to have our baby!". At home he said, "I wanted to ask some of the moms to hold their babies, but I thought they'd just give me dirty looks and think I was wierd." I doubt any of them would have objected. I'm happy that he is excited for the baby.

Two more days of school for Rachel and Caleb. Hooray!! We are also gonna take the summer off of lessons, sports etc. Its nice to take a break from everything.

She's 11!

2011-05-16T20:23:00.003-06:00

Rachel turned 11 on Friday. I can't believe what a beautiful young woman she is growing into.

For her birthday, we went to the Mayan restaurant. We got front row seating, and there were a lot of performaces because they were filming a commercial. I hope the kids end up in a commercial, not me.

This was the first birthday that she really didn't want toys--except for a new hula hoop. She got clothes, jewelry, a new bed set, and some colored lip gloss. She loves to wear colored lip gloss all the time.

The top picture was from our family photo shoot about a week ago. Dan's cousin Melina did our pictures this time. (When I get the CD in the mail, it won't have the copyright on it. The one she emailed me did.)

I am so glad to have Rachel for my daughter. She is a wonderful daughter and friend.

Monday Rambling

2011-05-02T11:44:00.002-06:00

Saturday was the school's 5-k, fun run, and healthy living fair. I am on the committee, so I spent a lot of time getting breakfast items and raffle stuff.
When we woke up on Saturday, there was an inch or two of snow on the ground. It certainly wasn't warm outside.
Dan and Rachel ran the 5K, and Caleb and Anna ran the 1 mile. Rachel got ahead of Dan in the 5K because he ran the first half mile with Caleb and Anna. She got so far ahead of him, she never even saw him. I thought that she would need him to pace her, but she obviously didn't. She was the first 5th grade girl to finish, and ran almost the entire way. I was really proud. She was really thrilled too. She hasn't been running at all. But she's been swimming a lot.
I was proud of Caleb and Anna for the 1 mile. They stuck together and finished about the same time. Dan also did well finishing the 5k.
I didn't run because I was helping out and I'm about 5 months pregnant. Alex hung out with me and had a free Jamba juice and got to jump in the bounce house. The fair turned out really well this year. My kids did not want to go home because they were having a lot of fun.
I'm glad to have that over with. Now I feel like I can relax.

Caleb has been on a basketball team this spring. It is a challenge for him. He is not aggressive, and has a hard time paying attention to what is going on. He is making a lot of progress with his basketball skills though. It is hard for me to watch, because nobody passes the ball to him and the coach doesn't put him in much at all. Maybe I'm overly emotional, but it makes me sad. He has touched the ball only once the entire season during a game. Only 3 more games to go. I won't be signing him up again.
He is happily in the chess club at school. He really likes chess. I don't even know how to play chess. Maybe one day I'll have him teach me. I really don't care if he likes sports. I just want him to be happy.

I threw my back out on Saturday, from all the fun run stuff and cleaning the entire house. I've been in pain for a few days. I thought Tylenol wasn't really doing anything, but like clockwork I start to feel worse when it wears off.

This pregnancy has actually been kind of tough. Either that or I'm just wussy.
Anna is finally excited about the baby, even though it is a boy. She wants to feel the baby kick every day.
I ordered all the nursery bedding, curtains, rug etc. and it came within a few days. I am looking forward to painting the nursery. However, I'll have to wait til I feel well enough to. I am getting excited for the baby. We don't have a name decided on. I have a name I've decided on, but Dan doesn't agree---yet. Just wait. :) Now I just need a recliner rocker or a comfy chair to sit in for feeding the baby. And a bunch of clothes. Rachel loves shopping and is anxious to shop for baby clothes. Its actually rather fun having an older daughter. The other kids and Dan hate shopping. But she doesn't, so she's my pal.

I'm counting down until school gets out. I'm excited to spend more time with the kids, and to be able to relax our schedule a bit. And have fun with the kids. I'm planning on taking the kids swimming a lot, even though I will look like a whale. We always write up a schedule of fun things we are going to do during the summer. Park day, swimming day, fieldtrip day, library day etc. Some days all the plans go down the drain. But we do stick with it a lot.

So, that's all for today's rambling. :) No pics for this one.

Easter 2011

2011-04-28T19:59:00.004-06:00

Having a hard time deciding on a color for his egg.

All of the kids together for a second.

My girls.

Rachel.

A cute note Anna left for the Easter Bunny.

Caleb.

Alex being silly.

Anna smelling the tulips.

And the tie-breaker baby is a..........

2011-04-07T10:41:00.002-06:00

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

All of our kids are thrilled, except Anna. She is upset because she really wanted another sister not another brother. I'm sure she'll get over it.

Rachel with cousin Max

2011-03-29T13:35:00.003-06:00

This is a picture of Rachel with Jenny's one-month-old baby, Max. I almost had to fight Rachel to get a turn holding him. Can you tell that she's really excited that we're having a baby? She's got the days counted down til we find out if its a boy or girl. She printed out this picture and hung it on her wall. She loves babies.

Counting down :)

2011-02-23T19:57:00.002-07:00

When I went to my check-up today, they already scheduled my Ultrasound. 6 more weeks!!! Then I can start buying baby clothes. And painting the nursery. We finished painting the boys' room in the basement, but we haven't moved them down yet. Need a few more finishing touches. Then their old room is gonna be the nursery.

Our latest news.....

2011-02-11T14:29:00.002-07:00

Probably most of you have already heard. Our kids couldn't keep it quiet very long. And I look like I ate a couple dozen doughnuts.

We're expecting baby #5!!

Due September 3. I have had my last 3 babies a week early, even when I wasn't induced. So, I'm hoping the last week of August.

A few years ago, we decided we were done having babies. We gave away all the baby stuff and maternity stuff. My mom said, "If you give away all your stuff, that means your gonna have another baby someday". She was right. I guess when you are still in your 20's its a little young to declare that you are done, unless the hubby has gotten the good ol' V. Its okay though. My clothes were old. The crib was falling apart. The carseat got re-called.

We are excited. My kids were hoping for twins. Thankfully it is just one. Anna wants to name it Calorie. She has no idea what a calorie is. Alex wants to name it Darth Vader. Since we already have 2 girls and 2 boys, it really doesn't matter to me if it is a girl or boy. Our kids are evenly divided: the girls want a girl, and the boys want a boy.

I usually feel good early in the day, but awful at the end of the day. I guess you could say I get "evening-sick" instead of morning-sick.

I am hoping to make it a few more weeks without maternity clothes. My tummy really doesn't hide anything.

A Tuesday Ramble

2011-02-01T12:09:00.002-07:00

It almost seems funny to me that its already February. Seems like it was just New Year's.

Rachel has started the swim team at the fitness center. She enjoys it, but it is exhausting. Some days she swims nearly a mile and does push-ups too. I keep reminding her that she doesn't have to do the whole workout. I don't want to her stunt her growth with excessive exercising. I am still a volunteer in her class once a week during reading groups. I enjoy it.
Do you know that she's really growing up? Here's some strange things about her now.
1. She likes baking soda and peroxide toothpaste. No more bubblegum flavored princess toothpaste.
2. She does not like "straw-bowls" at breakfast anymore. She used to fight with the other kids about what bowl color she got. Now she just does not like straw-bowls.
3. She is too tall for playland now. When we went to arctic circle yesterday, she played a little and then came back and sat down. That was strange!
4. She likes to do her own hair. One day, I tried to help her and I re-did what she had done with her hair. She burst out into tears. Oops! I guess I won't help her with her hair.

I've been making my other kids take swimming lessons. I don't care if they ever do it as a sport, but I want them to swim well enough that they won't drown. After all, I have 4 kids and only 2 arms. I enjoy taking them swimming during the summer.

Caleb just passed level 3 in swimming. He was excited about passing. I think I am going to sign him up for level 4 so he can be an even better swimmer by summer. Anna just passed level 1. She loves water. She always wants to wear goggles in the bathtub so she can put her face in.

Alex has suddenly gotten addicted to video games. Probably because its so dang cold outside that we don't do much these days. He is excited to go to preschool in the fall.

I am dreaming of spring and summer. Pretty soon I'm gonna plant some seeds indoors. I did that last year, and I loved how my flowers looked. It gives me something to do during these cold miserable months.

Why do we own so many beds?

2011-01-07T10:35:00.003-07:00

I took this pic last night when I went to turn out all the lights in the house.

I keep finding all three younger kids piled together asleep in one twin bed. For some reason, it reminds me of a book I read them called "Going to Sleep on the Farm". On the pig page it says, "A pig curls up with its family and friends. Where one pig starts another pig ends." So, its not a pig pile. Its a kid pile. :)

New Years Resolutions

2011-01-02T19:55:00.002-07:00

Well, I looked back at last year's new years resolutions. There's only one that I actually kept: attending the temple every month.
What I'm gonna do this year:

1. Run 3 miles a week. Yep, that's 3 not 30. Times have changed. :)

2. Take my kids to see every temple in Utah. Seriously. We're gonna make a day of it, and on some of them, make a weekend of it. We might leave Dan behind on some of them. But Rachel and I are both gonna take our cameras along. We're also gonna go on picnics or whatever there is to do near the temples. I think we might wait til its a bit warmer on most of them. Any ideas of what to do near some of them? I think we'll go to the Manti pageant to see the Manti temple.

3. I'm gonna finish painting the entire house this year. Any volunteers to help me? :) I've got 4 bedrooms and the TV room still left to paint. And the playroom under the stairs if Dan every finishes it. I still need to do the trim in the hall upstairs too.

4. Once again, temple every month.

5. I'm out of ideas. Got a good suggestion?

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T12:36:00.005-07:00

Rachel really wanted a remote control spider. Santa had to look a few places to find one.

Anna was excited about all of her Polly Pockets.

Alex was so into playing his new leapster, that I couldn't get him to look at the camera.

Caleb with his new crystal growing kit.

Rachel got a camera for Christmas, and took this picture of me and Anna. Now, you might actually start seeing me in a few pictures. Can you tell I colored my hair? Its really just a shade darker with a little bit of red.

Rachel was a beautiful angel.

My boys were silly shepherds!

Anna was really excited to be Mary. She took it really seriously and was very solemn.

Being Grateful

2010-12-24T21:30:00.002-07:00

Since Dan had the day off for Christmas Eve, we decided to go running together this morning. He hasn't really run much for a few months. I run a mile here and there. We decided that we would go 2 miles together. Rachel is old enough to be in charge at home while we go running for a few minutes.
I must say, the run really sucked. It has been so long since I've run that far. And about a year and a half since I have run with Dan. I was certain that I could keep up with him. But I could not. After about 3/4 a mile, my leg felt like weight-lifting to move. He stopped off and on for me to catch up. By the time we got back home, I was so discouraged, I cried. What has happened to me? I can barely shuffle along and call it running. My leg hurts so bad after a really slow short run. After a pity-party I started thinking of all I am grateful for.
When I was playing the piano today, I remembered how lucky I am that its my left leg that has problems. I use my right leg for the pedal. And for the gas pedal when I'm driving. I can go up and down my stairs so quickly compaired to what I used to. When I was at my worst, I kept missing the phone when it would ring because I could not get to it fast enough. Heck, I have legs!! I have a cousin who had to have both of his legs amputated. I can't complain. I've got it good!

I have a husband and four wonderful kids. How blessed I am! I know there are some that want to be married that are not. I know there are some that want children but cannot. I certainly shouldn't take this for granted.

A little while later, I drove past the Murray Cemetary. As I drove past, I saw two people embracing and crying at a grave. My heart ached for them. I was recently assigned to visiting teach a new woman in our ward whose husband died two months ago. As I visited with her, and she cried, I wished that I could make it all better for her. But I can't make it all better. My nieces and nephew lost their father this year. I've been thinking of them and their first Christmas without him.

How thankful I am for the plan of salvation! I am so thankful for Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. He is the one that can make things all better. He is the one that atoned for our sins. He is the one that truly knows all of our pain and sorrow. He is the one that makes it possible for us to be with our families forever someday.

The week before Christmas....

2010-12-20T14:15:00.002-07:00

Time seems to be flying by so quickly this month!

Last Monday was my birthday. Dan bravely took all 4 kids shopping by himself and picked me out some nice presents. In the evening, we went to my parents house for soup and dessert. My mom always makes Strawberry Cream Cheese pie for me. I love it! I think our kids were more excited for my birthday than I was.

Tuesday we had Caleb's program at school. It was overcrowded, and by the end I bribed Rachel into going home with Anna & Alex and paying her to babysit. Dan had to leave early because he had to go to tithing settlement. (He's the financial clerk now). So, he took them home. I enjoyed it much more after Anna and Alex weren't there complaining and trying to run off. Caleb is so funny. He looked and me and smiled most of the time his class was up there. He told me that his music teacher told them not to look at their parents during it. He confessed that he looked at me at least half of the time. Funny boy!

Wednesday was Rachel's school Christmas program. She looked really cute in her reindeer antlers. Dan stayed home with Anna and Alex after how well the night before went. I was surprised that they sang some religious songs like Silent night and O Come O Come Emmanuel. Their school does not promote any religion. But they sang songs of all religions and cultures.

On Friday, I went with my mom, niece and sister to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. We left really early, but traffic was terrible. Luckily, I got the bright idea that we should take 600 N. We parked and made in there in time to get in. Many people didn't get in, even with tickets. David Archuleta has a great voice. This is the 4th Mo-Tab concert I've been to. My very favorite was Sissel about 5 years ago. David Archuleta probably ranks second in the ones I've been to. I love hanging out with the girls in my fam!

Last night, we had the Marchant family Christmas party. I must admit that it gets a bit crazy. There's now about 25 grandkids. Add that to 8 kids, 5 spouses, 1 fiance (Becca's), and a couple of extras. That's nearly 50 people. My mom carefully picks out and wraps presents for everyone. She really likes to shop on Black Friday, so she can get cool presents for less money.
Becca's fiance Brandon is a chef. He made some really tasty garlic mashed potatoes. I think I'll like having a chef in the family. They both look so happy together.
I really love hanging out with my family. Usually Christmas is the only time the whole entire family is there. Too bad Christmas isn't in the summer, because we would have loved to send all the kids outside to play.
My parents driveway is significantly shorter than it used to be. When people were leaving, we had to play musical cars. I think everyone got to move their car multiple times. The driveway is missing half the cement and is quite a mudpit. Someday the road construction will be done.

Our kids are out of school the whole week. Its sure nice to have a break from driving kids everywhere.

That's about my week in a nutshell. :) No pics to go with it . Sorry!

Just a random blog update

2010-12-09T10:50:00.006-07:00

Dan and recently celebrated our 12th anniversary. I can't believe it has already been that long! We had a wonderful night without our kids. (Thanks to my in-laws for taking them) The other day I ran to Walgreens late at night. I noticed an engaged couple on our street out kissing by their car. I had to smile. It reminded me of the good old days of kissing Dan by the car. We always hated to go to our own homes at night. I love Dan, and I am glad he's my husband.

We had a good Thanksgiving. We had a lunchtime Thanksgiving dinner with my family, and a dinnertime Thanksgiving dinner with Dan's family. Dan's mom make the best orange rolls ever! Both families make different items, and I like that.

On Saturday night, we took our kids to the live nativity in Alpine. (Thanks, Sinika for posting it on your blog.) Anna fell asleep on the way there. For those of you that know Anna, you know that she screams a lot when she wakes up. She woke up very crabby. She cried while we were waiting, unless Dan held her. Good thing she's not a heavy 5-year-old. They take you to the nativity from the church in a horsetrailer with hay bales. As soon as we sat down, the people in the trailer starting singing Christmas carols. Anna sure cheered up! She thought it was great. Our kids loved seeing the animals. Especially the camels.
The part with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus was nicely done. They even had a real baby. It was actually very sweet. After the nativity, they served hot chocolate. I am already hearing, "When we go back next year...." from all of our kids. It was a great way to start the Christmas season.

On Monday, we had our Christmas piano recital. I combine my 5 students with the teacher who teaches my two older kids. They all did a great job! This was Anna's first piano recital. I don't normally teach kids so young, but Anna has really wanted to learn. S0, I started teaching Anna in September. She played "We Three Kings". She loves that song now, and always wants to hear it on my Ipod. I am proud of my kids and my piano students!

Today I am thankful for.......

2010-11-08T14:37:00.002-07:00

HEAT.
It is cold outside today. As I drove through Midvale past our old condo, I thought back to when I lived there. It was a poor area. Dan said that at PEC, the bishop half-joked that they needed to set up two lines. One for welfare, and one for ex-communications.
One winter evening, I went visiting teaching to a middle-aged lady in our ward. Dan was at school, so I took Rachel with me. I did not have a VT partner that would come with me.
When I got to the woman's house, I was surprised. They did not have heat. They were poor and could not afford to have the gas on. They were trying to keep their house warm with just their fireplace. She mentioned that if I knew anyone with free firewood, they could use some. We wore our coats during the whole visit, and the fireplace did have a fire going. Rachel and I came home smelling like a campfire.
So, today I am thankful for heat. I am thankful that I don't have to smell like a campfire to stay warm. How blessed we are!!

Three

2010-11-03T10:17:00.003-06:00

Alex turned 3 a few weeks ago. We spent his birthday at Aspen Grove for a family weekend getaway.

This picture turned out really fuzzy. But I liked how happy he looked. He blew out his candles before the birthday song, so we had to light them twice. He looks like such a big boy on my lap now!

Alex is at a really cute age. He gets excited easily. Yesterday, when we were driving past a contruction site, he exclaimed, "Wow, a crane!" Funny, the rest of us don't get that excited about a crane or a tractor. Before his birthday, he was pointing out all of the tractors doing road contruction, and mentioning that he wanted them for his birthday.

I asked him where he would put such a big tractor. He said, "In the dirt." He didn't get a real tractor. But he did get a remote-control tractor.

Lately, he likes Dan to read him a book called, "The Big Fat Cow that goes Ka-Pow".

Alex takes the time to stop and blow the dandelions.

Thankfully, Alex has mellowed out a lot during the last year. He no longer gets into things and dumps them on purpose. He has quit flushing everything he could find down the toilet. He actually watches tv and plays with toys now. I can almost sigh a sigh of relief that he has calmed down.

I am so thankful for Alex and the joy that he is to us.

5 Years: My little Anna!

2010-10-24T22:29:00.010-06:00

This is just the start of all of October Happenings. This is my reflection on Anna. What a joy she is to our family!

Newborn
One year old

Two

Three

Four

Five

You can't see her eyes well in this last picture. But I liked how intently she was looking at her candles.

Anna has such beautiful curly hair! It is not very fun to fix though. Her hair is actually quite long. It goes halfway down her back. Since it is curly, you can't tell. She loves her hair in braids.

I love how Anna goes around singing a lot. Last week she was out in the backyard playing singing loudly about what a beautiful day it was. It was a beautiful day. It made me smile.

I love how she gives me such sweet kisses when I drop her off at preschool.

Her favorite books are "Froggy" books. She loves playing with friends. She loves Land Before Time. (That cursed movie with about 100 sequels)

I am glad I have this sweet little girl for my daughter.

Dan and the couch....

2010-10-16T22:25:00.002-06:00

Anna and Alex had birthdays and I have a lot of pictures and stuff to update. But I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. So here's a picture-less story instead.

We had some dark green couches in the basement that really got on my bad list. Every day when I came downstairs, someone had pulled a handfull of cotton out of the inside of the couch and thrown it all over the floor. One guilty child admitted that it bugged him that it wasn't sewn up so he couldn't help it. I guess the devil made him do it. :) Two other guilty children pled innocent. Then two someones peed on the couch recently. The couch was disassembled and cleaned and put back together again.

After being sick with strep for a few days, and getting a few days behind on the cotton-picking-up, I decided the couches had to go. We convinced some neighbors to help us load them in the truck to take to DI. DI did not want to couches. So, off to the dump they went.

Dan picked up our new sectional in his truck, and came home with it. After we got it home, it got a bit tricky. First, Dan tried the side-door of the house with the first piece. It got stuck. After a bit of manuevering, we took it around back through the sliding glass door. This too was a tight fit. Dan was convinced if I squished the cussions down enough while he pushed that it would fit in the door. It did--sort of. It made a few little scrapes on the bottom of the brand new couch. And it took a lot of effort.

After the back door ordeal, I questioned whether it would fit in the basement. Of course it would Dan said. And we couldn't take them back now that we damaged them a little. I don't think a sectional on the deck was what we had in mind.

First, Dan took off the railing to get the piece of sectional down the stairs. Then, we pushed and shoved. And the couch got stuck in the doorway at the bottom of the stairs. An hour or two later, we got it unstuck and back up the stairs.

Then, Dan started a demolition project. He always hated the door and doorway that led into the basement anyway. So, off with the door and the door frame.

Next, another neighbor came and helped Dan get it downstairs. Then comes the second piece of the sectional. Did we learn anything from the first piece? Yes, it doesn't fit in any of the exterior doors. So, they removed the glass door from the sliding glass door in the back yard. This piece made it through the door without any damage. And down the stairs to the basement without getting stuck anywhere.

So, the moral of the story: If you are buying a new couch measure all of the openings on the way to where it is going. Otherwise, you might be in for a home remodel.

At least I hadn't painted the downstairs yet. I am slowly painting the whole house and I didn't get to it yet.

My weekend....

2010-09-12T20:42:00.002-06:00

I'll post some pics soon. I am too tired to go upstairs and get my camera.
On Friday, my sister Angie (aka Ralphie) and I drove up to Idaho to Jenny's house. We left all of our kids behind with the husbands. That was the nicest drive. We didn't even have to stop at all for a potty break. We had a good long chat without any interruption.
We were actually going to watch Leslie and my mom do the Viking Man Triathlon. Mom did the Olympic and Leslie did the 1/2 Ironman. Afterwards, I think Leslie wished she would have done the Olympic instead. Mom swam 1 mile, biked 29 and then ran a 10K. Leslie swam 1.25 miles, biked 58 and then ran a half-marathon. Leslie didn't feel so well by the end. But we were proud of her for finishing. That takes a lot of guts!
I actually ran one mile of the run with Leslie. It was a really slow mile (like a 12 minute mile). But hey, I ran a mile!!!! After that, and a whole day of walking around, my leg felt really crappy. I think a mile is my limit right now. I really can't complain. I no longer limp. I'm not in a wheelchair. I am so much better.

Now I know how all of you non-runners feel. Running isn't euphoric or awesome right now. It feels crappy and I don't enjoy it. It still feels a little like weight-lifting to get my leg to keep moving like it should. But I know that it will get easier. Someday I'll get back to where running is easy and fun.

I totally love my kids and husband. But it was sure nice to get a break at Jenny's house. I didn't have to take care of anyone. I actually sat around some and watched TV. I love hanging out with my sisters. And I liked that Jenny keeps several cartons of cream in her fridge. She puts cream and milk on her cereal every morning. So of course we all did the same. Having grown up with a milk cow and creamy milk, most of us love cream.

Jenny is one of my best friends. She really is awesome. She is patient with her 5 kids. She does so many things. When we came up for breakfast, she was pulling a birthday cake out of the oven for someone she visiting teachers. We all packed in her vehicle so she could drop Ralphie and I off at the race while she went to Austin's football game. She lives out in the middle of nowhere. Actually what they call outside of town. As soon as we got into town, Ethan calls out from the back seat that he didn't wear any shoes. Its too long of a drive to go back for shoes. So, we stopped at a store while she ran into to buy another pair. Meanwhile, Spencer mentioned that he just mowed a pair of Ethans shoes when he mowed the lawn the day before. She didn't even seem upset by the shoes. She just moved on to the next task. Jenny is one tough cookie. She handles things well.
It was a good weekend. And some good R&R for me. And everyone loved me when I came home. Anna even wanted to have ice cream to celebrate. Really just an excuse for ice cream. :)

First Day of school etc.

2010-08-28T15:36:00.004-06:00

Rachel all ready for the first day of school.

Caleb ready for school. He has gotten several teeth out this summer, in case you can't tell.

This morning I was hoping to sleep in, but I got woken up by two kids with a fever. After I got them Motrin, I looked out and saw the sunrise. The clouds were awesome, so I went and got my camera. I loved how I could see the sunrays. Maybe I should start getting up earlier. :)

Look at the size of this beet from our garden! It is as big as Dan's head. No, we didn't eat it. We cooked a few beets, and the rest got stuffed in the downstairs fridge. I need to throw them all away now.

Caleb's Baptism, Car crash and more....

2010-08-13T17:41:00.003-06:00

Caleb was baptized on the last Saturday of July. He was very excited and nervous. I am proud of him. He is such a good boy. He was worried that the water was going to be cold, but it wasn't.

I got to fill in as the pianist in the chapel since the person who was supposed to play the piano never showed up. I thought they would make us go last since I was playing the piano, but surprisingly they let us go second and asked for any volunteers to play the piano.

Last week after I dropped Rachel and Caleb off at swimming lessons, I got in a car accident. It was not my fault. I was driving down the road after pulling out of the parking lot. I was only going about 30-35 miles an hour because I was still accelerating. A woman thought I was slowing down to turn, not speeding up. She pulled out right into me. It totaled my mini-van and hers. Nobody was hurt. Alex did end up with a seatbelt line on his neck. Anna cried a lot because she was upset that someone ruined our van. The police officer brought her and Alex a stuffed animal, and she immediately cheered up.

I really hated my old van, so I wasn't too sad to see it wrecked. It was a bit of an inconvenience. We've now purchased a newer van that I like much, much better. The lady who crashed into me (who just happened to be on her way to swimming lessons with her kids) felt really bad. She even sent me a note in the mail apologizing and thanking me for being so nice to her at the crash. I thought that was cute. I am thankful that we were all protected from serious injury.

Rachel and Caleb just finished up another round of swimming lessons. Caleb is really good at diving. Rachel is getting to be a very good swimmer. She came home so tired every day from swimming laps for nearly an hour. I can't believe how much Rachel has improved. Two years ago, I had to jump in and save her with my clothes on.

One day when I picked Rachel up from swimming, she was really annoyed. She said that a boy in her class was bugging her. I asked what he was doing, and she said that he keeps saying she is cute. I thought that was funny. Maybe in a few years she'll appreciate boys telling her that she's cute.

Rachel aka the bookwork, has read over 5000 pages this summer. I don't even know how many books that is. She was supposed to read 1000 pages. If she has a good book, she will disappear in her room for hours.

My leg strength and coordination is still slowly improving. I've started going to a chiropractor as well as physical therapy. I think the chiropractor is helping. For some strange reason, I still have a hard time with toe coordination. They always ask me to move my big toe up or down, and it is really hard. Its almost funny to me.

Rachel and Caleb are going back to school soon. Anna will be going back to preschool soon too. We are all looking forward to it.

July......

2010-07-25T20:18:00.004-06:00

Briget with her baby Deklan, Ben, Becca, Me, Leslie, Jenny, Angie, Carrie and my Dad.

We took Caleb and some friends to Classic for his birthday. The little girl in this picture was his best friend through second grade. They got along so well, and both looked out for each other. She doesn't live near us and won't be returning to the charter school this year because of the long drive. She said to me, "Do you know that Caleb has a crush on me?" I thought it was cute.

I must say that it is so much easier to take the kids somewhere for a party. I'm just not the best entertainer.

This last weekend, we had the Marchant family reunion. My mom rented a place called Warm Springs Resort. We had a lot of fun. The cabins were much smaller than we anticipated. Rachel pointed out that the bathrooms were bigger than the cabins. Think of a Tuff shed, and that's about the size of the cabins. But we made do.

There were paddle boats and kayaks. I think kayaks are a little harder than they look. The paddle boats were fun. Jenny had the privilege of pedaling with Anna. She said that Anna was riding the pedals, so she was pedaling both the boat and all of Anna's weight. I bet that was a good workout. Anna threw a major fit because she thought she should be able to go out in a kayak all by herself. Even though she is almost 5, that's not old enough to kayak alone. We let Caleb go out in his own, and he rowed in circles and hit the bank of the pond a lot.

I made all of my siblings get together for a sibling pictures. My mom conveniently left to take grandkids on a hike right as we were taking the picture. She didn't realize we were taking a picture. So, only my dad was in it with us. Its probably not the most flattering picture of all of us. We were sleep-deprived and dirty. And some people weren't happy to be in the picture. But I still wanted a picture of all of us. I don't think I've had a shot of all of us as adults ever. I love all my siblings, and my parents.

No, I'm not the shortest. I'm the second shortest. :) Jenny is a half an inch shorter than me.

Funny Thing.......

2010-07-14T18:10:00.002-06:00

Caleb went to his baptism interview with the bishop on Sunday. He talked to Caleb about the Word of Wisdom. He asked Caleb to name some things that were against the Word of Wisdom. Caleb gave all of the usual answers, but with one extra. He told the bishop that it was against the Word of Wisdom to swallow your gum. :)
I think I need to teach my kids that its against the Word of Wisdom to eat boogers too. Not that Caleb or Rachel still eat boogers.

Rambling

2010-07-13T14:56:00.004-06:00

About a week ago when I woke up, all of the muscles in my leg were working again. I am thrilled. Before this, I was walking pretty well. But only part of the muscles in my leg were doing all of the work. So my leg felt crappy a lot of the time and stairs were still hard for me.

When I went to PT yesterday, the physical therapists were amazed. Then they gave me quite a workout.

I got to walk 9 minutes on the treadmill. Then I got to jog for 2 minutes. It was so slow I wouldn't even call it a jog. It was about a 15 minute mile. After that, they put me on the excercise bike for 5 minutes. After all of that, and a lot of other exercises, I was exhausted.

I am now allowed to run for 1 minute a day. Woohoo! 1 minute. :) I get to increase to 3 minutes when I can do 3 sets of 10 leg lifts.

Isn't it funny that I am excited about running one minute?

I can't express how thankful I am for being able to walk easily. It is the best thing!

The picture is a picture of all of my parent's grandkids. This was taken July 4th. That's a lot of kids!

Caleb and Dan had birthdays a few days ago. I'm gonna post pics and things about their birthdays--but I have to wait till I get my camera back. I accidentally left it at my in-laws house.

California Trip

2010-06-22T11:06:00.006-06:00

We left last Monday for Anaheim and drove the whole way in one day. With a bit of junk food and a DVD player, the drive was pretty good.

We stayed at a hotel called Hilton Homewood Suites. It was about a mile from Disneyland. With 4 kids, we needed a larger hotel room than we've had in the past. We had two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and kitchen. We loved the hotel.

The first night after we went to bed, our bed started moving. Dan said, "Caleb, stop boucing on our bed." When he realized Caleb was asleep, he started saying, "Rachel, stop it!". After a few seconds he realized it wasn't the kids. It was an earthquake. I guess it was a 5.7. Nobody in California even gives it a second thought. But we aren't quite as used to earthquakes. Our kids were disappointed that they slept through it.

We got up and went to Disneyland on Tuesday. Because of my leg issues, I rented an electric wheelchair. My leg is doing very well, and I am walking very well. But I am still not able to walk around and stand in line all day. The good thing was that it got us on most of the rides much faster than usual. We were able to wait ten minutes for one ride that had a 65 minute wait. I would much rather have a normal leg though. We stayed clear until the fireworks ended at about 10:00. Anna and Alex were very tired and crabby by the time we got back to our hotel. We had a lot of fun. Next time we go, we'll go in January when its not so crowded. Anna loved "Its a small world". Alex's favorite was "Dumbo". Rachel loved "Splash Mountain". I'm not sure what Caleb's favorite was.

On Wednesday, we got up and went to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. The kids especially liked the petting zoo.

Thursday, we went on a harbor tour in San Diego. The kids liked it at first, but were a little bored by the end of the ride. If we do this again, we'll try to go during whale watching season, so its a little more exciting.

We spent the rest of the day Thursday and Friday at the beach. We rented a little motel room on the beach. The location was perfect. We were able to walk to the beach from our room. The room was a little cramped, but it was way worth it for the location.

When we first saw the ocean, Alex said, "Mom, its too big for me!". He was a bit scared. He went in the water a little bit, but mostly played in the sand. The older three kids had a blast in the water. Rachel especially.

On Friday we rented a couple of boogie boards (or body boards). Rachel really took to it. She spent hours boarding in the waves. She is quite an adventurer. It didn't bother her if a wave washed over her head. Caleb liked it until he got water up his nose. I thought it was fun too. However, I don't really like waves washing over my head either. I guess I'm a chicken. So Rachel and Dan spent the most time on the boards. I thought it was funny when I was boarding with Rachel. She was instructing me, and saying things like, "Mom, you gotta catch that wave". I would highly recommed renting some boards, if your kids are old enough and adventurous enough.

The drive home was another all-in-one-day drive. It was pretty good until we hit road construction in Lehi. Then we inched along for a half an hour. We made it home, and had a great trip.

My sister Leslie keeps asking me when I'm gonna update my blog with the trip pics. So, here it is Leslie. :)

It was D day

2010-06-08T22:21:00.002-06:00

Or doctor day. I had two appointments today.
The first one was with a doctor and University of Utah. I should have just skipped this appointment. First, he asked me if I had an eating disorder because I am thin. I don't! I love food. Then he told me that I was trying to help the weak leg when he was testing my reflexes in that knee. No I wasn't!! Why would I do that? Then came the diagnosis: my brain just forgot how to work my leg. He tried to explain it in technical terms, but he really didn't know what he was talking about.
After that lovely appointment, I met Dan for lunch. I always love to eat lunch with him. That was the highlight of my day.
Then I went back to the neurologist who sent me to the neurosurgeon. My regular dr said I should follow up with him. The neurologist thought the other doctor's explanation was absurd. He said, "You have a spinal lesion at L4". This caused the nerve damage to your leg. There's no damage still occurring, so there's nothing to fix. Work hard in PT to get your leg strength back.
So, back to PT I go.
That's it for the run-around. Hopefully in a few months I'll be running around. :)

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-06T22:17:00.002-06:00

We spent a day at Dan's uncle's cabin with some of Dan's family. It is up near the Uintahs.

We roasted marshmallows, stayed up late, got dirty, played in the stream, and had fun.

We saw a moose and lots of squirrels. We saw a lot of cows too.
Anna liked the neighbors moose statue, so I took her picture with it.

Rachel said the cabin was her dream home. I thought that was kind of funny. Its not luxurious and is rather old. Its not my dream home, but it is a fun getaway.

Its amazing how long Alex could be entertained by floating sticks in a stream. Don't worry, we watched him closely. And as you can see, its really not very deep or swift.

The weather was quite cold. It actually snowed a little while we were there. Dan's brother Joe kept the fireplace going nice and hot.

The good old leg update......

2010-05-27T11:25:00.002-06:00

Probably most of you are really sick of hearing about my stupid leg (I'm sick of my stupid leg, too). So, you can just skip this post if you're tired of the updates. I find it a lot easier to post things than tell the same thing 20 times to 20 different people.

Last week I went to PT for the first time. Really the first time was just an evaluation. The regular physical therapists weren't in. It was just someone filling in for them. She spent over an hour evaluating me, and then sent me home with a few exercises. When I went back this week, the regular PT looked at my chart. And then he did a lot more evaluating. Then he dragged in the other physical therapist to look at me too. I got a lot of "hmmms" and "this is unusual". They left me for a little while, and of course, I thumbed through my chart that they left sitting by me. (Who wouldn't look at their chart, if they're gonna set it next to you and step out of the room?)

After a lot of discussion, they physical therapists concluded that physical therapy was not going to help me. They think I need to pursue a diagnosis. Now, I have an appointment with another doctor at the U.

I am walking really well these days. I am quite thrilled with that. But I know there's still something wrong with me. My reflexes in my left leg are abnormal. I trip or stumble a few times a day. Luckily I haven't fallen down yet. My chart said "possible MS" on about every other page. It can't be MS though. The MRI of my brain came out fine. I don't know what in the world is wrong with me. I've spent a lot of hours online researching things, and haven't been able to find anything that matches exactly.

So, now I'm just in the wait until I see the next doctor. This makes doctor #5.

Alex is amusing......

2010-05-25T21:58:00.003-06:00

Alex has started talking a lot lately. I must admit, he really amuses me. He comes up with different things every day.

He has renamed our cat "Twinkle". Anna decided to rename the cat "Sparkle" but he didn't want that name. Not that we were voting on it anyway. Our cat stays outside---at least it does if Alex is anywhere near. Alex calls it "my cat" and carries it everywhere. Tizzy (the cat's real name) is very patient and never scratches him. But she makes a beeline for the door as soon as he sets her down. Cats don't belong in my house anyway.

Alex loves lawnmowers. For a long time, he carried around the lawnmower section of the Sears ad. He called it "my lawnmowers". Whenever we go to my parents house, he always asks my dad where his lawnmower is. Dan recently bought a riding lawnmower. Alex always asks Dan if he is going to "play with his big lawnmower or his little lawnmower". We don't allow rides on the lawnmower. But Alex takes every chance he can get to sit on it and pretend to drive. He thinks any equipment that is remotely similar to a lawnmower is a lawnmower. Those big tractors working on the road are just really big lawnmowers.

At church on Sunday, Alex spotted someone in a wheelchair. He then exclaimed, "Look, a baby jogger!". Of course this was during the sacrament. And he said it many times.

When Alex says his prayers at bedtime lately, he roars a couple of times during his prayer. He is trying to act like a dinosaur. I don't laugh, but it is all I can do not to laugh sometimes.

Cars is his favorite movie. During the day, he goes around clearing his throat and making strange noises. Then he exclaims that he's starting his engine. If you've seen Cars, you know "Start your engines".

When we were driving down the street today, there was a truck in front of us. He yelled, "catch that garbage truck!". It wasn't a garbage truck. But he certainly loves garbage day. With 3 different trash cans, we get to see a lot of garbage trucks. He comes running to the window whenever he hears one.

Although Alex has been a challenging toddler, he sure makes up for it with all of the cute things he does. I love his mischievious little grin. Now that he's talking, I am really enjoying him.

Done with diapers!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-23T13:40:00.002-06:00

We started potty-training Alex on Monday. The first day did not go too well. But then, I went to the store and bought some cool new undies insteady of "tidy whiteys". I never knew how great Cars underwear were. After we got out the new undies, Alex turned over a new leaf. He has had very few accidents.
I was worried about him wearing underwear for bedtime. So I put a diaper on him for bed. A few minutes later, he was no longer wearing it. He was wearing his cool new undies again. Once again, I put a diaper on him. Once again, he took them off and put on his underwear. After he went to sleep, I put a diaper on him.
When he woke up in the morning, his diaper was dry. I tried to diaper him again for bedtime the next night. It was a repeat of the night before. So finally, I just gave up and let him wear his favorite underwear to bed. He has not wet the bed yet. I am thrilled! My other kids wore diapers to bed for quite a while after they were potty-trained.
Since Anna was still in diapers when Alex was born, I've had someone in diapers for 4 years and 7 months now. Diaper free at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now she's 10!

2010-05-18T11:15:00.002-06:00

Rachel turned 10 years old last week. This was the first birthday that she didn't want all toys. It was kind of sad in a way, because she's getting old! The two big things she asked for were a bike and a globe. I thought the globe was kind of a funny thing to want. She looks at it every day and finds different places, and asks me where everything is.

We had a friend party on the Saturday before her birthday. At her request, we had a chocolate fountain. They all thought it was great. It actually wasn't as messy as I thought.

On her birthday, my parents came over for cake and ice cream. I made her a chocolate layer cake. Right before my parents came, I ran to the store quickly to get ice cream and candles. When I came home and put the candle on the cake, everyone got quite a laugh. I bought the wrong candle number. Of course I hadn't forgotten how old Rachel was! I don't know how I managed to buy the wrong number. We made do, as you can see.

I am thankful for Rachel. She is such a cute, sweet girl.

Mother's Day

2010-05-18T09:07:00.004-06:00

I had a nice Mother's Day. I just thought I'd share what Caleb made me at school.

It says:

My mother's love means everything to me. She give s me hugs and teaches me not to eat drugs. She takes me to school and sometimes to the pool to cool. My mother's love means everything to me.

Improvement :)

2010-05-18T08:49:00.003-06:00

Last weekend was a rough weekend for me physically. I did too much and really felt awful by the end of the weekend. My weak leg gets to where it is so hard to move. I wondered if things would ever get better. I started some more prescription anti-inflammatories on Sunday night. Yesterday when I woke up, my leg felt stronger and more moveable. My limp was barely noticeable yesterday. Today, when I woke up my leg was even better than yesterday. When I walked up the stairs this morning, it was the easiest it has been in over 6 weeks. My limp is mostly gone today. If you were scrutinizing how I walk, you might see it. But probably nobody would stop me today and ask what's wrong.
I am starting PT tomorrow.
I am thrilled for improvement. :) I'm not sure that I'm cured. When I try to move my leg sometimes, my toes wiggle in a funny way instead of my leg moving. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to get my leg to do what I want it to. I wish that something hurt so they could figure out what to fix. Little improvements really make me happy though. If I could put a laughing smiley face at the end of this I would. I hope I never take walking for granted again.

Family Pictures

2010-05-10T09:20:00.009-06:00

These are some of my favorite pictures from our recent family photo shoot. We used a photographer named Whitney Stark.

Good and Bad News

2010-05-06T16:45:00.002-06:00

The good news: I don't have to get back surgery.

The bad news: They don't know what's wrong with me.

The Neurosurgeon contradicted what the Neurologist said. He doesn't think the leg issue is coming from my back, even though I obviously have disc issues in my back. He thinks the lack of back pain confirms that. Good. I didn't want back surgery.
I have an apointment for another opinion since I got conflicting opinions. Also, I am going back to my regular doctor. I trust my regular doctor.
Since I am improving with rest and anti-inflammatories, that's what I'm gonna do until I go back to my regular doctor.
They've ruled out MS with the brain MRI.
Dan and I have been researching things, and it still may be a nerve issue. Inflamed nerves don't work right, which would cause my leg muscles not to work right.
What a rollercoaster ride! I think I want to get off this ride now.

Like a kid at Christmas

2010-05-04T16:37:00.002-06:00

I woke up really early this morning to go to the bathroom. When I walked to the bathroom, I realized that I could feel one of my leg muscles that I hadn't been able to feel anymore. I could walk even better than yesterday. I lay there trying to go back to sleep and trying not to wake up Dan. But alas, my excitement got to me, and I woke him up to show him that my leg was working better today. It struck me as funny because I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning trying to be quiet till it was time to get up.
What a difference a week can make! I guess what a difference rest, not picking up a toddler, and lots of anti-inflammatories can make. I am hoping that I am cured. But in reality its not all better. Its just back to where it was 3 or 4 weeks ago.
So, Merry Christmas! :) Hopefully there's no more snow to go with it.

Not really news.....

2010-04-29T15:17:00.003-06:00

Today I went in for another MRI. It was of my brain and neck. After over an hour in a machine that sounds like power tools and some pokes to get an IV with dye in, the conclusion was that there's nothing wrong with my head and neck. That's good to know. If I had to choose, I think I would choose paralysis over brain damage. :)

Next, I went for the EMG testing. I'll call this the "Poke and Shock" test. They shock different muscles to test the nerves. It just felt like touching the electric fence. There are some that they can't shock, so they poke you with a needle hooked to a strange microphone. They measure the static noise from the microphone.

The EMG test wasn't really too informative. They said I had some nerve damage from the herniated disc in my lumbar spine. He didn't know if it is reversible, but said there's a good chance since I'm young.

The thoracic spine is where I have discs touching the spinal cord. I guess they can't test those nerves. That's okay. I had enough pokes and shocks for one day.

The doctor said I might need surgery for the lumbar spine and the thoracic, or maybe just the lumbar. Or maybe the lumbar now and then wait and see if the thoracic gets better. He basically just said to wait and see what the surgeon says. I go to the surgeon next week.

So today's round of tests seemed like a waste of time and lots of pokes. I could think of a hundred other ways to spend that much money and a whole day.

Yesterday my walking improved a lot. Today is a little improved over yesterday. My limp is starting to disappear. I am still wobbly on stairs and can't lift my leg much. When I try to lift my leg, my toes twitch instead. Its actually kind of funny. I've started taking a lot of anti-inflammatories. It won't fix my back, but helps the symptoms.

Tuesday was the worst day for me yet. By the end of the day it was so hard to walk. I tried crawling, but that wasn't any easier. So I just gave up and went to bed early. Rachel asked me if I wanted a cane for Mother's Day. (No, I don't want a cane for Mother's Day)

I've posted a picture that a took about a week ago. I love Spring.

Oh....

2010-04-23T08:38:00.003-06:00

Someone mentioned to me that I forgot to say what Dan's good news was. Dan was named the Director of Operations for the company he works for. So now, he's the boss for the company in Salt Lake City. I am really proud of Dan. He has worked so hard, and does a great job.

You might say that it is a cooincidence, but there's no such thing as a cooincidence. We know that Heavenly Father was sending us help in our time of need. We feel very thankful that we will be able to pay the medical bills that are coming our way.
Last week, a friend and I were talking about things, and she calls this "tender mercies". I've been reflecting on this recently.

I am not going to list all the trials I've been through. I know that you've all been through challenging times as well. But I know that I have seen the "tender mercy" of Heavenly Father in every single trial I have gone through. He's never just left me alone without any help. I'm not saying I've never struggled, never been scared, or never been sad. But there has always been a way for things to work out. I've always had the comfort I needed at the times I've needed it most.

A scripture I read recently was this:
Mormon 5:23
Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?

As much as we like to think we are in charge, and we know the plans, the truth is that we are in Heavenly Father's hands.

An Update

2010-04-22T13:22:00.002-06:00

I went to the Neurologist today.
This is what he said:
1. I wish I had seen you in January when your leg first started having problems.
2. I will come in on my day off so we can do a test to see how much nerve damage you have.
3. Get an MRI of brain and neck, just so we have a complete picture of you spine from top to bottom. (I've already had one of middle and lower back).
4. See a Neurosurgeon ASAP. There is one in the same office, and he put me on the schedule without the usual month wait that it takes to get in.
5. I have 4 herniated discs in the thoracic region and 2 in the lumbar. The ones in the thoracic region are squishing my spinal cord. They need to get fixed ASAP.

You would think I would have been in a major accident to have all the damage in my back that I have. Right after Alex was born, I bent down to pick him up and threw my back out. That's the only thing that I can ever recall that could have possibly done any harm. Any how many moms bend down to pick up their baby? All of them. How many end up with a messed up back from it? Probably just me.

The hardest thing for me is probably going to be the lack of independence. I don't want to need help. I want to be the one helping others.

I am thankful I live at a time where medical techonology is awesome. I'm thankful for blue sky and sunshine. And all the blossoms and flowers.

MRI and Update

2010-04-13T18:33:00.004-06:00

I went for the MRI on my back this morning. It wasn't too bad. I only had to be in the machine for 70 minutes. I kept my eyes closed the whole time so I wouldn't feel clausterphobic. It had good air flow, so I really didn't feel like I was closed in a small space. (Like when we used to close ourselves in the toybox and then a sibling would come sit on it.) My weak leg felt like it was going to flop over, and I tried not to let it flop over during the MRI.
My doctor's office called me with some results this afternoon. There a problem with the discs in my middle back. They didn't give me any more details than that. I'm probably going to call them for more specifics when they open tomorrow. They asked when my neurologist appointment was. Originally, they couldn't fit me in until the middle of May. However, they called me back a few hours later, and now I have an appointment next week. I am anxious to get in to the doctor. My leg is weaker than it was a week ago. I sure hope this is reversible. If it isn't, then I guess that's life. I guess I just won't be running or jogging up or down the stairs. (Anyone ever notice that President Obama always jogs up the stairs on Air Force One?)
I am really grateful that I am not in much pain. My back bothers me off and on, but not consistently. I know people with back issues that are in constant pain.
So, I know where the problem is, but not what the exact problem is. I am hoping and praying it is not degenerative and is reversible.
I also got the pleasure of going back to the ENT doctor. I'm on sinus infection number 8 or 9 since my surgery in Nov. The one side of my sinuses (AKA the one in my left cheek) does not drain even though they cleared all the obstructions during the other surgery. We are trying a different treatment for a month. If the treatment doesn't fix this issue, I'm in for another sinus surgery. They'll put a "drain" in. Hmmm.....that might be interesting. As long as they don't add a third nostril, I'm fine with it. :)
Other interesting stuff: Rachel is learning the Recorder in 4th grade. She is very excited about it. I think the recorder is not my favorite instrument. I remember loving it when I was in 4th grade. I bet my mom loved it too.
Caleb was excited and came home with a new calculator today. He got it for being able to count by 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's. That's how his teacher is introducing multiplication. That's a good idea. I bet that would have made it easier when I was a kid.
Dan got some very good news at work today. It is not public knowledge, but will be announced at a company dinner this week. We feel very blessed.

That's the last 24 hours in a nutshell.

The Unknown

2010-04-07T12:42:00.003-06:00

I've been having knee issues from running. Recently, I went to a Sports Medicine doctor. He concluded that it was from a weak hip, and gave me some excercises to do to strengthen my hip. I have been doing the exercises for two months now, and I have made some improvement. I still cannot lift my left leg as high as normal, and I feel a little unstable going down stairs sometimes. I've been running around 10 miles a week.
Feeling like something still isn't right, I went to my family doctor today. He is a great doctor. He spent over half an hour in the room with me. (Sorry to all the patients after me.) He did not come up with a diagnosis. But he thinks there's something wrong. I have muscle atrophy on one side of my body. It might possibly be a disk in my back or something else. I will be getting an MRI done on my back, and other tests done by a neurologist to try to figure out what is wrong with me.
I went in to the appointment thinking I would just get a referral for some physical therapy for my hip and knee. I've been a little emotional since my appointment, since this is not what I expected. I really hate the unknown. I feel nervous about what comes next. What if they find something wrong? What if they don't?
I know everything will be okay in the end. I know that Heavenly Father knows me and will help me through whatever comes next. But I can't help feeling a little nervous about the unknown.

There's something nice about Ben

2010-03-18T21:54:00.003-06:00

It is easy to speak negative of my brother Ben. He has now been off drugs for just over 3 months. He is living in the apartment behind my parent's house.
Tonight I stopped by my parent's house after I got the kids to bed. Who am I kidding? I was really just running away from the kids for a little while because they made me feel nuts today.
I happened to be there when they had family prayer. Ben actually offered a sincere prayer. And in his prayer he was thankful that I came to visit, and prayed for me to go home safely. I thought that was very sweet of him. I only live 5 miles away.
Also, whenever I talk to him on the phone, he always ends with "I love you". It is almost funny to me because probably the only other people I know that end calls like that with me are Dan and one of Dan's Grandmas.
Even though Ben isn't perfect, I wanted to mention that he can be quite sweet. I love him, and I'm glad he's my brother.

Another round of Sunday Randomness

2010-03-14T19:30:00.004-06:00

Caleb was really good at tying some fleece blankets that we made recently.
He is doing really well in school this year. He has a great teacher who is very patient with him. His teacher always tells me how much she loves having Caleb in her class. It is a big contrast from last year, when his teacher sent him to the principal for every little thing he did. I can't say enough about how thankful for his teacher I am. Switching to a charter school was a good thing for him. He had developed a bit of anxiety about being sent to the office all of the time at the last school. He is happy at school. He says he wants to teach there when he grows up.
Often times before school, he will get his room clean, piano practiced, and the dishwasher unloaded. All without me asking him to. I really appreciate that about him.

Rachel will be 10 in a few weeks. I can't believe she is getting so old! She is fun to shop with now that she is getting older.

Anna wears dress-ups and dresses a good portion of the time. I think she has only worn pants once in the last month. And she screamed about it for at least 10 minutes. She changed a while later when I wasn't looking. Disney dress-ups don't fare so well in the wash. Homemade dress-ups do much better. She put her headband in by herself.

I was trying to get Anna to let me take a picture of her braids. She loves to have her hair braided. It is hard to braid curly hair. Her hair actually goes half-way down her back. But you'd never know since it is naturally curly. When I do braids, they curl up too.

This picture I would call "Joy in a Cupcake". Alex was excited to eat cupcakes that were leftover from dinner at Grandma Marchant's house.
Alex is actually outgrowing some of his mischievious behaviors. He still thinks the kitchen is an all-you-can-eat-buffet when anyone happens to leave something out or leave the cupboard or fridge unlocked. At least he is not picky. He'll eat everything. On Saturday morning, he came to my room to tell me that the chocolate milk was too heavy. He had carried the full bottle most of the way down the hall to my room so I could pour him some. Luckily he didn't spill it all over.

Alex is such a joy to me. He has a really sweet personality. He has this special little way he likes me to hold him, with his arms tucked under.

I've been really busy the last few weeks. March is a really busy time for the company I do QA for. I've been putting in hours after the kids go to bed. I'm glad that March will end, and I will be back to only a couple of hours a week.

I recently interviewed for a 3 month management internship position. It was the hardest interview I have ever been through. I did not get it. But it was actually a relief not to get it. It is a virtual company, and all of the work would be from home. However, that still doesn't give me more time in the day. I love my kids and love being a mom. I do like having something to do beside just housework. Sometimes it seems funny to me, when I am downstairs working from home, and Dan is upstairs working from home. Technology has come a long way.

I've started playing the organ in sacrament meeting every other week. The main problem I have is nervousness. Even if I can play perfectly when I practice, I get nervous and shaky when I am playing in sacrament meeting. I hit a wrong note in every single song today. When I go to sit with my family after the sacrament hymn, my legs are always shaky when I walk to the bench. I know that it will go away in time. When I used to teach Gospel Doctrine, I would feel really shaky when I was up there. By the time I was released, I was actually comfortable up there. I keep telling myself that I will feel comfortable someday doing this too.

Funny Kids.....

2010-03-09T16:22:00.003-07:00

Today as we were pulling into the bank parking lot, Alex excitedly exclaimed, "The sucker church". I thought that was funny that he thought the bank was a church that hands out suckers. Our bank always gives the kids dum dum suckers. What I need is a chocolate church.

On Sunday when we were at the Rowley's house, Anna wanted me to come see what she spelled on the fridge with the magnetic letters. She said, "Look Mom! I spelled ABC.com". It was actually ABC.KOM. The M was actually an upside down W. I thought that was quite funny that she would be spelling out web addresses.

Sunday was fast Sunday. Rachel moaned and groaned because I told her that she needed to fast breakfast. Caleb was grumpy because I told him that he needed to hurry and eat breakfast before 9:00 am church. He wanted to fast. Dan stayed home with Alex, who had a bad cold. Alex cried and screamed because he wanted to go to church. He loves church. Anna cried because she wanted to stay home from church. I made her come since she wasn't sick. I just thought it was funny that all the kids wanted the opposite of what they got.

A bunch of Randomness.....

2010-02-25T13:49:00.002-07:00

Yes, I must be bored. Funny how I can be bored, but still have so many things to do. I've got a load of laundry waiting for me, and the dishwasher needs to be unloaded. Tomorrow is bathroom cleaning day, and I could always get a headstart on that. I still need to pull 5 more St. Jude calls for work, and I have a work report to do. No, its not like a school report. Rachel has a school report due on Monday, so I need to take her to the library when she gets home.

I went grocery shopping and bought my favorite cookies: Simply Shortbread. I hope the kids don't discover them. I gave Anna and Alex some pink and white animal cookies, hoping they wouldn't notice my cookies.

On the wall by my computer desk someone has written two things: Mom (with heart drawn around it) and the word poop. Time to get out the Mr. Clean magic eraser and make someone do some wall cleaning when they get home from school. I'm glad my kids love me, but I would rather not have them demonstrate on the wall. I think this is Caleb's artwork.

There are some tulips coming up in my flower bed! Woohoo for Spring!!

So here's some random questions for you reading this blog. I am actually looking for ideas, so take the time to answer them. :)

1. What is your favorite workout music?

2. What is your favorite church or classical CD?
I listen to only church or classical music on Sunday, and I need a few new suggestions.

3. What is your favorite crock-pot meal?

4. What is the best movie you have rented lately?

5. What was your favorite book when you were a child?

That's all of my randomness for today. :)

A few little milestones...

2010-02-17T21:13:00.002-07:00

Alex finally enjoys watching TV. He loves Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He sings along with Little Einsteins. It is cute. He has also found a new love: Playdough. I hate playdough because it makes such a big mess. But since he is such a busy boy, and this keeps him occupied, it is worth the mess. He is disappointed because he accidentally broke the playdough oven, and that was his favorite thing. (Surprising that Alex breaks things??)

Alex also used the potty for the first time today. Maybe someday we'll be able to get him potty-trained. It has been over 4 years since we didn't have a child in diapers. It will sure be nice to not have to buy diapers.

Anna has also started reading beginning reader books. She turns 5 this year in Oct, but misses the school deadline. So, she still has over a year and a half until Kindergarten. She'll be reading very well by Kindergarten.

Caleb has started reading chapter books. He has turned into such a bookworm. He sometimes reads for over 2 hours at a time---just like Rachel.

That's it for today. :)

Some Random Pictures

2010-02-03T14:41:00.002-07:00

My boys being silly
Alex slept with his toy tools he got for Christmas for quite a while. Even if he woke up in the night and came to our room, he carried his tools along.

You never know what you will find after Alex gets put to bed at night. Yes, we did put him in his bed, which is not in a drawer.

The Battle of the Biggest Bookmark and more....

2010-01-24T21:07:00.002-07:00

I never fought over anything stupid when I was a kid. At least not that I remember. My mom assures me that we all fought over dumb things.

I am not writing this to put down my kids at all. They are great kids. I'm writing this because I'm pretty sure there's a lot of over parents out there that can totally relate to the silly things kids fight over.

We are trying to consistently read scriptures with our kids every night. We have a stack of scriptures that I got off the clearance bin at Deseret Book that we keep together for family scripture study. Several weeks back, Rachel discovered that Caleb had a bigger bookmark in his scriptures. The bookmarks are just index cards that I've ripped in pieces. Well, Rachel snuck and took his bookmark because she thought it was bigger. So then Caleb took it back. And the battle went back and forth a few times. Tonight, Rachel decided to "one-up" Caleb. She found the index cards and got herself a new, whole index card. So, what do you think Caleb did? He got himself a whole card. But then he realized that his was now the same size and not bigger. So he decided to tape some index cards together. That way he would have a giant bookmark. After some time out, and probably not the best scripture study time, the kids cooled off and went to bed. Guess what?? Tomorrow I am going to buy some real bookmarks. And they are all going to be identical. Either that or we are going to have to rotate who gets the biggest bookmark, just like we have to rotate who gets the favorite seat in the van. Probably next, they will find something else to fight over at scripture study time. They've already fought over who gets to read more verses. So we always make them read the same number of verses.

On a positive note, today was Stake Conference. I usually dread Stake Conference because it is so hard to battle the kids for two hours.
In all the years we've been married, we've never gone to the adult session on Saturday night. Yesterday, Dan stayed home with the kids, and I went by myself. I really enjoyed listening to talks without any distractions. Today, we went to the regular session of conference. For the first time in 10 years, we did not have to take our kids out in the hall at all. If you know Alex, this is actually quite a miracle. He doesn't even sit through regular church. I am really thankful that I got to hear two entire meetings.

Today while we were driving, our kids were pointing out the beautiful blue sky. They all had a different spot in the sky that was their favorite. It was amazing how many shades of blue were in the sky at the same time. Its been a long time (partly due to the smog) since I have seen such an awesome sky!

A Book

2010-01-14T21:01:00.002-07:00

I love being a mother. I wouldn't trade it for anything. For those of you who know me well, and are my friends on facebook, you may notice I post a lot of mischievious things that Alex does.

For a while, he tried to flush everything we owned down the toilet. He has tried to run away a few times. Not because he wants to escape home, but because he is looking for a new adventure. He experimented with outlets. (childproofing doesn't work on highly intelligent children). He still turns off the furnace at least once a week. He has drawn more murals on the wall than any child. I don't remember all the things he has done.

His lastest fascination is toothpaste. He has gotten into at least 3 tubes in the last 24 hours. Why don't we put them away, you ask? We do. He is an awesome climber. He can get into everything in the house except the medicine cupboard, cleaning closet, and on top of the fridge. I guess we need to move the toothpaste to the medicine cupboard. Tonight while I was washing dishes, he got into another tube. He smeared it everywhere on himself and in the bathroom. Then, while washing himself up, he flooded the bathroom sink. He also got toothpaste all over me when I went into the bathroom to clean him and the disaster up. Dan noticed that I had Aquafresh all over my pants when he walked in the door.

Dan bought me a book tonight off the library .50 sale table. It was a children's book especially for me. It is called "No, David". The little boy gets into all sorts of trouble. Rachel wanted us to cross out the "David" and write "Alex". At the end, the mom says, "I love you, David". It reminded me of how much I really love Alex. It cheered me up.

At the end of the day, no matter what my kids do, I love them so much. While I may vent my frustration a bit, I really love my kids. I wouldn't trade my little trouble-maker for anything in the world.

Listening to the still small voice......

2010-01-10T15:52:00.002-07:00

Throughout my life there have been a variety of times when I have listened to the "still small voice". There have also been times when I haven't listened.
Yesterday evening, we had a ward function. As I was packing up the diaper bag to go, I had the thought that I should pack an extra set of clothes for Seth. Seth is my 2 year-old nephew that was staying with us for the weekend. I quickly dismissed the thought because we were only go to the church, which was a mile away. We were only going to be gone for an hour. Not long after we arrived at the church, Seth had a major diaper blowout. It is bad enough when it is your own kid...I won't ramble on this one. Needless to say, for the rest of the ward function, he only had a shirt and a clean diaper on. (Don't worry, I cleaned him up really well). In the grand scheme of things, did it really matter? No. But it was a lesson to me that I should listen.

When I was a teenager, my Dad built an apartment for my grandpa in the large garage behind their house. We enjoyed having him there. I would stop off and say hi after I parked my car in the driveway near the apartment. One Easter morning, I had the distinct feeling that I should go stop in and say "hello" to my grandpa before church. I mentioned to my mom that I was thinking I would go out and say hello. She said that he wasn't feeling well. So, I decided that I would just visit him later. While we were at church that day, my grandpa passed away. I never got that last chance to visit him. While that was so long ago, I regret that I did not listen to the still small voice.

Today I have been thinking about this. I hope I can do better and always listen to the still small voice.

Christmas and Resolutions

2009-12-31T09:20:00.005-07:00

Caleb with the new race track that Santa brought him.

Alex wasn't too surprised with this one. He already unwrapped it the day before. He was really mad when I wouldn't let him have it early. I kept having to hunt him down and bring him back to open presents. He was more interested in getting into all of candy in the house instead of unwrapping presents and toys. He wasn't too interested in looking at the camera either.

Rachel and Anna comparing Zhu Zhu pets.

Rachel opening the earrings and necklace that we bought her. She is growing up so fast! She is starting to like tween stuff. I don't want her to ever be a teenager!

We had a nice Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Dan's family. We had a yummy dinner and a nice family home evening. We had a family Christmas party with my family earlier in the week when Jenny was here from Idaho.

We usually aren't home a lot on Christmas, but we decided to stay home most of the day this year. I enjoyed being able to stay home and relax. Our kids got to enjoy their toys all day.

I wasn't feeling well because my sinus infection came back for the third time. But, I took a long nap and doubled up on Tylenol and Motrin. After the medicine kicked in, I felt good enough to go visit some family. I am now on a powerful antibiotic that cost more than my Christmas presents. But I feel good. :)

Well, that brings me to New Years. Today is New Year's Eve. I always like to make resolutions. Dan hates making resolutions, and he never will. Here's what I've thought of so far:

1. Finish reading the Book of Mormon with the kids. After 3 years, we have only made it halfway through the book of Alma. We made good progress last year. It helps that our older two kids pay attention and can take turns reading. But 2010 will be the year we finish!

2. Attend the temple every month.

3. Read 3 books a month. I actually love reading. But I don't read very often. When I read, I don't do anything but read until the book is done. So, I end up sleep-deprived and have a messy house if I read. So, this year I'm gonna try to read in moderation.

4. Play with my kids more.

5. Run a half-marathon. I was hoping to do Ogden, but it already filled up. I guess I'll pick a different one.

6. Write in my "I love you" books every day. I have a book that I made for my kids and husband. Every day I was writing in them. I fell off the bandwagon in November, and have only written once since then. I'm gonna get back on board and start writing again. They all love reading the nice things I write about them.

7. Learn a new piano song. I haven't learned anything new for a while.

That's all I can think of.

5 Days til Christmas

2009-12-20T21:10:00.002-07:00

And I'm not ready!!
I still need to finish shopping for Dan. He hasn't started shopping for me. I guess I haven't given him too many ideas about what to get me. That's the problem with having a birthday 12 days before Christmas. I already got what I wanted. I guess I'll just tell him I want some clothes. I actually want a steam mop. But I am NOT going to ask for that for Christmas. Somehow it seems a little insulting to get cleaning supplies for Christmas. Even if it is a snazzy new mop.
Here's what I would want if it were really possible:
1. A self-cleaning house. Says it all.
2. A perfectly patient "Me". Somehow, I find it hard to be patient all of the time.
3. A few more hours in the day. I find myself staying up too late to get things done on a regular basis.
4. A library of my very own, with a nice cushy chair. But I guess that would have to go along with the few more hours in a day.
5. A brother that was not addicted to drugs.
6. A day of summer in the middle of winter. Make that a couple of days of summer. I am not a fan of cold weather.
7. A new vehicle. We just bought our Chevy Venture last year. But I totally hate it. I hate the way it drives. The heater doesn't get too warm. The a/c doesn't get too cold. The remote door is tempermental in the cold weather. We've already spent $2000 in repairs on it this year. And the check engine light is on again. What a lemon! I want a new car.

Here's what I am thankful for:
1. My husband and kids. They mean the world to me.
2. The gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that he is my Savior. I have a testimony of the gospel. I know it is true with all of my heart.
3. A comfortable home.
4. I am happy that I am healthy again. I didn't realize how blessed I was until I went a few weeks not feeling well.
5. I thankful for my parents, siblings, and extended family. My sisters are my best friends.
6. A vehicle to drive. I can't complain about a lemon when I am driving past people pushing their kids to the store in a stroller.
7. A soft bed. Nothing beats relaxing in a nice, comfortable bed.
8. Chocolate. I love it. It is one of the best tasting things ever made.
9. Food. I love to eat. I am not an overeater, but I really like yummy food.
10. Contacts and glasses. I can't imagine how miserable my life would be if I had no vision correction. I wouldn't be able to run because I wouldn't be able to see. I actually tried running once in high school without contacts or glasses. My vision wasn't even as bad as it is now. It scared me to death. I couldn't tell the difference between a person and a mailbox until I was a foot away from it. I wouldn't be able to drive, shop, see my kids at performances, and the list goes on. I really am thankful for vision correction.

That's all for the lists for tonight. I need to go to bed. :)

Mo-Tab and more

2009-12-13T21:23:00.003-07:00

On Friday night we went with Leslie to the Mo-Tab Christmas concert at the conference center. Rachel also came with us.
The concert was great! We enjoyed it. The performers were really talented. Rachel grinned really big when the usher asked her if she liked it. She loved it. I was surprised that she knew who Handel was. I guess they've been learning about composers at school.
The tickets were originally my sister Jenny's. She couldn't make it, so she gave them to us. The tickets somehow must have ended up in the VIP section. We could see President Monson, Mitt Romney and many of the other general authorities. They were only several rows away. I thought that was kind of cool.
Getting out of the parking garage was not fun. We sat there for at least an hour. That's what happens when you are three levels down and everyone leaves at once.
On Saturday, my mom took me to Olive Garden for lunch. Then we went birthday shopping. I found a cute dress at JCPenney. We still need to go Christmas shopping. She always just has me pick out my own gifts. I had fun.
Today was my birthday. We woke up rather tired because we didn't sleep well. I don't know why, but our power went off and on all night long. Every time it would come back on, the humidifier would start back up, and our alarm clock with large numbers would start flashing. And of course, it just makes noise when everything powers up.
Dan made me a yummy breakfast of hashbrowns and pancakes. The kids got up early and made me a book. They drew pictures and wrote how much they loved me. It was really cute.
Dan bought me a new coat and some other things. I love my kids and husband!
Tonight, we went to my parents house for dinner and dessert. My mom made me Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie. It was yummy. The candles my kids put on my piece were backwards, so it looked like I was turning 13.
I was quite surprised with the gift my sister Leslie gave me. It was a rather heavy box. Dan joked that it was a lump of coal and some lingerie. Leslie likes to tease, and last year for Christmas she gave Bridget a lingerie top, and me the lingerie bottom. Well, Dan was probably hoping it was lingerie. It turns out that she bought me a Kitchenaid Mixer! I'm going to make some chocolate chip cookies with it tomorrow.
I had a nice birthday, and a great weekend!

Sunday Rambling

2009-12-06T09:02:00.006-07:00

The other day (the coldest day yet this winter), our house was so cold. I kept turning up the thermostat and adding more layers of clothing. After a while, I went down to the furnace to investigate. I guess Alex has discovered how to turn the furnace off. The furnace closet has bifold closet doors and does not have handles on the doors. But he can get it open without the handles. Anyone know how to childproof that? Every time the house starts to get really cold, I have to go turn the furnace back on.
Last week, I posted "Whine Fest" about not feeling good. Guess what?? I feel really good now. After two days on antibiotics, I felt totally better. Now I am kicking myself for not figuring out sooner that I had an infection. It should have dawned on me. I've had other infections before with similar symptoms. I just thought I felt awful from surgery. I think I am gonna start running again tomorrow. Not hard and long. Probably just two miles slow.
We put up the Christmas decorations on Monday. The kids are loving it. They are fascinated with the lights. Every time I turn around, the Christmas tree and garland are turned on. Anna loves playing with the nativity. The nativity characters are glass, but she hasn't broken them yet. And I'm not too worried out it. I bought them at Walmart a few years ago.
I made the mistake of buying a huge box of candy canes to put on tree. I had to take them right back off, since Alex would not leave them alone. I gave him one to eat, but that was not enough. He wanted them all.
Alex is so busy, but he is so cute. He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He says cute things. He is a fun toddler, even though he gets into everything.
I asked Rachel what she wanted for Christmas. She said she wanted stickers and dry-erase markers. I asked her what else she wanted. She said "Nothing. I have everything I want." I thought that was interesting how content she is with what she has. I've asked her several more times what she wants. She has come up with a few more ideas. I guess she is just getting harder to buy for because she is getting older. She is getting to the "Tween" stage. She is a sweet girl. I don't ever want her to turn into a teenager.
Well, I guess that's all my rambling for today. I need to go change a diaper.

It has a little while....

2009-11-29T20:37:00.002-07:00

So, I thought I'd ramble a bit for anyone who cares to read.
On Wednesday, we went to the zoo with the kids since it was free zoo day. In case you didn't know, I'm a cheap-o. We picked up Dan from work on the way. All of the kids liked the zoo. Alex especially loved it. I could not get a good picture of him, because he would not look at me. He would not stop looking at the animals. He thought everything should say "Roar!" It was cute.
We had a nice Thanksgiving. We went to both family dinners like usual. My family ate at 11:45. My parents are early birds and very timely. It was yummy. Dan's family ate at 2:30. Alex fell asleep on the drive down to Utah county. When he woke up, he was very grumpy. During dinner, we took turns with him while he was screaming hysterically. We went upstairs and outside so we didn't disturb dinnertime. He calmed down after about an hour. Not exactly an ideal dinnertime, but we survived. The older three kids all slept at Grandma's house just for fun. It was very quiet around our house with just Alex home. I am so used to all the noise of 4 kids.
I have gained a greater appreciation for Dan these past few weeks. He has really stepped up and helped me out. He has been cooking, cleaning and changing a lot of diapers. As strange as it may sound, I almost feel like I am falling in love with him all over again. When he does kind things, it makes me happy and love him even more.
Sorry if this next part sounds like whine fest.
Before I had surgery, I seriously thought I would be able to run as soon as I hit the 2 week post-op mark. In a few more days, it will be three weeks. I still feel like I am barely surviving life. Until a day ago, I could breathe through my nose quite well. Yesterday, one side started getting swollen. I've also had the chills for several nights in a row. I think I have an infection on one side of my nose. Since I haven't felt very well today, I called the doctor on call with the ENT office, and they called me in an antibiotic. So, after church I picked it up. Yes, I went to church.....I'm attempting to do everything like I normally do.
I am still taking Tylenol every day and night. I have to take a nap every day. I know that the surgery was the right thing to do. The side of my nose that is not infected (the side that was fused) is so much better. I just really didn't expect to feel so crappy for so long. But hey, I'm not sick permanently. So I really can't complain. I am thankful that I am usually healthy, happy, and somewhat energetic.

Just for fun....

2009-11-19T14:58:00.003-07:00

These are pictures of Anna, Rachel, and me, all around age 4. The photo quality isn't so good on the picture of me. Can anyone guess which daughter looks more like me? I just thought it was fun to compare the pictures at the same age.

A bit of rambling about my surgery

2009-11-14T18:35:00.005-07:00

This week has been a week of misery. On Tuesday I went in for sinus surgery to fix all of my sinus issues.
I was really nervous for surgery. I hate the thought of anesthesia. What if I don't wake up?? I mentioned to my sister Leslie that I was nervous, and this was her reply. "Well, don't worry. If you die, I don't think you are going to hell." I'm not scared of going to hell. I just wanna be around to raise my kids.
When I went in to register for surgery, the first question the receptionist asked me was, "Do you want to be an organ donor?" I replied, "Yes, but not today." That's a great first question to ask a nervous patient.
Well, as I'm sure you know, I did wake up.
When I woke up, I felt awful. After a short time in the recovery room, they sent me home. I can't believe the state they sent me home in. I was puking, bleeding, and Dan had to carry me. Why do they make you stay so long after having a baby, but send you home so quickly after surgery? I didn't really want to pay for a hospital stay, but I sure wasn't ready to move when they told me it was time to go home.
The surgery took about 2 1/2 hours. They expected the surgery to be a little shorter than that, but things were much worse that they appeared on the CT scan. My deviated septum was partially fused to the other side of my nose. No wonder that side of my nose was always stuffy! It really was blocked off. They also removed a cyst that was filled with infection. In addition to that stuff, they fixed 4 other things that were wrong with my sinuses.
Each day I am feeling a little better and can be up a bit more. I am not allowed to bend down and pick things up for two weeks. I have a splint sewn in my nose. I am looking forward to getting it taken out so I might be able to breathe a little better.
Dan has been great through it all. The first night, he stayed up all night taking care of me. He stroked my head and tried to make me comfortable.
I've appreciated the help from my family, and dinner from ward members too.
I did not expect to be so miserable.......

Some days I'm really on top of things......

2009-11-08T20:36:00.002-07:00

And some days I'm just not.
Yesterday we were supposed to do church clean-up in the morning. I went running with my mom and got back a few minutes before it was time to go. Dan went on ahead of me and the kids (who were being slow-pokes). A few minutes later he called me to say that I had the time wrong, and they were about done, so don't bother coming.
Then, I dropped my kids off at Primary program practice. I didn't realize that they were supposed to be in Sunday clothes. I didn't get a message or a note. Anyhow, they were the only ones in jeans for the practice.
Now, here's the clencher: I wore my shirt inside-out for half of the day. Rachel pointed out that the tags weren't supposed to be on the outside. I had gone several places with the shirt inside-out.
Yesterday, I felt bad about it all. But today, I think it is rather funny. I guess I really am crazy. :)

Halloween

2009-11-04T13:28:00.005-07:00

For Halloween this year, Rachel was a "Southern Belle", Caleb was a ninja, and Anna and Alex were monkeys. I wore a black hooded cape, and decided that I was the witch from Snow White. Becca did my makeup--and she made me look a bit scary. I was surprised that Alex wasn't scared of me.

I took the kids trick-or-treating, while Dan passed out the candy. I think we gave out around 7 bags of candy bars. And we were stingy and only gave the trick-or-treaters one piece. I've decided that next year, we need to both take the kids trick-or-treating, so we don't go through so much candy. I'll admit, I love chocolate. I was disappointed that the Junior Mints got all gone by the time I got back with the kids. I should hand out suckers and keep the chocolate.

Dan took Buddy to get groomed on Halloween. They put a bandana with ghosts on him. We tried to groom Buddy ourselves a couple of months ago, and it went very badly (blood everywhere, looked worse than when we started). Buddy looked cute with his bandana and groomed fur.

I left my camera at my parents' house, so I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked. I still have my old camera, but the batteries were dying.

Alex is still loving the candy. His, and everyone else's.

A little poem I made up about Alex

2009-10-10T13:39:00.002-06:00

The boy with the Mischievious Grin

I have a little boy with a mischievious grin
If you leave the room, you'll never know what shape it will be in

The bathroom sink is running
The toilet is overflowing
The door is unlocked
Who knows where the toddler is going?

The dishes are dirty
The dishwasher got stopped
The fridge door is open
Looks like the floor needs to get mopped

The couch cushions are on the floor
The computer has 3 cd's in
The vacuum has been emptied
The family room looks like its been through a war

There's a new mural on the wall
The diaper he was wearing now sits in the hall
The blankets are no longer on the bed.
And I find my little boy with a silly hat on his head.

He smiles with a big mischievious grin
I want to yell about what big trouble he's in
But instead I smile
And hope this stage only lasts a little while.

My little Anna is 4!!

2009-10-06T08:24:00.003-06:00

Today is Anna's 4th birthday. We are having a party, but not the usual kind. We are having a "sick party". Rachel, Caleb, and Anna all have a fever and a cough. They are on the couches watching Anna's new Barbie movie. Anna has it the mildest so far. But as I've discovered from the older two, it starts with a mild fever and then turns to a high fever. I hope she still has a fun day.

Anna is such a joy. From the time we brought her home from the hospital, she has really brightened up our home. I love her cute, curly hair. Her little laugh makes me smile. Anna does everything whole-heartedly. She jumps up and down just at the mention of preschool.

She was born a few days after General Conference. I remember walking between conference sessions trying to go into labor. It did no good. I was scheduled to be induced on Oct 5. I was having false labor almost every day. On the morning I was scheduled to be induced, the hospital called and canceled it. They had too many people come in during the night and had no room. I cried. But it was all remedied a day later when I was induced. She was my fastest labor and delivery. From start to finish, it was 2 hours and 49 minutes (according to my chart).

I am so thankful for my little girl. I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

Corn Belly's

2009-09-27T08:26:00.003-06:00

While Dan and I were gone this weekend, my mom and Becca took our kids to Corn Belly's. We had so much fun last year with the kids that I was a little disappointed that my mom wanted to take them while we were gone. But Ralphie was going, and I knew the kids would have lots of fun going with their cousins. I told them they had to take pictures for me. So, Becca took pictures.

I am really thankful for Mom, Becca, and Leslie for taking such good care of my kids. They had so much fun while we were gone. They even got one last swim in at Leslie's house since the weather was warm.

Fall is Beautiful!

2009-09-27T08:17:00.002-06:00

Dan and I spent a day at Aspen Grove for a marriage retreat. We had tons of fun. We really enjoyed spending time together without the kids. The colorful fall leaves were so beautiful! Everywhere you turned it was yet another scene of brilliant colors. We hope to go back again next year for the retreat, but also for the great scenery.

No wonder there are so many wasps around.....

2009-09-13T08:49:00.006-06:00

This summer my kids got stung by wasps several times. Alex has the record of being stung 4 times. One day when we were outside, Rachel pointed out this massive wasp nest in one of the neighbors' trees. It is huge! It is bigger than a birds nest. No wonder we've had so many wasps this summer!

First Day of School

2009-09-05T12:54:00.004-06:00

Monday was the first day of school for Caleb and Rachel. They were both excited but nervous about starting the new school. Rachel her clothes picked out for a week or two before school started. Caleb battled with me the night before because he didn't want to wear "boring clothes". I let him go through all of the color combinations, and he finally settled on what to wear. The next day, I tried to get him to wear his blue pants. He was adamant that he would not wear them because the blue pair had a hook like "Sunday Pants" instead of buttons. After three days in a row of the exact same outfit, he relented and wore the blue ones. Then he discovered that the blue ones are much easier to undo so now he loves them.

Anna started preschool on Tuesday. She was so excited. She had a great time and now asks me what day it is every day.

The other picture is just a picture I took of her this morning. She was happy that I let her pick a rose. She wears dresses 90% of the time. So, it was a miracle that I got her to wear pants to preschool both days.

Silly Little Anna

2009-08-24T21:23:00.002-06:00

On Saturday night we went with my parents to watch the South Jordan Fireworks. The fireworks were supposed to be in July, but they were rained out. I don't think very many people caught on that they were re-scheduled. We went just outside the park, and had a great view of the fireworks.
Anna said the funniest thing. She said, "I wish I were a firework". She was serious. We thought it was funny. Anna is such a delightful little girl.

A small moment

2009-08-21T15:53:00.003-06:00

The Teddy Bear 1K last Saturday was quite rainy. Anna thought it was great. She splashed in every puddle and had a lot of fun. Caleb's shoe fell off and he hated the rain. He was crying by the time he finished. He was extremely grumpy.

It is interesting how attitude makes a huge difference in how we deal with things.

I know in life, that sometimes I am the one crying in the rain. But there have also been times where I've been the one splashing in the puddles. One of the biggest things that has helped me as I've gotten older is this: PERSPECTIVE. When I was younger, all I could see was then and there. Sometimes when things are hard, I try to step back and think about the big picture.

Recently, as I was studying my Sunday School lesson (I am now teaching teenagers), I came across these verses. I've know these verses for years, but they really stood out to me.

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

It says that "thine afflictions shall be but a small moment". The Lord was actually talking to Joseph Smith at the time. His entire life was filled with adversity and afflictions. That hardly seems like a small moment, if you only see mortality. In the eternal perspective, it really is a small moment.

I think my trials look really miniscule compared to the trials Joseph Smith went through.

I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for my sins. I know that the gospel is true.

Part 2: More summer rambling

2009-08-13T08:57:00.003-06:00

My kids are starting to get really bored with summer. Thankfully, we don't have much time left. School is now staring on Aug 31, since the building will not be finished until then. The house is constantly messy with everyone home all of the time. It doesn't help that Alex has learned to open the game closet, climb the shelves, and dump everything out. The closet has bi-fold doors and no handles. So you would think he wouldn't be able to open it. I think we need to put some knobs on now, and a child lock too.

We were thinking about going to Bear Lake this weekend. However, there's a Teddy Bear 1K that is at the park on Saturday, and Rachel really wants to run it. She missed it last year and the other kids got to run it. I'm not dying to go camping anyways. It is a fun, kid-oriented race. They get a teddy bear as they cross the finish line. It is not even a mile long. If you are in the area, you should bring your kids to it.

Here's a link: http://www.cjcslc.org/pdfs/run5kregistrationform2009.pdf

We went to the new lake in Daybreak. It was fun. We are going there for a day outing instead of Bear Lake. I like sleeping in my own bed.

In my last post, I mentioned that Alex could get his diaper off but hadn't pooped on the floor or made a poopy mess yet. Well, it was just a matter of time.

One day, he took of his diaper and pooped on the living room floor. Thankfully, it is a laminate wood floor and was easy to clean up. The next incident was much worse. I tried to put him down for a nap before church on Sunday. I went to his door and listened to see if he was asleep. What I heard was him saying "Poo". At that moment I wanted to run away rather than open his door and see the damage. He had taken off his pants and diaper, and pooped. And stepped in it. And then Anna came in to see what he had done, and she stepped in it and tracked it down the hallway on her way to tell me that she stepped in it. So, I got to clean the carpets, give baths again, and disinfect the bathtub before church. I felt grouchy by the time we made it to church.

Did you know that it is not considered a stop at a stop sign if your car doesn't rock backwards from stopping? I learned this lesson from the West Jordan for a cost of $90.

I've done beets and corn this week. I'm so sick of canning. I now think that we should turn our garden into a basketball court. We won't really. But its sounds nice at this point.

Just some summertime rambling.....

2009-07-31T15:23:00.003-06:00

I've actually enjoyed having my kids home this summer. There hasn't been too many fights. They've been pretty good about doing their chores. Caleb has probably only had two meltdowns this summer. So, we've been pretty happy. They will start school Aug 24 this year, since we switched to a charter school.
Dan had to work on the 24th of July. I decided to take the kids to Classic for bouncing and waterslides by myself. They loved bouncing. Even Alex. He would not stay on the bouncing thing for kids under 7 years old. Instead, he took off up the enormous bouncing things for all ages. He climbed steps that looked almost as tall as him. He is so fearless and energetic. For the waterpark, I put Anna and Alex in lifejackets in case either of them escaped. Luckily, they both stayed by me in the kiddie pool the whole time. Rachel and Caleb loved going down the waterslides, like usual. They followed my rule to stick together pretty well. I could see them almost the entire time, as they went down the big slides by themselves. I take all four kids with me to the store all of the time. However, I was a bit nervous to take them to Classic by myself. I was pleased that it went as well as it did. The store usually goes worse than this did.

In the evening, we went down to American Fork for a BBQ with the Rowley family. When we got home, the dog barked at us as we pulled in the driveway. I thought that was strange. Buddy doesn't bark at me. I said, "I thought we put Buddy away since he is scared of fireworks." Rachel said that she did. I was worried that somehow he had broken through the doors to get outside. When we got in the house, Dan called Buddy to the back door to put him in the storage room for bedtime. He said, "Something is wrong with Buddy!" Buddy wouldn't come. Meanwhile, I went downstairs and got Buddy out of the storage room, where we had put him. I guess a neighbor saw a golden retriever running around, and noticed that ours was missing from the backyard. So, she put him in our backyard and locked the gate again. In the dark, it was easy to confuse the golden retrievers. We laughed at the mix-up. Animal control picked up the extra golden retriever the next day.

I've been doing a lot of apricots and beans. I've probably made 250 single serving pieces of Apricot leather. There's probably less than 200 pieces left. The kids love it. Alex liked it so much he started calling it candy. He recently switched to calling in fruit instead. I really don't mind making fruit leather. Rachel is the only one that will eat apricots in their natural state. All four kids will eat it made into leather. Fruit leather is made from blended up apricots with about a tablespoon of sugar per blender full. So, its a good way to get them to eat fruit.
I also did 11 quarts of bottled apricots, and a batch of apricot jam. Our apricot tree is little, but my mom and a person in my ward gave me some apricots. I don't wanna do anymore.
Beans---blah! We canned almost 60 pints of beans. By the end of it, I was really sick of it. We still have some beans left in the garden, but I am not going to do anything with them. All of our kids help with the beans. Rachel and Caleb are really helpful. Alex would break a bean in half, put it in a jar or the bowl with the ends, and exclaim "Yay".
Anna said something that was funny. After I boil the lids to go on the jars, I use the lid lifter (a stick with a magnet on the end) to get the hot lids out of the water. She saw me do this and laughed and exclaimed "It's magic!".

Alex has started taking his diaper off. He has taken it off many times already today. Thankfully it wasn't poopy. He can get his pants off to get his diaper off. Time to buy some overalls or something to keep the diaper on. Any suggestions?
If you've read this far in my ramble, you are pretty good. :)

Caleb turns 7!

2009-07-12T17:51:00.002-06:00

My sweet Caleb turned 7 while we were on our trip to Yellowstone. I packed all the presents along. My mom baked his cake in her cabin's kitchen since my cabin did not have a kitchen. I think he had a fun day.

My kids probably think I'm mean, but I've decided to only do birthday parties with friends on the even numbered years. On the odd-numbered years, we go out to dinner as a family to celebrate their birthdays.

Caleb chose to go to Chuck E Cheese. We went on Saturday, after we got home from Yellowstone. (Saturday was actually Dan's birthday). After eating a few token bites of pizza, the kids played games and rode rides. Caleb is very good at video games, and regular games. So it wasn't surprising that he ended up with 30 tickets more than Rachel, even though we gave them the same number of tokens. All of the kids had a lot of fun and they are already begging to go back.

I really love Caleb. He is such a sweet, smart boy.

Yellowstone

2009-07-12T17:31:00.003-06:00

We made a quick trip to Yellowstone this last week. It was actually the official "Marchant Family" campout. Except it wasn't camping this year.

Leslie reserved some cabins about 17 miles outside of West Yellowstone. It was on a lake called Hebgen Lake. My kids were hoping to swim in it, but after the older cousins tried it out, we decided the kids could just dip their feet in. The water was very cold. It wasn't too hot outside either. It probably only got to 80 degrees.

We arrived Thursday and had dinner together. Then we went to Yellowstone for a couple of hours. We went to Yellowstone for the entire day on Friday. My favorite place is the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". I love the waterfalls. We went to Old Faithful, and it just didn't seem that impressive to me. It was like waiting for a huge fireworks display, and all you get is one firework. But maybe I just have a bad attitude with that one.
Alex screamed on a lot of the car-rides. He had a mild fever on Thursday, but woke up Friday feeling fine. He was constantly trying to wriggle out of the car seat straps. He's getting pretty good at that. I have had a sinus infection, and didn't feel as well as normal either. Despite that, we had a lot of fun.

I really love spending time with my little family, but also my extended family.

We celebrated Caleb's birthday in Yellowstone.

My toddlers.....

2009-06-25T15:28:00.004-06:00

Alex can be so cute sometimes. Yesterday I was sitting on the couch with bare feet. He came over and started pulling on my toes and said "wee wee all the way home". He is coming up with new words and phrases every day. This age is such a hard stage, but can be so cute.
He found my tissue box from my dresser. He came over to me with a clean tissue and tried to wipe my nose. I thought it was really funny.
Anna's favorite thing lately is to have her hair in braids. She keeps asking me to braid her hair. Since her hair is very curly but also thin, it is very hard to braid. Her braids end up tiny, and of course they don't stay straight down. She is such a cutie sometimes.

Fallen Embers

2009-06-22T13:27:00.002-06:00

Today while we were in the van, Dan read me the lyrics to this song he liked with a few tears in his eyes. While we struggle at times, we are both very much in love with each other.
Here's the words of the song.

Fallen Embers
Once, as my heart remembers,
all the stars were fallen embers.
Once, when night seemed forever
I was with you.

Once, in the care of morning
in the air was all belonging.
Once, when that day was dawning
I was with you.

How far we are from morning,
how far are we
and the stars shining through the darkness,
falling in the air.

Once, as the night was leaving
into us our dreams were weaving.
One, all dreams were worth keeping.
I was with you.

Once, when our hearts were singing,
I was with you.

Another milestone

2009-06-17T10:32:00.002-06:00

We've hit another milestone with Alex. We officially taken him out of a crib and moved him to a toddler bed. I guess I should say that HE has officially taken himself out of a crib. So, to mark 20 months old, we are getting rid of the crib.
I really was not planning on getting rid of the crib so soon. In fact, I was thinking recently, that I would like to keep him in it until he's at least 3 years old. I have never moved my kids out of a crib until they were at least 2 or 2 1/2 years old.
Every time we put Alex in the crib, he would promptly climb out. And the mattress was as low as it could go. He started climbing out in the night as well. Since it really isn't that safe for him to be continually taking the leap from bed, we moved him to a toddler bed. I thought about getting a crib tent. But Alex is such a busy boy, I decided that it probably wouldn't contain him for much longer.
Now, I just put Alex in bed, and shut the door. He screams and pounds on the door. After a few minutes he calms down. I've tried rocking him, but he won't let me. He fights to get down the whole time. I physically can't handle rocking him--it is too hard. I've also tried lying down next to him in bed. He is such a light sleeper, that it wakes him up if I move at all. Sometimes he falls asleep in the recliner rocker in his room. If we try to move him, he wakes right up. Then it starts the screaming session again. I guess all is good until he learns to open the door--then it'll be time for a child lock. It would be much more dangerous for me to let him roam the house, than to lock him in.
Anyone want an old crib? I'll probably send it to DI this weekend.

Leslie's poem and more

2009-06-14T19:25:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Dan started rearranging and doing a serious clean-out/dejunking of our bedroom. In the next couple weeks, we are upgrading our bed. YAY!!! We have a full size bed. We are upgrading to a king. I'm excited to have more space and not have to roll the same way as each other at night. We went through a lot of our stuff that was boxed in the closets. I found this funny poem that my sister Leslie wrote after running a cross-country race in Rexburg, ID. I thought it was pretty funny, so here it is:

Ode to a Rexburg Race

Why come to run a race,
In this desolate, hated place?
With snow so deep we crawl to run
In Rexburg, there is no fun

The gun goes off to start the meet
By the time its over we won't feel our feet
We struggle onward to beat the foe
We will win, even in the snow
Those ahead think they've won
So we pass them just for fun

The wind is blowing
My fingers are numb
All I can think of is "Rexburg is dumb"
And it keeps on snowing

I see a snowman up ahead
Oh, its just a spectator frozen dead
Four feet of snow, and 3.1 miles later
The race is done.
After our fight,
We all have won.

Throwing my bummies in the air
Into the ice water pond I dash
Skinny dipping in a blizzard
is the perfect way for a victory bash.
Shaking and frostbitten
We return to the motel
Hot tubbing nude doesn't go over well

Banned from the hotel, so to Utah we go
Leaving frozen fingers, toes and bummies in the Rexburg snow.

Those of you who aren't runners are probably wondering what "bummies" are. Bummies are running shorts that are pretty much like underwear. I've never worn them, and I never will.
And I seriously doubt Leslie was skinny-dipping in Rexburg either. It's just her sense of humor.

What's in your Cheerios???

2009-06-05T10:29:00.002-06:00

Several weeks ago, the keys to our van disappeared. I searched from one end of the house to the other. When we bought our van, they only gave us one set of keys. I kept trying to get key copies made at the store, but they would never work. I guess you have to have special dealer keys for newer vehicles, not just a key copy. I didn't know that.
After a very frustrating unfruitful search, I had my sister Angie drive me to the dealer to get a new key made for the van. Luckily since I had a copied key, they were able to copy it onto a key that would work. Forty or fifty bucks later, I had a working key for my van again.
Today, Dan sat down and poured himself a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast. To his surprise, he got a prize in his bowl. My missing set of keys!! I guess Alex must have stuffed my keys in the box of cereal. The Cheerios got lost at the back of the cupboard, because the plain ones aren't anybody's favorite. They were stale, so he threw them out. I am so glad to have my keys back. Just yesterday, I was considering getting a new remote for the van. I guess I am spoiled, but I really hate having to unlock everything by hand. I'm glad that I didn't spend $50-$75 on a new remote.

Two weeks in a row

2009-06-01T15:50:00.003-06:00

We've made it all the way through sacrament meeting without going out at all for TWO weeks in a row! Maybe the church toddler wrestling match might be calming down a little. Or I might be jinxing myself by saying this.
We've discovered Alex really likes stickers. I found an old sticker book that was Caleb's, and Alex thoroughly enjoyed it for a while. I think I'll go check out the dollar store for more sticker books.

If you like Coldplay.....

2009-05-28T09:15:00.002-06:00

Last week my sister Jenny sent me this link for a free Coldplay album download. It is a live concert--and IMO live isn't usually as good. But hey, its free and I enjoyed listening to it.
http://lrlrl.coldplay.com/leftright.html

Also, there is a new YouTube video by Jon Schmidt called Love Story meets Vive la Vida.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

I really enjoyed this music video. Probably because I like musical instruments and Coldplay. I've never really listened to Taylor Swift, so I don't know the song Love Story. I would love to play the piano this well.

Alex says...

2009-05-24T18:59:00.002-06:00

Alex is 19 months now. He says some words that are kind of funny.
Here's some of them:
Foofs (shoes)
Nandy (candy)
Bippy (sippy cup)
Nanna (Anna and Banana)
Bee (Caleb. I call Caleb "Caleby" and he just picked up on the bee part of the name)

He also says a lot of things correctly, like "bath, stuck, mom, dad, cookie, dog".

He keeps me very, very busy. I only hope he hasn't gotten into something while I've been on the computer for a couple of minutes. I put locks on the cabinets this week. He got into the flour bucket and made a huge mess. I thought I would be smart and vacuum it up with the shop vac. I forgot that we hadn't cleaned out the filter since the kitchen remodel, so sheetrock dust went everywhere. What a mess.
Alex is convinced that we have a "Nandy" cupboard. Don't we all have a candy cupboard? Its really the medicine cupboard. And it is locked. I've always kept the cleaners locked up. We just needed new locks on the new cabinets. Thankfully, I could get the kind that just go through the handles, so we didn't have to drill any holes.
Alex climbed on top of the piano this morning, and threw or knocked off a tile that I had on the piano with a saying on it. It didn't break. But it caused some floor damage to the laminate wood floor.
Dan did some paint touch-ups in the kitchen on Friday. About the time it dried, Alex got a pen out of the drawer, and did a nice mural on the freshly painted wall.
Alex also has incredibly strong little arms. When I am putting laundry in the wash, he pulls up to look in the washing machine. He loves to put the downy ball in for me. Caleb used to like to do this.
I hope I can keep up with this boy.........he's the busiest toddler I've had.

The Ogden Half Marathon

2009-05-17T21:21:00.002-06:00

On Friday night, my mom, Leslie, Becca, Ralphie (Ang) and I drove up to Odgen. We met up with Bridget since she lives in Odgen, and Jenny, who drove from Idaho for the race. We picked up our race packets and went to the Olive Garden for dinner.

We woke up rather early on Saturday morning to ride the bus up the canyon. Or in my case, I didn't have to wake up since I was already awake. I don't sleep well at hotels. After an uneventful bus ride, we got dropped off at Eden park, where the race starts. We huddled around the campfires for over an hour while we waited.

I hadn't trained much for the half-marathon because I have been having knee issues. I had only gotten in one ten mile run, and a couple of runs shorter than ten. I started wearing a knee band recently and taking anti-inflammatories again, and that seems to have helped the knee issue a lot. I felt unprepared for the race.

I actually felt well for almost the entire race. I listed to my ipod, enjoyed the mountains (especially the waterfall) and ran along without anybody I knew. About mile 11, I started to feel quite tired, but I made it to the end just fine.

I ran a time of 1:44. I haven't run many half-marathons, and this is now my fastest time. Overall, I placed 49th out of 1295 women. I'm happy with how I did.

Jenny and Leslie came in a few minutes behind me. I only saw Leslie finish. I don't know how I missed seeing Jenny since she was a few feet in front of Leslie. They did well, and I was proud of them.

Mom didn't have her best race. She came in about 20 minutes behind Leslie and Jenny. She looked like she didn't feel good. Immediately after crossing the finish line, she started to pass out. She was carried to the medical tent. We were all really worried. Its not like Mom is 40 anymore. She'll be 60 pretty soon. They didn't let people into the gate to the medical tent. However, I climbed through the barricade bars and into the medical tent to make sure she was okay. She was actually kind of funny. She was concerned about getting out of the tent ASAP because she wanted the free hotel breakfast before it ended in half an hour. After a little while, they let her leave. We walked slowly back to the hotel for breakfast. I am proud of Mom for running. It may not have been a PR for her, but she is awesome for running.

All of us runners, and non-runners had a fun time together.

Tomorrow it's been 9 Years

2009-05-12T15:15:00.006-06:00

Since Rachel was born. Rachel was due May 5, but was born May 13. (Yeah, I was such a happy camper when I was overdue).

Rachel was born very early on a Saturday morning, the day before Mother's Day

When Rachel was born, the cord was wrapped around her neck 3 times. She came out blue and was not breathing. Since she was my first, I had no idea what a newborn was supposed to look like. And I didn't know that it was unusual that they wisked her away to the corner of the room to work on her. Looking back, I realize how blessed we were that she came out perfectly fine.

Rachel is quite a joy to have around. She is always writing little notes and doing nice things for people. She tries hard to choose the right. She is a great helper with all of her younger siblings. Her school teachers and church teachers have only good things to say about her.

On Friday we went to the library. When we got home, she took a book to the backyard and sat under the apple tree. She read the entire book in one sitting---under the apple tree. At night, I have to make her put her book down and go to sleep, or she will read until it is very late.

Rachel also loves to cook. I have started letting her cook simple things all by herself. (Except I help her get it out of the oven). She thinks it is fun to look at cookbooks. I've always loved to look at cookbooks.

Rachel loves every creature on earth. She has kept and named spiders, butterflies, potato bugs, snails, caterpillars, and ladybugs. She loves cats, and especially dogs.

I couldn't ask for a better daughter.

The Race in the Rain

2009-05-03T16:28:00.003-06:00

Several weeks ago, we signed up for the West Jordan Red Run. Dan and I signed up to do the 5K, and Rachel, Caleb and Anna signed up for the kids fun run.
When I woke up, I called my mom and Jenny (who was visiting my parents) to see how the weather was on their run. Jenny said she got hot and had to take off her sweatshirt during the first mile of their run. So, I decided that I shouldn't overdress for the 5K. I put on some shorts, shirt and sweatshirt. I would probably take my sweatshirt off before the start.
On the way to Jordan Landing, it started raining quite hard. I mentioned it to Dan, who said it just looked like it was raining hard since we were driving. When we got there, it was a decent rain storm. Since I had already paid money for this and the kids were excited, I decided we would stick with it.
My mom was coming to watch the kids while Dan and I ran the 5K. At about 8:45, I called her to see where she was. Well, we had a little misunderstanding about the race start time. She hopped in the car and came as fast as she could. Dan decided that if she didn't make it, he would stay behind with the kids while I ran. Right as the gun went off, my mom ran up and took the kids from Dan. So, he started about 10 seconds late.
It rained hard. There were puddles everywhere. And for most of the race, we were running on the side of the road, which was where all the water was draining to. My shoes got soggy within the first minute or two. I kept my sweatshirt on, which acted like a sponge. When we ran a certain direction, the water was pelting my face and eyes and getting in my contacts. It reminded me a region, my sophmore year of high school. I was really glad when I got to the finish because I was really cold and wet. I came in second overall in the women. I was happy enough with my time, because the conditions weren't so good. Dan finished about 11 minutes behind me. I am proud of him for trying to get back in shape.
After my soggy race, came the kids' run. Rachel and Caleb were excited. Anna wanted to run too. I was a bit unsure of letting her run, because this race was a whole mile. But she ran the teddy bear 1K last fall, and ran almost the entire way and almost beat Caleb to the finish. So I decided to let her run it too. A few hundred meters into the race, she didn't want to run it anymore. It was raining and she didn't like it. So, we walked, and I carried her some until we finished. I should have had better judgement and told her that she couldn't run it. She just wanted to be big like Rachel and Caleb. Rachel ran almost the whole way. She stopped just once the whole mile. She was the second child to finish the mile.
I wanted to go home and skip the awards ceremony. The rain was coming down even harder. Our kids insisted that I could not skip getting my award. So we stuck around. It took forever for the awards.
Guess what they served after the race? Ice cream sandwiches. Normally, this would have been delightful after a race. I still ate one, since I love ice cream. But I shivered while I ate it.
I planned on taking pictures of the kids at the race, but due to the weather, there are no pics of this one.

Some random thoughts

2009-04-23T12:54:00.004-06:00

Today as we were coming out of the grocery store, Anna excitedly announced, "Look its snowing". Now, I am really sick of the snow. So I was happy to see that it wasn't really snowing. The wind was blowing the white blossoms off the trees.

Alex and Anna have about done me in. I hope I can keep up with them, and I try hard to. Alex decided to go on a tour of the neighborhood by himself. I was sweeping the driveway on the side of the house. Alex was playing in the fenced back yard. Most of the time, I could see him playing while I swept. For a minute, I couldn't see him. I just figured he was by the swingset where I couldn't see him. A minute later, Anna called me from the front door. After she yelled "MOM" three times, I went to see what the problem was. She said, "Look, there's Alex". He had run across the street and was running down the sidewalk on an adventure. Of course I was upset and ran after him and brought him back home. I yelled at Anna for letting him out the front door. Later I apologized, and I realized that someone bigger than her must not have shut the front door tight. Our front door is rather hard to open. The screen door (or whatever you call it since it doesn't have a screen) is simple to open. Alex had gone in the back door and out the front. In the news recently there was a story about a toddler the same age as Alex that got out the door and tragically was run over. I feel so bad for that family. I realized that it could have happened to Alex. I really do try to keep track of him.

I thought this was funny. About a week ago someone asked me if my older two children were from a different marriage. She said, "They sit so perfectly at church and your younger two are such a handful." I assured her that they all came from the same parents, and that I'm sure our younger two will mellow out someday. After all, Rachel and Caleb used to be difficult during church. Dan and I get a workout in sacrament meeting. I literally am sweating by the time the meeting is over, from trying to keep Alex under control. It doesn't help that church is at 1:00 and both Anna and Alex are extremely tired and grumpy.

Did you know that you aren't supposed to bring toy guns to school? I'm certain that you and I both know that you shouldn't. I thought my kids knew that. I guess Caleb didn't. Caleb, being a boy, likes to play fighting/battle games at recess. Not real fighting. Just pretend. Usually they find sticks on the playground to use as their toy guns. One day, he snuck and brought his toy cap gun (that my mom bought him) to school. He didn't take it out until recess. You can probably guess how this ended. He had to sit at the principal's office for over an hour with his head down while he waited for her to get out of a meeting. He was also suspended(but given the option of in-school suspension). He remained very stoic at school. But when I tucked him in that night, he sat on my lap and cried for a long time. He felt so bad. I am thankful that the principal was not too hard on him, since he is only 6 years old and he didn't know any better. Now he knows.

It is hard being a parent. But it is so worth it. I love my children so much. They mean the world to me.

The Kitchen Remodel

2009-04-17T12:48:00.003-06:00

We are mostly finished with the kitchen remodel. We have some finishing touches to do, like baseboards and outlets. It has been a long, hard week. We've all worked really hard.

Easter

2009-04-12T19:27:00.011-06:00

Yesterday morning, we went down to Dan's parents house for an Easter Egg Hunt, and lunch. The kids had a lot of fun. Dan and I were exhausted and felt like we could barely move. We had stayed up past 2 am the night before, working on the kitchen remodel. (And I got woken up by kids at 6 am) I will post more about this later.

My mom, Leslie, and Becca came over later in the day to help with the kids, and kitchen painting. Then my mom took our kids to her house to paint easter eggs. We have no kitchen to cook or paint eggs in. The kids had fun with her, and it was very helpful that she took the kids while we painted more in the kitchen. I felt a little sad that I didn't get to paint eggs with the kids, since I actually enjoy it. I sent my camera with Rachel, and told her to take pictures, since I usually take pictures of the kids painting their eggs.

Today was quite a relaxing day. Since it was Fast Sunday, I did not make a special breakfast or lunch. I did not make Rachel fast. Since we only have one child that fasts, it didn't seem fair to make her wait until later to eat her candy, while the other kids ate theirs. Maybe next time this happens, I will plan better and have the Easter Bunny come at a different time. We went to my parents house for a yummy dinner, and crashed on their couches for a while.

On a serious note, I am thankful for Easter, and for Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ suffered for my sins, and he was resurrected. No matter how hard I try to be good, it is not enough without the Saviour. I am so thankful for Jesus Christ.

Being Chased

2009-03-20T15:53:00.003-06:00

The other day as I was driving home from dropping off my kids from school, I saw a runner being chased by a dog. It wasn't growling or biting him, just having a jolly time running after him. I can totally relate. I've been chased by dogs many times when I was running. I've learned to find the nearest pile of rocks to carry for self-defense.
When Leslie and I were teenagers there was a German Shepherd at a house at the end of the street. It looked like a mean dog (thought maybe it wasn't). It was ordinarily chained up. One day, she mentioned that it was not chained up. We ran really fast to get away from it.
My mom actually got bit by a dog when we were running once. She called animal control on it. Of course the owner claimed her dog would never get out, and would never bite anyone.
I remember running a race at Cottonwood Complex in high school. As I ran past a tree on the far side of the course, a cat starting chasing me. I guess my shoelace was untied, and it thought I was playing with it. After a little while, it figured out I wasn't playing and quit following me.
The next chasing event I remember was the rooster. Leslie and I were running on 106th south near Bingham. There were a few chickens near the sidewalk. As we ran past, a black rooster started going after Leslie. I'm pretty sure she screamed, and we picked up the pace.
The funniest "Chasing" has got to be my mom and the goats. I only wish I had been able to see this one. I don't remember if this was last year or the year before--you'd have to ask her. She was out for a run, and she ran past some goats. They started following her and bawling after her. She could not get them to leave her alone. As her run progressed, the goats persisted it following her and crying after her. At one point, she was along a busy road. She was afraid they were gonna get run over. So, she found something to tie them up with, and took them the rest of the way home with her. Once again, she called animal control to come get them. Those poor goats ran at least a mile---that was probably quite a workout for them. I only wish I could have videotaped it for amusement purposes.
When I was a teenager once, an old guy followed me on his bike. At first I thought he might just be out for a leisurely ride. But he turned around at the same point that I did. The thing is, a person riding a bike can usually bike a lot faster than a person running, even if they aren't pedaling too hard. Thankfully, there were still a few cars driving by. I ran home really fast.
When I was running with Erin and her sister Laura in the canyons a few years ago, they were ahead of me a little. They spotted a baby bear. (I didn't actually see it). If you know anything about nature, you know to stay far away from baby bears. There's usually a protective mom nearby. We ran back really fast.
I guess being chased is just a part of being a runner. It makes it a little more interesting at times.

AAAAAAHHHHHHH! I'm getting old!

2009-03-03T12:37:00.002-07:00

I haven't seen any gray hairs yet. I am thankful for that. Yesterday morning I was looking in the mirror, and guess what I noticed? I have a few wrinkles!!!! So I have to say AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! I'm getting old. I still feel like I'm 21. I guess I never thought I'd get old and have wrinkles. If I ever see I gray hair, I will be getting my hair colored immediately. My mom was funny when I was a teenager. She would look in the mirror and pull out all of her gray hairs. She would try to get us to help her pull the gray ones. I never would. That's gross! Since she is in her late 50's now, she just colors her hair. I think it would be bad to pull out all of the gray ones when you get that old. Then you would be balding instead of going gray.

Independent Alex

2009-02-26T15:22:00.002-07:00

Today I took the kids to the park. I just randomly picked a park in a neighborhood in South Jordan. We were the only ones there. I thought Alex would just run around the park. Nope. He climbed on the playground equipment too. At 16 months old, he is already getting so independent. I walked near him the whole time he was climbing. He climbed all the way to the "twirly" slide and went down by himself. He did this many times.

I didn't take pictures of this. I have an extra child on Thursday (my niece Allison). I'm lucky enough to get out the door with all of the kids. I can't manage a camera too.

Alex seems to have an independent streak. I hope he is a little more mild than Anna though. She is still tough to handle when we go places.

I can't wait for Spring

2009-02-19T12:15:00.002-07:00

When I came out of the gym this morning, it was actually getting light! Hooray! It will be Spring soon. I always have a harder time getting up in the morning when it still looks like it is the middle of the night.
I'm already planning out our vegetable garden. I'm thinking of getting a few new plants this year.
Yellow Carrots--They taste really good in Lean Cuisines. I want to plant some to see what they taste like.
Tomatillos--I want to make some good dressing, like Cafe Rio's with some of these. Can you grow these in Utah? I haven't researched these yet.
Once again, I am going to plant "Jack Be Little" pumpkins. They really aren't pumpkins. They are more like gourds. They make great Fall decorations. We got between 20-25 off one plant. I'm only gonna plant one and hope the squash bugs don't get it.
Rachel always loves cherry tomatoes. This last year we only planted one plant. Cherry tomato plants almost always grow like weeds---very well. Rachel eats them like candy. But she just doesn't eat them fast enough. We had tons of them go rotten.
Does anyone have any magic to turn our white grapes into Concord grapes? We have tons and tons of white grapes. They came with the house. They made okay juice. But I really like purple grape juice, not white.
Corn and tomatoes are my favorite things to plant. MMM............
Last year we planted about 12 rows of corn. That was waaaay too much corn. Since we moved, we have a bigger garden. Our lot is .35 acres, which is a good size. Last year was our first garden here. After we planted everything, we had a bunch of corn seeds left and a huge space left in the garden. So we planted more and more rows.
I can't wait for the tulips, daffodils and crocus flowers to come up.
That's all for my garden rambling today. :)

A Momentary Pity Party

2009-02-12T08:57:00.002-07:00

I woke up at 3 am with a sick stomach. Around 5, I went back to sleep. I got up before 6 to go to the gym. While putting on my clothes, I decided that it was a bad idea to go to the gym with a sick stomach. So, I went back to bed. I didn't get back to sleep. Thankfully, my stomach is feeling quite a bit better now.
I really wanted Dan to stay home from work. He has about 2 months of paid time off saved up. He told me that he couldn't. I said, "I'm sure other people call in sick if their wife is sick." He said, "No, they call their mom or sister to help them out." So I cried. My mom and sisters who live around here work. I have nobody to call to help me out.
I'm feeling okay now. I don't feel great. I didn't get much sleep. Sometimes it is hard to be a mom. So this is my momentary pity party.

BYU Game

2009-02-04T15:07:00.002-07:00

On Saturday we went to the BYU basketball game as a family. We left Alex with my mom. He doesn't hold still for more than about 10 seconds unless he's asleep.

I bought the cheap seats. The kids were disappointed that we were almost the top row of the Marriot Center. They thought that nobody would be able to see the "GO BYU" signs they had made. I'm sure the people we sat next to could see the signs.

Dan went out and bought BYU shirts for those of us who didn't have one. The kids were so excited. Between screaming and cheering, and a snack of Nachos, the kids had a great time. This is a picture of all of the kids ready to go, in their BYU shirts.