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

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

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!

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....

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....

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.

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....

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.