McKenney Moments

Sweet 16!

2010-09-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

August 26, 2010, Tyler turned 16 & I officially will now be known as his sister. I'm not old enough to have a 16 year old, I've decided.

He made the football team, we went on a quick vacation before school started to celebrate everyones birthday's with my family in Kansas, & he was cut from the team for missing 2 days of practice. He was disappointed, but I think slightly relieved. It was a lot harder work than he thought it would be, that's for sure!

He's still very much a kid at heart. He might be a near-giant, but he's still my first baby. :)

He loves to torment me with things like the skin of the copperhead snakes that came in to their camp site. Love this kid!

Jordan Gets Baptized!

2010-09-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a great name for a book. Maybe a future joint venture for Jo & I? His new love is writing & I'm not terrible at illustrations, so maybe...

I'm so far behind in the blogging world, I don't know if I'll ever catch up! I guess I'll start with the recent baptism of Jordan.

We were able to have a few family members come to town for the big day, which was really nice. Both my parents, Dave's mom, & my younger brother Grant (just got home from a mission in the Phillipines) came out to witness the special occassion.

Jordan, waiting for the font to fill with water.

My Mom, Dad, & Ty

Dave & Logan, who looks like he's devising a plan of sorts.

Ty & Grant, goofing off.

Jojo & Daddo (as Jo used to call him)

Just before the baptism.

Amazingly, I captured a true Logan-look. He's totally a Mikey & that grin proves it!

Dave & my Dad goofing off. Nice grills!

Watching the water rise.

So handsome in his Sunday best!

Jojo & his Yaya (Dave's mom)

Jo, with the honored mom. :)

Proud parents. :)

My Mom, Dad, & Jordan.

On August 31, 2010, Jordan was officially baptized & confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm so proud of him for making the decision to join the true church of Christ!

Jordan's thrilled to be able to go to Scouts, finally. He's been looking forward to it for some time now & it couldn't have come soon enough!

New Toy

2010-07-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

I think it's true love. ;)

Soopah-MAN!!

2010-07-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Or Spiderman.

Or both.

Logan is forever dressing up in one costume or another. Thanks to his Mimi & her mad bargaining skills at garage sales, he has a plethora of costumes to choose from. His favorite, by far, is the black Spiderman.

It never hurts to mix & match, though.

Little Poser

2010-07-27T18:11:00.001-07:00

Ever since she was about 6 months old, whenever a camera is present, Hayleah is a total ham. It started off with majorly, toothless, cheesy, sloppy grins, & has evolved in to posing. I adore this little princess! She has such a strong sense of fashion & is frequently in trouble for changing in to yet another outfit (I'm not a fan of extra laundry). Head bands are strictly for the forehead, according to Hayleah. And pink boots will NEVER go out of style!

MIA

2010-07-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

I intend to try to get back to the blogging world a bit more frequently. We've been crazy busy lately with a move that took us by storm.

About a month ago, an old friend & boss of Dave's called to see how we were doing & to let us know he was just promoted to management at the Wyndham in Branson, Missouri. He wanted Dave to come out & work for him, so he offered to fly him out there after dangling a particular juicy carrot in front of his face. It was more of a carrot for me than it was for Dave. He dropped in the little detail that he looked up how long a drive to Derby, Kansas was & that it was a mere 5 hours from Branson. I grew up in Derby & most of my family is still there, so the idea of being closer to them for the first time in 9+ years was more than tempting.

When Dave told me about their conversation, I cried. I was mad at Jared (Dave's friend) for the tease & the reminder of the fact that I missed being near my family. Until that time, I never thought I was unhappy in Las Vegas, & now that little bubble had been burst. I wasn't about to be unhappy living in Vegas if that's the only place I was going to live in for some time. I'm not in to making myself miserable (mostly), so I've never even entertained the idea of living closer to my parents & brothers & sisters-in-law & nieces & nephews. Ever. Until that moment, that is.

Well there was no way I was going to let Dave go out to Branson without me, so I booked our flights & one for my Mom, too, so she could watch the kids while we were out of town. We've never been anywhere before, sans kids. That part was nice.

What was even nicer is that everything fell in to place. One thing after another, beginning with finding an amazing home the first day we were here. We signed papers with the owners a few days later (after looking at some serious duds in between), went home to Vegas & began packing all our belongings.

It's now three weeks later & here we are, happy to be in Branson. It's incredible here! We've had a few adventures since we arrived, but I'm just so thrilled to be here, none of that even matters. :D

Triple 7's

2010-05-15T13:43:00.001-07:00

While at a support group meeting the other night, one of the parents mentioned something about triple 7's. I had no idea what that meant, & we're not supposed to interrupt, so thankfully the group leader brought it up afterward & had another parent clarify what this meant.

This man's Stake President made promises to the people of his Stake that if they followed these "triple 7's", their troubles would seem to ease & their ability to handle the trials that came their way would increase.

Triple 7's means you must do 3 things a day, 7 days a week. Those three things are, personal morning prayer, scripture study, personal evening prayer.

Such a simple way to put something that can have such a great effect on people's lives! I was impressed with its simplicity & wanted to always remember this. It's something that's become habit for me over the past year, so I know that there is most definitely a difference many aspects in my life, from my testimony, to my faith, to my love of those around me. So much good can come from those 3 simple things!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

2010-05-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

I entered in a contest a few weeks ago over at U create (one of my fav blogs to follow... tons of great, crafty ideas) & I actually won! I get $50 worth of merchandise from The Ribbon Retreat, which also happens to be one of my favorite ribbon suppliers. Needless to say, I'm thrilled!!

Now I just have to figure out what to spend it all on. :D

New Calling

2010-05-04T14:34:00.001-07:00

I'm sad to be leaving my sweet little Sunbeams, but I'm excited about my new calling as the ward Provident Living Specialist! This is my first calling outside of Primary (other than being a Visiting Teaching Supervisor while I was also a Nursery worker, so I'm not sure if that counts). Ever. I'll be out of my element, for sure!

I still kind of see Relief Society as the place my mom goes, but not so much me. It's funny because I'm certainly old enough to go, yet I think it will take some time before I feel like that's where I'm supposed to be. What in the world am I going to do without a gaggle of kids vying for my attention!?

I don't have much of a food storage, & I'm terrible at rotating. I don't know much about emergency preparedness or survival should a serious emergency arise, so this opportunity is exciting to me. I'm always up for learning new & helpful things. I've been so involved with learning about the various uses of herbs & essential oils for the past decade, so now it's time to expand my brain a bit & gain more knowledge to share. Hopefully I can do that in a way that doesn't make me seem like a know-it-all (I fear I come across that way sometimes), & be able to get others excited about learning & implementing what they learn into their homes & families. :D

Exciting times!! :)

Spring has Sprung!

2010-03-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

There are cherry blossoms everywhere in our little community.

Around the corner from our home is a business park, sporting a "lake" with real whales in it. They like to hang out in the same place all day, spouting off (at their mother?). For the longest time, every time we would pass this corner, Jordan would diligently search for the sharks he knew were in there.

Checking out the "floaters" they spotted. They were much more interesting than trying to spot sharks!

Of course, what's a nice Spring day walk without posing in front of whales?

There was much drama to get this pic, so even though 3/4 of the people in the pic have their eyes closed, I'm posting it! It was sunny & Jordan was counseling everyone to close their eyes for the picture so they won't have to complain about mom making them pause for this shot.

And of course it isn't Spring without a little kite-flying at the park.

Apparently I missed getting a picture of Logan with his Super Hero's kite. He was pretty mad at the kite though, after it didn't magically take off like he had planned. He's all about the Super Heroes right now. I can barely get him out of his black Spiderman costume long enough to wash it. It needs a serious patch job. The neighbors think we're crazy & are unsure if he even owns anything other than a Spiderman costume. I'll have to try to get some pics up of him, as Spidey, once I get the thing fixed.

Overall, we had so much fun trying to fly kites that day. I smiled, laughed, & ran so much I was sore from it all the next day. Fun times!

Toof-less & Some Visitors!

2010-03-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

Jordan sporting a new grin.

Jojo lost another tooth, but this time the Tooth Fairy was nice enough to grant him his request to keep it. We made a little pillow box to put it in & wrote a note to the TF to please leave the treasured tooth. She left him a 5-spot (NICE!) & was swiftly on her way.

Jo gave his first talk in Primary the following Sunday (amazing, for him, since he is so scared of getting up & talking in front of others!). It was *so* adorable, the way he could no longer say his "S's" quite right.

We were lucky enough to have the space available when a friend needed a place to stay this month. She has two kids who often stayed over as well, one of them being Jordan's age. Gracie was a joy to have around! The kids couldn't wait to get up in the morning to see if she was there, & Grace would always watch out the window of the casita to see when we would open our blinds, signaling we were all up & ready to take on the day.

We had so much fun, having them here. My friend Tami was the model houseguest & I miss her now that she's in an apartment. They were with us for about a month & the kids still ask about Gracie in the mornings.

Jo & Gracie crafting together

Job-front Update

2010-03-09T22:27:00.001-08:00

Dave went in for an exit interview & to turn in his pager & time thingy yesterday & met with the head of Human Resources for both Las Vegas sites. Before he even made it in her door, the VP over the Harrah's site (where Dave moved from about 6 months ago) grabbed him & pulled him in to his office. He told Dave he wanted him to come back to the Harrah's site & was confident he could pull the necessary strings to make it happen. Dave tried to switch back to the Harrah's site back in December, but the move was blocked by the VP over the Resort site.

After speaking with the HR lady & documenting everything that had been going on, she was also pretty confident they could get a transfer approved. He hadn't been removed from the computer system yet, so technically he was still considered an employee & wouldn't be subjected to a rehire process & the mandatory 90 day wait.

After telling her he'd think about it & get back to her before the end of the day, Dave met with a business owner we know to talk about working for him. It wasn't the kind of sales he was used to or comfortable with (tele-sales), so he called the HR lady back last night & accepted the offer.

Today he got the call that it's official. His transfer date will be either this Friday or next, which is nice because he's getting a little time off & best of all HE STILL HAS A JOB!!! :D

Thanks for all your prayers & positive thoughts!!

SUPER Underwear Head Boy!

2010-03-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Logan, the unwittingly funny kid, had a conversation with me not long ago. He's even funnier because he doesn't know how funny he actually is.

Logan: "Mom, can I go outside?"
Me: "No, not right now."
Logan: "But I want to."
Me: "I know, but it's too cold out right now."
Logan: "But I won't be cold."
Me: "Sorry buddy, but it's too cold out right now."
Logan: "What if I put underwear on my head & socks on my hands? Can I go out then?"

After that kind show of negotiating skills, he managed to convince me. I think he would've convinced just about anyone with that arguement.

Not the best pic of him, but he wasn't interested in posing that day. I can't imagine why. LOL

Current McKenney News

2010-03-05T20:41:00.001-08:00

I know... shocker, huh!?

You know what the word job stands for? Just Over Broke.

Hahahaha

But it's not really all that funny today. This morning Dave resigned from his job of nearly 9 years so he could move on to bigger & better things. Those "things" are yet to be found. It's been a long time coming, but it doesn't change the fact that, at the most, in 6 months from now, we will be just over broke.

Weird thing is I'm not freaking out about it. Yet.

Let the resume updating & job hunt begin! Wish us luck (prayers are even better!).

February is gone!?

2010-03-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

February flew by for us. It was a busy month, with Tyler returning home for his schooling. Plus with Logan & Hayleah going to preschool 3 days a week. And we can't forget about Jordan & his schooling (though I think I let a little too much slide with this one).

I'm going to try to catch up on some posts in the next few days, as time permits.

Can you believe Spring is already upon us!?

A Haircut For The Girl!

2010-03-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

Princess Hayleah's hair was constantly in her face, if it wasn't pulled back in some piggies or a pony. And even then sometimes it was by the middle of the day. This child plays hard, right alongside her brothers. So, after much pleading from Dave, I took her over to a friend for a cute new 'do. :)

It's such a cute cut on her! (don't mind the blue lips... she's breathing just fine here. such a faker! ;o) ) She's showing off her Princess book her Yaya sent to her. She LOVES this book. So much so, she took it outside with her to "read", only to accidently leave it out there overnight. Of course it rained. And, of course, we didn't discover this for a few days, since it rained for most of the week. And, of course, we're now on the hunt for a new Princess book.

"You KNOW!"

2010-01-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

This is the response I get to nearly *every* question asked of Logan. Sometimes Hayleah (Logan's mini-parrot) gets on a "You KNOW!" kick, too. While it's very frustrating at times, it's also kind of cute he seems to think I know everything. :)

Me: "What do you want for breakfast, buddy?"

Logan: "You KNOW!"

Me: "No, actually I don't. That's why I asked you."

Logan: "You know, Mom. You know."

This kid seems to know a lot more about me than I do!

I've gone & done it now...

2010-01-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure, but I think I may be spoiled for life. I love the ease & convenience of audio books, so now when it comes time to sit down with a physical book, I find myself struggling to get very far in it. I've always been an avid reader, but lately I even struggle to find the time to sit down with my scriptures each day, let alone any of the other books on my growing list of must-reads.

I'm hoping I haven't reached the point of no return. I love my iPod & use it daily, so it's hard to break away to read other things than what's playing at the moment. The only time I ever listen to music on it is either when I'm working out, or when I bump it too hard & it switches itself to music.

I'll have to try harder to find time for some peaceful reading soon. There are so many books out there I can't get via audio books (at least not without paying a fortune), it's taking me a lot longer to make it through them all.

I figure, if this is the worst of my problems, I'm really blessed & I kind of suck to be complaining about it. ;)

It's a no-go

2010-01-25T19:13:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, the big boss at the Grand Desert will not let Dave transfer back to the Harrah's site. They're being jerks about it. Fortunately, Dave's had a few sales since I last posted, which helps tremendously with things. Money coming in is a big relief, for one!

I hope things turn around. He's hanging on to the job for now, but he sure isn't happy to be there. It's not new territory, this unhappiness, but it sure stinks to be in the middle of it!

Crossing our fingers

2010-01-12T11:09:00.000-08:00

We're hoping Dave will soon be transferred back to the Harrah's site for his job soon. He's been at the Grand Desert, trying to sell timeshares, for several months now, & it's just not working out. He can't give it away right now & he's lucky to see one couple a day. Some days he has to sit around for hours, only to find out there isn't a tour for him.

Dave can be a very successful salesman, but without people to pitch it to, there's little hope of making money (or even keeping his job if he's not writing business). I wish there was something else out there that has the potential pay like timeshare!

Really putting myself out there...

2010-01-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

I'm unveiling another work in progress (like myself) today & wanted to share it with my family & friends. Please go check it out & come help support me in my effort to get healthy again!

Operation: Bye-bye Fatsuit!

Putting myself out there like this has to be one of the most difficult things this private person has ever done, but I need the advice & support of others, as well as some accountability to someone other than myself, to help make this work. Come follow along, as I make my way up this hill (mountain) of my own making! Also, feel free to share this link with your family & friends. The more the merrier!

In a slump

2010-01-02T21:19:00.001-08:00

I've been a lazy blogger, I know. I find when a blog idea pops in to my head, I don't have enough time to get it out of there before it gets filed away somewhere in a place I like to call Neverland. That is, if a thought is to be heard from again, it's usually around 2 a.m. & I'm far too lazy to get up to write it down for another time.

I think I'll blame my lack of blogging on the loss of my "Precious" (read: camera). I wish I could take a picture of it to share on my blog, but that would be a challenge even if it was working. If I had a working camera, I'd blog more, surely! I miss the darn thing. Every time I think of it an old Cinderella tune dances its way through my head... "Don't Know What You Got 'Til It's Gone".

I'll try to update about Christmas soon. I bought some cheap throw away cameras but haven't developed them yet. Jordan got a hold of one, so I'm sure those pics will mostly be of the dog, or a dirty sliding glass door, or some dust bunny or other. We shall see! I don't miss the "surprises" of non-digital cameras (what are they called??). I like knowing what I'm getting right when I take it. This winding knobs, hold a button down to make the flash work, throw away camera business is for the birds!!

FIFTY!!

2009-12-23T17:19:00.000-08:00

I set a goal this year to read 40 books & decided to track it through this blog. As of yesterday, I've read 50 books! Some of them I've read multiple times, but I wasn't counting it that way. Dave got me an iPod for Christmas last year & through audio books & the closest library, I think this year has been a record setting year. Granted a lot of the books were fluffy, but I'm still proud of actually setting & attaining a goal. Normally I stink at that kind of thing. I'm already thinking about next years goals...

Birthday girl!!

2009-12-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Hayleah's 3rd birthday this week. Like every parent before me says, I can hardly believe my baby is *THREE*! Where did the time go!?

We had a small family party for her on her actual birthday (the 6th), & today we had a house full of friends come over to partay with us. This is the first time everyone invited actually came! Well, almost everyone. In all, I believe there were 12 kids. Not bad at all! :)

We played games, ate heart shaped pb&j sammies, swung on swings, slid down slides, chowed on some cherry chip cupcakes, & opened some nice gifts. I know Hayleah had a really fun time & I'm so glad everyone came!

I wish I had some pics to share, but alas... still no camera. (sadness)

Until next year...

School for Jojo

2009-12-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

Since implementing the warm fuzzies, things have been going remarkably well! Jo continues to try to test me, but I'm seeing an improvement in him. His feelings of not being able to do something are, more rapidly than I expected, being replaced with the confidence he was lacking in but was so deserving of.

We're using the program K12 right now. It's an online school but most of the work is not done online. I received several boxes of text books, reading books, & other material, in the beginning & our mornings are filled with accomplishing something worthwhile.

I went to a mom's meeting last week with some girls from an LDS home school group I belonged to, what seems like a lifetime ago. It was so good to be with old friends & bounce my thoughts off them & share in lots of laughter & fondue (a bonus, I know).

Next week we are headed up to Channel 3 news station for a "field trip" tour with other home schooled kids. Jo is very excited... he's hoping for some airtime. It's not what I expected his reaction to be, but I'm learning new things about him every day!

I'm loving where we're at & where we're going with this!

Broken things

2009-11-18T12:34:00.001-08:00

I really did it this time. Yesterday, while at the park, I had an over-excited pooch attached to a leash in one hand & my camera in the other. Ginger (the pooch) caught sight of another pup & wanted to play so badly she made a break for it, jarring me & causing my camera to drop down on the pavement. Pieces went flying everywhere & now it won't even turn on. I'm SO bummed because we really can't afford a new one right now. :(

**POOCH!!!** (said like an expletive)

Four Whole Weeks

2009-11-17T07:59:00.001-08:00

It's not been common knowledge, since I wasn't sure how well things would go, but for the past month we've been homeschooling again. We did it with Tyler for a handful of years (3rd-7th grades), & though I wanted to do it with Jordan when he was Kindergarten age, the Husband wasn't having it.

With all the struggles Jordan was having, I decided to give homeschooling a shot while he was on track break. It wouldn't hurt anything, I figured, & it would give me an idea if this kiddo was even teachable by his mom.

For the first several weeks, it went very smoothly for the most part. He would have a small meltdown here & there of "I can't do it's", but other than that it went surprisingly well. He enjoys the time we spend together learning about new things.

His teacher called me last week to find out where he had been all week. When I started to explain to her my decision to bring him home, she was more than pleased. She wasn't able to give him the attention he needs, even with her semi-small (for Vegas, anyway) class size, so I think understood it was what he needed before even I did. She was so supportive & I was very surprised. Most teachers I know feel superior for their years spent behind a desk & don't think I'm qualified. I didn't get that from her at all!

This week I implemented a new system that I'm hoping will help him build up his confidence. He has a small jar & some little pom pom's (aka warm fuzzies) to put in it. For every task he completes without constant need for reassurance (something I didn't realize he felt he needed so badly until we began this journey), he gets to add a warm fuzzie to his jar. When the jar is filled, he gets his choice of what kind of party he'd like to have (a pizza party, he tells me).

It's exciting to see how much this small "reward", one little pom pom, motivates him to have a positive. I already see such a big difference in him. The biggest thing is he's so much happier. He really disliked learning a few weeks ago, now he's asking for more when our "day" is done. His reading has gone from "I don't like you for forcing me to do this" to complaining if it's not his night to read out of the scriptures with our family.

He's a great kid who I enjoy being around so much. I'm so thankful we're in a position that makes this choice even possible!

Logan Shaun

2009-11-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

It's hard to find any pictures of this funny little kid. At least a not good one. If you can get him to look directly at the camera, he manages this tight-lipped smile that doesn't look much like a smile. More like he's in a fair amount of pain. This highly sensitive boy is so full of life.....

most of the pics I grab of him are of him running to or away from me.

His naturally funny personality never fails to bring smiles to my face. While my Mom was here, he went to check on her to make sure she was getting ready to go. He told her (with his serious eyes) that she needed to get a shirt on. As an afterthought, he turned back around & held his finger up, pointing it accusingly at her, telling her "and pants, too".

Love this kid! :)

Funny kid

2009-11-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, while at the ever-dreaded, eViL Walmart, Jordan & I are browsing through the aisles to kill some time. Logan & Hayleah are in preschool 3 days a week, but only for less than 2 hours each day. Since it's a minimum 30 min. round trip, I prefer to stay in the area instead of head back home. Walmart is across the street, so we've been frequenting this place of ill repute far too often.

Anyway....back to Jordan.

At the end of the hair care aisle is the back wall, packed with every brand of feminine products you could ever want, need, or consider using. While looking at some hair stuff, my attention is drawn to my normally quiet (only in public) child who is excitedly (read: loudly) telling me about this "free" stuff I need to come see.

Lo & behold, he certainly did a bang up job picking out the word "free". He's becoming such a great little reader. It was on the front of a package of pantyliners. Stayfree, to be precise. He was (loudly) insistent we needed to get this because, well, it's free. He went on & on trying to convince me (loudly) about how great free stuff is. He can't really hear me (over his own bad self) & apparently I'm not making much sense while trying to use my quiet voice & contain my giggles at the same time.

We definitely got some looks from those around us, but I didn't mind too much. It takes more than someone still in their pj's & slippers, or someone sporting a fabulous mullet to make me feel embarassed at Walmart. :)

I love that kid. It's rare a day will go by without him giving me a good laugh. :)

Books

2009-11-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

I set a goal this year to read at least 40 books. I just hit 30 (if I'm not counting how many times I've read the Twilight series; which I'm not because I'm slightly embarrassed about that number). This leaves me less than two months to meet that goal. Normally I stink at goal setting & achieving. I'm a procrastinator, which rarely helps with much of anything.

I need some book suggestions, though. My list of books to read is growing smaller. I'm devouring them in days. How do I do this, you ask? (Inquiring minds are sure to want to know) I'm able to do all the regular things a stay-at-home mom does, & still be able to find countless hours to escape through these books. Super Woman, I am not. More like Cheater Woman. :) An iPod & a library card is all a girl needs. Well, that & no late fines or books you can't find. :oP

Surprises

2009-10-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

The husband: "guess what new thing I did today"
Me: "what's that?" (thinking: new is good)
The husband: "brushed my teeth with Desitin"

Note to self: new is not necessarily good & attention to details, even when just brushing ones teeth, can be important.

Couples Retreat

2009-10-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

No, not the movie (though we did see that & I personally wouldn't recommend it...not very & often crude).

Dave & I had our first date away from home since before Jordan was born. My Mom has been in town for the past week & a half, so Dave & I made reservations up in St. George for an overnighter.

No matter where we go, & no matter how many lists I make to check off, something is forgotten. This time it was my Temple Recommend. I grabbed the husband's, but forgot to check to make sure mine was where I thought it was. Totally bummed out, we went up to the Temple grounds anyway & went to check out the visitors center. A Sister missionary working there asked if we had been inside the Temple yet. When we explained that we hadn't & that today was to be our first time, she advised us to call our Bishop or Stake President. According to her, this was a special circumstance & told us of her husband's experiences as a former Stake President with this.

I didn't expect anything to come of it, nor did I really consider it a special circumstance (I just don't have those in my life), but we called Bishop anyway. I was SO glad this Sister advised us to do so. We were able to attend the Temple that night, seal Dave's grandparents, & do some other work for some family members! It was an incredible night & we had so much fun! We left feeling refreshed & filled.

We wound up staying up until 2 in the morning, eating our Wendy's frosty's, watching movies & laughing. It's something we never do anymore & I can honestly say we really enjoyed this time together!

The next morning, we headed out to Zion National Park. We'd never been there & had heard so many great things about it, so we had to go check it out. The mountain views on the way were unlike any I've never seen before.

We stopped at an organic apple orchard & market on the way out there. The Fuji apples were ripe & ready to be picked. We loaded up a bag-full of the beauties to bring home to share.

Overall it was a really nice little trip. The kids did good for my Mom & I doubt they missed us for even one minute. When we got home, Logan was a little upset with me because I wouldn't take him to the Temple with me that day. He said he wanted us to go on our "date" to the Temple....just the two of us. Someday. :)

Stake Roadshow

2009-10-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

This past week, all of our wards youth & their leaders' hard work came to fruition. They put on a production of Grease entitled It's Hip to be Square. Though I might be slightly biased, I have to say they totally rocked!! Tyler played 'Danny' & sang his parts nearly to perfection.

They all gathered together, the excitement nearly tangible, in a few of the rooms before their performance time.
The only pics I got were taken after the performance. I video taped it but can't find my fire wire to download it to share (yet).

Karen Crowder, the woman-in-charge, was telling them what a great job they all did. I was so proud, my cheeks hurt by the end of it all, from all the smiling I did that night! The man in Blue beside Karen is our Bishop. That smile you see on his face is nearly permanent. I was just telling Dave how I like to watch him when he doesn't know it (sounds kinda creepy, but it's really not). He seems to always have this smile on his face that looks to be a mixture amusement from a funny inside joke & a radiant joy that can't contain itself inside him. His mood/attitude is infectious & just watching him makes me smile. Love that man! :)

My Mom was able to fly in to see the Roadshow. She, too, was impressed with Ty's mad singing skills! :)

Bart Yeates, telling Ty what a great job he did.

Braden, Justin, & Brandon. Justin did an AMAZING job!! His energy level made me want to get up & dance, too! Scary thought. LOL

Ty & I....I was beaming with pride! :)

Looking handsome & relaxed.

Ty, with one of his greaser buddies, Brandon.

After it was all said & done, my Mom & I took Ty out for a celebratory dinner at Outback. Ty watched the performance while we waited for our food, then made googly eyes at the hostess & his burger (not at the same time, fortunately).

In all it was a lot of fun & I'm so glad Ty was able to be a part of it. A HUGE THANKS to everyone who did anything to help out in this production. It took a lot of patience & diligence to get to this weekend & I'm so thankful for the dedicated, really great people in our ward.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!!

2009-10-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

I bought new house phones last week since the ones we have had since 2001 were no longer reliable. I was excited about this set because it came with not two but THREE handsets! Within a day or so, we realize the same problem we began having with the old set of phones has sparked up in our new phones. Grrr!

They're both the same brand so I'm wondering if they speak Panasonic or something & the old phones shared their "how to drive Shannon insane" tips with the new phones.

I went to take them back, after meticulously writing down every phone number I took the time to input into the new phones, & one of the three headsets is MIA. I'm convinced it's hiding. It has to be. I can't take its brothers (you know they have to be male!) back until I find him.

I need it to magically appear tonight. I'm tired of useless home phones & Panasonic (& their non-existent customer service) will never cross my door step again!

Preschool

2009-10-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Days 1 & 2 have been a SMASHING success!! I don't expect the trend to continue (not pessimistic, just realistic), but for now I'm enjoying it.

I'm feeling like a really bad mom, though. I keep forgetting to take Logan & Hayleah's pictures, & pics of their new classroom, to post but I'll try harder tomorrow.

We switched Jo back to his old class due to some GROSS misrepresentations & outright omitting of the facts on behalf of the school.

Slightly off topic, but my Mom used to tell me even if you don't outright lie, it's still a lie if you leave out the truth! Someone must have missed class the day they taught that one!!

Anyway, Jo's happy as a clam & had a great day hanging out with me & later going to the park for our Wards playgroup. It was a fun day for me too. And the weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS!!

LOVE the fall!! :)

Change (the non-fun kind)

2009-10-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

There are a few members of our family who avoid, whenever possible, & shun, whenever impossible, this fact of life. Jordan, my strongest-headed boy, is by far the best at the latter part.

We moved back in March & things haven't been the same for him since. He seems to have trouble letting go & has abandonment issues leaving over the old house. He went from doing well in school to not wanting to go to school anymore. Church was the same thing...he didn't want to leave my sight. There were a lot of tears & often trouble that would follow if he didn't get to stay with me. This went on for months after the move.

We were able to keep him at the same school for the rest of First grade but had to move to the new school to begin Second. I was really worried we'd have more of the same attachment issues, just after things were starting to look up, but he did very well from the first day. There was only a 2 week break from First grade to Second.

Since starting Second grade, he's had problems with his school work. One day he just decided he didn't want to be at school anymore & tried to leave campus (thank goodness they caught him!). The Vice-Principal called & they were suspending him for the day. Suspension!? I went in & talked with him & the school counselor & let them know if they sent him home, they would only be giving him exactly what he wanted. I put it in their hands, but explained there would likely be many more instances to follow if they chose to deal with it by sending him home. Thankfully they saw it my way & kept him in "in-house" for the day.

Things have been okay since then.

I think we figured out the problem though. With his abandonment issues still fresh with him, it should have been clear from the beginning. There has been problems with the air conditioning unit for his classroom. His teacher, Ms. Bussey, & class have had to move FOUR TIMES, in the past four weeks, to other classrooms. It's like abandoning his space over & over again.

Poor kid!

He was supposed to be on track break (we are "lucky" enough to be in a year-round school) for the rest of this month & when he goes back it would be more of the same...move to someone else's classroom who's on break, use someone else's desk (only the top, though...the child whose name is on it has all of his belongings inside it), look at the walls that are filled with things that don't apply to what they're learning this year, etc.

I got a letter on Thursday letting me know they were taking volunteers to move to a new class (overcrowding BIG TIME) & it would be on the track we wanted most. After thinking about it all night & talking to Jo about it, I signed it, saying we'd like to move to the new teachers classroom. I received a letter back that said we will be moved & he will now be on track 5, but when I told him about it took me a while to talk him down. He was fine with it in theory, but freaked out in reality.

I figure he was going to be shuffled around next month, when he comes back from break, for who knows how many more times, so why not once more for the year & that will (almost) guarantee no more moves. He's excited about it now...we'll see how he feels about it on Tuesday. I'm excited for him. I really hope this helps him get through these struggles he's going through.

Next year I think we'll be re-zoned for the new school they just started building. I'll deal with it then, but three schools in four years has to be hard for ANY child! :(

Thanksgiving, through the eyes of a dieter

2009-09-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

I CANNOT WAIT for the big day!! I'm SO going to make all the things we love this year. The husband prefers we order a big meal from Albertsons, like we've done in years past, but not this year!

I'm on day 7 of this diet & I'm still struggling a bit. I hear it gets better & I believe it will, but it's hard for me to get into the spirit of my favorite season when it doesn't include things like pumpkin bread, & pumpkin pie, & popcorn balls, & other yummy things like these.

Okay, enough food talk. I'm driving myself crazy thinking about it & it's that much worse talking about it.

I'm down 7 pounds as of this morning. YAY!! It makes all the moments of struggle worth it. Dave is on day 11 & is struggling quite a bit. He fell off the wagon & ate large amounts of delicious crap Monday night while at a work party. I feel badly for him but at the same time I'm really grateful he did that. Now I see what it would do to me if I gave in & devoured that bag of Chex Mix or an icecream sandwich or three. It helps keep me in check. Plus, if I do fall off the wagon like he did, at least he did it first. :) Cause if it had been me, I would've NEVER heard the end of it. LOL

I'm finding, by the end of the day, I'm struggling just to eat as much as I'm supposed to. I'm either not interested in food or not hungry. I think it might be slowing down the process, but I'll take every pound loss I can get!

My favorite time of year!

2009-09-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

I love waking up in the morning to the coolness of fall. I started feeling those cooler temperatures late last week, while taking Ty to seminary. This morning it was in the 60's!!

I miss seeing the vibrant colors of fall around me. I'll take the nice weather in exchange, for now. The picture reminds me of this time of year in Missouri. It's so gorgeous there, with rolling hills of trees in every shade you could imagine. It was 10 years ago this week I went to St. Louis with my sweet (now ex) sister-in-law, Liz, to go through the Temple for the first time. What an amazing experience!!

I just love fall. It takes me back to exciting days past.

Keep it in the can, man

2009-09-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

Though my house looked like a whirlwind swept through , I still felt like we had a very productive day yesterday. Any day when the days & weeks of spiritual preparation show that it has sunk in is a productive day in my book.

Most days we have a lot going on in our house. Some days it's harder than others to remember we should try our best to keep our anger & frustration with each other in check. So last night we had an FHE lesson on anger. I got my idea from here.

While we didn't go so far as to string pots & pans & cans up on the back wall (you're welcome, neighbors), we did splurge & purchase some "Easy Cheese" & Wheat Thins. The banging of pots & pans when angry would've sent me off my rocker, so we chose to avoid that.

From that lesson spawned a new catch phrase in our home. Just like "cheese" in a can, once you let your angry words out you can't put it back in. So now we all say "Keep it in the can, man".

Too bad we couldn't come up with something that rhymed with "dude". That would've been cooler. :)

Another Birthday Boy!!

2009-09-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated 4 years of life with our youngest son, Logan. He was the first of our babies to be born here in Las Vegas. He was our biggest baby by nearly a full pound & he proudly carried that extra pound in his cheeks, as you can see from this picture. He was about 2 weeks old here.

Though he wasn't the prettiest baby, I was always extra proud of those rolls. I love a chubby, healthy looking baby. Yummy, as my midwife would always say. :)

Dave got to name him & chose Logan Shaun. It was better than LaShaun, like he swore would be his name from the moment I agreed he could name him. After he was born, we agreed we should have waited to name him until we got to know him. One of the names Dave was thinking about was Michael. I balked at this because then he'd get his way & have a Michael & a Jordan, something I wasn't going to have. As it turns out, he is very much a mischievous Mikey & we should have given him the name Michael after all.

When he was born, something rare took place that we still remember to this day. My most wonderful midwife & friend, Kaye Bullock, was there to help me through my labor & to catch him as he came in to the world. It was just Kaye, her apprentice Sandy, & Dave there that night with me. My dear friend Onala came by that afternoon & took Tyler & Jordan off our hands.

Logan was born in the caul, or behind a veil. Because of the drastic number of babies who are born by induction, it has become an even rarer event. My water never broke until after he was born, making him a true Caulbearer. I had heard the term before but never knew what it meant or the stories behind it. There are many legends out there & some of them too far fetched even for me, but the consensus is that those born in the caul are very spiritual people & they are very intuitive by nature.

Since Logan is only 4 years old, it's hard to tell if any of those things are true, but the history of it all & the well-known Caulbearers of the world are neat to learn about.

Logan is an amazing little athlete. He has a mean golf swing & loves to pretend he's Tiger Woods. His favorite shirt is a red Polo because of his love for Tiger. He is very protective of his little sister. They are only 14 months apart & are very close. If any other little boys come too close to her or try to play with her, he will quickly block their way (often not being very nice about it) & tell them to leave his sister alone (in his most intimidating face & growly voice).

Logan is totally a Daddy's boy. He looks like Dave far more than any of the other kids. He loves to follow Dave around & nearly every morning will argue with Dave about whether or not he has to go to work. He is very strong-headed & he doesn't have a filter for the things that come out of his mouth yet. There's never any question as to where he stands; he's always quick to let others know what he thinks.

The smile in this picture is typical of him. He hasn't figured out a real-looking fake smile yet & pretty much all his pictures come out looking this way. LOL

One of his gifts was a Woody doll. He LOVES Toy Story (more particularly Buzz) & now has a new buddy he won't let out of his sight.

We love this little guy & are SO glad he came to be part of our family!!

First Soccer Game!

2009-09-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

Ty & the Desert Oasis High School JV team had their first game last night against Sierra Vista. It was an away game & the timing didn't work out for us to make it. Ty had hurt his ankle (doing who knows what; probably goofing off) earlier this week so he didn't play.

They lost.

The fun part about the night is I spent a good hour looking for him afterwards. I told him to ride the bus back to his school after the game & I'd pick him up there.

After 30 min. or so of driving around & parking, then driving around some more, I stopped & asked another JV player if they had seen him. The boy had seen him but was sure Ty wasn't on the bus coming home.

I moved on & decided to track down the coach to get some answers. The coach said he'd signed out (I now realize "signed out" actually means he didn't ride the bus home) & then double checked in his roster to be sure before telling me he was sure he saw Ty return trip. He didn't look as sure as he sounded so I ran home to get my cell & make some phone calls.

I guess the bus left him at Sierra Vista. They dropped the boys off in on place, then picked them up in another, so he wound up missing the bus.

Shortly after leaving to grab him from the other school, his coach calls & I can tell he's a little panicked. He said they did a head count before leaving the school after the game & the numbers turned out correct. He clearly isn't a math teacher, aside from being the soccer coach.

Coach wanted me to call him as soon as I got Ty. I understand accidents happen but I was a little irritated at being told something when he wasn't sure of the truth of his words. These kids are their responsibility when in their care. It was careless to leave someone behind. Hopefully it'll be a good learning experience for everyone.

I will now be at all of his games, even when there's something conflicting. Ty will stick with the group & not go off on his own. And hopefully the coach will either learn how to count & then re-count until he gets the same number at least two times, or call names off a roster instead of his normal guessing game. :P

Birthday Party FUN!

2009-09-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated both Jordan & Tyler's birthdays. Vickie came in town from Reno for their birthdays, as she has every year since we moved to Vegas.

Tyler invited a large group of boys since we decided to have a party "in" this year. He wanted to take a bunch of friends to Gameworks but after finding out how much something like that would cost, we decided against that idea. We set up the casita with a few small tv's, some game systems, & a lot of cold refreshments. The boys arrived shortly after we got home from Soccer practice.

I didn't realize how many people were actually there until I went out back & did a head count so I could order what I thought would be an appropriate amount of pizza for these STARVING, growing young men. Ten boys & seven pizzas later, there were still a few left hungry but we were headed off to the movies to see G.I. Joe.

All the boys seemed to enjoy the movie & afterwards (instead of letting them roam around Town Square like they wanted to...it's a NUT HOUSE there on a Friday night!! I never knew!) Dave & I came in both cars to pick them up & drop them each off at home. It was fun seeing a few boys from our old ward we hadn't seen in a long time.

These are the only pictures I got of the bunch. It was impossible to get them all together in one shot.

Here are a few pics of Ty on his actual birthday.

We gave him his gifts from the family that day. We love to mess with our kids & give them a hard time whenever possible, so that small cylinder-shaped present in the front is actually just a wrapped can of soda. There were a few other gag gifts, too.

Jordan's birthday party was on Saturday. He had six friends come to celebrate with him & celebrate they did!

As soon as they got here they all got a "lab coat" (essential for budding mad scientists!). They made some goggles, picture frames, & each got a name tag.

We made slime, which was either the coolest thing ever or the grossest thing ever, depending on who you asked.

We had an atom bust contest. Each of the kids would get a balloon tied to their ankle & they would try to protect it from everyone else. They had so much fun chasing one another around, trying to pop everyone elses "atoms"! It was the loudest but funnest part of the whole party, if you ask me!

Our eyeball cake turned out to be a hit. Jordan wanted red velvet cake to have more of a "real eyeball" effect.

We had some pinata issues (I think I filled it too full) & instead of breaking it open with a stick the kids had candy & toys rain down on them (somewhat painfully, I imagine....hey, I told them to stand back! LOL). After gathering up all the candy, they had fun practicing their newly acquired kazoo skills with one another.

We had plans to make an exploding volcano but the time simply went too quickly. Overall it was an extremely fun but exhausting weekend! The kids were so fun to have over & it was great seeing everyone enjoy themselves so much!

Fall Sports

2009-09-05T10:13:00.001-07:00

It's here!

I'm brave (crazy) enough to have 3 kids in sports this Fall. Ty made the soccer team at Desert Oasis, which he's totally stoked about. They had their first assembly yesterday & the team got to wear the jersey's to school along with some khaki pants. Who knew slim-fit Dockers cost so much!? And what's with the skinny jeans/pants craze going on right now? I don't get it. Anyway, he's been practicing like mad every day after school since the first day of school. His first game is next Thursday & I know he's excited to get out there & play!

Jordan & Logan have both been signed up for Fall baseball/t-ball. We did it in the Spring & Jordan loved it. Logan had issues with the coach, the teammates, the ground (anything & everything) if his mood wasn't just right. It wasn't easy, but he says he wants to do it again. I'm sure this time around will be easier for him. He was so shy in the beginning & by the last game I didn't have to stand out on the field or in the dug out to coax him to do what he was supposed to do.

Both the boys have a mean swing & Logan has an amazingly accurate throw. The first time Logan's coach actually got him to participate he made a comment about what a great golf swing Logan had. That's very true but not such a good thing for t-ball. LOL

Jordan will be in the 7-8 year old division this time which means he won't be in coach-pitch anymore. I hope the kid pitchers are also fast movers! There was several games when the coach had to hustle to get out of the way of a ball Jo hit. He really cracks them off hard! It was rare to have a ball not wind up in the outfield.

Baseball starts in the next couple weeks & that will mean at least 3, sometimes 4, practices & 2 games each week. If they didn't enjoy it..... I don't enjoy being so busy but I guess that's what you get when you have more than the average 2.5 kids. ;)

In the Winter I think I'll sign Hayleah up for a tumbling class, or maybe dance. She loves to shake it. :)

It's going to be a very busy Fall for us, but as long as the kids are having a good time I think I'll survive. I'm not interested in running the bases with a three, almost four, year old tucked under my arm this time around. That happened a few times too many! LOL I plan to spend more time in the bleachers this season, that's for sure!

Risky Bidness

2009-09-02T20:26:00.001-07:00

Hayleah, the big girl that she is, is a whiz at this panty-wearing stuff. Though I know it's risky to let her wear them instead of a pull up whenever we go places, she manages to stay dry as long as I don't make her mad in some way.

She has this fun, new, quirky little behavior where she will just stand there & pee if you make her mad. It's a revenge thing. She knows which buttons to push & by George does she use this knowledge!

Who knew a two year old with big girl panties would use her new skills as a weapon!?

First day of school

2009-08-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

You can tell Ty's barely humoring his somewhat camera crazy mom in this picture. :) He's FINALLY in 9th grade, if you ask him. Me, I can't believe I have a high schooler! He started soccer practice the other day in hopes of making the soccer team. Today was his first day of seminary. The busier he is, the better, if you ask me! It gives him less coherent time to make eyes back at all the girls who never seem to leave him alone. ;)

Jo's first day went amazingly well. There were no tears, no drama, no nothing. I was surprised, to say the least. After we moved to this house in March it's taken him a long time to be okay with the change. Even though he stayed at the same school through the end of 1st grade, it affected him a lot. Moving to his new school & making new friends was much smoother than I could've imagined! It helps that some of his favorite classmates from church can be found on the playground. :)

Drama can be found in all things

2009-08-24T08:32:00.001-07:00

It was YOYO night (as in, yo-on-yo-own) last night. It just means that I'm either too busy to cook or I'm gone. Dave took over the reigns while Ty & I went to the Seminary Kickoff. He had a fun time with the littler kids, from what I can tell.

Dad: What do you guys want for dinner?

Jordan: I'm not hungry

Logan: A Popsicle

Hayleah: I want soup

Jordan: Okay, I changed my mind. I'd like a tuna sandwich with hot sauce on it. Just a little, though.

Dad: Alright. Logan, would you like some soup as well?

Logan: Just a Popsicle.

Hayleah: I want a Popsicle tooooo! With hot sauce on top. Just a little, though.

Dad: I'm not giving out Popsicles for dinner.

Hayleah: I NEED a Popsicle with hot sauce!! (in her whiniest voice)

She proceeds to drop to the ground & thrash around sounding tortured. Much wailing & gnashing of teeth could be heard in the McKenney household last night....all over a Popsicle with a little hot sauce on top. *sigh*

Shark Boy & Lava Girl

2009-08-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

This Disney movie is a current favorite amongst the little people in our house. And when I say little people, I mean Hayleah (& sometimes Logan & Jordan, too). She's obsessed with "Labba Durrrl". She's two. How did this happen!?

If you're brave enough to sit next to her while the movie is on, she will literally do a play-by-play recap for you in her cute little voice with her too big vocabulary.

This movie is almost like nails on a chalk board for me. Lame in a big way. The only good thing that's come of it is Jo has started his own "dream journal". Whatever it takes, man. ;)

The worst part of all of it is that Shark Boy is played by the actor Taylor Laurant. For the Twilight fanatics, like myself, you would know that (((Taylor))) plays the role of (((Jacob))) in the Twilight series. And if you've seen the recent clips for the next movie New Moon, you would understand my dilemma here.

It's hard to look at this:

Without thinking of this:

It makes it seem wrong on a whole 'nother level to love him (the guy in the first picture) when I see him as a child portraying a shark-wannabe practically every day.

Disneyland Photos

2009-08-16T15:13:00.001-07:00

We had such a nice time last week. The weather wasn't too bad & the crowds, for the most part, could be dealt with. Tyler, Jordan & I even got to spend the last evening we were there together at the park. It was fun being able to ride the rides with Jordan that he couldn't ride the last time we were there. The faster & more jarring, the better if you asked him.

Here are the pics I've scrapbooked so far. There are at least a few more pages to come. :)

Goodbye First Grade....

2009-08-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

...Hello Second Grade!!

Jordan's last day of first grade was this past Friday. It was a bitter-sweet day for him. Mrs. Jonhson took the time to make a slide show of pictures that were taken over the year & gave a copy of it to each of the kids.

She gave it to them a few days prior to the last day of school & Jordan watched it over & over. At one point he asked me to close the door on my way out after I set it up for him to watch once again. I found him watching it a few minutes later with red eyes. What a sentimental little sweetheart. :*)

Here's the video....

We applied for a zone varience back in April but recently found out it was denied. So it looks likeJordan will be going to Frias for second grade. He's anxious about changing schools but luckily most of his church friends also go to his new school.

Jordan loved his classmates, for the most part. He made many friends this year & I know he will miss them when he goes to his new school. He spent most of his free time Friday morning going around collecting all his friends' phone numbers. With his birthday coming up, he wanted to be able to send them all an invitation.

Jordan also had his first taste of girlfriend-love this year. Her name is Janet. When I first met Janet, after hearing how enamored Jordan was with her, I must admit I was a bit surprised. I didn't expect her to be so tall & I really didn't expect her to be black. After getting to know her, I see why the color of her skin never even factored in to how he feels about her. First of all, this has been a great lesson for me on how kids really are color blind until prejudices are introduced to them. Secondly, she is so loving & caring. She's always tying Jo's shoes for him, she plays with his hair for no reason, & she's kind to everyone. All of which are perfect reasons to love all that is Janet. :)

Here they are....

Gingie's Sleep-over

2009-08-06T12:20:00.001-07:00

Our sweet, playful, sometimes rambunctious, buff & tan cocker spaniel Ginger needs a place to stay while we're at Disneyland. We've boarded her before with a company that doesn't keep the animals in a cage all day, which I really liked. The animal hospital around the corner will board her for considerably less than this "pet resort" but they keep her in a small cage throughout the day & night, only letting her out for a few walks.

If it were for a day or two, I don't think I'd have a problem with boarding her at the vets office. But we're going to be gone 5 days & I don't have the heart to give her to someone who won't play with her or even let her play with other dogs for that long.

The last place I took her to went up in price. I hate it when that happens! It makes me want to take her somewhere else.

We had some good friends that would look after her for us in the past but they moved away. I'm bummed we have to board her at all. She's such a sweet dog & I feel guilty for doing it to her. And what mom doesn't need more guilt, right??

Castings & sharing the Gospel

2009-08-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've been a life casting artist for the past 3 years now but I have been doing it very sporadically. I'm the type of person that doesn't want to turn a hobby in to a business (though this was never intended to be anything but a business) for fear of it getting old & making me not love it anymore.

It did get old for a while & honestly very overwhelming. I slipped in to a funk with all of it when it seemed all my business came from Candlelighters. I love the ladies over there, but when every child I took a cast of was guaranteed to either be gone within hours or had already passed away, it weighed on me too much.

Dealing with the babies who are soon to leave this world takes a huge emotional toll on me. I'm very much empathic & I haven't learned to protect myself from other people's emotions. A year ago I would have scoffed at someone who said they were empathic. I didn't know what it meant to have this "gift", & didn't believe it really existed until it came to my attention that people actually deal with this on a daily basis.

I've always been a sucker for a happy emotional climate. On the flip side of that, when I'm around negativity I tend to get sucked in to that as well & I begin to feel negative very quickly. The grief exuded from the loved ones of children with cancer, who have just left this world or are about to leave it, is something anyone can see & feel, if you're near enough. I just can't seem to help taking part in feeling it right alongside them, when I'm near enough. Almost every one's empathic to a degree, I think. It's when you can't shake the negative feelings that it becomes a problem.

There have only ever been two times when I have done castings on kids with cancer where the families weren't in extreme emotional turmoil. It happens to be that both of these families were LDS. I really believe losing a child would be one of the most emotionally difficult, heart wrenching experiences a parent could ever go through. From my experience, I've come to the conclusion knowing about & believing in the Plan of Salvation makes all the difference in the world for these families.

Seeing the families that don't have this knowledge makes me want to share it with them SO badly. I just haven't figured out yet how to make that happen. Maybe I need to stock up on the movie Together Forever, collect addresses of the families I've served & send the video to them.

Lately I've had business of the happier kind. I've been casting the hands & feet of very ALIVE babies lately. Babies make me happy. Especially the healthy ones. There's a small sea of tiny hands & feet on my counter right now as well as a gorgeous belly casting that's hanging out in my garage, all waiting to be finished. It's times like this, when I'm able to make a little spending money for my family & get to spend time with new mom's & their sweet little babes, that make my "job" not a job at all. I love what I do! :)

Orange Julius

2009-08-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

We recently got a DQ with an OJ inside down the road from us. They STILL don't have the OJ side up & running though. Don't they know!? Strawberry-Banana Julius' make the world go 'round. It's wrong to hold out on me like this & tease me with their sign when I walk through their doors, money in hand, a smile on my face to light up any room, only to burst my happy little bubble & tell me "sorry, not yet".

I've been trying to lose weight to no avail. I've been really good but I think these thoughts are weighing on me. If only I could just have one.......

Warm moistness, here we come!

2009-08-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

We're making lists (oh how I love a good list with its own list! ;) ) & getting everything ready for a trip to visit as many Disney characters as we can possibly squeeze in in 3 days!

We're last minute people & didn't begin actually making plans for a trip until a few days ago. We'll be leaving this Saturday for a whopping 5 whole days! :)

Though I long to get away, I don't love to stay away. Any more than 5 days & I'm begging for my own bed. We've even left vacations early, in the past, & drove all night just to get home to that comfy, somewhat lumpy bed.

As a side note, this will be the very first vacation to a theme park when I'm NOT pregnant! WOOT! ;) It opens up so many possibilities. I love a good thrill ride! Now the challenge will be to squeeze my cheeks in to the seat. LOL That oughtta be fun!

Almost a High Schooler!

2009-07-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe Ty will be a freshman in a mere few weeks time! Where did the time go!? I swear he was just my little bundle of rolls, now he's the size of a man! He's at least 5'11" now & still growing like crazy. I'm glad he took after my brothers in the height department & not me. The older he gets, the more he looks like my brother Scottie.

Scottie looked like none of us, always being the best looking & tannest of us all, growing up. I wasn't even sure we were really related until I saw an old picture of my grandfather! There was a baby mix up when one of my brothers was born & my mom took the wrong baby home from the hospital. Cool story but one for another time. Anyhow, she told me about it when I was a teenager but never would say which brother it was. As it turned out, it wasn't Scottie & all my brothers are my actual blood brothers. But there was an impostor in the house for a few days a long time ago. ;)

Here they all are....

Grandpa Gillespie, 1944

Scottie, 2009

Tyler, 2009

See the resemblance?

You've been upgraded

2009-07-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

See that sad looking clunker hiding out in the background? That's Butch.

Butch is a custom '64 VW Beetle. Butch is a serious money sucking tramp.

Butch met his replacement yesterday. I couldn't be happier. :) :)

Fun with a friend

2009-07-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was our first night watching kids for our babysitting group. There was only one family available that night but we enjoyed the time just as much anyway. The kids got along with Craig so well, I think we should have him over every day!

The complaining & argueing was at a bare minimum & the kids all played so nicely together!

Notice how my kids are only half dressed? This is a step up from the usual "I need to take my clothes off the moment I get in the door". We're really not nudist's over here. Really.

The Birthday Boy

2009-07-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Dave's birthday this past week. He turned 36 the day Ty left for Scout Camp & we had a little birthday party for him. I took a stab at a somewhat detailed birthday cake & it turned out delicious! Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of it before we dug in. It was a very yummy black forest cake, per Dave's request.

The birthday banner Jo & I made.

A new favorite shirt.

The famous McKenney fish-lipped kiss.

That's some serious pucker!

Fun times! :)

Need a vacation

2009-07-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

It's been F*O*R*E*V*E*R since we've gone anywhere. At least it feels that way. I need a break from the routine. And definitely from this heat! It's making me a bit restless, feeling like I'm stuck indoors 'til the sun goes down.

I know I shouldn't complain. I know I have it really good.

No more diapers!!

2009-07-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

I figured it was time to try using the potty when I kept catching Hayleah removing her diaper & replacing it with one of her brother's pairs of underwear. I had already bought a princess seat to sit on the big toilet a while back. All we had to do was reward her when she did well & break out a bull whip when she didn't. :) Bribery can be a beautiful thing. LOL

Really, though, she's been remarkable easy going through all this. I think it's because we've been easy going about it all. She's barely 2.5 so I wasn't worried about it at all. It was hardly on the radar, but she had other plans.

As of the past few days, Hayleah is completely daytime potty trained!! She even stays dry through her naps! Night time will be the next hurdle, but again I'm in no hurry. The less you rush things, the more likely you'll be not to have an intermittent bed wetter when they're older, from what I've read.

Exhaustion

2009-07-20T13:25:00.001-07:00

One day we'll all be able to sleep through the night. No giant-sounding cracks on the roof at 1 a.m. (I swear it sounded like a meteor hit our house last week!). No phone calls from old friends on the east coast at 4 a.m. (you'd think they would think of the time difference before calling!!!). No vivid dreams, somewhere between sleep & reality, forcing me (in my anger towards him for having stolen my works of art) to try to figure out why my sketches of butterflies & lady bugs somehow ended up on the sleeve of Dave's shirt & then trying to shake them off by grabbing his arm & shaking it.....

It's never more fun-filled around here than it is at night.

Harry Potter 6

2009-07-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

Dave took me to see HP6 yesterday. It was so nice to have a date with him. It's not often we get away, sans kids, for any length of time.

We're big fans, in this household. We've been reading the books (some of us over & over) for years now & though book 5 has been my favorite so far, I think movie 6 holds the new favorite spot. :)

I had plans to go do some stamping at a friends house last night but the movie got out late (how does a 2.5 hr movie last from 4:30 'til 7:45!?) & when we got back home Hayleah was begging for some attention & love, so I wound up canceling. :( It would've been fun, but it was nice to get so much attention from my little sweetie. :)

On a side note: we're on day 4 of potty training. She's doing amazingly well! Allowing the child to decide when they're ready really does work so much better than deciding you're ready & pushing it. At least that's been my experience with the last two kids. The first two were another story entirely!

After the prayers were said, scriptures read, & kids were all down for the night, I decided to take Ty to a movie since he babysat for Dave & I while we went. Naturally we saw HP. :) I've never been to the theatres twice in one day.

It was fun to take him & watch his enjoyment. Once, when he got up to use the loo (he he!) before the movie started, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride, looking at him. My pride was shallow, in that I was appraising how nice looking he's turned out to be, but I still felt very proud of him. He will be 15 next month. FIFTEEN! He needs to shave. I'm SO not old enough for all this!

Even though we didn't make it home 'til after midnight, we both had a lot of fun together.

To the girl sitting behind & to the left of me: I liked your choice of nail polish & your flip flops were cute, but you seem to have missed out on an etiquette lesson that taught you to not hang your feet over the edge of the seat in front of you, just inches from my nose. I am a bit jealous of your apparent long legs (mine barely reach the back of the seat in front of me, let alone allow me to dangle my feet over the edge without my head holding the seat down), but I really don't want to see your feet up that close to my face, thankyouverymuch.

Today is a bad thing to be a "thinker"

2009-07-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

Why must my children question everything? And in every way imaginable? Plus a few I wouldn't have thought of myself? And why must I explain both sides of things, instead of being able to give an easy answer?

Day 1: Wearing pig gurrl panties ALL DAY (except for the nap)

Hayleah: "Mommy, I need to go pee-pee reeeeally bad"

Mom: (thinking "you just went 2 minutes ago") "Okaaaay *sigh*, but do you think you could ask Daddy next time?? (he's sitting there watching sports, much closer to the bathroom than me....I'm doing important things here {I don't get much computer time})

Once situated on the potty she proceeds to do her bidness, just like she said she needed to, gets her panties back on & declares she needs to go pee-pee reeeeally bad (again).

Grrr.

Me: After sitting her back on the potty, "Please call for Mommy when you're finished. And don't call me back until you're finished."

Wait, didn't I just say that? I swear, my kids not only have to ask it every which way, but they also have to hear it every which way.

A long forgotten hobby

2009-07-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

This past week Logan, Hayleah & I broke out some acrylic paints & got creative with sponges for some good, time-killing fun. The kids really enjoyed themselves. However it wasn't long before I found myself borrowing their sponges & paint to create a few masterpieces of my own. My pink kitty & green dragon weren't great (how much can you really do with a sponge after all??), but I remembered how much I really love to paint.

Earlier in the week I broke out one of Tyler's "How to Draw" books for Jordan. He was bored & bugging the crap out of me & I needed to find him something to do without me that would get him out of my hair for a little while. I got him everything he needed to get started & even helped him pick out something that wasn't too difficult. I quickly found that my goal was not to be achieved. His drawing sucked me in & I helped him draw a shark from the book. I had to tear myself away from his work to get my own (boring) work done.

A few days ago I was returning a bunch of stuff to Walmart we didn't use from the ward party (along with the Father's Day gift I bought for Dave...he rarely likes what I get him {brat}) & decided to grab a few things while there. I bought Jordan a sketch pad but before he had a chance to use it, I decided to try my hand at drawing some monkeys swinging from a tree (love that song!). They actually turned out really cute & now I'm dying to hit Michaels to pick up a few canvas' to paint some pics for the kids' walls.

Way back in high school, I really enjoyed art class. Not enough to take it every year (I didn't love the teacher) but I didn't do too badly at it. I had one sketch in particular (we were doing portraits of the person sitting next to us) that I was kind of proud of. I'm very hard on myself & if it's not perfect I don't like hearing what others have to say about it. Not that I expect they would lie about it, just that I didn't want them to feel like they had to lie in order to spare my feelings. I'm a bit neurotic like that.

Whatever I do must be done as well as can be done. If not, I beat myself up & figure there wasn't much point in doing it in the first place. It's like this with all things for me. I try not to do things that will show how neurotic I can be so my kids don't pick this trait up from me.

Thankfully, to date, it's been successful & no one is yet as neurotic as I am. ;) It's sad that my success as a parent can be in any way measured by how un-neurotic my kids are. LOL

Goodreads

2009-07-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that some of my friends aren't aware of my friendship on Goodreads. (convoluted sentence, I know LOL)

If you are on Goodreads, I'd love to see what you're reading or have read. Please add me as a friend. I just updated my book list today & added some reviews (something new for me...it's hard for me to imagine anyone being interested in my opinion on books). I have a semi-long list of books ahead of me to read, but I'm always looking for another great book.

http://www.goodreads.com/sbm1001

Birds chirping in the morning

2009-07-07T19:54:00.001-07:00

Ya know, this is something everyone is supposed to love. The sign of a new day. An opportunity for a fresh start. It's in every Disney movie ever made. Always plays a part in a lovely fairy tale.

Why, then, has the next door neighbor's pet bird (that they keep outside in a cage) not received the message about chirping in the morning? Why must it continue to annoy the mess out of me ALL DAY!?

Grrrr!

I really do love animals. This one I'm not so sure about.

P.S. I don't think it's very humane to keep the (@*%^!) thing outdoors all day in this heat. Maybe a call to Animal Control, or whomever, is in order.

So excited!!

2009-07-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite families from the Desert View Ward moved in to our ward! Rayleen & I have served together in the Nursery in the past & we both moved in to the DV ward at the same time. She's an amazingly sweet sister & I'm so glad to have a friend I've known for the past 5 years in my new ward.

As a side note, they released the other girl that was working in the Nursery with me & have someone new coming in but they didn't officially call her in yet so I'm in the dark as to who it is. Dave went to his first Ward Council meeting a few weeks ago & I'm pretty sure he knows who it is. I hate it when he knows something like that & I don't! :P He might as well dance around, singing "I know something you don't know" while he's at it.

I'm excited to find out who it is. And I really hope she's a bit more dependable than the last person. Not to say anything bad about her because she's a really nice girl & the kids always love her; just that she's a little flaky. I understand flaky & it's been an uphill battle for me to change my ways. I'd just love to have someone in there who will be there each week & enjoys it as much as I do. That's not asking too much, is it?

Summer reading

2009-07-01T23:38:00.000-07:00

I love to read but I must admit my range has never really extended to any classics. I figure it's still the teenager in me, objecting to any book an English teacher would have attempted to force me to read while in high school. It's nice to see I can budge in some of my stubborn ways though. Much of my "reading" these days comes from audio books. I don't have enough quiet time in my life right now for much more than reading my scriptures, so it's nice to have another outlet where I can listen while I work on other things.

I finished Pride & Prejudice last night, having read it for the first time.

Yay, me! :)

To my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. I fully intend to read it again. I read Jane Eyre a while back, too. Next I'm tackling Romeo & Juliet. I read the latter one already but didn't really enjoy it much. It was one of those assigned titles I detested so much. I'm convinced it wasn't the book so much as it was someone telling me what to do & that it deserves another chance.

To my lengthy list of blog readers (hi Mom! :) ): What books are on your must-read list?

Ward Ice Cream Social & Game Night Tonight!

2009-06-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

This will be our first activity since Dave was called as the Activities Dude. I'm hoping everything pans out & everyone has a good time. The young men are also doing a car wash fund raiser while we're feeding every one's faces & making them play games they would probably rather not, so at least some good will come of it! LOL

I'm still leaning more towards my zombie-side, with a muscle relaxant hangover, but hopefully I can function enough to get things done today. Dave has to work & the committee people aren't returning my calls (they're not the only ones....I think I'm going to stop leaving messages & just start calling people every hour as needed :P) so it looks like I'm the one doing the set up. I figure as long as I'm not stuck with the tear down & clean up, I'm all good. :)

Also, I think the threat of the crazies has passed so I'm floundering over whether or not to go public with my blog again. I don't prefer it this way & I think the crazy *ahem* lady has focused her attention elsewhere.

Zzzzzzzzzzz......

2009-06-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Muscle relaxers are my friends today. Though this means no games or prizes for tomorrow night's activity were gathered until just a few minutes ago. Oh well. At least something will get done tomorrow.

As a side note; If I leave a message for someone, trying to schedule something important, I actually expect a call back.

Grrr.

Scout Camp Fundraising

2009-06-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

This year they're going on the trip of all trips! It will involve white water rafting, from what I'm told. I can't remember the exact details, just that it sounded like a trip even I would want to go on! Then they told me the cost.

Why must everything good & fun be so expensive!?

Luckily, the leaders came up with a plan to get the boys to raise some of the money on their own. Though, being the teenage boys that they are, Ty doesn't seem to be entirely motivated. I've had to push a bit to get him going & even found him his first "job" to earn some cash to help pay for the trip.

I dropped Dave at his bosses house earlier this week so they could head off for a round of golf. His yard had some mamma-jamma-sized weeds & their kids & even some cousins hanging out all over the yard. His tree was looking overgrown too, so I asked him if he'd be interested in Ty coming over to clean things up for him. He told me to send him over but we never discussed the price.

We went over there yesterday morning & I helped Ty get things done. It took 3 hours, several (freaking) splinters, a kind neighbor who took pity on us & loaned us her leaf blower, telling us it was too hot to be doing this (no kidding), some seriously sore muscles & a huge crick in my neck to get it done. But it's done.

He got home from golfing & though Ty did such a good job that he gave him a $20 bonus! Between the yard work & some babysitting Ty's done for us, he's earned over $100 to go towards camp!!

Momma's happy. :)

Now I just need Dave to become a chiropractor & the life will be perfect.

A little miracle

2009-06-17T14:31:00.001-07:00

I guess the tinker fairies have been visiting our house.

My camera, a somewhat inexpensive (to me) but well loved Canon Power Shot, was not allowing me to see the pictures I was taking without using the view finder. *GASP*!! Yes, I know....using my eye to peer through that tiny hole & figure out what I'm trying to take a picture of is just, well, like trying to make a fire without one of those long lighter thingies. It's just so much more work!

I really liked this camera but with the recent temper tantrum it was throwing, I was beginning to wonder if I would need a new one. Because who fixes things, now-a-days!? We're a bunch of replacers. If it doesn't work, throw it out & get a new one. Right?

I dropped it at the ball park, right in to that red dirt that never comes out of clothing. After that it was all down hill...or so I thought. The lens cover would get stuck trying to open & close with the little specks of dirt in its way. It was just a mess.

Some time after that episode, my little fairy friends paid us a visit & now the 2.5 inch screen is now working!!! Thank goodness I didn't give in to the ever nagging temptation which is consumerism. I have my camera back & it's working better than ever. :)

Time to pay the piper

2009-06-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

After going to see Madagascar 2 over at Rave (they have free movies on Tues. & Wed. mornings), we headed home. I stopped to grab the mail & on the very top of the pile of junk & bills was Tyler's report card.

First thought: Uh oh...

Ty grabbed it before I could open it but his face didn't turn down the way I expected it to. I know. I should be more positive. Ty has struggled with his grades (smart kid but doesn't turn in his work for some reason) since returning to public school last year.

I thought he would need to take summer school to pass on to 9th grade but his counselor said he had all the credits he needed to graduate before he'd even finished 7th grade. Nice to know 8th grade was pointless.

Anyhow, the good news is he passed every single class! Granted I would LOVE to see much better grades, but I found myself pleased in the fact that there was not even one 'F' on his report card.

So I guess this means he's headed out to Kansas after Scout Camp next month. He's thrilled, to say the least. I'm a little jealous. I'd love to go too, but then I remember the fact that I don't love to be dripping wet unless it involves a shower or a pool.

Maybe I'll get to go in the fall....

Asthma & a wonderfully bad-timed stomach flu

2009-06-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Friday was a fun-filled afternoon at Jo's school carnival. It was uber-windy that day but the temperature was unusually nice, so I had no complaints. At least not until Jo freaked me out at 1 a.m. with a cough/wheeze combo that startled me awake & had me scrambling for his breathing machine.

Jo's had respiratory issues most of his life; usually in combination with allergies. It's not something that's usually so sudden, though. There was no warning this time....just a scared kid who could hardly breathe.

I'm not one for taking my kids in to the doc's when I (Dr. Mom) know how to treat most things on my own. But I decided to take advantage of the pediatrician's Saturday hours & take Jo in, towing all the other kids along with me.

He was given a diagnosis of asthma & a script for 2 inhalers (one for me to keep with me when we're out & the other for school). I suspected this would be a diagnosis we'd receive that day but wanted to get something for Jo's school so they would take him seriously when he said he was having trouble breathing. It's been blown off in the past & they need the say-so of a doc (mom's word isn't good enough, apparently).

Sunday morning Dave woke up congested & Hayleah was a snot machine so they both stayed home from church. I had a big casting job up north afterwards & later found out Hayleah had been throwing up throughout the day. That went on throughout the night & in to the next morning. It was a good thing Dave had Monday off because I desperately needed a nap more than I knew at the time.

By Monday evening Jo went running for the bathroom & didn't make it in time. It's not funny but I had to choke back laughter when he went sliding on the floor, through his recent deposit. I didn't do a very good job at not laughing at the semi-comical scene. Maybe it's because I wasn't the one who wound up cleaning it up.

I wasn't so sure Jo was actually sick with the flu. We went out for sushi earlier & Jo made a pig of himself, trying to impress someone I think. I figured he over-ate & was paying the price for it.

By 10 p.m. Jo there's no doubt about whether or not Jo is sick. He's followed by Logan within the hour & Dave right after that. It's been a not-so-fun weekend of laundry & cleaning up other people's messes.

The really sad part is that we had to miss the field trip to Anderson Dairy. Jo's been talking about it for weeks & weeks. I was supposed to chaperone but due to him being sick & my lack of more than one consecutive hour of sleep in the past 2 days, life wasn't going to allow for any fun. Plus they were tie-dying t-shirts for field day & today was the day for Spring Pictures.

I have to say I'm a little proud of myself. I'm usually a total marshmallow when it comes to other people's vomit but I managed to hold it together for the most part. I only had one incident of sympathy-vomit this time!

I'm praying all those sweet kisses Jo layed on me just hours before he showed signs of really being sick don't land me at the mouth of the porcelain god. I'm really hoping that 4 out of 6 people in the house is enough & this flu won't feel the need to claim any more victims. I have a psych consult for a surgical thingy tomorrow I do not want to miss. I can't be throwing up & worming my way around the questions about my sanity....it's too much to focus on at once. I'm not very nice when I'm sick. :P

Spoiled

2009-06-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

Our dishwasher is in need of repair. I called the guy that's supposed to do it & he can't come out until Tuesday.

TUESDAY.

It's Friday.

I have 2 (growing) sinks full of dishes that weren't cleaning themselves & now I have to wait until TUESDAY to do them!? This gi-normous amount of dishes accumulates in ONE day, easy. I don't even have enough dishes to make it to Tuesday.

Are you kidding me!?

I'll admit I thought of people who might let me bring over my dishes so I could borrow their dishwasher. Not for long though....I remembered that there's a dishwasher in the casita out back. YES!!

Then I thought about how much extra work it would be, making trips back & forth with arms full of dirty dishes (then later clean ones). That was a no-go. My brain is uber-slow today so, yes, I actually had to work this out in my head.

Fortunately, I remembered that I haven't always had a dishwasher. I can vaguely remember what it was like to not be spoiled by having one. I try to push those kinds of memories out of my head, if at all possible.

When Ty got home from school I was conveniently washing them all by hand & so Ty helped out (with not much fuss, might I add) & dried & put them away while I washed. It took F*O*R*E*V*E*R!!

But they're done. :)

Tyler vs. a basketball

2009-05-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

And the basketball wins.....

I got a call from the school on Friday saying he jammed his finger in P.E. They put him on the phone & after he confessed his hopes that this would effect his ability to take finals, I had them send him back to class. I was just relieved it wasn't the Dean!

When he got home we taped it & shortly after he was off for the Father-Son Camp Out. He stayed with some friends after Dave left with the littler boys & went rock climbing with a group of them.

When he got home from camping, I took another look at it & it was still very swollen but now it was all black & blue too. I decided to take him in to Urgent Care (against Ty's doc's offices wishes....they wanted me to take him to the ER & even had the nerve to tell me which ones I had to choose from! There was a $200 difference in co-pays....um, I think I'll go with my own idea thankyouverymuch!!) where they could x-ray it to make sure this assumed break wasn't near any growth plates.

The doc was so casual; the office staff referred to him by his first name, if that tells you anything. He seemed more like an animal doc than a people doc. LOL Nice guy, though. :)

After examining him & taking several x-rays, it was determined he did fracture it & that his tendon ripped away from the bone. Ty was pretty thrilled about it. He was probably still thinking of ways this could help him with that situation with his finals.

So to recap, Ty went camping & then ROCK CLIMBING with this broken finger before getting it in a splint!! Crazy kid! The only complaints from him have been about it throbbing occasionally. I broke my finger once. It really hurt! I don't know how he's managing not to complain more, but I'll take it. One less complainer is F.I.N.E. by me!! ;)

Father-Son Camp Out

2009-05-31T21:05:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Dave took the boys on their first ever camp out. We've never been camping as a family, but have plans to do so in the future. I'm not very outdoors-y but I have fond memories of the few camping trips I went on as a child & I want the kids to be able to have those kind of experiences as well. I don't think I ever enjoyed even one of those camping trips at the time (I never enjoy going without the basics like indoor plumbing, toilet seats that aren't made of metal, etc.), but it's nice to think back on them.

Dave had about as good of a time as can be expected. I don't think anyone got much sleep & no one thought to bring the manual pump for the air mattress, so what sleep they got must have been very uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Hayleah & I snuggled up in a comfy bed & slept in until 8 a.m.! That was a record for her, I think.

Their campsite buddies had a member of their party who was very reluctant to be there. He cried/demanded he go home to his mommy throughout the night. No fun for anyone.

Hopefully, in time, they will all appreciate the trip after they can see it with different eyes. Right now I don't think they are at all interested in making any plans for a repeat in the near future. :P

SO quiet!!

2009-05-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

It's eerie.

Dave took the boys on their first EVER camping trip. It's the ward (stake?) father/son camp out tonight. Hayleah, Ginger & I had a girls night of our own, watching Princess Ariel & recapping the going's on of Atlantica back & forth to one another at regular intervals.

Ginger wasn't too in to our little party, but Hayleah & I had loads of fun, snuggling up together with her "boo" & sucking our thumbs & eating Chinese take-out.

We called Dave just before having prayer & scripture study & reading a book, but he must have left the phone in the car. Now that Hayleah's in bed it's just too quiet. I've triple checked the locks, silently listened to the next door neighbor's semi-disturbing party, & have resigned myself to working on a few Ebay auctions.

Is this what life was like before kids? I keep saying this....it's just too quiet.

Going Private ~ sbm1001@gmail.com

2009-05-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

The world & certain people in it are C*R*A*Z*Y!! Email me at sbm1001@gmail.com if you want access.

Hair pretties look good anywhere

2009-05-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

Even on Daddy.

At least that's what Hayleah thinks.

When she was unsuccessful at clipping a "pretty", as she calls them, to his head (there hasn't been enough hair up there for any pretties for a long time....I should know ;) ), she told him to pull his shirt up because there's enough hair under there.

:-O

Another tooth & a concussion

2009-05-22T10:46:00.001-07:00

Early Tuesday morning, I'm alerted to the fact that Hayleah has hurt herself again. She is a rough & tumble girl, but can be very sensitive if the time of day is right. Usually, this early in the day, there's not much that phases her. Just a few days before she skidded across the back patio on her face & barely mentioned it in passing. But today was different.

I could tell she was hurt, but it didn't really register how hurt she was until I spent a few minutes with her.

She likes to perch herself on the back of the couch. It's something we get on all the kids for, but when we're out of sight they tend to do it anyway.

Apparently she fell backwards off the couch on to the tile & cracked her little head. I felt a good-sized knot on the side of her head. It wasn't cause for much alarm. We've seen some knots before & this wasn't the worst yet, but still something was off.

She wouldn't stop crying. She didn't even want her thumb (so rare for her). She was acting really drowsy & it was barely 8 a.m. when this happened. She cried a strange cry for almost 2 hours & protested even more loudly if I dared set her down for even a moment. After about 30 min. of the crying I called Dave to tell him what had happened & to let him know I was probably going to take her to the doctor.

I called the doc's office & got an appointment with our favorite PA there. It was a struggle to keep her awake. Just before leaving for the doc's, around 10, she threw up. That was the final symptom that convinced me it wouldn't be a waisted trip to the doc's. We headed off & I gave her a popcycle to keep her awake in the car (messy but effective).

By the time we made it to the doc's, she was not only forming coherent sentences, but she was singing & acting very much like her self. It was a complete turn-around from earlier so, along with the blessing Dave gave her (he came home from work to help with the other kids while I took her in) that helped ease some of my concerns.

The PA confirmed what I already knew, said she was sure it wasn't a skull fracture since she couldn't feel any fluid on the spot where she hit her head, but wanted us to head over to the ER for a CT Scan "just in case".

I called Dave & told him what she said, prayed about it for a while, & headed home instead of the ER. "Just in case" has its place, but I pretty much knew what to expect the ER doc to tell me to do when I took her home. I knew it wasn't serious enough for them to keep her, so we headed home to keep an eye on her instead of going to the ER. I decided I would take her in if she stopped acting normal & just keep her glued to my side the rest of the day.

When we got home, Jordan proudly showed me his second lost tooth. He was pretty excited about it & the tooth fairy was just as generous with the second tooth as she was with the first. I thought these teeth were worth progressively less more are lost, but what do I know?!

Hayleah is totally fine today. In fact, other than a little extra crabbiness (probably from me hovering over her & not letting her do much other than sit down....that's hard on a 2 year old!) she's been fine since we left the doc's office. Thank goodness for that!

Jo is still thrilled to have lost another tooth & keeps asking deep questions about them that I don't know how to answer. An example:

J: Do teeth grow?

Me: Yes, um, sort of. Well, they don't always grow. But yeah, they grow. (not at all confusing...)

J: Well if they don't grow then how do they come out after the little teeth fall out?

Me: They push themselves out.

J: (laughing) Teeth can't push. What do they push? Each other?

Me: Well, they can push each other out of alignment, making them crooked.

J: (laughing at me some more) What do they shove? Each other? (laughing at the ridiculous image I'm sure going through his head)

Me: Um, sort of.

My lame attempts to explain it in terms that didn't sound ridiculous to him went on for another 10 min., at least. We didn't get anywhere.

It's confusing, trying to explain things to inquisitive 6 year olds. I felt pretty dumb after that conversation. I couldn't seem to find the right verbs to explain how teeth come out & all my attempts were met with his laughter.

Stinkin' kid.

"Girl Cracked"

2009-05-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Jo swears he's in love with a little girl in his class at school. Her name is Janet & she's a smart, sweet girl who's very affectionate with everyone around her. She often shares candies & various other goodies with Jo at school & he's become very attached to her.

Just before track break, we ran in to Janet & her sister & dad (maybe grandpa??) at Walgreens after school. After squeals of delight & lots of animated chatting (on Jo's part), he asked Janet for her phone number. By this time we were up at the register & the clerk though it was so cute, she even supplied some blank register paper & a pen for him.

He's been dying to call her so finally I let him. He called a few times but only got her answering machine. All she probably heard was "Hi Janet" & a bunch of arguing about how he didn't know what else to say & how he wanted me to finish leaving the message because he just couldn't say it right. That went on for a few minutes & it was his third time calling (he's never really done the answering machine thing & didn't know what was going on when asked to leave a message after the beep), so I didn't let him call again that day.

The next day he was willing to run through what he would need to say if the phone beeped at him again, so she would know to call him back. He stumbled his way through the actual call & left a message. She called him right back. She's 7 & already screening calls....

I digress....

They spoke for over 30 minutes (what two first graders could possibly have to say for that length of time is beyond me!), exchanged addresses, professed love, giggled a lot, asked one another if they could come over to play, professed more love, etc. It was exhausting just listening to, though highly amusing.

In Mrs. Johnson's first grade class at school, he sits at desk grouping of three....right between two girls. One of them is Janet. The other one is not spoken of because he's not fond of her at all. But Janet.....sound the trumpets because glory of all glories; she's somethin' else!

Yesterday, on the way home from church, Dave asked Jo if he likes Janet. He professed his love for her & went on to tell us "not to repeat this", but that he's "girl cracked". At least that's what it sounded like to us up in the front of the car. It was 104 out & the air was blasting, making it hard to hear much of anything, so after we laughed like mad & made him repeat it several times, we figured out he was actually saying he's "girl trapped" (meaning he's a Jordan sandwich).

Same thing.

LOL

Punch balloons

2009-05-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

I remember loving these fun, noisy balloons as a child. It's so exciting when you get them going really fast....faces in the room just light up.

Last week Jordan got $5 for his first tooth. It was definitely burning a hole in his pocket so I took him to Target. We spent way too much time in the dollar section, but he finally settled on some Marigold seeds (the kid has a green thumb....what can I say??) to sew & give to his teacher, Mrs. Johnson, when he returns from track break, & 2 packages of punch balloons.

Each package contained 2 balloons & he was excited to have enough money to buy each of his brothers & sister something with his tooth money. He's thoughtful like that. :)

We finally broke them out of their packages today & Jo excitedly blew them up while waiting for L & H to wake up. The were thrilled to wake to something so fun. It was nice for me, at first, because this gave me a chance to finish my scripture study without much interruption (a rarity!).

Someone had to show the littler kids how to use them, as they had never done this before. Their faces were....well, excited isn't the right word....glowing with something more than excitement. It took me back to my own childhood & how fun this activity was for me.

L got the hang of it pretty quickly (what can I say....he's a natural athlete....we all know balloon punching should be a sport) but H couldn't quite get it. Her efforts were most amusing, to say the least. I wish I would have thought to get it on video. She was swinging it madly, trying to get it going, but finally settled for her own version of it. It was all very funny & cute. :)

So, kudos to my little generous man Jo, for his brilliance in picking out dollar items. I couldn't have done any better myself!

New Shop!

2009-05-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

As if I didn't already have enough things to juggle, I decided to try to sell some of my hair bow, flower, & little girls jewelry creations. I've been doing the bracelets for a while now, but recently got in to the bow making & love doing it!

I always make at least two of everything for both Hayleah & my niece Ariel, so I figure what's one more? It's fun & I love having a new creative outlet!

I added a link on the sidebar to my shop, if anyone wants to browse. Etsy has so many great shops....I'm excited to add my stuff there too!

Mother's Day Madness

2009-05-10T22:11:00.001-07:00

First off, Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there. That includes those of you without children! Yes, I know that probably doesn't make sense to most, but if you're one of those without....well, you get the picture.

Last night I ran around until almost 11 p.m., trying to find another dozen flowers & pots to put them in for the other nursery in our ward. I had our nursery's gifts done, but I found out yesterday the other nursery didn't have stuff for Mother's Day. After getting home & doing some last minute stuff, I finally put myself to bed, much later than I should have, only to have a busy mind & not be able to fall to sleep.

Luckily, Logan must have been aware of my need to do something to take my mind off all the things keeping me awake, so he woke up around 2 with an earache. He finally managed to doze off around 4.

Fast forward almost a whole 3 hours later & I hear kids demanding food in the kitchen. After making everyone some bagels, I was bombarded with lots of love & presents of chocolate & slippers.

It was a good thing too, because I was really needing both of those at the moment. ;)

Logan & Hayleah both stayed home from church with Dave since they weren't feeling well. It was weird to only have 2 kids at church. But in a nice way. Much less hectic!

My little flower/hand print/chocolate project for the Nursery kids' mom's worked out well. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves making their little craft & they were really excited when I revealed the surprise (flowers) they were each going to get for their mom's.

It was a bit hectic with just me in their today, but the time flew & the kids & I really had a good time together.

After I got home from church & helped Logan find his happy place, things were much better. He & I were singing (one of his most favorite things to do) & he told me afterwards his ear "farted". Later I found evidence that his eardrum must have ruptured. At least he's not in pain anymore. :)

And finally, to close out my day I've just savored a piece of Lindt Creme Bruilee chocolate....yum! And I didn't even have to share it with anyone or fight anyone off or sneak-eat it because of little people & their tendencies to complain when Mom's being greedy.

:) Nice day. :)

A Tooth & a Testimony

2009-05-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

Almost 6 years to the day, Jordan (at about 6 years, 8 months, 9 days & 11 hours old) FINALLY lost his first tooth. It's been a long time coming. Those two bottom front teeth have been wiggly for what feels like forever, if you ask Jo. For the last month, every day before going to school he would say "Mom, I really hope my tooth falls out at school today". All that was needed was for track break to get here & viola! Naturally. ;)

Here's some pics of him looking pretty pleased with himself.

Unfortunately he forgot to take the tooth with him to bed last night, so the Tooth Fairy had to leave him a note. Sometime in the middle of the night I awake to Jo whispering "Dad"..."Dad"..."Dad"..."Dad"....

Grrrr.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who was awakened by our nighttime visitor.

He wanted to say he'd forgotten to put his tooth under his pillow. Okay, I sort of already knew that. But then he wanted to have a conversation/argument about whether or not the Tooth Fairy might have already come or not.

Grrrr.

He went back to bed eventually, after life & death threats from me, & woke up to find the note.

Today, he made a little pouch out of paper & staples (I can't every seem to keep the kid away from my stapler) & wrote a note on it, so there would be no confusion. It says " Tooth Fairy, my tooth is in here. Love, Jordan".

On to the testimony part....

We have family scripture study & prayer each night with the kids. Each night Dave, Ty & I trade off on whose turn it is. A few weeks ago I got the bright idea to ask Jo to "help" me read, since it was my turn that night. He's a helper....he LOVES to help. Reading is the bain of his existence. Coming from an avid reader, this is practically blasphemy & is something I'm really working hard to change.

Thankfully, Jo's a typical male & you can trick him in to doing just about anything if you phrase it just right. :) It's all about how you say it....

So, he's excited to help me & he gets to read the words he knows & I read the ones he doesn't. He repeated the words he didn't know after I said them & by the end of our reading that night he had at least 3 new words he could recognize right away.

We gave him a new Book of Mormon in his Easter basket along with some marking pencils (because who doesn't love to mark ever letter 'F' in the whole book??). Since then he has, almost every day, sat down with his scriptures. He goes through & tries to sound out the words he doesn't know, which was like pulling teeth to try to get him to do before, & highlights the words he does know.

It's not pretty, but I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with how far his reading has come in just this past few weeks! His sight word knowledge has grown by leaps & bounds, as well as his vocabulary!!

So, not only is it my testimony that the Book is true, but that it has great potential to help any struggling child with their reading skills. :)

I couldn't be more pleased! :D

Scrapbook Pages

2009-05-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

A few new scrapbook pages I've neglected to add to the blog until today...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Ty & Hayleah. These two are almost always friends. :)

Hayleah's always in "pose-mode", often followed by some really cheesy look or dance to get a laugh.

My Mom & her friend Debbie, whom she grew up with, when they both came for a visit in February.

I took a lot of pictures this day. Not because we were having so much fun at the Springs Preserve, but because her hair turned out too cute!

Logan & Hayleah are almost always best friends. They do almost everything together & Hayleah is always trying to be just like her big brother.

I love how sweet Logan is with Dave. He's always telling him he's his "besss friend". He frequently shows his love in these kinds of sweet expressions of tender kindness.

Though Hayleah's more of a Mommy's girl, she has her sweet moments with Daddy. I love catching them! :)

We did it!

2009-04-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

We managed to pull off giving talks while not needing to remove any kids during Sacrament! I wasn't so sure it would happen that way, but it worked out. Tyler gave his talk first & then I gave mine while Dave sat in the congregation with the little kids. After the Young Women did a beautiful musical number (I'm not sure who their leader was, but she sat up in the front row facing them & sort of singing along with them, all the while tears welling up in her eyes with pride...she made me tear up, too, with the pride that you could see brimming out of her! What a great leader!!), Dave & I switched off & I sat with the little kids.

The talk Tyler chose to do was on personal revelation. I didn't have anything to do with choosing this at all, so it kind of surprised me that he chose this. It was the topic I was first going to speak about, but wound up changing my mind when I just wasn't feeling it. This morning he decided to change his topic & wound up speaking about Youth Conference instead. He told everyone about his experience with it & the things they did. He even got a good chuckle from the congregation when he mentioned Bishop Ashton (our current bishop) & Bishop Burt (the bishop in our last ward) & Pres. Grant (from the stake presidency) all dressed up as Book of Mormon characters & preached to them along the hiking trail. He got the laugh when he told the congregation he "even saw Bishop Ashton there, dressed up in a skirt". :) He talked about his own hero, my brother Grant, whom he thinks the world of.

I wound up speaking about family history & generational curses & change. Yeah, you had to be there to see how it all tied in together. I got a lot of good feedback though, which I didn't expect after my flubs & turning all mushy at one point. I really tried to avoid talking about anything that would make me cry, but still my tear ducts managed to betray me yet again!

Dave amazes me with his ability to shoot from the hip! He had his talk all planned out & ready to go, but after hearing the songbirds up at the pulpit & being inspired by the words of the song, he only touched on what he had originally intended to talk about & the rest he spoke from the heart about. He wound up talking about his conversion story, telling a few funnies about the things a new convert might go through & the things he went through himself. He said something about how a Stake Center sounds more like a place to eat than a place to meet & that he learned that his bishop was not, in fact, named Rick , after calling him Bishop Rick for a week before finally being corrected. His point to all of it was for the members to be aware of the fact that they might not know if a new convert might be struggling with this new, unfamiliar world of being a member of our Church. And to be considerate of them because being a convert in a group of people who mostly grew up in the Church isn't always easy.

Dave later told me that afterwards the bishop came up to him & said there were a few people in the congregation that really needed to hear what he said. That's the best kind of feedback, if you ask me! He knows the needs & struggles of his ward family more than anyone.

Overall, it went really well. I was proud of my guys & that was really nice. :)

Talks on Sunday

2009-04-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

We've been asked to give them, that is. Tyler will be giving his first talk ever. I'm sure he'd nervous about it if he were thinking about it. But I'm pretty certain he's not thinking about it at all. He was pretty mad at me yesterday when, after finishing his homework, I told him he couldn't go to his friends house. He hadn't even chosen a topic, let alone started his talk.

I know **big meanie**.

We sat down at the 'puter last night to narrow the topic down from "I have no idea" to "well that might work". He finally settled on one, we printed out some articles from the Ensign about it, he highlighted it, proceeded to...ahem..."write" his talk (read: copy word for word the things he liked the most), & brought it to me for approval.

Who was he kidding!? Did he really think I'd believe he could spell supernal?? Heck, I'm not even sure I spelled it right. And I won the Spelling Bee back in 6th grade!!

Okay, so really I placed 3rd, but still....

So after some doors (not) shut softly & a bit of grumbling about my mean nature, he fell asleep before it was even bedtime. Now I know what the real trick is to getting him to bed! I might have to pay the Bishopric off to get them to give more talks from now on, but it'll be worth it, fo sho.

This morning, bright & early at 6 a.m., I was as happy as can be. I was at his doorstep, ready to work on that talk. :)

He left for Youth Conference (his first! he was really excited, as you can imagine) right after school today & they won't be back until really late tomorrow night. Thank goodness for 11 a.m. church!

Mine isn't much further than the family intro. I should be working on that right now. But I'm not. Well, I guess I didn't really need to point that one out, did I?

I miss the days of naps....

2009-04-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

.....for the little kids....& me. I think both Logan & Hayleah are trying to cut out their naps. *sniff* They seem to be progressively getting shorter every day. *sniff sniff*

How I long for the less whinier days when grumpy, loud cries & protests were not quickly followed by the words "I'm happy!", then (almost just as quickly) followed by more grumpy cries & protests. While grating, this can usually be comical if I'm in the right frame of mind. But let's face it; I'm in need of a good, long nap as much as they are!

I know I don't make much sense when I'm tired, so I'm not sure why I expect them to. When Hayleah practically yells "I'm happy!!" at me, I find it hard not to laugh at the irony there.

These are the times when a small white pill (for me, of course) & a video camera would be SO. MUCH. FUN.!!. ;-) LOL

As for a nap for me....I can look on those memories with a long fonding....err, I mean a fond longing for those days. See, I told ya I needed a nap!

"What was it like before kids?", I ask myself.

Lots of naps, I say. :)

Hey, I can dream!

My little man

2009-04-23T09:35:00.001-07:00

Jordan has this personality that can, at times, be confusing & frustrating. He is by far my loudest child (though Hayleah seems to be making an attempt to out-do him in this department). He is amazingly difficult & stubborn when he wants to be.

He is not the same person in public as he is at home. He's very reserved in public, rarely ever showing the light inside him. He can be amazingly sweet with his siblings. If you ever need a helper when organizing things, he is always more than willing. He's a messy perfectionist after my own heart! *Ü*

Though he can sometimes be my most difficult child to deal with, he has a way of softening my heart.

Over the last few months, since we moved in to this new house, he's struggled with school. He doesn't want to be there. He wants to be where I am. We've spoken with him, along with a school counselor & even the principal, to try to find out where the cause of this sudden change in how he feels about school came from. It didn't seem to be anything school-related.

There were a few incidents when the principal &/or vice-principal had to come out to the car to bring him in to school because he refused to step foot out of the car door. He cried & screamed & once even ran after Dave in the car when being dropped off. That was the last time anyone dropped him off.

Since then, I have begun to always walk with him to the spot where his class lines up each morning. It takes a bit more time & preparation on my part, which is a good thing for some people. When Dave's working or we don't have any visitors, I have to take the little kids with me, which is not always easy. I have a few basic "rules", if you will.

~I have to try to pull a comb through at least one persons hair.~

~There are no soggy diapers allowed.~

~I actually have to put a bra on & change from my slippers to my flip-flops before noon. (I know...shocker!)~

Like I said, it's good for some people.

This morning we were running a few minutes later than usual. He had to have a home made lunch today & of course there was drama from him about how dumb he looked in his "short pants". Once we got there the first bell had already rang & his class had already gone in.

There are only two ways he will go to class right now. Either his teacher, Mrs. Johnson (really sweet young teacher in another stake) will walk with him, or I have to walk him back to his classroom. It's a huge improvement, so I'm not complaining. It used to be he had to be pryed off of me, crying all the while. That would never fail to break my heart.

Today, when I walked him back to his classroom, he hugged me & kissed me before we said our goodbyes. He always hugs me, but is too big & mature to kiss his mom in public most of the time.

I got about 20 steps away before I heard him running towards me. My first thought was "great! I wasn't fast enough...let the drama begin!". I was pleasantly surprised by him telling me in a hurried voice, "I needed another hug, Mom", followed by a strong hug & a smile. He ran right back to his class & that was that.

I can't say we're at a turning point in regards to these new issues with him, but it feels so good to feel needed when most of the time it's not that way anymore. So I had to blog about this sweet moment with my sweet little man.

Here he is at his first coach-pitch baseball game of the season last weekend.

The cutest little Joey & Crayon Rolls

2009-04-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Vickie, the kids & I were finishing up some shopping at Walmart for a sewing project we were doing at the chapel with some other sisters from my new ward. When making our way back to the craft aisle, something caught my eye. There was a lady in one of those motorized shopping carts that had something in her lap. Strangely, it resembled a baby kangaroo (a joey, as I was corrected more than once ;) ). I'm friendly, but I don't usually stop strangers to ask things like "oh my goodness (!!), what's that there thing in your lap!?" (Of course when surprised I tend to make less sense than usual)

Lo & behold it IS a kangaroo in her lap. I call my 3 year old, Logan, over to me to point & gawk & stop the lady so we can ask a million questions. I figure if she didn't want to be stopped by 100 different people & extend her would-be 30 minute shopping trip to something more like 3 hours, she wouldn't bring an animal with her most of us Americans have never seen in person.

Of course I knew not one of my beloved followers (hi, Mom :) ) would ever believe we saw a real live baby kangaroo...erm, joey...unless I could prove it somehow. So here it is: Logan with the joey & the crazy kangaroo lady.

You'll notice he's representing his new favorite college team. Actually, if you look close enough you can see a red & black thing by his side. It's a glove. It's my winter glove. He thinks he's "Tiger Wood" (his words, not mine) & that's his golf glove. He wouldn't take the hat or the glove off all day. Cute kid, but a little obsessive about golf. :)

So I made my first crayon roll the other day. Vickie & I went to the chapel & spent 2 whole hours sans kids! Sewing is okay; chatting with a bunch of fun ladies is where it's at. I don't get to do that often so it was really nice. I'll post a picture of the crayon roll I made once I take a minute to find my camera, be frustrated at it because it's still not working right, & snap a dozen pictures of it to get the one or two that will do.

Until then....crayon roll heaven: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/

Death to the Wagen & helpful hookers

2009-03-10T12:05:00.001-07:00

Ahh....a day in my dear husband's life is like no other. If there wasn't a bit of humor in this, I don't know how much either of us would be laughing. At the least, it makes a great story to tell.

This morning, a mere two days after Dave decided flipping burgers at McDonald's is not better than selling timeshare, the clutch went out on Dave's car. It's an old car & it doesn't go very fast, so he has to take the back roads to work (which usually adds about double the time on to his commute).

Amidst the angry, hurried morning commuters, Dave had to push his car backwards for about a block, all the while he has people yelling & honking at him. It's not the best part of town & this particular corner he was stranded at is known for its wealth of women of the night. Lo & behold, there are a few still working in the early morning hours, & they offer to help him push it to the nearest parking lot.

My first though upon hearing this is "Oh, that was so nice of them! Hookers with heart" also something along the lines about how that had a nice ring to it, but I digress...

Once they finally get it to the parking lot, they then ask for payment for their services.

Okay, so my initial conclusions about these women were a bit hasty, it appears. My jaw hit the floor upon hearing this & I struck me as a bit amusing. Only I hadn't heard the best parts yet.

I'm sure there was a few expletives involved, so I won't bother trying to quote what happened next. Apparently, once it was determined that Dave had no money, they proceed to tell him he'd better pay them or they'll call their pimp to come over. Dave, already irritated over the morning's events, let them know, in no uncertain terms, that they should call their pimp. He really wanted that at the moment.

As it happens, the parking lot they pushed the car in to was that of a motel. He went inside & called me so I could arrange a tow & call the shop & his work, then come get him. Once I made all the necessary arrangements, I took Jo to school & headed over to get him.

While on my way, I get a call from the tow company saying they're there but they can't find him anywhere. I know he said he'd wait in the lobby, so I'm not sure what the problem is. I describe what he was wearing (good thing I paid attention today!) & gave them his name & told the guy I'd be there in 10 minutes so he wouldn't leave.

The driver went back inside the lobby to look for Dave again. Now that he had a pretty accurate description, he was probably pretty confidant he wouldn't need to wait the 10 minutes for me to show up. After checking out the free breakfast buffet (I'm not saying he ate anything), he returned to his seat in the lobby & the driver, a very tall, very large, very intimidating (at least to me) American Indian man, came up to him wanting to know if he's the guy that owns the black VW out front.

Dave doesn't think "tow truck driver" when he see's this man, dressed in his Dickies. He thinks "pimp".

It's at this point during his rendition of the story I can't keep the laughter in.

After a few scary moments where it looks like this custom, low-to-the-ground "baby" of Dave's might break in half, or at least have its rear bumper removed while being lifted up on to the bed of the truck, it's finally at the shop, awaiting its turn to be fixed.

Dave swears he's done with the car. I can't say I'm sad. So, if any one's looking to buy a custom, dark purple in the sunlight, but otherwise black, custom upholstered, really slick but not so fast, 1964 VW Beetle, with a brand new clutch, it will be found on Craigslist shortly.

Off the beaten path

2009-03-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

This isn't the normal family-type update, but it feels pertinent anyway. I'm finishing up Alma right now & was reading about the Stripling Warriors. It got me thinking about the mother's of these young men. What would it be like to be in their shoes? First off, I have never known the faith these exemplary women must have had, so I find myself struggling to grasp a lot of my imaginings of what they must have gone through during the time their young sons were off fighting for their family's freedom & the right to live.

How would I deal with such a thing? If my young son was headed off to war, how would I feel? My first instinct would be to panic. My second would probably be to check in to flights to Canada. It's not pretty, peeking in to my mind sometimes, but it's the truth. In the not so distant past, I've thought about being a conscientious objector & even looked in to what it would take to have my children declared conscientious objectors. I've read Alma multiple times but never really got this out of it before.

In conjunction with reading my scriptures, I'm following along with the Book of Mormon Student Manual this time. In so doing, I'm gaining a different view of things I never imagined possible. This quote, in particular, struck me in such a way that I think my opinion of whether or not I would want my sons to join the military later in life has been forever changed.

"To our young men who go into service, no matter whom they serve or where, we say live clean, keep the commandments of the Lord, pray to Him constantly to preserve you in truth and righteousness, live as you pray, and then whatever betides you the Lord will be with you and nothing will happen to you that will not be to the honor and glory of God and to your salvation and exaltation. There will come into your hearts from the living of the pure life you pray for, a joy that will pass your powers of expression or understanding. The Lord will always be near you; He will comfort you; you will feel his presence in the hour of your greatest tribulation; He will guard and protect you to the full extent that accords with His all-wise purpose. Then, when the conflict is over and you return to your homes, having lived the righteous life, how great will be your happiness -- whether you be of the victors or of the vanquished -- that you have lived as the Lord commanded. You will return so disciplined in righteousness that thereafter all Satan's wiles and stratagems will leave you untouched. Your faith and testimony will be strong beyond breaking. You will be looked up to and revered as having passed through the fiery furnace of trial and temptation and come forth unharmed. Your brethren will look to you for counsel, support, and guidance. You will be the anchors to which thereafter the youth of Zion will moor their faith in man."
--The First Presidency

How could I deny my sons (or my daughter, for that matter) these kinds of opportunities? I realize it's not all in my hands & I really have no control of what they choose to do when they're grown but, before, if I could have, I would have denied them the opportunity to serve their country. What blessings they would have missed out on, had I kept my stubborn, blind view of the military? I love it when the Spirit speaks to me through the words of a prophet!

Ty has wanted to join the military for some time now. He knows how I feel about it, but I'm excited to share this with him & let him know my change of heart.

And this takes me to hero's. The word, in general, has become of less value to me than it might have had many years ago. It's overused, if you ask me & it's become just that....a word. A true hero is one who will faithfully follow the Lord, no matter how hard it might be, & come out on the other side even stronger than before. A hero is someone who has trials & tribulations, yet remains unbroken in his faith & dedication to the work of the Lord. Growing up, hero's have always been portrayed as public figures & whenever asked who my hero was, I never had an answer. I would hear others around me throwing out names like Michael Jordan & Madonna & Tom Green (okay, not so much Tom). Seeing things from a different point of view now, I realize I have many hero's. It's no longer just a word to me & that feels really good. :)

Conflicting day

2009-03-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

This morning started off rough, with Tyler needing ironing lessons (where did I place that patience I know I left laying around here somewhere??), Logan "hating" his clothes & refusing to put them on, Jordan not being able to find his church shoes & having seemingly grown a few inches since last Sunday when his pants actually fit him, & Hayleah's clothes having to be changed 3 times before we even made it to the car. She decided it would be a good time to dump a bottle of shampoo on the carpet & her dress just before we needed to leave.

While changing her, I managed to get some on myself but I didn't realize this until after Sacrament meeting. Fun stuff!

Sacrament meeting was a blast, too. There were a few moments where things were sketchy & kids had to be removed out into the hallway because of having a loud fit about different things at the same time. It's days like this that make me appreciate having my husband at church even more. Today was not one of those days he was able to be there, though.

I spent the majority of Sharing Time sitting with Logan a few chairs in front of me. He kept trying to talk to the Primary Pres. while she was trying to do her lesson with the kids. He must have asked her "guess what?" at least 20 times in the 15-20 min. she was up there. LOL He even got mad & huffy when he didn't manage to get his full sentence out, after she stopped ignoring him for a moment, before she answered him with something a little too patronizing for his taste. I tried not to laugh at his reaction....he's such a little person with a real need to be heard & it wasn't funny, but it was very cute to see him show his displeasure without expressing his dislike for that person. He tends to be very verbal & honest about his feelings, which is a good thing most of the time. Not so much in this circumstance, though, so I'm glad he kept it to himself.

After Sharing Time, I managed to steal out of Sunbeams about half way through without any tears, which was a very nice surprise. This is when things started looking up for me. Like I said, the start of the day was rougher than most, so I wasn't expecting much. But I'm glad I was surprised with the opportunity to go to part of Relief Society.

The lesson was on the talk Testimony as a Process. Some of the things talked about were how one sister was told she would hear the promptings of the Spirit through what she heard in talks in General Conference (this was told to her through her Patriarchal Blessing....it reminds me to get mine out & read it again!) & how we should always read with the intent to listen to the Spirit. I've heard we should pray before reading the Scriptures, but was told today it's important to pray again after we have finished reading, as well as have a pen & paper handy to write down any promptings we receive while reading.

One thing in particular that struck me is that we need to pray to know how we will best be able to hear the Spirit. That it's different for everyone & if we don't know how to listen, there will be much we will miss.

Overall, the day wound up being really good. It's nice to see a rough day turn smooth with the opportunity to discuss gospel-related topics with faithful sisters. I'm going to really miss this ward when we finally start attending our new one.

We're finally moved in!

2009-02-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

And I'm exhausted. Thank goodness my Mom flew in on Monday to help out with things. The packing is long from being undone, but at least it's all together & I can see some progress being made. I still have to go back to the old house to clean up a bit & grab a few more things (our poor fish! If it wasn't for the daily feedings, I bet they think we abandoned them...if they do think! LOL), but the vast majority of it is done.

I have several things I need to sell because there just isn't a place for them or we don't need them any more. We also still have to find someone who can help with our swing set. The guy we had lined up cancelled at the last minute & now we aren't sure how we're going to get it over here.

I didn't realize how much STUFF we have! I've been able to get rid of so much in the past few weeks & yet I'm still finding myself pulling out more things & putting them in the donation bags each day. It's a good thing, though. Less really is more. :)

The painting still isn't done. I barely finished Ty & Hayleah's rooms & half of Logan & Jordan's room before the move. I love painting but I hate to paint, if that makes sense. LOL

The joys of painting

2009-02-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

I decided we would paint the kids' rooms at the new house. Right now it's all white, flat paint, which doesn't mesh well with little kids. There's just no way to clean all the little finger prints with flat paint, so they each got to pick out a color for their rooms.

I've been painting since Friday & just today, after about 3.5 hours of painting, I was able to finish the first room we started. I'm so not loving this! I can't believe how much time this is taking!! It's hard on my sensitive back, which makes it even more of a challenge than I'd like to admit.

Since this is my first real painting experience since I was 16, I'm hoping, now that I've learned a few things about what not to do, I can whip through the other two bedrooms in much less time.

Pictures to come. :)

Our new house

2009-02-06T10:07:00.001-08:00

We got the keys to our new house yesterday! I took tons of pictures, so please bear with me. The only things I didn't take pictures of were places like the kids rooms (white for now, 4 walls, nothing spectacular so why bother) & the laundry room & garages.

These first two pictures are of the entryway into the little sub-division.

The next two pics are of the front of the house.

This is the little pathway just past the front gate, leading to the front door. It's a cute little space...I'm not sure what I want to do with it yet. A bench, maybe??

The front door....I LOVE stained glass. I learned how to do it many years ago & have since had a great love for it. I love the small amount of red glass they added to the detail!
This is just as you walk in the front door. I'm a sucker for tile designs like this!

From the front door looking towards the back door.
From the front door, looking towards the living room area & master bedroom entry.
The kitchen.

The family room/tv area.

The dining room, next to the front door. To the left is the hallway leading to the little kids' rooms. To the right is a hallway leading to Ty's room & the 2 car garage.

The master bedroom. This room is HUGE! I was super impressed with the size of this room. :)

The master bathroom. Their are 2 mirrored, walk-in closets on either side of the hallway leading in to the bathroom.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture or not, but the tub is really deep. Niiiice. :)

This shower is HUGE! It's like the size of 3 of the showers we currently have. I like the little bench in there, too.

The back patio.

The back yard. It's not huge but there's room enough for the kids' playground, which is all we need.

The casita.

Little kitchenette.

Full bathroom.

Looking towards the front door from the kitchen. The bedroom area is off to the left.

The living room, looking from the kitchen.

I'll be painting in the next week so I'm sure there will be more pics to come. I'll be pretty busy for a while, so I may not post anything until we get settled. The movers are coming on the 18th to get the big stuff out of here & over to the new house.

I'm off to pack, now....

What a day! (& a funny)

2009-02-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

Since church changed from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. start time, the kids have been torturously awful on Monday's. Their late napping on Sunday spills over in to Monday & YIKES!! Even I want to run & hide somewhere when they get this whiney & crabby!

Today I had a doctors appointment. Usually this isn't a problem but, since Dave's days off changed, I had to take all three of the youngest kiddos with me. Between the temper tantrums, the whining, & the ear piercing screaming that echoed through the waiting room, I felt so sorry for everyone who was within a block radius of my set of twin tornadoes. Jordan did fine...it was really just Logan & Hayleah that needed to let me know (rather loudly) I couldn't do anything right today.

I'm spent. So, to cheer myself up I will watch this funny video until I get my mood in check. I hope anyone reading (hi Mom! :) ) gets as much of a tickle from it as I do when I watch it. :)

Last Week

2009-02-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

I got a chance to do something I've been wanting to do, yet never seem to make it to....Book Club! This month the book was The Book of Mormon, which worked out nicely since I was already reading Alma. We got a chance to sit & chat & then share some insights we got about the particular book we chose to read within the BOM. The Spirit could be felt so strongly & I love hearing what other people are doing. It inspires me to ask more questions & seek more answers, which is always a good thing!

I've also been more focused on the kids this week. I've been trying to restore some peace & love & respect in our home. The kids were getting out of hand again & I realized I'd slacked off using the parenting skills I paid to learn last year. It's been a bumpy road this past week, but overall I do see a difference in the way they talk to one another & the way they treat Dave & I. It's not perfect, by far, but for just getting back into the swing of it, it's going better than I had hoped.

Jordan's been my biggest pill lately. He's bored, being on track break, & he kept acting out to get my attention. While meeting with the Bishop of our ward (LOVE that man!!) he suggested some one-on-one time each day between Jo & I. It not only made sense at the time, but since implementing it, Jo has been treating me with so much more respect. He's become very helpful without me even needing to ask for help!

We also implemented a kind of reward system for behavior I want to reinforce. Whenever I catch any of the kids being kind to one another, helping each other out, saying nice things, etc., I tell them to go get a "caughtcha" & put it in our Caughtcha Box.

The kids decorated it themselves, with very little help from me. They get very excited when they get "caught"!

Each week during Family Home Evening, one child will get to pick out a "caughtcha" & whoever's name is on it will get a special reward. I debated over what the rewards would be because I don't want it to be a food reward for obvious reasons, nor do I want it to be some kind of toy because I don't want them to be under the impression that's what happens in the real world. So, ultimately I decided the reward would depend on the child & what they want. Some would love a trip to the park with just Daddy & the dog. I wanted it to be something that included one-on-one quality time with them, to help strengthen relationships.

As a side note, though no small news by any means, Tyler got to pass the Sacrament today for the first time in a very long time. I was so proud. He looked so mature & I just know how hard it's been for him to get to this point. Dave had to work today but wound up taking the day off because he really wanted to witness Ty passing the Sacrament. :*) He's very excited to get this privilege back. I can't even tell you how happy I am for him. :*D

Babies, babies, babies!

2009-01-26T12:44:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love them. Whenever I see them it takes my full restraint not to go over & make nice with the new mom, just so I might get a chance to hold them. Don't get me wrong, I love talking with other mom's, but there's something about the pull of a brand new sweet little one that is hard to resist for me.

I remember when I had Tyler I swore I'd never have any more kids. It was no reflection on him. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I was 19 & still very selfish. I was also single & I knew I didn't want any more kids to grow up without a father. And I had a traumatic birth experience with him, which I never wanted to repeat. The pregnancy wasn't all that wonderful, either.

It's nice to be able to look back on that time with some perspective. Though it was a stressful time in my life, I'm so glad for those experiences. I know I wouldn't be where I am today, had I not had them.

Anyhow...back to the sweeter side of it all. I wonder if the pull I feel has anything to do with the fact that I know where those sweet little people *just* left. The spirit world is still fresh for them & they hold so many secrets that I can't remember anymore, but long to.

Needless to say, I'm SO baby hungry right now. I'm pretty sure we're done having kids though. I've wondered for a while now if, when you know you're done, you still experience that deep desire to have more kids. I suppose only time will tell. It would be nice to experience the beauty of it all another time or two. Again, I guess only time will tell if that's to be or not.