Sick of Sickness

Last weekend I received a call from my sister, asking if I could watch her cute baby. She had started throwing up at daycare and was sent home. She and her husband both had to work, so I told her that would be fine. Well, sweet little Oakley was pretty sick. She threw up a couple of times at my house, but I wasn't too worried cause I kept her away from everyone and held her most of the time. Well, we were not so lucky. Tanner started feeling sick on Tuesday and had a high fever all day. The next day he woke up still not feeling well but there was no sign of vomit, so I thought maybe he had a different bug. I watched my friend Ashly's kids that day and warned her of his sickness, but she too was not worried. Tanner started throwing up about an hour after she left. I felt bad, but tried to keep him away from the others as well. Well, after she picked up her kids I left to the grocery store with Evan, leaving the others at home. Evan began throwing up at Smiths and continued on our trip at Walmart. I know, I probably should have just gone home after Smiths, but I needed to get food and with Gary gone at school that evening and kids throwing up, I didn't know when I would get back. Vicki was with me and she helped out by getting me the wipes at the front of the store for the carts to keep the area disinfected, and produce bags to throw up in and then use to double bag the throw up. I was hoping to get in and out of Walmart quickly but the people checking me out were ridiculous! I asked the guy at the checkout if he knew how to do comparable price matching and if he was good at it and he said yes. Well, he wasn't good. After 15 minutes of checking out and having only two items left, he messed up and needed a manager to help him with a key. First of all, this manager had been by earlier trying to help him and she could not do math! I could do the math in my head, but they couldn't even do it on their calculator! Anyway, you know what I mean if you buy produce and match ads at Walmart. So she came over to help him and instead, wiped out the entire transaction. I had to start over! I was patient, but my poor baby was sacked out in the front of the cart, resting on a sack of 10lb potatoes. So after another 15 minutes where a second and then third person came over to help-the third one making it worse and trying to help the guy but hindering him completely-we finally finished my order and then got to do the coupons, which took another 5 minutes! Vicki checked out next and it went much smoother, but still took about 10 minutes. Finally we got in the car and drove home to my kids. That night, Ryan started throwing up and his eyes clogged with green goobers. I got to bed at 12:33 a.m., got back up 10 minutes later to help Evan to the toilet, went back to bed and got up again around 1a.m. to help Evan again and feed Ryan. Karly came into our room a couple of times in the night with Evan because she began throwing up. By Thursday morning, Four of the 5 kids were sick. Poor kids. I hadn't mentioned that the Leprechauns had visited that night, reason why I was up as well as the throw up. They had dyed our eggs green and left shamrocks on them, tied the kids shoes to the fan blades in the front room, and written in green pen on the bathroom mirror. Gary and I made little baggies filled with lucky charms for them that had notes saying,"I'm so LUCKY to have you! Poor kids, Kaleb was the only one able to enjoy these. That day was fun. I worked at home trying to function on 6 hours of interrupted sleep, took care of kids and throw up all over the carpets, floors, toilets, clothing, bedding. Friday was looking better except that Kaleb and Gary both have it now. Gary isn't throwing up but it has to get out another way, if you know what I mean. Kaleb threw up during the night, but has been fine all day. Evan is fevering and laying around all day. He and Tanner have had it the worst. They just lay around and cry and want to eat but wind up throwing it all up after about 30 minutes. Hopefully I will steer clear of it this time!!

When you ask for blessings, they are poured out on you sometimes!

So I haven't felt really "accepted" in my new neighborhood and ward. I was called into primary two weeks after we moved out here and have been there ever since. I love my calling. I get so much from it every week and hope that the kids do as well. Because of this, and also not making it to many of the relief society get togethers, I haven't really had the chance to get to know people. Also, we live near the top of the neighborhood so there are not as many people around us. This same reason is why the kids have a difficult time finding friends to play with. I was feeling a little down about this the other day. Now don't get me wrong, I have made friends but I just haven't felt comfortable in my new area completely. My old ward I felt like I knew everyone and they knew us. That went for our neighborhood as well. I have made a few good friends but they are a bit farther from my house or in the other ward or are always gone or busy. Most of the women out here work from home or outside the home. I don't think I know a single mom out here who is only a stay at home mom. With that being said, I can understand why so many of the women are super busy and gone all the time. The other issue with our ward is that we have people moving in all the time-just like provo. Most of the people are buying the homes that have been foreclosed on and the rest are purchasing new construction. I think there are at least five homes being built around us right now that I can see from my street. SO I have been trying to have people over every other week and planning something fun once a week for my kids. I am trying to get to know these people out here and start making this area more cohesive. For this reason, I recently ran for a position on our HOA board. It wasn't a hard campaign since I was the only one running for the four positions. I just want this area to work harder at becoming a community so that we can be there for each other in case of disaster, sickness, landscaping needs, etc. Provo gave us a feeling of security because no matter what happened, we knew we would have people around to help us out. Thinking back to the micro bursts we had, it took only a short amount of time before neighbors were out with their trailers, chainsaws, shovels and rakes, driving around to each home to see what needed to happen and where they could help. I'm not saying this wouldn't happen here, but I don't have that feeling of security yet.

So on to why I feel blessed. I recently have been making friends with some of the newer families in the ward and one of them invited me to come to a book club. Now I was a book club virgin until last night, so I was super excited. I love reading and I love having an excuse to get to know people better. I went last night and had such a good time. I got to know four more girls from our neighborhood and ward that are really fun and nice. Now that I am on the HOA board, I will be getting to know more people and fellowshipping my neighbors as well.

I was feeling lonely out here and worrying about my kids making "good" friends, so I had been praying about it. Now, I am making new friends and these friends have kids my kids ages! It just makes me feel like my heavenly father knows what I need and is helping me even when I don't realize sometimes that it's his hand guiding me along. I have made a couple really good friends out here and I am grateful. I think Heavenly Father wants us to be a close knit community and I think he will continue to help me down that path.

I have had so many more blessings from him both spiritually and physically. I just need to make sure I keep working hard to be worthy of those blessings.

I'm Armed. . .and dangerous!

I have to start this post out about something that happened last night. Gary and I were in bed talking when we heard a thump that was pretty loud. Our kids often hit things in their sleep and talk in their sleep. There have been times where they actually yell in their sleep. Most of the time, the yelling is directed at a sibling they must be fighting with in their dream. Well, last night we hear this bang and I think nothing of it because it doesn't sound out of the ordinary. Gary, on the other hand, was concerned. We stopped talking and listened for a while and then continued our conversation. Well about 3 minutes later, Gary interrupts me to tell me he thinks someone is in our home. I guess he had heard more noise that I didn't pick up on. So I jokingly told him he better get his gun. Well, He gets up with his flashlight and walks over to the door. Then he comes back, gets his gun, loads it and continues out our door. I watch from our bed as he quietly goes down the hall and checks on the kids. Then he starts walking down the stairs. It was somewhat comical to watch because it was like out of a movie the way he was using his flashlight and his gun. Anyway, I say a prayer that we will be kept safe and that Gary will be safe if their is an intruder. I have these wonderful images of him being shot and killed in our home and dealing with him gone, dealing with the possibility of the police blaming me-with this thought I start thinking of friends that would testify to our marriage being solid and testifying for my character, silly I know-and then I think about what I will do if he is shot and how I can protect all my children in different rooms and where his cell phone is in case I need to call 9-1-1. I wasn't really worried that anyone was in our home. First of all, we don't have anything worth stealing; second, we don't have any money; and third, the doors were all locked before bed and so were the windows. So I lay there in bed as he patrols the house and I am thinking I will just fall asleep when suddenly Gary says, "HELLO?" in a very loud voice. It was in the stairwell, but it was so unexpected that it jolted me awake and I couldn't get my heart to slow down for a bit. Turns out, no one was in our house. Gary came back to bed after putting the gun away and I let him know how he had scared me. He apologized. I just hope no one ever tries to break into our home. I don't think Gary would hesitate shooting someone that endangered his family. So please don't ever come over and "Surprise" us in the night. Always call ahead and knock when you come!

I don't like meat!

Last night we were driving out to Eagle Mountain to Myron and Allison's for Cole's birthday and to pick up Kaleb. Suddenly the cars in front of us started stepping on their brakes and we looked ahead and watched as four deer walked across the road and then jumped a fence into a field. We pointed them out to the kids and they thought it was pretty cool. As we were driving past, Karly started explaining to Tanner that Dad sometimes shoots deer and we eat them. He was appalled and exclaimed,"I don't! I don't like to eat deer." I explained to him that he eats other animals and eats their meat. I told him he eats chicken. Evan piped up and said I don't like meat, but I do like chicken. Is good for me. Tanner you like chicken." It was a funny conversation and there was more to it, but I can't remember all of it. In fact, I am only including parts I can and I'm sure I am somewhat misquoting. Kids are hilarious!

Yesterday we also took Karly to Walmart and tricked her about getting her ears pierced. She had to keep her room clean for two weeks and it only took her about two years to accomplish this! Anyway, she thought she wasn't getting them until Tuesday but insisted she just wanted to pick the earrings she would get. There were two little toddlers waiting to get theirs done so we stood there for about 20 minutes waiting and watching them. Not such a good idea. After the first little girl, Karly wasn't so sure about getting hers done. We waited until the last little girl and then I told Karly she was next. She was so excited but also very nervous! She sat on my lap and Daddy took pictures. She got her birthstone, paridot, and was very brave. She almost cried but held it in. She can't stop jumping around with excitement. She was so excited to show her friends at school today and constantly bugs me about cleaning them. She called her cousin Brittley and then Grandma Jodi to tell them the news on our way home. It was really fun to be there and participate in this with her. Gary was happy he could be there too. It's so much fun to see your child sooo excited over these kinds of things.

Ryan is now sleeping in another room and I am finally trying to get some sleep. I need to train my body to sleep through the night again. I still wake up a few times. Maybe I will have to supplement my diet to help me sleep better. Yeah sleep!!

I feel like I don't write enough about Evan and maybe it's because he is going through the "two's". He is so much fun but man he has a temper! He and Tanner push down Ryan for no reason at least once a day and often times Evan will hit Ryan cause he wants to. He does love to play on his own and is very particular about how his cars are lined up or other toys. He loves to read books and always asks to do a reading lesson with me after Tanner's. He is a very good helper around the house. He loves to help me cook and he loves his friend "yilly". Lilly is about the only friend he doesn't fight with. He really likes her and plays so nicely with her. He always asks if she can come play. Evan is a cutie and he is so skinny!! He does love to eat, though and he is a good eater most of the time. Well, that's it for now. I am coming down with a head cold so I am going to go pump my body with liquids and vitamin C! Hopefully I can head it off before it gets much worse.

My baby is turning 1!!!

You can tell you've had five kids when your baby's first birthday is celebrated during a family party and all he gets is a cupcake just like everyone else. I don't have the energy to throw something elaborate together since he won't remember it anyway!! He certainly loved the cupcake! At first, he wasn't so sure, but after he got a taste, he was growling at it and trying to get it into his mouth in big fistfuls. I got pictures. I know, I never post pictures but I have a new years resolution to get all my pictures posted from the past three years and finish my digital scrapbook from 2005-2008. We will see if that happens.

Ryan has been jibber jabbering a lot lately and it is so fun to hear. He says "da-doo", which Gary thinks is Tanner. He also says "dubba dubba dubba". I have no idea what that means but it sure is funny to hear it.

I wanted to type up what we did at Tanners party, so I am copying and pasting it from a letter I sent to my brother. Here it is:

Tanner just turned five last week and I threw him a superhero party. I spent about a week preparing for it. I made capes and masks with sewn on stars for all the kids coming-about 15. I made coloring books and put together an obstacle course full of fun challenges. His party was a superhero training camp. They had to go to four stations and pass each off. The first station was an obstacle course that was meant to test their physical fitness. They had to jump over three big trucks, do a somersault, crawl through a tunnel and then run down the stairs and grab a star taped to the wall, then jump and tape the star above a line of blue tape. The second station they had to play I spy by locating objects all over the room to test their vision abilities. The third station I drew a large picture of Mr. incredible without his mask on. I cut out little masks out and we blindfolded them and had them play pin the mask on the superhero. This station was all about keeping your identity a secret and helping others to do the same. The fourth station I had printed off a bunch of pictures of different villains like the riddler, the joker and Syndrome and colored them and then taped them to cereal and pasta boxes. I placed them on the counter and handed the kids a nerf gun loaded with darts. They had to shoot down the boxes with the villains and avoid boxes that had pictures of heroes on them. After, they watched a “training video” that was superhero squad. While they watched, I called them into the kitchen and measured their heads to get their masks fitted. They all got a mask and cape and “instruction manual”, which was a coloring book. We had cupcakes and opened presents and then I shipped them back to their parents. Tanner had a lot of fun. He was dressed up as spiderman. It was fun and I am glad it is over!!

Karly just started gymnastics and LOVES it! She has such a blast and has already requested we build her a gymnastics room in the basement so she can practice. Keep dreaming sweet cheeks! I am glad she is having fun. I always wanted to do gymnastics when I was her age, but we just couldn't afford it. I'm grateful we found a place that isn't too expensive. She asks me to pick out her outfits every morning, or at least part of the outfit. It's really cute, and funny, cause I don't think this will last very long. Before long she will be so against my taste in clothes and insist on shopping for her own. She may be getting her ears pierced this next week. We told her almost two years ago that if she could keep her room clean for two whole weeks, she could get her ears pierced. It's taken a long time, but she will have accomplished it if she can get through the weekend and keep it clean through Monday. I'll keep you posted on the outcome!

We went swimming at the Legacy center yesterday, just the three younger boys and I with Aunt Vicki and Oakley. It was nice getting out of the house and doing something fun with my boys. I feel like we stayed couped up inside too often. After swimming we got lunch and then went home to get ready for our family get together. I made a new cupcake recipe that turned out pretty good. I am going to try it again today but cook it for less time to see if it is better. Hopefully I will also finish Karly's bedding this weekend as well.

More to come soon!!

When I grow up I want to be. . .

I feel like a really good mom today. Yesterday I got up and got the kids out the door and started cleaning up the house. Then I did some work for the business and then got ready for Karly's class party for Valentines day. This is the first time I have helped out in her class, ever. She was so excited to have me there and it made me happy to know I was "that" mom. You know who I mean. Anyway, after I got home, I made rice crispy treats with strawberry marshmallow and valentines sprinkles and then cut them out with heart shaped cookie cutters. After that I made chicken pot pie and cut out more small hearts out of the dough and placed them on top. I tried to give my kids a little something to show them my love for them on this "holiday of love". I also had my friends kids over while they went out for Valentines Day. Gary had class so he didn't get home till 8pm. We had dinner, I did a family night lesson on love, Gary gave the kids heart shaped boxes with chocolates and Jones soda's-they're new favorite thing, and we had family prayer and sent them to bed. I hadn't eaten since Gary came home late, so we sat down and ate dinner together and I gave him his card and a couple of gift certificates from Rocco's in Provo. He gave me a symphony bar and a mini container of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I also made a special dessert that didn't completely work out but still tasted good. They were brownie tarts with a cream cheese and chocolate filling and blackberries on top. They were pretty good! After dinner, Gary said he wanted to unwind and watch some TV so I told him I was taking a bath. When I came upstairs, everyone was asleep except Evan. He was sitting in his bed still in his jeans and T-shirt; so I told him to quietly get up and come with me. I let him take a bath with me and just spent time holding him-something I really don't get to do much of lately. After his bath I lotioned him all up, put fresh pj's on, combed his hair and took him to bed. I read a couple books to him and then gave him a kiss goodnight. I was falling asleep reading so I got up and went straight to my bed and fell asleep. Gary had fallen asleep on the chair watching TV so he didn't come up till almost midnight.

This morning I woke up and did a load of laundry and then went into my kids bedrooms and helped them clean them and make their beds. We got dressed for the day, older kids took showers, and I cleaned the whole upstairs and vacuumed before school started. I did Karly's hair cute and even picked out an equally adorable outfit for her. We had scripture study, prayer, breakfast and then took the kids to school. I got my books up to date for work, had a planning meeting with Gary, put together a deposit, handled scheduling and now Gary is making dinner.

I just feel productive. It's so nice! Things are going pretty well. Sometimes I wish that I could be the mom that always has fun projects and crafts to do, has a beautifully decorated home that is some how always clean and impeccable, well dressed and accessorized kids, is well put together herself from hair style to clothing, and is so talented that there's nothing that thwarts her. Most of the time I just try to be mediocre mom who wears something other than pjs at least twice a week and changes those pjs after at most three days, gets one style haircut all the time but only twice a year, makes sure her kids are dressed in season appropriate clothes that are clean, has a house that is at least not a bio-hazard, tries to do at least one thing fun for a holiday even if it turns out lame, and makes sure to tell her kids they are loved at least once a day. Some say I am Super mom, but most of the time I really just feel like semi-super or almost super mom. I am not complaining at all. I love my life but I do hope that I can start adding more things here and there to make my kids lives more memorable and enjoyable. I just hope I don't embarrass them too much.

I know it's been a long time since I have posted, and that's because I was busily planning Tanner's superhero party, working on my daughters quilt-almost finished, yeah!-and fighting the flu. We have also been having a lot of "drama" in family matters and I haven't had the energy to write because drama is draining!! Anyway, drama is still there but we are ignoring it and hoping it will die out eventually. We never should have gotten involved, but hindsight is 20/20. At least we have each other, right?!

I am just grateful that the flu is now out of our house, my upstairs is clean, my downstairs is almost clean, I am close to the end of a project, I have the gospel and I have my family and friends. Also, my laundry is almost under control!!!

Quick funny story. I came down with influenza on Friday and was floored. Karly called me from school to come get her cause she was sick and I didn't have anyone else that could get her. So, I showed up in all my glory; ponytail that was lopsided and hair falling all over, pjs with a huge tear, my big grey boots, a running shirt with stains, no bra, and a jacket thrown over the top to hide the no-bra issue. I'm sure the office staff had a good chuckle after I left. Luckily for Karly, she had to come to the office so I didn't expose my self to any of her friends to spread the ridicule.

Life is too short for drama. Live your life with happiness in your heart always and a love for those around you, even the strangers!

Sometimes older kids say funny things!

We were riding the lift on Saturday and Kaleb asked about the via lift. He said,"Mom, are we going to ride the via lift? Where is it? Have you ever been on it?" I was very confused so I asked where he heard about it. He replied that he saw a sign that said "Return to front mountain via lift". Gary and I looked at each other and laughed. Then we explained what "via" means. Pretty cute. I like that he is curious and inquisitive.

That day we were heading back up the lift to ride down to the car to finish our day when I received a call from the ski patrol at Sundance. Gary had been injured and would need to go to the urgent care. He had fallen when going off a rail in the terrain park and landed on his shoulder and back. He thought it was the clavicle. So we went down the mountain to Riverwoods urgent care-yes, they recognized us and remember us from all our visits there. After two x-rays, they determined that it was not broken and the swelling was probably from ligaments and muscles that were torn. He was prescribed some muscle relaxers and 800 mg Ibuprofen and told to take it easy and ice lots. He spent the next two and a half days sitting on the couch and sleeping. His chest is swollen and really messed up, so he went to a chiropractor today and found out that he had indeed separated the joint or popped it out a bit. The chiropractor pushed and tried to get it back in and was somewhat successful but he has to go back in on Friday. Hopefully he will finally get some relief! By the way, it is the Sterno-clavicular joint. Hard one to separate, but my husband is an over-achiever in this area! Thank you Aflac Accident insurance!

ANOTHER ONE. . .well, maybe?

So for all of those friends of mine that I have been speaking with the past few weeks of my pregnancy fears, I just wanted to let you know that I was finally paid my monthly visit, over a week and a half late, on Monday. For those of you I didn't talk to, this is news to you. Anyway, I figured if I talked about it enough it wouldn't happen. I have a theory about this. If something is about to happen that can be momentous to some aspect in your life, the more you talk about it, the less likely it will happen. This has happened so many times. Like when I was selling my house, or had a buyer for the house, or thought I was pregnant, or moving for work, take your pick or add your own. Anyway, I was afraid I was pregnant before I was "Supposed" to start so that when I was late, I was really scared-I mean take two pregnancy tests scared-and yes I did do that. After being 5 days late, I took the first test, which was negative. Then my good friend Amy told me I should take another since I still hadn't started. Luckily there was a coupon for 5$ off an ept test, so I bought a two pack and held onto it until I was just over a week late before taking the second one. I took it on Saturday morning and was so relieved when it was also negative. Relief washed over me and I ran upstairs to get ready for skiing. As the weekend passed, I still had no sign until Sunday evening when my back started hurting-but I wasn't sure if it was PMS or sore from all the falls on the slopes the day before. Monday morning when it came, I was so happy, I welcomed it! After informing the handful of people I had spoken with and proving my theory right, I started thinking about having one more. I want to be done so that I never have to get fat and uncomfortable again. Not to mention the crazy hormones! I spoke with my sister -who just had her fifth that happened to be a girl-and she was saying how having a sister for her older daughter really changed the family dynamic and how wonderful it was. It got me thinking that maybe I need another one for Karly and not for me. Maybe there is one more out there that I need to bring to our family. So I am cracking that window just a bit to allow for the possibility. I have this feeling that we have a daughter that may need to be coming to our home. For now, I will enjoy my family the way it is, enjoy my summer, get back into shape and keep in shape with races, and maybe next year at this time we will take another look at that crack and decide to shut it completely or else open it up one more time.

Back to my theory-we had told people Gary was getting fixed this spring and I think that may be put on the back burner. See, if you talk, it won't happen.