Ringing out!

Ringing out the old, and in the new. Calm new years eve tonight. Went to the movies with the littles, then came home to take the bigs to the stake New Years Eve dance. Bless Carter's heart, he didn't want to go. I took the pressure off of him and said it just didn't matter what he did, and then he chose to go! Good kids. We are blessed with really good kids!!

Cleaned up Christmas and the house is more bare. But it's nice to have things a little simpler. I love Christmas but there sure are lots of decorations. This year seemed so quick! The holiday season passed just as quickly as the year did. In a blur!!

Now let me brag for just a moment, I made the BEST broccoli soup I've ever tasted tonight!!! I'm not kidding you. I don't think I could duplicate it, but I am sure going to try. It was awesome! I don't usually brag on my cooking, but this needed some bragging. :) I want broccoli soup to be my new years goal. Try new things, make things pleasing, enjoy! It was the perfect meal to ring in the new year with!!

I think the biggest lesson I learned last year was to be grateful, always. I had tons of gratitude this past year and I truely feel blessed beyond measure. Focusing on that is where joy is at.

So now it's just ringing my hands wondering whether or not to try to set gaols or resolutions. Just wanting things to be calm and peaceful. Right about now I am hating stress and tension and the like. The blurring days will tell how 2011 will turn out. I hope I can accomplish something as they pass by!

Happy New Year everyone. I do hope that the year has something good to offer all of us.

New Year? What the....

Ya... true. It's gonna be a new year in a day or so. I can't believe it!

Scott and I took the kids down to Scandia tonight for the LDS youth new years party. We had a little party of our own and went out to Famous Dave's BBQ, which was super good and had really cute decor and atmosphere. Then we went to a movie that had so much motion in it that it made me sick to my stomach and I thought I was going to have to puke over the rail in front of me. Luckily we got out of there just in the nick of time! :) All is well now and even though it's way too late (cuz it's really tomorrow by 2 hours) we're all home safe and sound.

The new year is upon me and loading all of it's expectations right on top of my shoulders. Ahhhhhhh. Go away dang it! I'm not ready yet!! How am I going to get out of this one? I don't want a new year. Oh well, (heavy sigh).

Relations

This picture looks small, I'll find another copy...

On Christmas night after eating a big Christmas meal I look around the room and everyone was on their ipods. I thought it was so funny, so I gathered them all and said we had to take a 4 generation picture of everyone on their ipods! So we did. I thought it was cute. A couple of days ago my friend called and said she was writing an article for an online news journal and could she use the picture. I said sure, I got a kick out of it, but it sure fit! Here's the article. copy and paste http://www.examiner.com/relationship-advice-in-los-angeles


Today my cousin and her family were driving though California and so we met them for lunch. We had the nicest visit. I love social media for the reason that it brings a vehicle for families to connect and reconnect! I haven't seen Marianne for oh, maybe , 23 years. What a wonderful thing to be able to spend some time with her and her family!!

Family photos that Steph took for us. I didn't teach her how to use the camera, so there was not many that weren't blurry. It was hard to find a few. Oh well. I don't know why my camera isn't better. I have to learn how to use it better!!

There wasn't a picture that someone wasn't doing something silly. In this one Scott was giving Carter a swirley in his ear... Boys will be boys.


This was a good idea, kinda turned out.


Our kids have awesome smiles!! I liked this one.

December

December came and is now going just as I thought it would, very quickly! It is crazy how in a seemingly brief moment the year has past and we are starting all over! It takes me by surprise every time.

My December was different this year. We spent the month working a lot. We had moved our office to a new location the week before Thanksgiving and then the freeze hit! We knew it would. We hadn't hardly gotten a portion of the move completed before the rush. It made things much more difficult! Mine and Scott's office is still in disarray and in need of lots of hours of organization! It has me wondering if it will ever get done.

Our Work Christmas party was early in the month and thank heavens it was because as it were, only a few of our helpers and none of our crew chiefs were able to make it. The ward party was different this year. I was asked along with two other ladies to sing a beautiful song. There were a few other groups who did musical numbers. It was short and I guess sweet enough. I'm not really feeling the ward bonding lately. So I was indifferent about it all.

We decided the week before Christmas would be a good time to go to Arizona. So we spent a warmish week there, enjoying family, Stephanie's baby and being close enough to visit grandma several times. The baby, Savanna is quite a sweet calm little soul. She really is a joy. Baillie just loves her to death. I love that age of 11 when girls just want to love on babies. It is so sweet. And Savanna is a good one to love on! I truly haven't met a more loving baby in a long time. We spent time with Audry-Camille Sophia too. The kids met her for the first time and that was exciting. She is a cute little thing with lots of energy.

I was also so happy to be able to spend time with my grandma. She is now in a "home" and being taken care of fairly well by the people there. Her memory loss is very apparent now, it makes me sad and I feel a little lost. I just expect her to be sharp and quick. Sometimes she didn't even know who I was at first and I had to help her remember me. She is happy and she seems like she is the same, but after spending just a few moments with her it is easy to see she is not. She asks the same questions over again after only having asked it a few minutes earlier. And this happened the entire time we were there. She spoke of things that weren't there, like stairs in the house. And she spoke nonsense, like her "sons" being dead, when really only one is dead. I don't know how quickly this dementia will progress, but I hope it isn't too quick. Her body is healthy and I think she still has a few years to be around us.

Then home we came with only a day to spare before the jolly fat man was to come. Things were wrapped and taken care of before hand so there wasn't really a lot to be done. I bought some food and a couple of last minute things on Christmas eve and still had time to make sugar cookie dough and prepare for the day in front of us. It turned out really nice, our Christmas. Not too big, not too small and gratitude was shared. We are blessed with

So I sit here at the computer on my blog that has been left alone way too much this year and I wonder how the next year will go. I want to blog. My brain thinks in facebook status'. It's strange. I think it's because I feel like I have a lot to say. But I don't post those thoughts. They just eventually go away. If I were to blog them instead, or even just a portion of them I think I would learn something about myself. I'm gonna try. I've said this before. I didn't do it. I don't have a lot of confidence in myself, but it doesn't hurt to make the attempt.

I'm hoping for a peaceful end to the year 2010. Only one more week.

Carter

This was my son's post on facebook tonight...

"Well, today my band teacher resigned. This is his last week. He said the amount of pressure on his head was unbearable. He is putting is family first by moving to a school where he feels more secure, where he will teach choir. I say good for him. Mr. Dingeldein was probably one of the most influential teachers I ever had. I'm sad that I only had the privilege of knowing him for one and a half years. He has urged me on, made music fun, and helped shape who I am today. When I am older, I want to go into the music business. I can only hope to be, to my future students, what he was for me. We all love him very much. Although I will miss him very much, I wish him the best of luck at his new school. Hopefully the students at Oak Hills will get the same amazing teacher we had, and that he gets the same love that we had for him. I am glad to have had the opportunity to know Mr. Dingeldein."

I can't read it without it breaking my heart and bringing tears to my eyes. I know Carter looked forward to the next 3 years with this man more than anything else!! I'm so sad for him that he won't get the opportunity.

I am also so proud to be Carter's mother. I am proud of the dignity he displays. I am proud of the character he has! He is an example to everyone around him. I can not even begin to write how many times adults have come up to Scott and I to tell us some experience they have had with our son, or how they have seen amazing traits in him, or some comment praising one of his gifts or an impressive action they witnessed. He truly is a wonderful boy. He teaches me, baffles me, makes me so grateful. I feel so blessed to have the calling of being his mother.

Thankfuls

Shareing thankful thoughts on facebook has been a really good experience. I have found myself more and more thankful all the time. Thankful for big things, thankful for little things. Thankful for lots of things. I am feeling really blessed lately. Thankful is a good thing.

Unbearable Lightness

I'm going to take a risk here. In front of the blog world, or at least to those people who ever stumble onto my blog. Why? I don't know. I'm feeling the need for honesty right now.

Unbearable Lightness is the name of a book written by Porcha DeRossi about her fight with anorexia and bulimia and the obsession with being thin. I watched an episode of Oprah tonight, (I don't watch it much anymore) that spotlighted this book and it resonated with me on such a deep, core level.

I don't physically resemble Porcha in any way (dang it), yet, I have felt some of the same feelings she describes. When she describes binging and purging food and the ways it filled her void, it sounded like I was hearing my own thoughts. When she describes the inner hate she feels for herself, I hear the words ringing in my own ears. The words I have heard myself say a million times in my own head.

It is a bit scary to admit this kind of naked truth. But I find myself doing it more and more in my journey toward health. It is freeing for me to admit to myself and to others my struggle. I count 13 years of my adult life as years that I found comfort not only in food, but also in bulimia. And in the remaining years, when the bulimia wasn't present, I just found comfort in food; yet emptiness and often panic in my loss of control over it. In order to stay-off the bulimia, I felt I had to give up all control of my issues with food. And so I did. I gave up control... The results weren't pretty. They weren't healthy, they weren't me. But yet, they are what my body has become.

So now the honesty is out there in my world of acquaintances. It's not like anyone would be shocked by the words, but I need to move on to the next step in my life. Sometimes, as private as we would like to think our lives are, they are really very transparent. People can see hurt and pain. Mine shows up in pounds. I tell myself that a smile will cover it and no one will know, but everyone knows.

I don't feel that same pain now, like I did only a short time ago. When I wear a smile it is more genuine than it ever has been before, but the weight continues to linger, as a reminder of hurt and pain that was so real and so damaging.

Fear is not lost inside. I still have fears that would like to take control of me. And in these times I try to remember where I've come from. I try and turn to the Savior to heal that. What else can I do?

It's all a journey, a step by step, moment by moment journey.

Beach '10

Oh man... I didn't think about writing on here till just now, and as I'm contemplating I realize I don't have a way to do pictures again! Ugh...
Oh well, here I go anyway.

At Carpinteria, home away from home. I saw a trailer that had a cute sign on it that said, "our beach house". Its always nice to have a beach house, even if out does have wheels!
(It's not easy to blogspot from a phone.)

The weather is chilly in the evening, nice in the day. Perfect! The kids are old enough to be self entertained. Nice!! Not to get to serious, but sometimes it feels life is too good to us.

Off beach topic, we were able to watch General Conference this past weekend. It was so wonderful. I'm tempted to take a moment and read a talk or two tonight. I think I'll go do that.

one month later...

If I hurry and post this it will be one month exactly since I've posted!
Cool or just lame?? Wish I thought of posting more.
Went to Boston, it was very cool.
Working a lot...
Have friends and family on my mind. I wish I was magic and could help people in need in a significant way! My heart hurts for people too often. But I am blessed with their friendships and blessed with wonderful people in my life. I guess all I can really do is pray for them. God will have to fill in all the places I (and others) lack!
Happy September everyone! The year is on the down hill slide. Fastest year ever!!

I've spent several wonderful days in AZ. The clouds have gathered through the day, the heavens have opened and the rains have poured down. The sun has beat down on us and the hot, wet air has caused us to sweat ourselves silly! Brodric's description of it was "the air is really heavy". And it has been! A typical summer monsoon season. (This would be a good time to make a great analogy, but I don't have one. Oh wait.... here it is....)

But my visit was nothing like a summer monsoon. It was more like a spring shower, refreshing, and light and happy! (Ya, there you go, good save huh?)

So... Here's what happened, Stephanie had a beautiful, sweet baby girl! She's soft and sweet and floppy like a slinky. :) I loved getting to hold her and love her!

We also reconnected with our cousin, Linda Day. She was also floppy like a slinky. Just Kidding!!! But she is sweet and kind and enjoyable and tollerant of us and all our shenanigans! And that's pretty amazing!

It was nice to have her here and bring her in as one of our own. The only sad part of the week is that it's over and we wont be able to spend time with these great people we love so much anytime soon.

And Nettie if you have already read this, I didn't forget about you,I was just falling asleep writing and so I wasn't going to be able to finish well. I loved seeing and being with you too!

I have really wonderful people in my life who are stuck in this amazingly hot humid desert. Its hard not to want to stay here and spend time with them!

Greatness

I wish I could upload pictures from my phone, but I don't know how yet... so I'll just have to tell you, and you can imagine how beautiful it was today when Scott was flying. We got to go up and watch him launch and fly at a place called Hat Creek. It was, as always, very cool.

Scott wanted to go so badly, and he wanted to share it with his family. I think for him it is such an awesome thing, and when he can share it, it makes it all the more special. Kinda like sharing his testimony.... of flying off mountains... :)

Before we were witness to this awe inspireing event, we went to a beautiful waterfall. We thought we'd be able to go down to the bottom but he trail was closed for repairs. Not such a happy thing for us since we drove over an hour and a half to get there. But it all worked out. Everyone enjoyed swimming in the lake there. It seemed to be cleaner than our lake here so I even waded out up to my thighs. I don't care for dirty lake water.

So, the day was a success. Wish I could share pictures to fill in the gaps, but that will come later, with the blog from last night that I totally messed up and can't fix right now. :-)

Day Three

I really shouldn't be blogging because I havnt had decent rest any night yet, but I've tried to sleep and can't, so what the heck.

After I finally pulled myself off my very uncomfortable " bed" and out of the trailer things were all up from there. The things that were cool... well let me recount. I rode a bike for the first time in probably 17 years or so! To tell ya the truth, I was kinda nervous. Even wondered if I would remember how! But you know what they say... "it's like riding a bike!" And so it goes, it wasn't hard at all. I had a nice time. I think I'll go again tomorrow.

Hanging out with Scotts family is much different than hanging out with my family, in so many ways, but some parts have been really special. We have a nephew who we hardly NEVER see, and he is 7, just like Bricky and it has been a real treat to get to.know.him. (this is where I fell asleep writing last night, I'll finish now...) The little nephew lacks all religion in his life yet he learned somewhere that, in his words, "God is the best man I ever knew". Cute boy!

We took a short walk to the lake with the puppies and watched them play. I never thought I was an animal person, but Im pretty much enjoy these puppies. They are fun, they are excited about everything and they are lovable. For some reason a walk with the dogs is much better than a walk without them.

One cool thing about family reunions is that everyone brings some cool thing to share. We've had wood toys from papa, paint projects with grandma, finger knitting, glow sticks, bottle launcher and all kind of other things. We have the bikes and the kids have loved riding around. There are really great trails here too. So tons of stuff for these kids to do. As for me, it has taken me some time to de-city myself. Its kind of hard to reprogram my brain to relax. Ya know relaxing? I don't, but we're starting to reacquaint with each other.

Roughing it.

Sad to say but roughin it for me is NO hookups at the campground! Or how about no public showers? Yep, I had to shower in the trailer with water we hauled from Apple Valley! Life can really be rough sometime! I mean that shower is really tiny. You know?

Today consisted of a trip to the lake for some, with swimming, paddeling rafts, watching two cute puppies frolic through the water, and various lake activities. Throw in some bike riding with a few skinned knees and sad faces, and lots and lots of smiling faces. Family home evening from grandma Noh and rootbeer floats from.great grandma Wilcox! It was a good day. Im hoping for a little less heat tomorrow, but that's normal. A few less mosquotios
would be nice as well!

The Getaway

My friend Annette has been blogging from her phone for a month, I thought I'd give it a shot. So I blog now from Eagle Lake, in No. CA. Its east of the really beautiful mountains, yet has a peaceful beauty all its own. Its pretty out of the way so not much traffic or people around. That's nice!

We are having a family reunion with Scotts family. Just a small one with his parents and sibs. Not much is planned for the week so we'll see how it goes.

At home in my AV life I am just a regular girl, regular income, regular life. But getting together with some of Scotts family I feel rich. I realize just how blessed we are.

K, that's all for now. Im gonna try to blog all week. I'm out...

Lame Brained

I'm so lame brained, I swear!! I go to work day after day and pay bills and be so tedious about the money situation there and then I come home and just never pay my own bills! I forgot to pay my ticket I got in APRIL!!! It's probably gonna cost me an additional $300 for that mistake!!! I can't believe it and I am really quite mad at myself. Dang! There are a couple more important things I neglected to pay too. Sometimes I think I'm smart and sometimes I'm just lame!

But on to something more upbeat, we are going to go camping in Northern CA next week with Scott's family. I cleaned out the trailer today and started to get ready. I'm looking forward to taking the trailer out and doing something together as a family that is not the norm. No working on the cabin, no beach, no routine this time! That's the way I want it.

Carter is off at High Adventure this week and has Scout camp next week so he won't be camping with us, and I'm kinda bummed about it. I'm really gonna miss him on this trip. The lake we are going to is known for it's trout fishing, and Carter loves fishing! I wish he could be there to experience it. :(

Garden update pictures will be coming soon, the garden is looking awesome.

Wide awake...

Can't sleep.
Love Annette's blog. Love the beautiful pictures of Utah. She's lucky to be able to take a reprieve from the hustle and bustle!
Things weigh heavy on my mind and it interrupts a very important thing... SLEEP!
I wish I was open Nettie, like you are.
I wish I was adventurous.
I watched a movie tonight called "Remember Me", it was odd, kinda pointless.
Maybe I'm still waiting to find out the point of that movie. Maybe that's why I'm awake.
I'm not going to be very happy about this tomorrow. Nope...

Progress

In the beginning we had some healthy weeds. Now usually, we don't get enough rain to make green weeds, let alone this many, and grass too! But this year was so different, we had a super wet month or so. Soooooo, we began with crazy yuck grass and lots of weeds.

We had fun making something out of nothing... doesn't that look like fun? For me it does because there are 4 boys out there! :) Don't you worry, I worked too!!

The finished product! Turned out pretty cool I think. We had some starts we planted that our friend Nikki grew and we had a few we bought from the store. The rest was seed.

Last night this is what the garden looked like. You can't see each thing very good, but it's growing pretty well. I love each little plant! I love to watch them grow from day to day! I get sad when something goes wrong with them, like BUGS! We have a few spots that we still haven't planted, but we are saving those for PUMPKINS! :) We also have a bunch that just aren't growing. Mostly because they are earlier plants and should of been planted way before we started. So we may end up giving up on those and planting some other late summer thing or waiting till fall and planting. But all in all it's pretty good.

Here's a cool little thing. We have lots of little volunteer watermelon that came from the last garden we had. I was tired at the end of the season and I just stopped going out to the garden! So stuff just laid on the ground and rotted... Sad I know, but it created come super cute watermelon plants!! They are all throughout the west side of the garden. (So through the tomatoes and the corn.) I love all the little watermelon plants! They make me happy! Here's a cute picture of it.

Music, music, music, and cute kids!

Piano recital today as well as a Shenanigans show.
In fact, it may well be Kendahl's last Shenanigans show because she is trying to prioritize all her many activities! I'm not sure about Baillie and Brodric. We can't decided if they really want to do it bad enough for the effort... We'll see.
Regardless, they are great kids, every one of them!!

This amazing kid turns 7 in a few hours!
The things that make him amazing are many. First off, he is sweet and loving. He loves people, he's a good companion, a great friend. He thinks he doesn't have any friends, but just to give you an example, his big sister Baillie was saying her prayers tonight and in her prayer she shared how thankful she was for her little brother. Thankful that he is there to play with her and that he is so sweet to her. He is easy to like. He really does have friends, no matter what he says!

He is smart just like all his other siblings. He reads 4 grades above his actual grade right now. He wants to learn and will find ways to challenge himself. He teaches himself math and does math problems all the time.

He is very active. Running, jumping, flipping, climbing. You name it, he does it. While on the father and sons outing a few weeks ago he went out with a group of big boys and men to climb in caves. The adult that was watching him is a emergency room doctor and he stopped Brodric from climbing some of the rocks because he was nervous about it. Brodric told him that it was alright, when his dad takes him he will let him climb it... And do you know what happened? Sure enough, his dad let him. (But to dad's credit, he tied him off and was right near at all times!)

Brodric doesn't have much fear. He loves big roller coasters and can't wait till he is big enough to ride the only ride at California Adventure that he is too small for.

Well, I love him so much and I enjoy being his mother! I can't believe he is seven already! But he can't wait to be 8 because he wants to be a cub scout! Patience young man, patience!

Prom As Promised

As promised, a few pictures of the Prom Kendahl attended this past weekend. Isn't she beautiful? I know!


These are a few of her friends.


And this is the group she basically went with. I won't tell you she has a crush on one of these boys, cause she would kill me if I did! :)
This isn't the greatest pictures of her because she's talking, but it was the only one of the group. So sorry about that...

Middle of the night...

The middle of the night seems to be when I feel like writing.

Just a few tid bits about us before May is over. Well, I guess I missed it by an hour or so... May is over. But I'll share just a few things before I lay me down to sleep. ;)

The garden this year is both soothing and frusterating. We planted it big and a friend is helping me out a bit by watering it in the afternoon and she started some plants for it. It is so soothing for me to go out in the morning and spend an hour watering and pulling little weeds and grass. I LOVE to watch the plants grow. I am impatient though. I want them to grow up and do something. I was thinking I should keep a garden journal because then I could remember from year to year how long it takes and I wouldn't be so impatient. It's fun to watch the corn. It's fun to come out in the morning and a whole new leaf has been added to a plant. Some of them seem like if you sat there you could watch it stretch and grow, and others seem to never grow, or actually grow smaller.

Speaking of growing smaller, we have had a pest in the garden this year that is just so frusterating for me. I think it is earwigs!!! They just chomp on those dang plants and have killed tons of them! It makes me want to pull my hair out. I havn't done anything about them because I'm not sure exactly what to do, but I'm gonna have to deal with it sooner or later. It makes me want to cry when I see those beautiful bean plants come out and then be eaten up every day by some dang bug.

So, I cut the boys hair... I like boys with long hair. Of not too long, I don't like it covering their eyes, but when it is just over their ears and kinda cute, I hate to cut it... but cut I did! Brodric got his first buzz ever!! I don't think I have ever done what I did this time. It still shocks me whenever I see him. When he saw it in the mirror he said, "I haaaaate it! You ruined my life!" But he soon got over it and now he says he is ok with it. But everytime anyone mentiones it he sneaks away. I love that cute kid! Carter asked for a missionary hair cut. I didn't know what he meant by that, but he kept saying, "shorter, shorter". So I went shorter. It doesn't look bad, but again I like it a bit longer. So I guess it's just ho hum for me. But dang that kid has thick heavy hair!! And I also cut the girls hair. Put bangs back in and took quite a lot off the back of Kendahl's. I put the hair cut thing off as long as possible. I would go pay for someone else to do it, but I'm cheap and I couldn't get an appointment with someone in time for the prom for Kendahl. It turned out nice though, so all was well.

Speaking of Kendahl's prom... She went to the prom this year with a group of 2 boys and 3 girls. I think they just all wanted to go and because of the friendship they just hung out together. I don't think it was all that planned. But nonetheless, Kendahl had a wonderful time. She has a crush on one of the boys and that made it even better for her. We were pretty getto with the dress, it was used and I made repairs and tucks to it and basically made it work, but it worked! Amazing! She looked beautiful! I'll try to add pictures. That's one of the reasons I havn't posted lately, pictures are difficult.

Our Memorial day was a bust this year. The pool is not working and is giving us so many headaches and so many hits to our pocket book that I wish I could just start over with it... So no pool, no BBQ, no friends. A bit of family, but with nothing to entertain, that didn't last long. It just wasn't a party kind of year for that sort of thing I guess.

Carter got into the spirit and went with the band to a cemetary to play for the memorial there. He is loving playing instruments and loving the band opportunities.

Well, enough for now, the world keeps on turning and I am stunned at how fast the months are moving by! I wish I would all slow down!!

I suppose

Haven't had a post since the end of Feburary! That's just pathetic!
There are good things coming I hope... I have a garden and that is the funnest thing to blog about.

I feel like I'm so far behind I'll never catch up. But I suppose I ought to try...

I'll consider it.

Facebook updates

I promised myself that I would stop doing so many silly facebook updates and put more of that energy into my blog! I mean really, who wants to know stuff about me? Like…

~made potato sausage and cheese soup in bread bowls for dinner.
~didn’t get a stitch of painting done yesterday, but we got five doors, frames and all, removed and then put up three new doors!
~taking care of sick kids and a sick husband… :(
~really don’t want to go to work tomorrow! I wish I could stay home and clean and paint!
~I’m tired!!!
~loving my book and the Book of Mormon right now!

Then I could update for Scott too…
~went flying on Thursday for the first time in 3 MONTHS!
~hope I’m not sick during the week, I must go to work!
~golly, hanging those doors was a pain in the neck, but it made Billie happy.
~I have so many projects, will I ever get done??

How about Kendahl?
~I love singing and dancing.
~have “tech week” this week for our upcoming show, Heaven Can Wait.
~dang, I’m too busy! I’m sure glad I go to Riverside Prep so I don’t have
homework!
~I hope I get discovered soon!

Carter too!
~I think I broke my wrist but my mom won’t take me to the doctor.
~maybe my mom will finally take me to the doctor tomorrow.
~I like my iPod touch!
~I need to buy more video games.
~why can’t I go to Target to buy video games?
~dang, my wrist sure hurts.

Here’s Baillie’s
~I’m silly and cute.
~I’m fun.
~hard stuff is hard
~I like piano… but not when it’s hard.
~I’m so glad I have a bedroom door again, my mom and dad are the coolest!
~did I say I’m cute? Everyone should love me!

And can’t forget Brodric…
~JUMP
~JUMP ON FURNITURE
~CARTWHEELS
~JUMP UP AND DOWN
~oh wait… I don’t feel so well.
~mom, I don’t feel so good.
~my temperature is 98.1, I think I’m getting a fever again.
~I don’t like being sick.
~jump
~try cartwheels…

How was that? If we could just update facebook all day, such fun we would have!! It’s strange that it isn’t strange anymore to let people and strangers know what we’re up to play by play! Technology these days is just weird!

I have to go potty now, c’ya later.

TGIF

Appropriate picture since I feel like I have been racing through my week!

I never really got that saying, "Thank goodness it's Friday". But today I got it. I worked this week nearly 8 hours a day. Heavens knows I don't like it! I certainly don't want to work, but sometimes it's just what you have to do. Sometimes I just have to do it too!

Things at ServiceMaster are changing quickly it seems. This week Tracy (our bookkeeper) let me know she is going to be done. She's moving to Tennessee soon and I knew was coming, but just didn't know when. I guess I can be glad she didn't leave me during Christmas or New Years! So now I am trying to learn all the little things I don't know so I can take over for her for a while. I will eventually hire another person, but I'll do it for a while. (But only as long as I can stand it!)

We are growing our company all the time and with growth comes lots of different kinds of growing pains. I'm feeling them! Money crunches, employee training, hiring, law suits, and all other kinds of fun stuff! I really shouldn't complain because I am just happy to have a business that is growing and able to help people in need and help families have jobs to count on! It really is a blessing to a lot of people! I'm gonna post that on my mirror this month as I try to drag my butt to work every day and be happy and help others around me be happy too!!

Oh, I'm glad I wrote this blog tonight!!! I am grateful and I am going to take that from this blog! Not to be tired and complaining about the last week, but being grateful for the jobs we have and can provide!!! It's really, really a blessing!

Ok, happy happy weekend everyone! Have a good one and get ready for Monday!! :-)

Brodg

Scott took this cute picture, don't zoom in cause there's green everywhere, candy leftovers. He's just being silly here, but the missing teeth are great!

Oh, It's about time I told you a few awesome things about this kid! He is truly the best! Just when I think he can't get any cuter he goes and does something that just cracks us up, or makes us swell with pride!

No, Brodge isn't the real name, but it came about when his cousin Chloe started calling him that one day! Melanie loved it and it stuck. When you say his name fast it sounds like "Bro-jr-ik" (that's kind of how it is phonetically, as if I even knew how to spell anything phonetically...) So from that I guess in her little mind she just shortened the Broj sound. I think it's super cute.

So, great story #1: Tonight Scott and the kids and I were watching the Olympics. Brodg can't stay still when exciting things are happening around him. He has to dance or do cartwheels or hand stands, or throw himself on the couch or something else just exploding with energy! And when we first started watching tonight he wanted to move more so he said, "mom, can't we just watch So You Think You Can Dance?" I guess he wanted to dance, dang it! I had to tell him it just couldn't be done. So he started getting into the Olympics. He loved it of course. Every time they mentioned that one of the athletes had a background in gymnastics he would make sure we heard it, "Hey mom! He did gymnastics!"

Well, everyone loved the mogul skiing. It was pretty cool and hey, they do flips! I guess the Americans were doing well at first and Brodric was all about being An American! Soon the top Americans lost some... something, and they both made pretty huge mistakes to throw them pretty much out of the running for any big medals. Bricky said, "I don't think I want to be on the America team anymore. I think I want to be on the Canada team!"

I laughed and laughed, those dang Americans just weren't cutting it any more! Brodric has a standard you know! If you're going to be on his team, you can only be the best! What a cool example of him.

This week Brodric was asked to give the scripture and prayer in Primary. I had to coax him a little bit because he is pretty reserved when it comes to that kinda think. He will only rarely give prayers in our family prayers. He does great when he's in his own bed, but ask him to say it in front of everyone else and it's a different story! So anyway, he said he would!

Today during Sacrament Meeting I gave him the scripture, John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That awesome boy spent the entire meeting memorizing that scripture! He read it over and over again. When he went to give the scripture, he looked as if he was reading it off the paper, but he shot it out like it was his own name! It was great. He had the whole thing down pat! Then in a loud, clear voice, he gave s really good prayer, with a couple of different things added just so we could tell it came from his heart. I was so proud of him!

Right now he has 4 missing teeth. Three on top and one on the bottom. It is SO cute to see him smile! I keep trying to get him to loosen the fourth top one so he can have them all out out at once, but it isn't happening. I think he would look so funny with an even larger gaping hole in his mouth! Very cute!!!

I really want to tell you all the cool things about him like, he is a really good sweeper, he is SOO smart and reads wonderfully like his siblings all did, he is so good at video games that it's tough for the 14 year olds to keep up with him. He loves music and is SO excited to be in piano again. He picks up a violin that we have pretty often and likes messing around with that too. He loves, loves, loves sugar. He gets it as often and as much as he can! Cookies, cupcakes, candy, candy, candy... He's not a good eater, very picky with his food. Nearly every night we have a fight about every meal and we still negotiate the amount of bites he has to finish. I had him in gymnastics a couple of times in his little life, but only for short times, but he continues to love it and begs me for the next time he can sigh up for gymnastics!!! Maybe someday, we'll see...

It makes me pretty sad that he is growing up so fast. He used to NEEED to hug me several times a day, and those have slowed WAY down. He used to love on me so much and now that he's 6 and a half it's fading fast. It always does with kids this age, and that's the worst part of them growing up! I wish they stayed Young forever!!

Until I think of more things or he does something funny again, that's about it. But I'm telling you I feel so proud to be Brodrics mom! How lucky am I?

Last week at Disneyland, right before he lost that last tooth.


This was me and Bricky on California Screamin. He loved it! I was video taping the ride.

So blessed!

My favorite show lately is "Life in the ER". I'ts not reinactments, it's the real deal and the real blood and gore of the ER, and I love it! Tonight I watched one with an 87 year old lady who had a stroke. I just want to say -- "I LOVE old people!" I really do and I would be a good care taker for the old! Maybe someday that will be my calling.

As Scott and I were rummaging through the DVR I stopped on a 20/20 from last week a few days after the Haiti quake. I was heart broken over the children of Haiti. From what I understood there was a horrible problem with orphans before the quake, and now, oh my goodness, can you imagine? During the viewing of the mess in Haiti and watching the children who are devistated, my 6 year old son called me into his room. He said, "could you sing me the angel song?" I hope he couldn't hear the TV, but he was feeling something, so I sang the angel song. Looking around the boys room and seeing everything we are blessed with made me want to burst! I wanted to fill the room with beds with little hatian children in them! I thought to Baillie's room and how there is only one bed in there. There could be a couple of bunk beds giving children a warm, soft place to feel loved. I might be crazy, but just to feed curosity, I am going to look at the web sites and see what's up with adopting those children. NO, I'm not going to run off and adopt, but looking can't hurt, right?

We are really SOOOOOOOOOOO blessed to live in America! With all the messed up things our country is dealing with, we are still SO lucky! I want to share this feeling with my children and help them to know their blessings.

God is good, and I know he loves those people in Haiti and I know he will comfort their pain.

S.O.S.

Oh, I hate to write on here stuff that might not be so positive, but here I go... (that was a little warning, so don't blame me if you aren't uplifted at all!) I have lived the past year with more positive thoughts and wonderful outlooks than ever before. The sun shines in my heart 90% of the time. But when it happens now, the same 'ol sutff can still get me down. When it happens I think I can smile it away or pray it away or something, but it seems to find a way to rear it's ugly head...

Today we went to the Temple as a partnership, including Taft and Nikki. It's an hour drive, the rain was pouring down, I was really tired, and while I really wanted to go, a part of me totally didn't want to go. I think several of us may have been feeling the same way, but we went anyway! And as you all know, it was worth it in the end. While in the Temple I feel peaceful, calm, and ok, and that's how it's supposed to be. But soon after leaving the Temple grounds it all came back. I'ts not horrible or anything. I can still put on a pretend smile and go about my day, but hanging just out of sight is this looming thing, bigger than I am... I know it's not too big for God. I leanred that on Veggie Tales, :) but it's bigger than me and apparently my faith isn't kicking in like it needs to.

So that's my story and it's not going to end with, "it was all better in the end", this time. Because I continue to fight my deamons and I continue to struggle here and there. Someday I'll overcome the challenges that linger in my mind. Tomorrow I hope to wake with a different outlook. But tonight I am going to bed early.

Get to work!

Oh golly, I should so be asleep!!! But i just wanted to get on for a second and just mention what we did today. We cleaned... Nothing new! We worked in the garage to try to get some sense of organization about it. After several hours it was nice to see some progress. Scott and I work really well together and after we had a little blow up, we spent the rest of the time happy and helping each other. I have a good husband.

I want to get organized more so that I can focus on the things that make me really happy. I really want a garden this year! I missed my garden last year. I actually want a bigger garden than I had last time. So, it's going to take a lot of work. We still have left overs (junk) around from the remodel! (Does anyone know where I can take old appliances to get rid of them?) I'm going to try to spend more time working on "stuff"...

I just wanted to say that.

new year, new goals and friendship

I'm all about the new year goal stuff! I am excited for a new year to begin and all the things we have to look forward to. In FHE tonight we set goals and one that Scott brought up was to have fun together! I loved that! I hope to have a lot of fun with our family this year and to find ways to celebrate just being a family. I wish I had a good picture to post, I'll work on that! (My computer screen has died, so I can't see anything on it. Otherwise I would put up some family photos we took.)

I am planning on useing this blog more, to keep a record of our family. In 2008 I blogged a lot and as 2009 whizzed past me my posts have gotten fewer and fewer! So for 2010 I plan on keeping up better, not only for those who will be looking to see what we're up to, but also for my own benefit. My family record as well as thoughts and feelings.

Tonight I am wanting to share my grattitude for friends in my life who love me inspite of myself. People who are examples of selflessness, who forgive freely and love unconditionally! My heart is expanding because of you! Friendship is rare and precious and yours is not going wasted.