Gift of Gab

Tummy Time

2011-10-21T11:16:00.003-06:00

Avery is almost 8 weeks, and is starting to get pretty good at holding her head up. I put her on her play mat for some tummy time for the first time today, and she loved it. Of course, Hayden had to come "help" her play with all the hanging animals. Whatever she is doing, he has to be right there doing it with her. It's cute to watch him try to play with her.

Almost has her head up all the way.

Closest thing to a smile I have been able to catch on camera so far. She smiles all the time in person.

Playing with his sister.

Apparently someone is needing a little attention. Either that or he is trying to reclaim the play mat that used to be his.

"Officer" Hayden

2011-10-07T16:53:00.000-06:00

This picture just makes me want to laugh my face off every time I look at it. I was changing Avery on my bed, when "Officer" Hayden wandered into my room. He looked so hilarious I couldn't stop laughing, and the more I laughed the more he hammed it up and acted even sillier. It was so funny I had to grab my camera and snap a quick picture of him. He is such a silly boy, and totally cracks me up!

A Boy And His Sister

2011-10-05T13:59:00.000-06:00

I think it is adorable how much Hayden loves Avery. He always wants to kiss her or pet her. He is so sweet with her, and has to kiss her almost every time he walks by her. He always wants to be touching her, petting her, attempting to pick her up, etc. I'm sure it won't last once she's big enough to get around and want to "share" all his fun toys, but I am going to enjoy his sweetness while it lasts.

Even though it's a little blurry, I just love this picture. It's like she did something that just totally cracked him up. He was laughing like crazy when I took this.

This is what he looks like when he is thinking about picking her up, but he can't really figure out how he would do that. Thank goodness!

Lots of kisses!

Even more kisses.

Cousins

2011-09-28T17:27:00.000-06:00

Jacob called me around noon and said that he was heading over to PV mall with Natalie and Preston, to let Preston run around at their inside play area, and to see if I wanted to meet them. Of course I did! Since they were only here for a week, I wanted to get every minute with them that I could. I hurried Amelia and Hayden through lunch, nursed Avery, and we were on our way. Even though we only got to hang out for an hour or so it was worth it, because after they go back to Idaho I don't know when I'm going to get to see them next. I didn't get any pictures of them playing in the little play area because I was too busy talking to Natalie, but here are some cute pictures of them "driving" the ride on ice cream truck. I just happened to have 75 cents on me (what happened to those things being a quarter?!), so they got to ride it one time. They thought it was so fun. It was really cute. It was nice getting to spend time with them. One of the things I miss about being in Utah is that I was only a few hours away from Jacob and Natalie and I felt like I got to see them pretty often. Now that I am like 16 hours away, they have only been down here twice in the almost year that we have lived here. I miss seeing them all the time!

Cupcakes

2011-09-26T11:50:00.001-06:00

More pictures of Avery in another one of her adorable cupcake outfits. I think I am going to be able to make a small album for her just with all the pictures of her in all her cupcake outfits. On second thought, that's a good idea . . . . :)

Family Pictures

2011-09-25T23:32:00.003-06:00

After church, everyone came back to my house for dinner. "Everyone" included my parents, Robyn and Jane, Jacob's family, and my Grandpa. I took a TON of family pictures. I'm thankful that everyone was here in town and able to get together and have Avery's blessing, even if the reason they were all here wasn't a happy one. Here are some of my favorites.

John and Avery.

Typical family picture. My hair looks lame, Brooklyn looks like her right arm is amputated, and Austin looks like he really has to pee. Heaven forbid we could get this many people to all look cute at once. Haha

Avery and me. (Man, why didn't someone tell me to fix the front of my hair?!)

Hanging out on Dad's arm.

Avery with Aunt Robyn and cousin Jane. (We missed Uncle Joe and Henry.)

Avery with Aunt Natalie, Uncle Jacob and cousin Preston.

My mom with her girls and their baby girls.

Three generations: My mommy, me and my girls.

Avery with Grandma and Grandpa.

Avery with her Great Grandpa Paul Greer.

This picture gives me such joy every time I look at it. He just looks so happy with her. I only wish that my grandma had been able to still be here and be in the picture with him. I am so glad that he is still here to be a part of Avery's life, and the lives of my other kids.

A Name and A Blessing

2011-09-25T23:15:00.001-06:00

I have to divide up the posts about Avery's blessing because I have a ton of pictures, but I also wanted to include this post. After her blessing, a friend of mine came up and said that she had written down some things from Avery's blessing. She said that she had always wished that she had done that with her kids (So had I!) and that she just happened to have a piece of paper and pen in her lap from something else she was working on for Primary. So when John started to bless her, she started writing it down. I am going to save the original paper she gave me to put in her scrapbook, but here is what she wrote down (it's paraphrased from the blessing, not word for word):

- Bless you with a desire and strength to learn about Heavenly Father and gain a testimony of him.

- That you will learn to love the Gospel.

- That you will grow and be a good example to others.

- That you will have the desire to serve a full time mission

- Strive to serve.

- That you will meet a righteous LDS man, and be sealed for time and all eternity.

- As you grow, be successful in life so you can be with Heavenly Father and Savior again.

- Health and Strength

- We love you very much

- We are proud that you chose to come to our family to gain a body.

Her blessing was beautiful. I am so proud of John for doing such a good job, and thankful that my friend had the presence of mind to write it down for me. I think it would have been cool to have a copy of mine to read, so I am excited that I have this for her to read when she is older.

“Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their handsupon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name."

Doctrine and Covenants 20:70

Dressed In White (and a little pink too)

2011-09-25T22:54:00.004-06:00

I know that it is pretty unusual for a LDS family to bless their baby in a dress that has pink rosebuds all over it, but this dress is very special to me. It is the dress that I was blessed in. My younger sister Robyn was also blessed in it, and so were all 3 of my older girls and Robyn's daughter. It is really special to me that all 4 of my girls have been able to be blessed in the same dress that I was blessed in. I like creating little traditions like that for my family. Hailey talks about how she is going to bless her daughters in it too, when she has her own family. I think that it's cute that she wants to carry on the tradition.

I thought Avery looked so beautiful in my dress. She is definitely a lot smaller than her sisters were when they were blessed! She was drowning in the dress! That's ok, because I think it's cute. When I first started taking her picture she was sound asleep, which made taking pictures a lot easier. However, a few minutes into my little photo session she woke up and I was able to get some adorable awake pictures too. She is just so cute. This is maybe a tenth of the pictures that I took. I couldn't help myself. At least I will have tons to choose from for her scrapbook!

Amelia Turns 6!

2011-09-20T21:22:00.001-06:00

Today my Gummy turned 6. I can hardly believe that she is already that old! She has been so excited for her birthday, I think she has talked about it nonstop for at least the last month. I didn't post all the pics of everything she got, but I posted pics of the bigger items just to give an idea of the stuff she got.

Once again I tried my hand at birthday cake making. I think I am getting a little better. This time I decided to try out carving a cake, instead of having a flat one, and I carved a domed ladybug cake. It was super messy to make, but I think it turned out cute. She said it was the best cake ever, so that's good enough for me!

I think it's funny that this sleep mask was one of the things she was most excited about. She has wanted one for a long time. I'm not sure why it's so exciting, but it was definitely the cheapest item on her wishlist.

I love Amelia so much. She is so smart, and artistic and silly. I remember when I found out I was pregnant with her, it was such a shock. John and I had only been married a few weeks, and we hadn't even given any thought to having a 6th child. (Although we obviously didn't give any thought to NOT having one). I am so glad that we did, because she is so fun and a wonderful addition to our family. I love to watch her constant thirst for learning and for all things artistic/musical. I hope that she continues to hold onto that love, and I can't wait to see the amazing young lady she grows into. I love you Amelia!

So Fast

2011-09-19T14:15:00.003-06:00

This picture makes me kinda sad. Tomorrow she will be 3 weeks old, and already I feel like she is getting so big and becoming this whole other person. I can look at her earlier pictures, and then look at this one, and it's crazy how much she has already changed. It kind of makes me want to cry when I think about her getting bigger. I almost started bawling when I thought about her being Hayden's age and walking around and talking and everything. John thinks I'm a little crazy (ok maybe more than a little) but I just can't bear the thought right now. It makes me think of that Lonestar song " let them be little, 'cause they're only that way for so long". I know that she will be little for a long time still, but it already seems like it is going too fast.

I love how tiny and cute you are Avery. Please don't grow up too fast. I already feel like your sisters did, and I need you to stay tiny for a while longer.

Avery's First Day of Church

2011-09-11T19:09:00.001-06:00

* Disclaimer: I know this is kinda turning into an Avery blog. haha I can't help it. She is so cute, and I don't want to forget anything later. Plus, my other kids aren't being that exciting lately. *

Today was Avery's first day going to church. She was so cute all dressed up. Of course, I had to get a picture of the 2 of us since I actually looked like a human being today and who knows when that will happen again!

2011-09-09T16:07:00.000-06:00

Nothing really to blog about, I just like how she matches the sheets on my bed. haha :)

In The Swing Of Things

2011-09-09T13:57:00.001-06:00

Avery hung out and slept in her swing for the first time today. It was nice to have her in there, where I could keep an eye on her and get some stuff done around the house.

There are 2 things I especially like about these pictures:

1. I love her swing. It is the same one I had with Hayden, and I just think it is so cute.

2. I just love her jammies. My bff Hailee and I really got into cupcake stuff while pregnant with our girls (her daughter Isabella is 6 weeks older than Avery) and so I have TONS of baby clothes that have cupcakes on them. Every time I put her in one of them, it makes me smile. :)

Giraffe Jammies

2011-09-06T22:45:00.001-06:00

I just love her in these giraffe jammies. They are so cute! I had to have them as soon as I saw them. Something about animals on the feeties that just makes them too cute to pass up.

I'm not sure why I only ended up with pictures of my dad and Avery today, but that's ok. I seem to get less pictures of him with the kids than my mom, so I will take as many as I can get. Plus they turned out cute. :)

My dad being silly with Avery.

Now a real smile.

Close up of her adorableness.

Hideous picture of me, but I wanted to make sure I got a picture of her whole body in her cute giraffe jammies. Ignore the fact that I am wearing the same shirt I wore yesterday. Other than on here, no one saw it since I didn't manage to leave the house or anything.

Happy

2011-09-05T19:38:00.001-06:00

John took this picture of Avery and I today, and so far it is my favorite of the 2 of us. It makes me smile every time I pull it up and look at it. I made it my profile picture on facebook because I like it so much. Of course, the reason I probably like it so much is because I actually felt like a human being due to the fact that I managed to shower, do my hair and wear non maternity clothes! haha I also like the silly little look on her face. She was making silly faces in most of the ones he took, but this is the one that I look the best in. Sorry Avery! :)

Bathing Beauty

2011-09-05T19:29:00.000-06:00

Today I gave Avery her first bath at home. I waited a few days because her skin was kinda peeling and the nurse said she only needed one maybe a couple times a week because more than that would dry out her skin.

As you can tell from the pictures, she thought she was in heaven from the moment I set her in there. Some babies might cry when they are having a bath, but not Avery. Not a peep from her the entire time she was in the tub. She was so happy and content to be in there. The only time she cried was when I took her out. Boy was she not happy then!

Happy 2nd Birthday Hayden!

2011-09-04T23:52:00.001-06:00

I can't believe my baby boy is 2! Where has all the time gone? He is just getting cuter by the hour, and although it makes me sad that he's not a little baby anymore, I still just can't get enough of him. I just love him so much I just can't take it! The little boy I never thought I would have. Sometimes I think I love him a little too much, if that's possible. I just want to hug and kiss him and squeeze his guts every chance I get.

It was fun to get to have my parents here for his birthday, but I was enjoying Hayden so much I forgot to take any pictures of him with them like I had planned. Lame, I know. I had planned on taking a picture of him with John and I too, but having a new baby and NOT having had a shower very recently, I smartly opted to just let John be in the pics.

He had a ton of fun playing with everything he got and eating "CAKE!". It has to be all caps, with an exclamation point, because that's how he says it every single time. Hilarious! I'm glad he liked it, because once again I tried my lame hand at cake making. I don't know that I am getting any better, but the kids like it so I guess that's good enough for me.

The birthday cake. He was super excited because it had a car on it. :)

Hmmm, and which one should be first?

Hello? Is anyone there?

Way excited, because the puzzle makes sounds when you play with it.

"Helping" dad because he wasn't getting it together fast enough!

Playing with his cool new track that's almost as big as he is.

A firehouse and truck. Fire trucks are his favorite thing ever.

Cute dinosaur puzzle. Hayden calls them "Roar's". hehe

He sang to himself while he was getting sung to. He loves singing the birthday song.

Finally! CAKE!

Grandpa and Avery

2011-09-03T22:43:00.000-06:00

I just thought this picture of my dad and Avery was so cute. I love my dad so much! I might not be a little kid anymore, but he is still my hero and I still look up to him just as much as ever. I am so happy that Avery will have a chance to have someone who is such a great person and an amazing example to me, as her grandpa.

Trying to eat Grandpa.

Looking adorable.

Meet The Grandparents

2011-09-02T23:36:00.000-06:00

My parents came over today to meet Avery for the first time. They were so excited. I am a little worried now that they might think that they get to keep her. Ha! ;)

I love watching my parents with my kids. I don't know what it is, but something about watching my kids snuggle with and get loves from my parents just makes me infinitely happy. Maybe it's because my parents were/are so lovey with me that I know how happy I feel when it's me.

Visiting with Grandpa Steve.

Sleeping on Grandma Lisa while she was on the phone with her sister.

Snuggling on the couch with Grandma and Grandpa :)

What's In A Name?

2011-09-02T11:32:00.001-06:00

So I just wanted to do a quick little post about Avery's name. I had decided on the middle name Joy as soon as I knew she was a girl. It's my mom's middle name, and I have always loved it and wanted part of her name to be after my mom since I am so close to her.

However, it took FOREVER to come up with her first name, and for a while I was worried that she was going to be born and we still wouldn't be able to come up with one. Well, on Sunday, Aug. 28, I was lying in bed sick and just thinking about what we were going to name her. John and I had gone over and over the list of names I had come up with, and while we liked several of them, none of them had stood out as "The One". You know, the name that you come across and there's that little "Aha" moment where you realize that's it. Well after thinking and looking at my list, I was feeling really discouraged so I finally decided I should pray about it (Duh!). I started telling my Heavenly Father how there were several names that I liked, but none of them felt like her name and I was worried I wasn't going to figure out what her name was supposed to be. Almost immediately, the thought came to me "Her name is Avery". I almost started crying because I felt such peace and relief that I finally knew what her name was. The funny thing was, when I was on the phone with my mom on the drive to the hospital Monday night, I told her we finally knew what we were going to name her. She asked me what, and I said Avery. My mom said "Avery! That's the name I was trying to remember when I talked to you the other day!" I said, well I guess she really was meant to be Avery. Funny how things work out. Now when I look at her, I can't imagine having named her anything else. While I really liked the other names on my list, she is most definitely Avery.

Avery Joy

2011-09-01T22:56:00.000-06:00

On August 29th, my water broke around 5pm. After taking time to shower and get ready, John and I left for the hospital around 6pm. Luckily a friend from my ward was able to bring her kids and come and stay at my house with mine. When I got to the hospital, they gave me the option of walking to get my contractions going more, or to start Pitocin. Since I knew from 4 previous births that I was going to have to have the Pitocin at some point anyway, I decided to go ahead and start it right away. I didn't see any point in making myself more tired by walking for hours, when I hadn't slept the night before. After checking me to make sure my water was really broken, they admitted me and the pitocin was started around 8pm.

I had planned on trying to go natural, since I felt like I missed out when I couldn't with Hayden, but after about 3 hours I went for the epidural. I really missed having my bff Emily there with me, because I felt like if she'd been there I would have been able to make it, since I wasn't in labor very long. After getting the epidural, I was able to relax and get a little rest. Then, I turned onto my left side because the epidural was wearing off on that side, and just like when I had Amelia and Hayden, lying on my side did the trick. I went from about a 6 to complete in about 5 minutes or less. I was so happy to finally be able to get this baby here! One contraction later, Avery Joy joined our family on August 30th at 2:20am. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 oz., and was 19.5 inches long. She is so tiny and beautiful! I am so happy to finally have her here! Babies are WAY more fun on the outside, where you can kiss and snuggle them. (and they aren't kicking you in your ribs and giving your killer heartburn) The kids were so excited to come and see her, and I can already tell there is going to be lots of fighting over whose turn it is to have her. I told her to enjoy her time at the hospital, because once we went home she was never going to have a minute of peace again.

Welcome to the family Avery! We couldn't be more thrilled to have you here. :)

First picture with Mommy and Daddy

First bath (she LOVED every minute of it)

All bundled up in her hospital crib

Naked babies are the cutest thing on Earth

In her cow seat, all ready to go home

My Grandma

2011-08-23T23:24:00.006-06:00

Today my Grandma Greer had cancer surgery. It has been really stressful knowing that she was going to have to have it, and I am glad that everything went great. I am so thankful that she had her surgery not only at one of the top cancer hospitals in the world, but at the hospital my husband works at. John was able to go back with her and keep her company until she went to sleep. He couldn't stay for the actual surgery, since you're not allowed to operate on people you're related to. It was nice being able to get updates from him throughout the day on how her case was going, and what was going on.

I know this is an older picture from Christmas, but I just think it's a really cute one. :)

John told me a really cute story. He said that before my grandma got put under she was saying she wished she could have a little drink of something to wet her lips. Of course, he told her they couldn't allow that. Then he told my grandpa that he should wet his lips, and give her a big wet kiss to help her out. And he did! Haha! My grandparents are so cute. :)

While it makes me sad that they had to take the nerve along her left side of her jaw when they took the tumor out, I am thankful that she was operated on by one of the best surgeons in the state. John said that they did an amazing job on the closure too, and that it was going to look really good when it is all healed. I am hoping to go visit her in the next day or so. I told her that Hayden and I would come by and visit while the other kids are in school, so it's not too overwhelming. She has to stay there for 10 - 14 days, so I'm glad I live so close so I will be able to stop by periodically and keep her company. (That's assuming I don't have this baby in the near future, but so far it's not looking likely.)

I love my grandma so much. It makes me sad to see my grandparents getting old and frail. I know I am lucky. Most people my age don't still have their grandparents, and I still have all 4. I think it has just been a reality check for me that they won't really be around forever. I know when I was younger I used to joke to my grandma that she couldn't die, because she had to be around for my kids because I didn't want them to miss out on knowing her. Now with all the health issues she has, and the fact that she is losing her memory, it makes me sad to know that my kids are going to miss out on the amazing grandma that I knew. The one that used to tell me all the cool storied about when she was a little girl, and stories about my mom, and sing songs to me all the time. There is one song that she sang all the time, an Irish lullaby, and I have sung it to all my kids all the time since they were born. I want to pass stuff on to them like that. So they can sing it to their kids one day, even though they missed out on hearing it from my grandma. I miss being able to sit and talk to my grandma for hours about just anything. I know that I can sit and talk with her now, but it's not the same. She's not that same person anymore, and she gets confused or doesn't remember stuff all the time. She is excited about the baby though. It was nice to have her rub my stomach and talk to her while I was over last night. She was really excited to know that she's a girl, and that I will bring her over as soon as I have her and I can come over.

I'm glad that we went over there last night, before she had her surgery today. I wasn't going to, because I didn't want to stress her out with all the kids like my extended family seems to keep insisting, but John said I should because she was having major surgery and you never know what will happen. While I was mad that he would say something like that, I'm glad I went over and spent the time with her. It was nice just to see her, and hug and kiss her, and visit for a while. The kids behaved, and I know that she likes seeing them even if she can't always remember who each of them is. She is still so happy to see them and so loving to them. I want them to be able to have some time with her while they can. I am so glad that I pushed John to apply for the job out here and move here. I really feel like this whole cancer ordeal has a lot to do with why we felt we were supposed to come out here. While the thought of losing her, or any of my other grandparents, scares me, I am thankful that I live so close to all of them now and can get as much time with them as I can while I can. And I'm thankful to know that no matter what happens, after this life we will have all of eternity to be together.

2011-08-19T12:05:00.003-06:00

Today is turning out to be a hard day. I feel bad for Hayden being home with me while the other 6 kids are at school, because my depression is just sucking the life out of me. This morning I just talked to a friend on skype, while I sat on the floor with Hayden and he played with some cars. I guess I can't really say I was talking to my friend. More like I had her on skype (without my video on) and was halfheartedly listening to her talk while I sat there. I didn't really have anything to say, and I didn't particularly want to talk, but I didn't want to be like hey I don't feel like talking or listening to you.

I feel like I could just sit here crying and doing nothing for hours. I am trying to hold it together and act normal, because Hayden and Amelia are eating lunch and I figure I can be a whack job while they're napping, without freaking anyone else out. I really hate this. I am in my last few weeks of this pregnancy, and I just want to be enjoying getting ready for this little girl to get here. Instead I feel like I'm sitting around like a zombie. Her room is still untouched, other than curtains and a crib. Her dresser is still sitting out in the landing in the upstairs hall, waiting for me to want to paint it. Her clothes are still sitting in laundry baskets in my bedroom, folded with the tags still on. It makes me sad, because with all my other kids I was set up and 100% ready by like 7 months, and here I am at almost 37 weeks and not only do I not have everything ready, I just don't care. I have no energy/motivation to do anything. I was talking to my friend, and she asked me if I was going to have John break my water at 37 weeks like we did with Amelia and Hayden. (Before anyone freaks out, my husband is a surgical tech and worked in L&D for over 7 years, and delivered babies/assisted in c-sections all day, every day) I told her what's the point. I don't care when I have her, because I don't have anything to do with my kids when I go to the hospital. While I really don't want to have her term (because John starts school 2 days before my due date) between the depression, and the lack of anyone to watch my kids, I just don't care. I'm not ready for her to be here anyway. As much as I have been exhausted and in pain, I just don't feel like things will be better after she's born. I mean, if things are going so bad now, I can just assume they're going to be worse post partum, right? Because right now I'm not even excited for her to be born, and that's just making me more sad.

A Teenager?!!

2011-08-16T22:58:00.000-06:00

So, today Tyler turned 13. How crazy is that? I told John it doesn't make me as old as he is, since I didn't give birth to him, but I have had him for more than half his life and he still makes me feel old. Ha!

We had our usual family party tonight, and John's mom joined us via skype for singing and cake. It was funny because before the party Tyler told her that he didn't feel like a teenager yet, but before bed he came to me and said now he felt like he was a real teenager. I told him maybe it was because we had the party, so it had sunk in now that he was really 13. It really cracked me up.

For his birthday I tried to get him everything he asked for. It wasn't a lot, and it wasn't super expensive, so I did my best. I spent a little over what John had agreed to, but it was only like $10 and I didn't feel bad because 13 is a big birthday.

For his birthday he got 4 books (3 of them are a series), 2 belts, a pair of flip flops, and a skateboard. He was super excited because everything he got was stuff he had asked for. After opening all the books he told me excitedly,"Now I won't be bored doing my reading for school for at least a couple months!" I doubt it will be that long, since he is as book obsessed as I am, but I'm glad he's so excited to have and read them.

For his cake he asked for a camping themed cake, so I did my best. I am by no means a cake decorator, and I have actually only made my kids' cakes a couple times, so it wasn't very impressive. Still, it must have been good enough for him because when we sat down to sing Happy Birthday and have cake, he told me it was the best cake he had ever had. And that's the most important part.

Amelia's First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-15T11:23:00.001-06:00

I had to do another separate post for Amelia, since today was her first day of school ever. She was so excited she could hardly contain herself all morning! I thought I was going to be all sad dropping her off, but once we got to her class I didn't have time. She was like bye mom and dad, and then flew into her classroom and sat down at her desk, where she immediately began coloring a welcome picture that was waiting for her. No nervousness or hesitation at all. I guess it helps that she will be one of the oldest (if not the oldest) in her class, since the cut off date here is Aug. 31, and her birthday is the end of September. She has been MORE than ready to go, and I felt bad last year that she had to wait, because if we had still been in California she would have gotten to go. However, I am happy that she was so ready to go and not scared. I saw some kids there crying and not wanting their parents to leave, so I'm glad she was just like see ya! I know I totally would have cried if she had even acted like she was a little sad having us leave her there. Instead, I snapped one quick picture of her at her table, and we were on our way.

Super excited to be at school!

First Day of School!

2011-08-15T10:13:00.001-06:00

Today is the kids' first day of school, so as usual I had to take a picture of each of them before we headed out the door. They were all super excited to go (although I don't think anyone could have been as excited as Amelia, since she started Kindergarten today). It was pretty funny just how excited they were. I got up a little after 7, and as I headed to go upstairs and wake them all up, I found them all sitting on the couches in the living room all dressed and ready to go. It totally cracked me up! I know that won't last very far into the school year. haha!

I can't believe how big they are getting. This was the first year that I didn't walk the older 3 to their classes. It was nice that John was able to come with us, because even though he couldn't switch his days off, his work let him come in early when he told them it was Amelia's first day of Kindergarten. We all walked together into the school, but then I let the kids go their own way. Hailey and Austin went together, because even though they're in different grades, their classes are directly across the hall from each other. Tyler, who started 7th grade, headed to the cafeteria to get his schedule, and then off to 1st period. I dropped Brooklyn and Camren off at the 3rd grade bldg. where they went to their separate classes, with Brooklyn upstairs and Camren downstairs, and then we headed to take Amelia to kindergarten.

Tyler - 7th Grade

Hailey - 6th Grade

Austin - 5th Grade

Camren - 3rd Grade

Brooklyn - 3rd Grade

Amelia - Kindergarten

I've Got My Brooklyn Back!!

2011-08-11T00:36:00.000-06:00

Tonight my parents got into town with Brooklyn, to return her to me after having her for the last 6 weeks. I have to admit I was like a little kid at Christmas. John laughed at me, because when my dad sent me a text and said they would be to my house in 10 minutes, I was sitting on the living room couch 9 minutes later peering out the front blinds waiting for them to pull up. As soon as they did, I was out the door and squeezing her guts out! Boy I missed her! It was weird not having her around, and everywhere I went I always had to remind myself she wasn't here because I kept thinking I was missing or forgetting her. After getting all her stuff in the house, my parents and I visited while my mom and I went through all her new stuff. I can't believe how much new stuff that spoiled girl came home with. Well, I can, but holy cow! I guess she was on the verge of not fitting the clothes I took her with, so she came home with an entire new wardrobe plus all the things I had left with her! It took 4 laundry baskets to hold all the stuff I took out of suitcases and bags. On the upside, she will be all set for when school starts next week. I am so glad to have her home, and have my family complete again. I think I will be squeezing her guts out for the rest of the week!

7th Grade Walk Through

2011-08-10T22:01:00.001-06:00

Tonight we went to the 7th grade Meet the Teacher night for Tyler. Man we're starting to feel old! It is crazy thinking that John and I have a 7th grader, but at least we don't have to deal with Jr. High. Our school is Kindergarten through 8th grade, so I will be able to have all the kids at one school for a couple more years. I dread the day I have to start driving to multiple schools every day.

Anyway, for the first 30 minutes it was a walk through in the cafeteria where we just went to different stations to talk to people about P.E. uniforms and electives and stuff. It is a little weird since they are still part of the elementary school. The kids take an elective that exposes them to a bunch of different things for the first semester, instead of picking a particular one, unless there is a specific one they want to be in like art or band. I was SO happy after talking to the band teacher! Last year, when we moved here, I had the kids ask about band and they said they were told that it was too late because they hadn't started in band from the beginning. I thought how unfair that was, because this is the first school they have gone to that offered band as part of the curriculum and not an after school activity that you have to pay for. Fortunately, after talking to Mr. O, I found out that is not the case. It will be harder for them, since Austin, Hailey and Tyler are in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade, but he said if they really want to do it and are willing to put in the effort, he is more than glad to work with them and do whatever it takes to help them to get caught up. Thank goodness Brooklyn and Camren will be able to go straight into band next year without being behind! So John and I are going to figure out what will happen about that. We have to rent instruments, and of course none of them want to play the same thing, but at least your rental fees build equity toward the purchase of a nice instrument, instead of them being a waste every month. I told Tyler he had until the end of the week to decide if he wants to do band or not. It will be hard and require a lot of dedication from him to practice and get caught up with everyone else, but I think he could do it if he wants to. I figured I would let him think about it for a couple days because it is a big commitment, and I am not going to enroll him in it just so he can decide he doesn't want to do it after a few weeks.

The last hour we rotated through the 4 core teacher's classes: Math, History, Language Arts, and Science. All the 7th graders have the same 4 teachers, and they just rotate throughout the day. It was nice to meet teachers, and hear their teaching philosophies and plans for the year. I think Tyler is in for a rude awakening when it comes to their discipline system, but I think it will be really good for him. Instead of each class disciplining individually, they all stay in contact throughout the day and the discipline is cumulative. That means you might get a warning in 1st period, a written warning in 2nd period, and if you don't behave in your next class it could land you in detention. He has always had a major behavior problem at school (bothering other students, touching/taking their stuff, refusing to do work, etc) that I think this will be really good for him.

We also found out how much more strict they are about class/home work. After hearing from the 4 teachers, John and I told him he better really buckle down and take his work more seriously or he is going to end up failing. They have homework every night, Monday through Friday (Something I had told him before, but I don't think he believed me. haha), and you're expected to have your homework out and ready to turn in and if you don't, you get a zero. That's it. I am SO glad, I can't even tell you! He is famous for lying about having homework, or "forgetting it" or whatever, so I think that should put an end to that real quick, once he realizes his teachers aren't going to give him second chances and extensions like he has managed to get most of the time in the past. Also, the teachers each have a class website where I can not only look up his exact homework every night, but I can see every grade for every assignment he does. I think things are looking up for this year already! Ha!

Depressing Post About Depression

2011-08-08T16:57:00.009-06:00

*** I have been struggling for a while, and just wanted to get everything out, so this is just a warning that if you don't want to hear about depression or anything like that, you can just skip this post. ***

Lately my depression has been really hard on me. I feel like I am either totally down and in a black hole, or just yelling and being a total wench. I keep telling myself I only have like 5 weeks or less to go, but in the moment that doesn't really do anything. I know that I am going to have to talk to my Dr. about it on Wednesday, but I don't know what it will really matter. I can't take anything while I'm pregnant, and I'm only 35 weeks on Wednesday so it's not like I can have her early so I can start taking something to get this under control. I just feel kinda hopeless right now. I feel like it's always right on the edge. Like just sitting here typing this I could totally bawl my eyes out, if I just let myself.

I try to find stuff to do, to try and keep myself preoccupied so I don't dwell on how I'm feeling too much, but it is really hard because I feel so overwhelmed with all the stuff I need to do before the baby is born. Or maybe I should say, all the things I *feel* like I need to have done before she gets here. I have a whole list, and I think I have maybe a couple things crossed off. I can't even look at it because I just feel even more overwhelmed and stressed out, and it's like a downward spiral. It makes me worried, because if I am doing so bad now, how much worse am I going to be once she is born? I have struggled with PPD with all my kids. With Hayden it was really bad, but I also went back to school when he was only 4 months old so that added to the stress. It got to where John and I were fighting all the time, I was a jerk to everyone, I quit going to church for like 7 months. I even got another tattoo. I'm talking a big one too, like almost across my shoulder blades. I just really felt like I was out of control. Sometimes we would be driving somewhere and stop and a light, and I would seriously consider just stepping out of the car in to traffic. I felt like I just wanted to climb out of my skin. But I don't remember really struggling with my depression while I was pregnant in the past. I mean, I have struggled with depression as long as I can remember, but I always felt like while pregnant it wasn't even a tenth as bad as it usually is. Also, I think the added excitement of a boy (finally! after 3 girls!) really pushed me through. But after he was born I became even more compulsive than I normally am (and I am total OCD). I held him every second unless I was going to the bathroom or showering, I had to check on him literally every 5 minutes, etc. I tried a couple different meds. to see if they would help with my depression/anxiety, but they made me not sleep. I felt like I was on speed. I was constantly jittery and I could end up being up until 5 in the morning. Let me just tell you, Depression + Anxiety + Jittery + No Sleep= EXTREMELY BAD! That's where I think things started to go downhill. Then the next med. I tried was the opposite. I felt like a zombie. I could barely function or get out of bed. I would be awake enough to make sure the kids were ready and out the door to school (luckily they could walk, since we lived a block away) and then I would go back to bed and I could literally spend the whole day there. I would just bring Hayden to my bed to nurse and snuggle, and then put him back to bed and fall back into a coma. I could barely make it to get up and dressed before the kids got home from school and John got home maybe 1/2 an hour later, sometimes right when they got home. I took one more that seemed to help, or at least didn't affect my consciousness in the extreme that the other 2 did, but eventually I just gave up and quit taking anything.

This time around, with it affecting me so much through my pregnancy, I really worry about afterward. I have no way of knowing if post labor I will be doing better or worse, but if it is worse it is going to be a nightmare. So, as I said I will talk to my Dr. on Wednesday and see what he has to say. Maybe if we go into this expecting it to be awful, we will be able to have a plan to deal with it.

The other thing that is stressing me out is that John starts back to school next month. His actual start date is 2 days before my due date. I don't have any plans to go to my due date, because if it comes down to it, pretty much any Dr. will induce you at 39 weeks. Especially since this is baby #5 for me. But still, it is going to be added stress of him working full time and going to school. Plus the schedule he is going to have is 2 weekdays, plus every Saturday. So pretty much I am going to be a single mom of 8 kids, ages newborn to 13. I haven't said anything to John, because I know how important this is. We really need him to finish school. I know that it won't just be hard on me, since working full time and going to school is so hard to do, but I just have to remind myself of that and suck it up because once he's done it is going to at least double our income, if not more. I had really hoped that I would be able to convince my mom to come and stay with me when I have the baby, and for a little while after, but so far she has said she's not going to. It's frustrating to me because I don't have anyone here that will be helping me. I don't even know what I'm going to do with my kids when I have to be in the hospital. I guess I will just have to leave them home to watch themselves, but it freaks me out because I have no idea how long I will end up being in labor and I don't like the idea of Hayden being home with the kids for a long period of time. But I don't know anyone to watch them, and I don't know what else to do. Maybe it makes me a jerk, but it makes me mad that my mom hasn't agreed to come out here and watch them. She doesn't work and she doesn't have anything else she has to be doing instead, she just won't. So apparently she thinks it's better for me to leave my 23 month old home with 6 older siblings ages 5 - 13, for who knows how long, than for her to have to come out here. It is stressing me out so much I feel like I am going to cry and freak out just writing this. I told John maybe we will have to bring Hayden to the hospital with us, because how could I relax and make it through labor knowing that he was without an adult for that long? I couldn't! I don't know my neighbors, and I don't have any friends here, so that's not an option. Maybe I will have to bring them all with me, and they will just have to hang out with John in the waiting room, and he can come back and forth between there and my room. I don't know. I guess if it comes down to it, that would be better to me than leaving them at home. There is no one here that I would want to watch my kids, so I don't see what other choice there is.

Ok, well that is all I am going to write for now because now that I am looking at this in black and white, instead of just trying to ignore the thoughts in my head, it is stressing me out even more and I am going to start crying and have a major anxiety attack.

It's A ?

2011-04-13T22:13:00.000-06:00

John and I went to the Dr. for my 18 week ultrasound to find out what we were having. We were so excited! John really wanted to do a surprise to find out, where none of us found out ahead of time and we could get a cake at a bakery that would have pink or blue cake inside. Unfortunately for John, I am WAY too impatient for that. So we had a compromise of us finding out at the appointment, and then I baked a cake at home to surprise the kids with tonight after dinner. Before the cake we took a vote. Of course all the boys voted boy, and all the girls voted girl.

Yep, it's a girl! Looks like we will be even again after all. Hailey was the most excited, because she called it all the way back in January when we found out we were having another baby, and never wavered once.

Quick Message

2011-03-29T11:25:00.002-06:00

So I have been wanting to write several posts on here, but I haven't really been able to be online lately. For some reason, with this pregnancy every time I play on my laptop or my phone it makes me so nauseous I can't function, sometimes for hours. It's hard, because I have a lot going on that I want to talk about, but not enough time. I guess I will just settle for a little post now, before I start feeling sick, and then I will do a little bit at a time when I can.

The kids went back to school today. They had been on Spring Break, and since they have year round school here, they were off for two weeks. Hailey enjoyed getting to bring home the class fish for 2 weeks. Actually I think Hayden loved it the most. I have been considering getting a fish, just because whenever he was throwing a tantrum or having a meltdown I could just be like, Do you want to look at the fishy? and he would immediately stop crying and laugh and point at the fishy. He loved it and wanted to look at it all the time.

It has been really nice and quiet this morning. Amelia and Hayden slept in, without the older kids to wake them up. Hayden is usually a really late sleeper, getting up around 9 or so, but the kids kept waking him up around 7 while they were off. It sucked, because he would be a little terror all morning because he wasn't getting enough sleep.

We are moving to Phoenix this weekend. On the 20th we went to church at what would be our new ward, and everyone was great and we really liked it there. It was nice that they have such a huge primary, since the ward we are in right now is so small. The new ward has such a large primary, they have opening exercises in the chapel. It's weird that they have church 2 - 5. I have never heard of meeting at that time. While I was there, I was able to meet with the Primary presidency to make sure that we will still be able to have Brooklyn's baptism April 30th. I was worried that moving was going to mess that up. We have family coming from different states, and that was the one day I could get everyone here.

I am so not feeling this move. Not that I don't like the house, or where we are moving to, I just really don't want to move. Like the actual packing and moving part. I need to have the house packed by Friday, and I am nowhere near being done. So far I have only done the master closet (which is actually a lot, it's about the size of one of the kids' bedrooms), the playroom, the office, the family room (dvd's and stuff) and most of my home decor. It seems like there is still so much to do. I have been filling out the paperwork for the new school (times 5) so that I can turn it in Friday. They said as long as I get it in by Friday, they will be able to start on Monday and they won't miss any days of school.

Well, there is a lot more that I want to say, but I am starting to feel sick and I really need to pack. I guess I will try to get on here later tonight, or tomorrow, and try writing some more.

Scorpions Suck

2011-03-15T15:05:00.003-06:00

Last night Brooklyn got stung by a scorpion. It was so sad. It was on the floor in the hallway upstairs (and I don't know how it got there) and she thought it was one of her brothers' plastic toys and picked it up. At first when I heard her screaming I just thought she was being dramatic and trying to get attention, until it turned into "hurt" wailing. I told John to come deal with the scorpion (who had been flung back to the floor) while I took care of Brooklyn. There isn't really anything that you can do for the pain, but I put a wet compress on it and put her hand above her heart like John told me. He called Poison Control, and they said the same thing and said they would call back every hour for the next 3 hours to check for warning symptoms like drooling, rapid eye movement, or difficulty swallowing.

John gave her a chocolate klondike bar, and she said it didn't make her finger feel better, but it did make her feel better. I gave her some children's pain reliever, and then she got to stay up with me for a few hours watching tv and visiting so I could keep an eye on her. The pain wasn't just in her finger, it affected her whole hand and went up her arm all the way to her armpit. Apparently that is normal, but it was sad that I couldn't do anything that would make the pain go away, other than try and distract her. Around 10:30, once I felt sure she was going to be ok, I went ahead and let her go to bed and told her she could come and get in bed with me in the morning.

Today she has been doing better. She said that her finger still hurts, but it's not hurting her entire arm like it was last night. She was still able to play outside this morning, until she fell, off her scooter and scraped her leg. Poor girl. Now she is just hanging out inside, so that maybe she can make it through the rest of the day without hurting herself again.

Smell Ya Later!

2011-03-07T16:14:00.001-07:00

I forgot to add the best part of having my house back - A SPOTLESS HOUSE!

Yes that does merit all caps! If I had before/after pictures to show you, especially of my carpet you would know why! Man, it was driving me crazy because it was really starting to look like crap around here, and since moving here I have (I think) done a really good job of keeping my house decent, if not spotless. However, adding 5 people totally changes that. My carpets were so disgusting I couldn't stand it. Some people didn't think anything about letting their kids carry drinks and stuff around outside of the kitchen, or wearing filthy work boots on my floors. Things I never allow, and tried not to allow with our company, although apparently unsuccessfully. It is hard to keep a house clean when you have a bunch of people staying with you that hangout in all of the living areas of the house, but only clean up their room and have their daughter do the dishes once a week. The rest of it was left to me and the kids. Ugh! Like I don't have enough to do already.

Now, before this turns into a total complain blog, I just want to say I have been really impressed with how hard my husband and kids worked to get my house back in order and to keep it that way. John shampooed ALL the carpets in the entire house. It took 2 bottles of cleaner, but almost 1 full bottle was used just cleaning the room our guests were staying in. I rearranged the girls' room, and put everything back where it used to go. I used lemon cleaner to wipe down all the wood furniture (oh that smells sooooo good!!), all the floors got mopped and the bathrooms got scrubbed. It was like an exorcism for our house, but for dirt. Haha

Of course, the laundry room is another story . . . . Sigh. Although it is getting better. I sorted through my 5 million boxes of kids clothing, and got out all the kids' summer clothes. I figure since it's been in the 80's all week, and is supposed to stay that way, that we don't really need winter clothes out anymore. So I packed up what they had clean in their rooms, and then I have just been sorting it out of the laundry as I get it done. It is just so hard to keep up on laundry for this many people! I feel like I am doing a million loads of laundry every day. I really don't know what to do differently to make it less of a huge chore. What I really wish was that we could get another washer and dryer! My laundry room is HUGE and it has more than enough room for another set. I could probably fit a couple more sets in, if I didn't have a couple freezers and a laundry sink in there. It is the size of a decent kids bedroom, and I love it!! Anyway, I am hoping that I can convince John that we need another set, because that would definitely cut down on how much time is spent on the stupid laundry. I told John that someday, when we build our own house, we are going to have basically a laundromat in our house. An entire room of industrial washers and dryers that can do a bunch of laundry at once, and not take forever. Oh, if only it was going to be someday sooner.

Speaking of which, I better go switch the laundry over and start another load . . . . . . .

Alone At Last - Sort Of

2011-03-07T12:49:00.001-07:00

You hear that? Sweet Silence.

It's the sound I have been enjoying during nap time every day, since our company moved out. Back in January, we had some friends move in with us. It was a high school friend of mine, and her husband and three kids ages 11, 3, and 8 months. They were living in another state and having major problems, so we offered to have them come and stay with us to help them get on their feet. They moved in the beginning of January, with the intent to stay until June so her 11 year old daughter could finish out the school. year since it would be her 6th school this year. While I really felt like it was what we should do to help them, I honestly have to say I am glad that they ended up moving out after about 12 weeks.

While I knew that it would be stressful having another family living in my house, I don't think I appreciated just how much of a struggle it would be. In the beginning it wasn't so bad, because it was new and everyone was on their best behavior. Well, as much as possible for 10 kids and 4 adults. However, slowly people started getting on each other's nerves, and things really went downhill once they got their own place. They got it back in February, but it wasn't going to be ready until March. I really felt like once they knew they were getting another place, things just went to crap. I almost felt like it was like, now that we know we're not going to need you we don't have to be as nice as we were. The worst was her 11 year old daughter, who was sharing a room with my 3 girls so she didn't have to be stuck in a room with her parents and the two little boys. She was constantly being a jerk to my daughters and saying mean things to them, and pitting them against each other and lying. I'm not saying my girls are perfect, and they had their fair share of being little butts too, but it was frustrating that I felt my friend is totally in denial about her daughter's behavior. All little kids at least occasionally lie and act like jerks to each other, but my friend seems to think that her kid is the exception to that and that she NEVER does. It was so frustrating to me because several times my husband and I stood there watching her lie to her mom's face, and she just couldn't accept that it was possible. Even when I was the one telling her that I was right there and here is what happened, etc. It got to the point where everyone was living in the same house and avoiding each other. Well, except her husband, who was really laid back and didn't really do anything other than go to work and sleep. By the time they were moving out I was pretty much counting the days and couldn't wait for them to leave, because of all the drama her daughter was causing with my kids. I guess it affected me more than I thought, because last night after John talked about getting together with them so they can get a bunch of stuff that they left at my house, I had nightmares about her daughter. Haha. Pretty lame, but I guess my subconscious knows that I have no desire to get together with them and see them, even if I am trying to be nice and act like I do. It's hard because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I really feel like living together did hurt our friendship. We weren't super close friends or anything, just casual friends from high school who we felt like we should help out, but it is still kinda sad. I just tell myself that I have so much other stuff I have to deal with that is more important, that I just have to accept that not all friendships are meant to be lifelong friendships.

And then there were 8

2011-03-03T16:36:00.003-07:00

So I thought this warranted it's own post, instead of being lumped in with the family update. Our family is expecting another baby on September 14th. I am officially 12 weeks, as of yesterday. It was funny when John and I found out that we were going to have another September baby. Both Amelia and Hayden (our 2 kids together) were born in September, and this baby is due smack in the middle of their two birthdays. I told him I guess we really like to have babies in September.

This is the cake we used to tell the kids. They were all excited. Well, except Hayden, who had no idea what was going on. It took John and I a while to get used to the idea, but I think it is finally starting to sink in. After past experiences I have had, I will be more excited once I have the ultrasound where we find out what we're having, and I can see that the baby is ok. Ever since William died, I am always paranoid when I am not far enough to feel the baby move and know that he is ok. Even though I have had 3 more babies since then, I worry that something's wrong and I just don't know it because I'm not far enough along to feel the baby moving all the time. Even then, I still can't relax until I have that baby in my arms and I know they are here and ok. Ok, enough of that. I am trying to be positive and tell myself everything will be ok and I am excited for this baby. It would be nice to have another girl, since we are currently 4/3 with boys winning, but honestly I really hope it is a boy. Hayden is only 18 months, and his closest brother is 8. It would be really nice for him to have a brother close in age to him. Either way, I am just happy he will have a sibling close to him, since Amelia is 4 years older.

Update

2011-03-03T16:18:00.003-07:00

Man, I haven't posted on here in forever! I don't even know where to start! I guess I will do a little family update, and then do individual posts with pictures when I get the chance.

Since my last post, we:

1. Celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad's whole family. It was a lot of fun, because in addition to my parents being here, Robyn and Jacob's families came down. I hadn't seen Robyn in over a year, and I finally got to meet my new niece.

2. Celebrated Christmas with my moms family. We did Christmas morning at our house, and then spent the afternoon/evening at my grandparents house. Afterwards, we went with Kim to this really cool house in Phoenix that you can walk through their yard and they have TONS of lights.

3. The week after Christmas, my ex-in-law's came down from Utah to stay with us for a few days. It was nice to have them. I love them a lot, and we had a lot of fun taking the kids to the zoo and just hanging out.

4. New Years wasn't that exciting, because we spent it by ourselves. We spent most of the night eating, watching tv, and watching John tape off the kitchen to paint.

5. On January 4th, Hailey turned 11. It was pretty traumatic - for me anyway. Ha!

She was excited to get "teenager stuff" like body wash, and her very own purse complete with pens, paper, and gum.

6. We had lots of "fun" dealing with black mold when a leak in the kids' bathroom started pouring into the garage, and everything had to be gutted. Thank goodness for renting! It was a miserable couple of weeks freezing because it was so cold in the house due to the huge HOLE in the floor of the bathroom!

7. We are considering moving. I know that is crazy, but so is John's commute. It takes him an hour or more to get home. And the HOA that has been harassing us for various, ridiculous reasons. We have found a house we really like that is really close to John's work, and it's cheaper than where we are now. So it would save us rent money and gas money. Not to mention that it would cut John's commute down to a third of what it is now. We are still deciding what we want to do, because we love where we are so much, but it is a definite possibility. It is a hard decision, because as much as I hate the commute and the cost of it, I really love this house and ward. The only reason I am entertaining the idea is because I finally found a house that I actually like as much as this one.

Anyway, that is what we have been up to. Kids are great. Doing good in school, behaving decently at home, growing faster than I can clothe them, and driving me crazy. But I love them and I'm happy. :)

GREAT Grandparents

2010-12-27T15:40:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorite pictures. It's all of my kids with my Grandpa and Grandma Greer (my mom's parents), and was taken on Christmas. I love them so much and I am glad that I live close enough to see them whenever I want/have time. It is important to me that my kids know who they are and have a relationship with them, because they have been such huge influences on me, especially my grandma. I am truly blessed that both of my sets of grandparents live here, and they are all still alive. I know how rare that is among people my age. That was my biggest motivation behind moving to Arizona.

Standing

2010-11-15T23:39:00.003-07:00

Somebody thinks he's a big boy and has started standing . . . .

Hayden has been slow to stand or walk, but if I had 6 kids to carry me around all day and do whatever I wanted, I don't think I would be in such a hurry either. He still doesn't stand a whole bunch, and won't walk unless you hold his hand, but he is making progress and I can tell that it won't be long. It's ok, I already have 6 kids walking/running around the house. I am perfectly fine to wait as long as he wants.

"Helping" unpack.

Hanging out in the backyard.

Freeways and Body Shops

2010-11-15T23:06:00.003-07:00

I thought about going to bed early, but I had to throw in a load of laundry for tomorrow so I guess I am up until it's ready to go to the dryer.

Today I had to take John's car in to the shop so they could start fixing it. The weekend before we moved to Arizona, John got in a car accident. He was driving down State Street in Orem, and as he went to turn left a northbound car ran a red light and he ended up getting in an accident with another car. Of course we weren't able to take care of it before we moved, so I had to drive it down here looking all ghetto with my tore up car like I don't know how to drive. I told John I was going to put a sign on it that said "My husband did this". Haha! I didn't really, because it would have just blown off on the freeway anyway.

So this morning I was totally brainless. I woke up and remembered that I would need my drivers license to pick up the rental car. Then I remembered that my wallet was in the suburban. Great. So I called John to ask him what I should do, and ended up having to head out to the Mayo Clinic to pick up my wallet. This was scary for 2 reasons: 1. I had never driven there before and 2. I hadn't even driven on the freeway by myself yet. On the way here, John and I drove caravan style, and we had walkie talkies to talk to each other the whole way. So this was my first time braving the very confusing freeways all by myself. In rush hour traffic, no less. I finally made it there, with only a couple minor anxiety attacks, and easily found my truck and was back on the road. As I was driving home, for some reason I was thinking about my debit card being in the back pocket of my jeans. This is when my scatterbrained self decided to remember that my drivers license had been in my back pocket the whole time, along with my card. Really? Like I couldn't have thought of that 2 hours prior?Needless to say, I totally didn't tell John. He doesn't need to know I'm that retarded. Seriously.

The rental car we ended up getting is really lame. I will just say that I am SO glad that I don't have to drive it. I mean, I am glad that we are getting it so cheap, but really I don't think they could have found a more basic car. I found it funny that it doesn't have power ANYTHING, yet I saw it had an ipod outlet. So, no power windows or locks, but you can plug an ipod in. Sigh. Anyway, good thing we just need it for John to drive to work. Hopefully he won't be as uncomfortable as I was driving it. I think his normal car is uncomfortable to drive (hate the seats) but this car might have his beat. Maybe I just hate small cars. It's been about 8 years since I have had a car, as opposed to a minivan or suburban. I love my suburban so much. I feel so much safer, because it's so big. It has definitely improved my anxiety while I'm driving, because when I'm driving around town, I feel like anyone who hits me is going to do way more damage to their own car than they are to me. The freeway is another story. I am still terrified of all the drivers on the freeway. I was pretty proud of myself for driving all the way to John's work and back today in his car and not totally freaking out.

Up

2010-11-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to be a little better around here. I am feeling a little more up. I am still struggling with my depression, but it isn't as bad. It is something I have struggled with my whole life, so it's not like it's going to go away completely, but I am having fewer days where I want to cry and stay in bed, so I guess it's progress. I'm trying to be upbeat, and talk with friends when I am really feeling down. I know that it also probably helped that John was home today. I think part of my struggle is that I got used to having John home all the time when he was out of work, so now that he is back to work I am lonely. I am even more lonely because Amelia is at my parent's house in California, and I am used to her being around keeping me company while the other kids are at school. Oh well, I guess that's good practice for when she starts school next year. I talked to her tonight on Windows Live with video chat. I swear I am so lame, I don't know why I didn't think of that before last night. I could have been video chatting with her this whole last month! It was great to see her little silliness in person while I was talking to her. I miss her so much!! I keep telling myself that she is enjoying playing with and getting spoiled by grandma and grandpa, but I really can't wait 'til the 21st when she comes home! I am just going to squeeze her guts when she gets here!! She was super excited when I told her that we set up her brand new bunk bed this week. The look on her face was priceless, so I'm glad I waited to tell her 'til we did the video chat.

We were slackers and ended up getting pizza tonight. My mom would laugh if she read that, because she says we are always having pizza. Surprisingly we hadn't had it in a couple weeks, so I actually wanted to eat it. I guess it sounds better when John isn't suggesting it like every other day. Ha!

Since today is Saturday, I got to have John home all day with me. While I was asleep, he moved my elliptical into the guest bedroom and out of the hall. It had been sitting in the hall between the guest bedroom and the office, because the movers couldn't get it through the doorway, and supposedly they weren't allowed to take doors off. Whatever. I will probably end up moving it into the office, but not until I get a real bed for the guest bedroom. Right now we just have an air mattress, because we sold the one we had in Utah. It's not like anyone will be staying at our house in the near future anyway. Everyone wants to come here and stay at my grandparents house, even though they haven't seen us in forever either and we have WAY more room at our house.

Anyway, we also hung up all of my pictures and shelves all over the house, and I have most of my decor up. The living room is 100% unpacked. It looks really nice in there now. It's really late, so I will post pictures tomorrow. I figure since it's taking so long to get the house in order I can just blog the pics and updates as I finish each room.

We also found a couch that we might buy. We are going to look at it after church tomorrow. The lady is selling it for her daughter, who is in the hospital having health problems, so she can only show it at certain times when the landlord can let her in. It is light brown, and it's a sectional. It looks really nice. Right now we don't have any couches in the family room. We sold a lot of our bigger/heavier furniture before we moved and we got rid of the old family room couches because they were really old and since they were dual recliners they were REALLY heavy. John's work paid our moving costs, up to 12,000 lbs. so we wanted to lighten our load, since we would have to pay any overages. Anyway, I hope they are in nice condition, and as neutral colored as they look in the pictures, because it would really be nice to not watch tv sitting at the kitchen table.

Tomorrow is stake conference. It is different here. We all go to our own buildings and it is broadcast from the stake center. I am looking forward to it, because they always have really good talks at stake conference, but I'm not looking forward to it because it's like trying to get my kids to behave through 2 hours of sacrament meeting. You would think that since they are all getting older, they would have an easier time sitting still and paying attention, but apparently not.

Also, tomorrow afternoon the bishop and his counselors are coming over. I don't know why. I assume it's because we're new and they want to come meet us. I haven't had them come over in any of our other wards. My bishop in my last ward only really talked to me once in the year I lived there, and I lived next door!

The End of My Rope

2010-11-11T10:17:00.006-07:00

Yesterday I decided to brave my way to Target. I am slowly finding my way around here. Unlike John, who has the GPS, I have to just wander around until I find where I am going. I have figured out several of the main roads that will get you just about anywhere, so I have started wandering off of those roads, keeping in mind my location in relation to them so I can find my way back. I haven't gotten lost yet.

Anyway, Hayden and I went to Target. I needed to get out of the house, and they always have good deals. I got a book that was REALLY good. It's called "The Other Mothers' Club" by Samantha Baker. I couldn't put it down, and finished it last night. It is fiction, and is about friends that become, or are in the process of becoming, stepmothers, and their support of each other. It was really good, and some of the drama I could totally relate to. John and I are what people would consider a "blended family", and we've been together 6 years. Although I don't consider myself a stepmother (since the boys were so little when John and I got married, and I am their ONLY mother) I could relate to a lot of the drama the main character had with her 13 year old step-daughter to be. The only difference was that since it was a book, of course they were able to find a way to work through their issues and get along.

I have had a lot of major drama with Tyler (12). Not with him specifically going at me, but with his behavior being out of control in general. At home, and everywhere we go - ESPECIALLY at school. It is getting ridiculous. In the last week since being at his new school he has 1. sat there and refused to take notes during science and history, 2. given total attitude to the music teacher for telling him not to run in the halls and to come back and walk, 3. not turned in ANY homework, 4. lied and said he didn't have homework because they do all their work during class, 5. googled playboy in computer lab while he was supposed to be looking up information on Plato for a class report. Are you freaking kidding me?? I am ready to just strangle him, and so is John. I know that some people would be like, "Oh he's at a new school and he's having trouble adjusting" blah, blah, blah. The truth is, he has had behavior problems like this at school since kindergarten. Last year my husband and I were actually meeting weekly with him, the vice-principal and his teacher because his behavior was so out of control. Talking back, refusing to do work, picking on/beating up other kids, lying, kicked a yard duty (seriously???), etc. The list goes on, and on, and on, adding new bad things each year. It's like each school year he's like, hmmm what could I do to be bad that I haven't tried yet? On top of that, he is being a total jerk hole to the other kids when he's home. Bossing them, picking on them, beating up his brothers, even hurting his 1 year old brother. It has gotten to the point that I don't even want him in my house. I swear I don't know what we're going to do with him. Right now he's on total restriction. That means school, homework, and nothing else. No scouts, no young mens, no extracurricular school activities he wanted to participate in like band or running club, NOTHING until he starts behaving like a decent human being. He's also not allowed to even touch Hayden, and if he even starts with the other kids I just immediately send him to his room. Period. No warnings. If that doesn't work, I don't know what our next step is, but I have a feeling it is going to be something involving removing him from this house. For the safety of the other kids, if nothing else. John and I have looked into in-patient behavior programs in the past. Looks like we might need to start doing that again.

Depression and Change of Scenery

2010-11-08T22:46:00.004-07:00

Well, we've been in Arizona for a whole week now. I would like to say it has been an amazing experience, but that would be a lie. I feel so frustrated.

Before moving here, John and I both felt impressed that this was the right place for us, and that he should take the job at the Mayo Clinic. His new job paid for us to come out here and house hunt for 4 days, and we found the house that was THE house. The whole time we were packing up and gearing up to leave Utah and come out here we were excited and positive. However, as soon as we got out here something changed. I can't pinpoint it, or say what it is. I just don't feel at home here. Maybe it's because I haven't lived here since I was 9, so it's not familiar to me (other than visiting family) or maybe it's just that I don't really have any friends here or know where anything is. I don't know what it is. I feel like it's swallowing me.

I try not to say anything to John because I don't want to sound like a whiny, spoiled brat. I mean John has an amazing job, we have a HUGE, gorgeous house, my kids are adjusting to their new school well and love their teachers, the weather is beautiful (the kids had to unpack their summer clothes), my entire extended family lives within about 40 minutes of me, our new ward is nice, and Holly (my childhood best friend from when I used to live here) lives about 3 minutes away. Looking at that list, it sounds like a dream come true - but the depression is killing me. I have had days where I could literally sit and cry and not even get dressed or get out of bed. I don't know what is wrong with me. I still have a ton of stuff in boxes. More than I should, considering that I am just home with Hayden all day and there's not really anything else for me to do. I just don't care. I don't want to unpack all our crap. I haven't even felt motivated to unpack all the decor, and hang up all our pictures and everything. Usually when we move into a new house the very first thing I do is decorate it, so it doesn't feel naked while I'm unpacking. This time I haven't even bothered.

On Friday I went to Deseret Book for a little bit. It was a tiny one, like the one in Lehi, but it was nice to be somewhere where I felt like I belonged and where I love to go. I bought a couple new cd's to try to help lift my spirits, and a new book that I am about half way through. It's called "In Trying Times, Just Keep Trying" by Merrilee Boyack. She is one of my favorite speakers, and I have been privileged to be able to hear her speak several times. This book is not as light hearted as her other material, but it has sure resonated with me. I am really glad I got it. I have also really enjoyed the cd's. I got the new Mercy River cd, and another one I forget the name of that is a compilation cd that I have the first one of. They are both great. I will come back and add the name of the second cd when I look at it next. Anyway, they have helped some, but I still really feel overcome with depression. I know that depression is something that I have struggled with in the past, and I have even been on medication for it, but I feel like this is different. Like the life has been sucked out of me. I don't know what to even say or do. I just know that I hope I can figure a way to get out of this funk soon, because there is so much to do around here and not getting it done is stressing me out almost as much as doing it.

The Job

2010-09-16T00:06:00.004-06:00

Yesterday John accepted the job at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix. It's not a 100% done deal yet. He still has to pass the drug screen/background check, so we should find out for sure the beginning on next week. We are excited because: 1- it pays more, 2- it has WAY better benefits, and 3- we would be near all our family we love and miss.

When I was on the phone with my dad talking about it, my mom was in the background saying how she will never come visit me if I move to Arizona. Really? Like I am so stupid I am going to believe that you are going to deprive yourself of 7 grandchildren because we're doing something you don't approve of. The biggest reason she doesn't think we should move? She doesn't think the kids should have to change schools. Well, I understand that it sucks that they would have to leave a school that we all love, but I wouldn't do it unless John and I felt like it was the right decision for our family. Also, we're not moving right away. John was offered 2 start dates, and accepted the date of November 1st. However, WE will not be heading down there then, just he will. There are 2 reasons for this. 1- Tyler got put into a really great 9 week behavior management program, and it starts next Monday and doesn't end until right before Thanksgiving. 2- Unless we find a house that we feel is THE house that we need to be in, we are considering having John commute while I stay here and allow the kids to finish the school year where they are. I know that would be a really tough sacrifice, but we think we can do it if we feel like that is what we should do. He will be working 4 10's, so it will be doable. Hard, but doable.

We have found a house that we love. It could possibly be THE house, but there are 2 other families that are interested in it. They are going to make a decision and let us know the beginning of next week. It is HUGE (bigger than the house we're in now), 30 minutes from John's new job, one house away from a huge park, across the street from a really great elementary school, in a really awesome and largely lds area, and we would be able to assume the loan held by the current owners. Not a lease option, it would be OURS! That would be a huge blessing because we would like to find somewhere to stay put, but we couldn't qualify for a loan right now. It is perfect for us though, so I am trying to pray and hope for it, without getting my hopes up too much and getting too attached. We'll see how that goes. . .

Family

2010-09-15T23:44:00.004-06:00

All my life it seems, I have struggled trying to find the balance between living my life the way I wanted and desperately seeking my parents approval. While I feel like I am much closer to the first, I think that I am coming to terms with the fact that the latter is something that is just never going to happen. No matter what decision I have made in my life, my parents have always been there to second guess me and tell me what a huge mistake I was making. And yes, sometimes they were right, but the thing is they are my mistakes to make. Would it be so bad to just be supportive? To say, I don't think it's the best choice, but I am going to support you and be here for you? Apparently the answer is yes, because it is something they are just not capable of doing. Not for me anyway.

Take our (hopefully) upcoming move to Arizona as an example:

I think the number one reason it makes me mad that they are acting this way about the move is that this move would put me right near almost ALL my extended family on BOTH sides of my family. Both of my sets of grandparents are alive and live in Phoenix, within 5 minutes of each other. All my aunts and uncles except one live there, and the majority of my cousins live there. It's like my parents are mad at me for wanting my own family in my life. I know that they think that I have some fairytale dream of what it will be like to live near my grandparents, and that I am in for a rude awakening when I try to spend time with them and they are failing in health and I have 7 kids ages 12 down to 1. I don't; I am trying to be realistic about it. I am sure that there will be times that they are too tired or worn out to deal with having my whole family around. I also know that I have 5 kids in school, and there will be opportunities for me to spend time with them with my 2 younger (quieter) children. I will have opportunities to help them and serve them, and let them know how much I love them.

The thing is, I don't want to miss out on any more time with them. I don't want my kids to miss out on knowing who they are, and what amazing people they are. I am trying to do the opposite of what my parents did to me. See, I grew up in Arizona. I lived there until I was 9, and then smack dab in the middle of the school year my parents ripped us away from my entire family to transplant us in the Bay Area where we had no family and knew no one, because of a job my dad got. I feel like I have spent the last 21 years missing out on the close relationships that all my other family members that still live in Arizona have, because they have all been together all this time. I don't want to lose any more time. If it means I have to move 10 hours away and go bake in 120 degree heat, then so be it. Life is too short to miss out on spending it with the most important people in your life.

2010-09-15T23:40:00.001-06:00

Man, I was looking at one of my friends blogs and it said that I hadn't posted anything new in 2 months! So much for getting better at this. I will try and get new updates soon! I have lots to post about, especially Hayden's first birthday!

Camren turns 8!

2010-07-08T02:01:00.005-06:00

Camren turned 8 on the first, but we didn't end up doing anything because we were so busy getting ready to go to Idaho the next day. Instead, I shopped before we left and we planned to have a surprise party for him while we were at Hailee and Alan's house. He had no idea, and we all had a blast! I can't believe he is already 8! It seems like just yesterday John and I were getting married and he was only 2. Boy how time flies!

The awesome cake

Oooh! Presesnts!

Still stunned, not sure what's going on.

Just a little excited. hehe!

Magic Tree House books are a favorite around here.

Happy for more Bionicles

If you can't tell, cars are pretty much his favorite thing ever

Oooh! Another Bionicle!

Getting sung to

My kids love to lick the frosting off all the candles

The big, blue, toothless grin says it all

4th of July - A Day Early

2010-07-08T01:48:00.002-06:00

Since this year the 4th of July fell on a Sunday, of course all the celebrations were held on Saturday. (At least they were in Idaho, and back home in Utah) We decided to drive out to Melba to see fireworks, since they are supposed to be some of the best in the state. I have to say they didn't disappoint. They had probably the best fireworks I have seen since Hailey was 1 1/2. We had a blast hanging out on the lawn talking and eating pizza, and of course taking tons of adorable pictures. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

My totally adorable kids.

Hailee and Alan and the boys.

John being a wierdo in Hayden's sunglasses.

Hayden wasn't thrilled with the fireworks. This is before he started screaming his face off.

Me and Hayden hanging out.

Boating Fun

2010-07-08T00:29:00.007-06:00

We had SO much fun out on the boat with our friends!! The kids had a blast out on the tube and the taco, but I think Alan had more fun than anyone. Ha ha! He was like the biggest kid of them all! We were able to spend several hours out just blasting the radio and flinging Alan and the kids all over the lake. Hayden had a blast on his first boat ride. He was bouncing up and down and waving his arms everywhere. He was so excited. He made it through almost the whole trip, before he passed out sitting up from exhaustion. It was so cute!

I let my daughter take my picture. I guess it's as decent as it can be with me in it.

Hailee with her cute boys, Hunter and Jaxon.

Alan and the girls on the taco.

Pulling the tube and the taco.

All the kids (minus Camren).

John and Hayden (they're not really red, we had the bimini top up)

Me and Hayden.

Excuses and Idaho

2010-07-08T00:15:00.001-06:00

Man. So it seems like every time I make plans to update my blog it goes like this:

Me: ooh! look! I did a couple new posts! Only 5 billion more and I will be all caught up! Go me!

Internet: oh Michele . . . . someone posted something new on facebook!

Me: ooh! what is it?

Internet: oh, and you're people are starving in your cafe, and there's a sale at Gymboree and you might want to check out craigslist and ksl while you're at it.

And there goes another 3 days of my life I will never get back.

At least this time I actually had an excuse. We went to Idaho for the weekend. We left the 2nd, and got home the 5th. We spent time with our best friends, Hailee and Alan, and had a TON of fun! Idaho was beautiful, and it was nice to be with friends. We went to amazing fireworks, we had a surprise birthday party for Camren, we took the boat out, and we just spent time lying around talking and eating double stuff oreos and diet coke. It was awesome and I wish I didn't have to come home.

Although I love Utah, it is lonely here. My parents are in California, and while I would LOVE to live right by them, I have NO desire to live in California again. I have friends here, but not ones that we hang out with and do stuff together with as a couple or family. It was so nice to be in Idaho. John even applied for a few jobs out there after we got back, because we liked it there so much. I don't know if anything will come of it, but it would just be nice to live somewhere where we had friends that we could hang out with all the time and do stuff with. Like hang out at each other's houses, and go camping and boating together, and just do stuff together. I know that it sounds crazy to think that we would move to Idaho because of friends, but it's nice to know that I would seriously have someone that I could hang out every day with. I don't have anyone like that now, and it gets really lonely.

Wow, well this post got really depressing all of the sudden and I didn't mean for it to. Anyway, our trip was freakin awesome and I will do more posts - with pictures in a minute.

Gratuitous Hayden Pic

2010-07-01T04:10:00.006-06:00

So it's getting late (or early), and I'm actually getting a little tired, but I couldn't leave without posting a picture of the cutest baby alive. His hair is starting to curl now. It is so adorable I can't bear to cut it. I told John maybe when he turns one I will cut it. I'm not going to be one of those moms that let's their little boy look like a girl, but he still has a while before I have to worry about that. And oh those cute, chubby little cheeks! I swear I could eat those cheeks all day long! I can't believe he is going to be 10 months old on Sunday! Boy has the time flown by. I wish I could keep him little forever!

I will post some of the other kids later on today when I come back to do some more updating.

Singing

2010-07-01T03:24:00.004-06:00

So I went and checked out a new vocal coach last week. I was a little nervous because it had been a while since I quit working with my last one. I am shy (hard to believe for the people that know me) and I have a hard time warming up to people. So add that to my nerve wracking stage fright, and I thought I was going to die going in to my session. Ha ha! Luckily I went and everything was fine. The teacher was awesome! In just one lesson I could already see a difference because I was able to make it to a high A flat without straining. It has really frustrated me that it is totally true that you have to either use it or lose it. In school, I sang first soprano, sometimes I even sang the descant. But then I discovered that I loved singing alto, because I loved harmonizing and it was a change from what I had been doing for years. So after years of not using my higher register, and enjoying the harmonies, the higher end of my range is almost non-existing. So, the teacher I saw teaches SLS, which is Speech Level Singing. Basically, it uses methods to strengthen your vocal chords and teach your larynx to stay down while you're singing so you can belt the higher notes without the strain you would usually get. In one session I could see a major difference. So I am planning on working with her, at least for the summer. She isn't too busy right now since it's summer, so she offered to charge me 1/2 price. Since she is one of the top vocal coaches in the state, that is too good of an offer to pass up! She has a lot of connections in the music industry, and also teaches classes on performance and getting over stage fright. The goal is to get performing locally, and then go from there. So I will have to keep you posted on what's going on with that. In the mean time, I am excited to be getting back to doing what I love more than anything.

Updating

2010-07-01T02:44:00.003-06:00

Man, I have just gotten so far behind on here. It's hard because I have let it get so overwhelming that I will come on here with the intention of getting things updated, but then I get on here and realize just how far behind I am and it's like paralyzing. So for now I am just going to take baby steps, keeping up to date now, and I will try to get the older stuff caught up when I can. And if it doesn't happen, I will try not to beat myself up about it.

Party Pics

2010-06-03T23:54:00.001-06:00

So, a little after birthday party post. I had a bunch of fun stuff planned for the day. First, while he was at work we decorated the house and porch, and I made carrot cake. When he got home, we surprised him and had cake and presents. He loved the 2 terabyte external hard drive that I got him, and he was totally surprised and didn't suspect anything. I arranged like a week ahead of time, for my ex sis in law to watch the kids, and John and I went to Tucanos and then went to see 'How To Train Your Dragon" in 3D. I know some people may think that's dorky, but it was actually really good and nothing else in the theater sounded good, or it was rated R. Anyway, it was fun to get to go out alone on a date for once.

Porch all decorated (ignore the Christmas lights. haha)

Ready to open presents.

Yay, the external hard drive I wanted!

Hamming it up like a dork.

Attacking the cake.

He really did take a bite out of the corner. Haha! He was totally hamming it up the whole time. I took tons of pictures, too many to post here, and even though he acted like his birthday wasn't a big deal I could tell that he was totally soaking up all the attention. I swear men are just over sized little boys. :)

John's Birthday - Car Pics

2010-06-03T23:40:00.006-06:00

Here are some pics of what I did to John's car. I had fun doing it, and even though he said he thought it was dorky/embarrassing, I could tell that he really did enjoy it and just didn't want to admit it.

John's 33 Today

2010-06-03T11:20:00.006-06:00

Today is my husband's birthday. He turned 33. I have been torturing him the last few days about how he is getting so old. haha! Today is going to be so fun because he totally thinks I don't have anything planned. I started last night by getting a car marker, and writing all over his car windows. I put Happy Birthday, and Honk! It's My Birthday Today, Birthday Boy, and I Love You all over all the windows. Then I got a big bag of balloons and blew them up and filled his car with them. I hope he liked it. I haven't gotten to talk to him today, 'cause he's been in surgery (working) all day. I also have fun planned for tonight. I am SOO excited because he has NO idea!! I have overheard him tell several people that he didn't think we were doing anything and that as far as he knew I didn't have anything planned. That's right, as far as he knows. Hahaha! I have had a babysitter lined up for like a week, and we are going to dinner and a movie sans kids. I am super excited. 1 - because he has NO idea, and 2 - because we rarely, if ever, get a night out alone. I also bought him an external hard drive he has been wanting to get for a while. He tried to buy it a couple weeks ago while we were at the store and I had to be like NO! let's just wait a while longer and think about it! Ugh, so close!

Anyway, I also made carrot cake (which is cooling so I can decorate it) and I got Happy Birthday decorations to put up before he gets home. The kids are cleaning right now to get ready to decorate, since he gets off in a couple hours. I figured we will do cake and stuff with him when he gets off work, and then Jessica (my babysitter/ex sister in law) will get here in time for us to leave at 5. I am thinking of going to Tucanos and then hitting the movie theater that is nearby. I still plan on taking Hayden, since he thinks he needs a boob all the time, but I am hoping to just take him to dinner and then drop him off before the movie so he can go to bed. We'll see how that goes. He is hard to part with, for me not him. Haha!

I hope that he has a great birthday today. I have been working on it for a while. I love him so much and I am so glad that we are together. He makes me happy, and always has me laughing.

2010-04-10T00:44:00.002-06:00

I haven't forgotten to do part 2 of the Easter posting. I just haven't had time, since I will have to add a bunch of pictures. So I will get to it after this weekend is over.

Crazy Goings On

2010-04-09T23:37:00.001-06:00

Man, things have been crazy around here! The kids had spring break this week. I only had 5 kids for the week (which doesn't sound like only, unless you have 7. ha!) because I sent Hailey and Tyler to their Grandma Sandy's house for the week. They have been gone since Tuesday. I have to say it is amazing how much quieter it is with the 2 of them gone, and with Tyler not here to be a jerk to his brothers. It has been nice, but I am ready for them to come back. They were supposed to come back tonight, but they will be back tomorrow some time. Dave called and asked if they could bring them back tomorrow. Jessica was supposed to bring them today when she came to sleep over and watch the kids while John and I are in class tomorrow morning, but she forgot that she had ACTs tomorrow. So now Chris is coming to watch the kids, and the kids will be home sometime tomorrow.

Also, while the kids have been off 3 of them have been sick. All week Brooklyn, Camren and Amelia have had fevers and been complaining of stomach pain. Not nausea, just their stomach hurts. Hopefully they will be feeling better by Monday. I guess it's lucky that Austin and Hayden didn't get sick too. I'm just glad that I didn't get sick. With school and all the kids, I just don't have time for it!

It is almost the end of the semester at school. Although I am excited that it is almost over - ok that my math class is almost over - I am going crazy from all the end of semester work that I have to do. Just this weekend I have to finish 4 math chapters, math final review, 3 page literature paper for humanities, and a 1500 word argumentative essay for english. On top of that I need to finish up my sociology class. It's enough to make me want to pull out my hair! I am just relieved that I am getting good grades! I have A's in everything except math, which I have a B in. I am ok with that. It is my worst subject, and lately it has gotten hard enough that I thought I might end up with a C. However I got my current grade today, and it was 88%, so almost an A. If I can do great on my chapter 9 quiz, and my final, I might be able to get an A after all! I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Also to do this weekend: Brooklyn's birthday. She will be 7 on Sunday! I can't even believe it! I am excited because Jacob and Natalie are coming down tomorrow, and they will be coming over Sunday. I haven't told Brooklyn because I thought it would be more fun as a surprise. We don't have a lot of money right now since John's work has cancelled him so many times recently. This week he only worked 2 days! Lame. They keep saying that they don't have enough cases. I told John that they should make all the scrub techs salaried, because it's not fair that they're not making their 40 hours because the surgery center is not getting enough surgeries scheduled. Grrr! It's so frustrating. John has still been looking at jobs back out in California, but I really don't want to move out there so I hope that something works out with his work soon!

The House Hunt Continues

2010-04-09T22:07:00.001-06:00

We are going out to Lehi to look at a house tomorrow. We have been told that we can have the house we wanted in Bluffdale. We even negotiated the rent to $150 less than what they were asking. The problem is, they don't want to do a lease for more than 18 months. They are going out of state while the wife has some medial treatment and they don't know how long it will take, but it will be approximately that long. I really want to live out there and get to have a farm, but I don't like the idea of having to move again in a year or so. I couldn't do 18 months, because that would put us at December which is during the school year and right before Christmas. I really would love to have a house on an acre, and all the animals and garden that I could have there, but I don't know if it is going to work for us after all.

We did find another house that we like in Santaquin, but we are still waiting to see if they will come down on the rent. They are asking the same as the Bluffdale house, so we are hoping that they will come down also. It needs some work (paint, finish fencing the back yard) but the owner is willing to provide all the materials if we do the work. He has even agreed to drop $800 off the deposit. Now we just have to see if we can get him to take $150 off the rent. If so, we are going to take it. They are willing to do a 3 year lease, which is what we really want, and the house is perfect for us. It is about 5000 sq. ft. with 8 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It has a great layout and is on a 1/2 an acre. It's also just around the corner from the freeway entrance. We met one of the neighbors when he came home and we went to ask how the neighborhood/ward/neighbors were. He said all were great, and that he had grown up in Santaquin (he was about my and John's age). I hope that we figure something out soon.

We still haven't even gotten our landlord to give us a straight answer on the house we're in. Every time we ask him if he's going to renew our lease, or sell the house, or what, he just says we'll talk about it more when the time comes. Hello! This is the time! We have 7 kids, and we can't wait around 'til our lease is over to start looking for a house. We need to get something lined up now. I told John that we will just assume that we are moving, and find another house. In the meantime, John called him and said that we had found another house (we always have the Bluffdale house if we don't find anything else) and that we need to know by Monday if we are going to be able to stay here or not. I think that finally got it through his head that we were serious and need to know now, and he said he would get back to us Monday. I am just so tired of living in limbo. Even if he says we could stay, if the Santaquin house owner agrees to what we want I think we will move anyway. If we do get our lease renewed here, it wouldn't be for another 3 years because he really wants to get rid of the house. We wouldn't get more than a year. So I think it would be better to move now, if we find a house we can move into for 3 years, than stay here for another year and then still have to move. So now we get to continue playing the wait and see game.

We did get another house in Spanish Fork that was really nice and they said they would do 3 years, but I think that would be a last choice, just because the yard was so small. It was like .18 acres. That's like the size of my parent's yard in California! Tiny! But it was a really nice house, in a brand new neighborhood, so if it came down to it, it would be an ok choice. It is about the same distance to John's work as we were when we lived in American Fork. We have been looking in a 30 minute radius around John's work and school, so we won't have awful commutes to either one.

Ugh. That's enough of that! More next week when we figure out what's going on.

House Hunting

2010-04-05T23:25:00.000-06:00

So today we went and looked at a couple houses. The first one was in Orem, about 10 minutes away from where we live now. I was hopeful, but the house was HIDEOUS! It seriously needed to be gutted and have a do over. It was disappointing because I have been hopeful that we would find something nearby where we live now.

However, at the next house . . . .

I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was just about everything I wanted in a house, plus a lot of stuff I have dreamed about having but never hoped to actually find. It is about 20 min. north of here (Bluffdale, near Salt Lake) and it is a little bit of country - in the city. It was love at first sight. It is 4200 sq. feet and 7 bedrooms (which is what we have now), but the best part . . . . . . wait for it . . . IT IS ON OVER AN ACRE!!! WITH ANIMAL RIGHTS!!!

Oh. My. Heck.

Be still my heart, I am in love. Everyone who knows me knows how much I long for a house with property. It is my dream to have a house where I can have cows, chickens, a huge garden, maybe a turkey or two? My husband? Not so much.

*Sidenote: In fact we have a running joke about the chickens. I have been begging to get chickens for the last month, but John keeps saying no because we don't know where we'll be living. So during the day I will randomly text him "CHICKENS!!!" and then he responds with "NO CHICKENS!", and Amelia (4) and I whisper and plot and threaten to bring some home while he's at work. Then one day it was funnier because we learned how to send voice messages to each other. So I sent him a voice message yelling "CHICKENS!!!!" while he was in Wal-Mart. People were probably like, what the heck? Then of course he sent one back to me, "NO CHICKENS!" LOL

Anyway, so what makes this house so great? It has everything I want, but it is 5 minutes from Bangerter and the freeway, and civilization. It already has a chicken coop and a detached garage converted into a barn. I could live in the country without my husband actually having to be in the country. Win win! Now I just have to hope that he agrees. We are supposed to go see a couple more houses between tomorrow and Saturday, but honestly if it were up to me I wouldn't even bother. The only reason we are going to look is because it is a little more expensive than the house we are in now, so he wants to see what else is out there. Of course, I have picked every house we have lived in. So here's to hoping that we continue with that tradition!

*Another side note: On the way home Tyler (11) asked me if we moved there, if he could have a farmer outfit. I was like, what's a farmer outfit. He was like, you know. Overalls, a blue shirt and a hat. LOL! He cracks me up.

Easter Weekend, Pt. 1

2010-04-03T20:23:00.001-06:00

The 6 older kids spent the night at Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Dave's house last night. Their aunt Jessica usually spends the night on Fridays and then watches all 7 kids while John and I are at our Saturday morning math classes. However, this weekend she had the Pony Express ride to Salt Lake, so the kids went to grandmas. Hayden didn't get to go of course, since he is only 6 months old and nursing. I asked my friend to watch Hayden while I was at school, but she went to a wedding last night and had her phone on silent. So that means she never woke up. So Hayden ended up going to my Algebra class with me. I was a little nervous about it, but he was great and my teacher and class loved him. It's not something I would make a habit of, since he made it a little hard to take notes. I liked having him with me though, since I miss him while I'm at school.

After school, we headed over to join the kids and Sandy and Dave's house. It was fun. The kids helped out Sandy around the house, since she just recently had surgery on her neck, and I helped make éclairs. In the 12 years that I have known them, eating éclairs has been one of my favorite Easter traditions. I was so excited that this year I got to learn how to make them myself. When Jessica and everyone else got back from Pony Express, she and her best friend Chelsey did an egg hunt for the kids. They had a blast. I was super excited because when I put Hayden out on the front yard, he sat for a really long time for the first time. Before that he had sat, but only for maybe 5 seconds before falling over. Here are a few pics of some of the kids from the egg hunt. :)

Hayden sitting with his egg.

The boys searching the farm for eggs.

Amelia found one on the porch. Love how she's in jammie pants. haha!

Tyler looking over by the goat pen. This picture cracks me up because it looks like the goat is standing on his head.

Brooklyn looking in the back of Jessica's truck.

Injection, Pt. 2

2010-04-02T22:49:00.001-06:00

So John had his epidural injection today. It went well, and now we just have to wait and see how it goes. He will have to have another one in 6 weeks and then hopefully he will be doing a lot better, like when he had to do them with his neck.

While he was in surgery I went and got my nails done and took Amelia (and Hayden) to lunch at Sonic. Then right when we were heading back to the hospital, they called and said he was out. Good thing I was right around the corner. While we were gone, my ex-sis in law went to my house so someone would be home when the kids got out of school. I was so grateful because it was last minute notice, because you don't find out what time the surgery is until the afternoon before. I was glad that the kids didn't have to miss school, since it was the last day before spring break.

After we got home, we went and looked at a house out in Mona. I totally loved the house. It was like a model home. It was sooo nice, and huge too. But unfortunately it was like 40 minutes from John's work, and the backyard was huge and not fenced, so John said no way. I will just have to hope that something better comes along.

Random Ramblings of an Insomniac

2010-04-02T02:32:00.003-06:00

I can't sleep. It's 2:32 in the morning and I have to get up with the kids at 7 and I am wide awake. I'm talking middle of the day awake. Sigh.

So what do I do? Get on the computer of course. Maybe if I can get all the thoughts out of my head, they will shut up and I can fall asleep. Hey, how's that for wishful thinking.

Most likely culprit? My new medication. Ugh. I just switched to Wellbutrin. I took Paxil - made me feel like a zombie. Effexor - I felt like I was on speed. Or should I say what I THINK it would feel like to be on speed. John was at my dr's appointment and was like, yeah because you have a history of taking speed. Ha! Of course the papers with my new meds say that if I have trouble sleeping it may be because I took them too close to bedtime. Well how was I supposed to know that 7 pm was too close to 2 am? Seriously! Ugh!

So . . . what are some things that are going on . . . . .

I found a house for us to look at tomorrow. It's in Mona. I'm not sure where that is, but according to yahoo maps, it's 30 min away from Provo. Which is as far as I want to live away from John's work. The house is amazing and 2 years old. Then again, it is frustrating to look at houses here when I don't know for sure that we're going to stay here.

I hope we're at least staying the summer because I just registered for my classes and it would suck to have to move because I would probably end up not being able to take summer semester. I'm taking Math 1010 (ugh), Psych 1100, Nutrition 1020, and Bio 1010. I am not happy that I had to sign up for the Nutrition class that is Tues/Thurs. I already have a Friday night class and a Saturday morning class, and I didn't want to be away from home more than that. I got Bio as a telecourse, so that should be easy. I am looking forward to that class, since I have actually watched that class at like 3 am when I couldn't sleep. Hey, I was bored and at least it's educational and surprisingly interesting. Anyway, I am wait listed for the Nutrition online class. I just have to pray and cross my fingers that I get into it. It is going to be an easy class, so I don't want to waste time away from my family to take it in person. In person classes are for, like, math. Which I would fail if I took online. I have thought about just taking 3 classes for summer, but I already have the whole next year of classes planned out so that I can apply to the nursing program next spring. I don't want to have to add it to another packed semester or put off applying to the program over one stupid class. So I may have to suck it up. At least the class is only 'til the middle of July. It's a 10 wk. class I think. But hopefully things will work out the way I want them to. This is what happens when you are just starting school, so you don't have very many credits. You are last to get to register, so the classes you planned on taking are already taken.

What I really want to do is take guitar. In fact I might still take that if I really don't want to be gone 2 nights a week for Nutrition 1020. I could always add it as an online class for another semester if I had to, since it will be an easy class. I told John that I really want to take guitar, and that I was going to use some of my grant to buy myself a nicer guitar. Yes I have one, but I don't think it would be adequate for taking a class. Anyway, he rolled his eyes at me. Then he was talking about my singing and doing something with that and I was like - hey, remember what I just said about guitar?? He was like you don't need to play guitar to sing. True, but it would help me with my song writing. I can hear the music in my head, but it's not piano music so it never comes across right. I think if I could play guitar I would be able to actually get it out the way I want to. So we shall see . . . . After all, I think I should be able to take one fun class. I will get in the guitar and voice classes I want to take at some point. I have a whole list of classes I want to take for fun. Just because they sound interesting and I like learning things. I will probably still be taking classes when my kids are in college. Ha!

Man, I just caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror (my bed is opposite the master bath, and the huge mirror over the vanity) and yikes! Hello lion from the Wizard of Oz, and what did you do with Michele?? That's what I get for letting my hair air dry and have a break from the hair dryer. I am SO going to have to do something about that in the morning.

John has been doing the HCG diet. He has been naughty and not followed it completely, but he has still averaged 14 lbs in a week. However, I lost 6 and I didn't starve or have to give myself injections. I just started eating more salad and less crap. Hmmm, funny how that works. I have a supply of it so I can try it, but I can't do it until Hayden is done nursing. Which won't be any time soon. He is a little fatty, and I'm pretty sure he would be content to nurse 24/7 if he could get me to agree with it. Sorry, but no. There is a reason I made sure he had a binky from day one. After Brooklyn and Amelia not taking one, I will be a human pacifier no more!

Lately I have wanted to get my nose pierced. Just a little diamond stud. Dumb, right? But I have always wanted to and I just want to do it to see how it would look, so I can have done it. Even if I don't keep it in. I seriously think about it all day. Maybe I am having a age 30 crisis. LOL! I just want to try it just to try it, so I can tell myself I did it. I figure I wanted my tattoo for like 6 years before I got it, and I still like it 12 years later. My mom said I would be sorry, but so far so good. I have wanted to pierce my nose about that long. Just never had the guts to do it. I watched a video of it on youtube. It looks like it hurts like a mother. But I just want to try it, just to see. I don't know though. John doesn't like it, but I know tons of people who have it done and I think it's really hot. If my family is reading this, just don't even start. This is my blog and I can think out loud about whatever I want if I want to. And I am 30 and my own boss. The End.

Ok, well now that I got some of that craziness out of my head I am going to try and go to sleep. After all it's 3 and I have to get up in 4 hours. At least after the kids leave for school I can go back to sleep for a little bit. Maybe. Maybe not since I have to go to Salt Lake. Well, I better get a nap then. I guess I better take my meds now, so I can take the second dose in the early afternoon. Hope that helps. At least so far I'm not feeling all jittery and hyped up, like I did with the Effexor. Now let's just hope for some sleep!

Injection

2010-04-01T23:36:00.000-06:00

So, tomorrow - well I guess it is today - John is getting his epidural steroid injection in his back. It is #1 of 2. It is to help with his herniated disk in his back from getting hit (in his car) by a UTA bus. morons. Anyway, I am nervous even though he has done this before (2 years ago when he got injured at work catching a falling patient) but it doesn't make me less nervous. I just don't like any type of medical procedures. period. I told Amelia we will get our nails done while we are waiting. She is super excited. There is a place in Salt Lake that I have been wanting to go to that's really good, and it's 9 min. away from IMC. Plus, it will help take my mind off it, so I'm not stressing myself to death over what is really not a big deal. But it's my husband, so it is anyway.

School

2010-03-29T00:50:00.004-06:00

So I said I would post about school at some point, so here it goes.

John and I had been talking about going back to school for quite a while now. In fact, I have wanted to go back to school ever since I had Hailey, but my ex-husband was totally NOT supportive of that. And then when I was divorced it was just too hard with a new baby and a 3 year old. So for the last 5 years that John and I have been married I have been trying to talk him into going back to school. I know how gifted he is in the OR, and he gets told that all the time by the surgeons he works with. He is certified in suturing, and the DR.'s let him do work for him all the time and tell him how immaculate his work is. I kept telling him how he was wasting his gift, and that people could be benefiting from it and so on. It has become a joke between us, because of that scripture that talks about the servant that buried his talent. I tell him that he is burying his talent, and that Heavenly Father is going to take it away because he 's not using it. He tells me the same thing about my singing. Haha!

So this past December we started talking about it seriously. We checked it out, and went over to UVU and decided to enroll. So this January we both started school, he in pre-med and me in pre-nursing. We decided to just go year round and get it over with, so that we could finish school as quickly as possible. At that point, I will be done with school and ready to get into the work field just as John is ready to start med school. Which would be perfect timing, because it would be impossible for him to work full time and do med school, and then residency. So our plan is for me to work nights (which I would prefer because I am more awake at night, and it pays more) and he will take classes during the day. At that point the only child not in school will be Hayden, unless we have our one more baby. (Yes, I know that people think that's crazy, but I also know there is one more baby waiting for us. I have seen him and I know his name. Enough said.) Anyway, we will make it work.

I am SUPER excited to finally be working towards my BSN!! I have wanted to do this my entire life. I even have an essay I wrote in 7th grade, and the whole thing is about how I wanted to be a nurse in the NICU with all the little babies. And today? Yep, still want to do the same thing. Yeah I still work on my singing. I am in talks with a band to be their lead singer, and I sang in Sacrament Meeting earlier this month. But I honestly don't believe that it is something that I will become famous for or anything, and being a NICU nurse has been a lifelong dream of mine. And if I can squeeze in singing gigs on the side, then even better. I have been working my butt off, and as of now I have straight A's. After I finish school. I plan on going back and getting my Masters (MSN). I tell everyone I know that if I can do it, so can they. I have friends who want to go back to school, but don't think they can do it. Well if I can be a mom of 7 kids under 12, and go to school full time and get all A's, then I know they can do it too.

Things That Make Me Go AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

2010-03-28T11:25:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I just want to scream. Like when I find out that the house we are living in (and totally LOVE) is not going to be our home for much longer, because the owner wants to sell it. We found out in February, but I am still irritated about it. We have looked at tons of houses on ksl and craigslist, but I haven't found anything that even made me want to make the effort to go look at. Why? Because I haven't seen one house that I like anywhere near as much as the house we're in. I keep hoping that the owner will change his mind. He had the house up for sale, but took it off the market when we moved in. We signed a lease until the end of May, and then agreed that we would re-evaluate at that point to decide if we wanted to sign a longer lease. What he failed to mention was the little fact that he might not want to re-lease the house, because he would really rather sell it than keep renting it. I love where we live. The house is old, but awesome. Perfect for our family of 9, with 4400 sq. ft. and 7 bedrooms, and a huge fenced yard. It's in a cul-de-sac, and right down the street from the elementary school. My kids love that because I let them walk, and they feel so grown up. Little do they know I'm the one really enjoying it because I don't have to pack up Amelia and Hayden to drive 20 ft. down the street to go get them. Our landlord says he wants to wait til closer to the end of our lease, and then discuss things then. I am hoping by then he will decide to let us stay.

Other things that want to make me scream? My husband. Well, I guess he's not a thing, but you know what I mean. Why? Because he decides maybe the fact that we can't stay in the house means we should try moving back to California. Never mind that I don't WANT to move back, I love Utah! Never mind that I just signed up for my second semester of school, and have my whole 2010-11 school year planned out so that I will be ready to apply to UVU's nursing program next spring. He tells me I can just transfer somewhere. Grrr! He has already applied at a couple places that will definitely want him, and is working on possibly going back to Kaiser - who would LOVE to get him back. Ugh! I feel like calling them and telling them to tell him they don't want him. Ok, not really. But I want to stay here. On one hand it would be nice. I miss my family, and I like the idea that maybe me and my mom could hang out and do stuff together while the kids were in school. Assuming that I could pry her out of bed before they got out. Haha! On the other hand, I love living in Utah. I really like how the church is all around. I like the school I am going to, and I don't want to transfer when I would most likely have to transfer to a community college because the Bay Area doesn't have any universities with open enrollment. I like being near my ex-husband's family. Even though I would love to be near my own family, I love getting to be near Dave and Sandy and all their family. I may be divorced from their son, but I love them and the rest of their family like they were my own, and I love getting to be around them and do stuff with them.

While I wait to see what we are going to end up doing, I have been looking at houses; both in the East Bay and in Utah. I feel discouraged about staying here because I haven't found anything and time is running out. It is really hard to find something that will work for a family this size. Also we have the issue with John's work, which prompted the search for a job in California in the first place. He works for a same day surgery center, and they haven't been very busy. That translates into John getting his hours cut. Last week he was cancelled twice. On his last paycheck he worked about 24 hours in a week, well below his regular 40+ hours. It is so frustrating. So he started looking for another job, and found one in CA, out in Novato that would be 5 12 hour shifts, and almost triple our income. So I guess I really can't complain, because it would be nice with 7 kids to not have to worry about money. I am just so tired of moving, and since I know that we are already going to have to move in 3 years for John to go to med school, I would rather not move until then. All I can say is, once we get the job/housing situation settled, I am SO signing a 3 year lease so I can finish school in one place before I have to move again. Also, I want the kids to be able to stay somewhere for more than a year. The older kids are in 3-5th grade, and they have never gone to the same school two years in a row! That is just insane! I just hope we get something figured out soon. I hate this being in limbo, waiting to figure out what we're going to do.

Cutest Boy Ever

2010-03-26T16:44:00.003-06:00

I have the cutest baby boy alive. I swear I am not being biased. Every day when I snuggle and kiss him to death I think about how I have never seen a cuter boy in my entire life. Now, maybe this is partially due to the fact that he is my first (biological) boy, but I just can't get enough of him. I could hold, snuggle, kiss, squeeze him all day long and never get tired of it. John made fun of me when Hayden was a couple months old because I never put him down. Seriously. Unless I was in the shower or the bathroom, I held him probably every second of the first couple months of his life. I am getting better now. I have put him down long enough that he has learned to roll all over the place like a little tumbleweed. It is fun to watch, because he gets all the way across the room and then grins because he is so proud of himself. I love to hear him laugh, and coo, and babble, and I am working on brainwashing him to say "mama" instead of "dada" for his first word. Haha! My family and friends thought I was crazy when they found out that I was pregnant again, but little do they know he was planned. He was definitely no surprise. I just love this cute little monkey and I can't imagine my life without him!

Bored

2010-03-26T16:35:00.003-06:00

I haven't written on here for a while, but there wasn't anything in particular that I wanted to say, so I thought I would sit down with Hailey and see what she wanted to blog about . . . .

Hailey's "Top 10 Things I Like" (in no particular order):

1. Playing dress-up with my sisters

2. School. I like learning and I love my teacher!

3. Hanging out with my family

4. The Fablehaven series (I am going to die before I ever get the 5th book from my mom!)

5. Drawing

6. Easter - I can't wait! It's almost here! Woo-hoo!

7. Shopping with my mom

8. Playing games, especially Scrabble

9. Birthdays - I like having my family over and I wish I didn't have to wait so long for my next one

10. Writing stories

It's About Time!

2010-03-09T00:33:00.004-07:00

I have been really bad at keeping up on my blog, so I thought that I would just start from here, and update past stuff when I can get to it. The problem is that I get so far behind that it is intimidating to try and get everything caught up. So, let's see, what has happened lately. . .

In December we were lucky enough to have my parents come and stay with us for a week. I love having them come to see me, and I wish that I could see them more often. I love living in Utah, but I miss them so much! We had so much fun while they were here. We also got to see Jacob, Natalie and cute little Preston. It was great to see them, and I can't wait til he and Hayden are big enough to play together. They will be such good friends.

On January 4th Hailey turned 10. I can't believe that I am old enough to have a daughter that big! It was so fun. She wanted some boots called Lugz (knockoff Uggs). They were on the pricey side ($50), but it was the only thing she wanted. So John and I tricked her. John bought me a pair, and we pretended that he was buying me 2. But instead, we bought a pair for me and a pair for her too. When she opened them she totally freaked out. It was hilarious! Other than that I got her the Maggie Moon series (she is obsessed) and some lipgloss. I can't believe that my baby is growing up. She was the first one to make me a mommy and I love her so much. She is getting so big and I know that we will be close and have so much fun together.

On January 6th, John and I both started our first semester back to school. We are both attending UVU full time. He is pre-med and I am pre-nursing. We are super excited to finally be doing what we have wanted to do, and we are doing it together. He got into a higher math class than me, but we are taking our other three classes together. We plan on doing that as long as we can, so that we can do our work together and help each other more easily. I am loving school, and getting straight A's. I will talk about it more in another post.

After homeschooling the kids for the first semester of school, I enrolled them at the local elementary school in the middle of January. They got great teachers, are doing great, and are loving the fact that it is just down the street which means I let them walk there and back. We pulled all 3 boys back a grade, and they are doing WAY better! I am so glad that we did it, and only wish we had done it sooner. Now instead of Hailey and Austin being in the same grade, I have Camren and Brooklyn together (but not in the same class of course).

Also, in January John and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. I know that our marriage has been far from perfect, and that my family and friends thought I was crazy to marry him, but I really love him and I am glad that we are a family. In the last year our marriage has become so much better. I know that we still have a lot of work to do, but that's what happens when 2 divorced single parents with 5 kids between them get married after a month of knowing eachother. There are bound to be issues. But we are committed and working on them, which gives us a heck of a leg up on my first marriage.

In February I turned the big 3-0. I know that most people look at turning 30 with dread, but I was actually excited. I told John, now I'm a real grown-up. Haha! Plus, as I get older it doesn't sound so bad to say I have 7 kids. At least not until people find out how old they are. Oh well.

On March 4, my cute little chub Hayden turned 6 months old. Boy how time flies! He is rolling all over the place, which is fun to watch but not so fun when it's the middle of the night and he wakes himself up. He is FINALLY starting to sleep through the night. I thought the day would never come. Of course there are still nights that he wakes up and ends up in bed with me, but I love it and I will enjoy it while it lasts. He is eating baby food and loving it. He is such a little vulture! I love watching him eat because it is so funny! He gets so into it, he starts bobbing all over the place and waving his arms in the air. I have to hold his hand (always the right hand) because he will get so worked up that he will stuff it in his mouth. Too cute. Today I was feeding him and IM'ing my friend Rebecca. I turned away from him for a minute, and when I turned back he had grabbed the bowl and spoon and was stuffing it in his face trying to feed himself. He was like, Mom! I am too hungry to wait for you to do it! I thought it was so funny. The only bad thing about him eating cereal is that he refuses to eat it if I make it with formula. With all 3 girls I used formula, but when I tried doing it with Hayden he acted like I was feeding him rat poison. I originally started him on cereal made with breast milk, but switched to formula because I was having to pump so much. He was totally horrified. At first I thought maybe he was screaming because his throat hurt since he had been sick with a cough, but then I made it with breast milk, just to see, and he inhaled it. Three bowls worth to be exact. So now I am back to pumping. Sigh. Oh well, at least he likes eating everything. It could be worse.

We are currently living in Orem. I totally love the house we are living in. We originally signed a lease through the end of May (so as not to move twice in the same school year), but we totally love it here and now we hope that we can extend the lease at least for 3 years until we're done with the first round of school. After that John will be applying to med school, so you just go wherever you get in. I am really hoping that he will be able to get into the U so we can stay here. I love Utah, and I love where we live and I don't want to leave. The only thing that would make it more perfect would be if my parents lived right by me so I could see them every day.

I also love that my best friend since 16, Rebecca, lives maybe a mile away. It is nice to have a friend that lives so close that we can hang out all the time. She is getting ready to have her first baby in June, and I am super excited! I told her that her baby can marry Hayden and then we can be mothers in law, and share grandchildren. I think this is an excellent idea!

Well, I better go. It is after 1am, and I have to get the kids ready in the morning. I will continue to post current stuff, and just try to update previous stuff as I can.

I'm Stll Alive

2009-12-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Well baby is here (has been for almost 4 months), which has made my blog die a painful death. However, I plan on updating by the end of the year. I have a lot of catching up to do!

2009-09-22T15:42:00.001-06:00

I wanted to post this picture by its self so it would be easier to see. I love this picture of Carol (John's mom) with all 10 of her grandkids. A lot of people can't believe it when she tells them she has so many, or that 7 of them are ours! Yeah, we shock people wherever we go with all these kids! We lined all the kids up in age order, and I think it turned out SO cute!! I am so glad I got this picture and I plan on taking one every time we go out there.

California Trip - John's Family

2009-09-22T15:31:00.000-06:00

We were actually able to make it up to Santa Rosa a couple times while we were in California. The first time we just went up for the evening and hung out with his sisters at his mom's house. We didn't get to see Crissy's kids, because they were home in bed, but we did get some time with Anastazja. The second time we went up, we went to the most awesome park in Santa Rosa. It is called Howarth Park. If you are ever in that area, you HAVE to go there. It is our favorite place to go, and when John and I lived there we lived a couple blocks away and used to walk there with all the kids. That was back with we had *only* five kids. Haha! We had a great time at the park playing with John's family. Sarah, Crissy, and Carol (John's mom) and all of us had a picnic and spent the whole afternoon/evening there. It was fun for the kids to get to play with their cousins; Breanna, Brandon, and Anastazja. It was fun for all the grown ups to get to spend time together and visit. I wish we all lived closer to each other so we could do it more often!

California Trip - My family

2009-09-22T15:04:00.000-06:00

Here are the pics I took of Hayden (and the other kids) with my family and a couple of my friends. People thought I was crazy for driving all the way to California with a week old baby, but honestly other than having to stop all the time to nurse him, it was no big deal. He was better behaved than the rest of the kids!

Even if John doesn't get the job, it was worth driving out there to get to see my family and for everyone to meet Hayden. It was the first time I had been back to California since moving to Utah 2 years ago. I don't miss living there, but I do miss living close to my family. I wish my parents lived here so I could see them every day!

More Preston Pictures

2009-06-15T18:20:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple more Preston pics. He looks a lot more peaceful in these, don't you think? He is hooked up to a lot of machines right now, but he doesn't have anything wrong. He was a little traumatized at having to be delivered with forceps, so they wanted to moniter him for a while. He should be off everything tonight. I can't wait to get some of him with Jacob and Natalie. I told Jacob to get on that!

Preston Is Here!!

2009-06-15T10:31:00.004-06:00

Jacob and Natalie's baby arrived at 9:30 this morning. He was 6 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 inches. I am so excited I can't stand it! I'm so glad he's here and everyone is ok. Enjoy his first pics. Not quite happy, but what can you expect? Can't wait for more!

Oh BOY!!

2009-05-01T13:41:00.001-06:00

We went in for our "official" ultrasound today. I almost forgot about my appointment. John and I were sitting around our empty house, working on packing the last odds and ends, and I was suddenly like "Oh! I have an ultrasound in 30 minutes!". Good thing we weren't busy. We barely made it there in time.

As you can see we are having a boy. We already knew, because I had another "unofficial" ultrasound at John's work and found out a couple weeks ago. But it was nice to hear it again and see everything is ok. I have to confess, when I found out that I was going to be having a boy, I got a little teary eyed. After having 3 girls, I really thought that I was just destined for daughters. It is so exciting to think that I am actually going to be having a boy. It is also exciting that I will be having him a few months after Jacob and Natalie have their boy, so he will actually have a cousin his age - unlike the rest of our kids. So here's to looking forward to lots of shopping for cute little baby boy things, something that I have never gotten to do. Although my husband probably isn't too excited about it, I can't wait!

Profile

Definitely a boy!

Bubble Girls

2009-04-28T09:13:00.000-06:00

What do you do when your house is all packed up and there's nothing to play with? You take your little sister outside and share your giant bottle of bubbles.

On The Move

2009-04-16T15:28:00.006-06:00

So we signed on a house. And no the house is not in California. And no it's not in Tennessee either. It's in American Fork. That's right, we're staying right here in good ol' Happy Valley. For the time being at least. We needed to get out of the house we are in now (it's up for sale since we won't be buying it) and the new house is month to month, so that if we need to move somewhere else we're not locked in for a year or whatever. So the job search continues, but in the meantime I'm happy with where we're headed.

The new house is a rambler with full basement. It's 44o0 square feet (which is 1000 sq ft bigger than we have now) and 100% finished. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. It's fully landscaped with a completely fenced yard (something we don't have now). It's also right across from a big park.

The best part?

It's CHEAPER than the house we're in now!!

That makes me so excited that we will get more house and a finished yard and save money at the same time.

So now we're just finishing packing up and we'll be out of here the end of the month.

The only thing I'm not looking forward to? Driving the kids out here for school every day, which is a 20 min. drive. And I have a pm kindergartner so that means more than one trip. Good thing school gets out the end of May.

Easter Baskets - Finally!

2009-04-12T23:54:00.002-06:00

Here are some pics of the kids tonight after they finally got to go through their Easter baskets. Boy were they excited, since they had been waiting all day. Unfortunately it was late, so they got to look at everything, eat a few pieces of candy, and then it was off to bed. They will have plenty of time to play with all their little things tomorrow.

Easter With Grandma And Grandpa

2009-04-12T22:54:00.001-06:00

For Easter Sunday, we decided to spend with with Sandy and Dave (my ex-in laws). We went to church with them, followed by an egg hunt for the kids and dinner. We got to get up nice and early since they have 9:00 church, but it was a great day and we all enjoyed ourselves. The kids had a lot of fun hanging out with them, coloring Easter pictures, and searching for eggs. I felt bad since I had hoped to take them to an egg hunt yesterday, but it totally rained. So it was nice that they got a chance to have one just for them and I really appreciate Sandy doing it for them.

The kids all dressed up after church at Grandma and Grandpa's.
Pics from the egg hunt.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T07:54:00.002-06:00

Well as much as my kids would like to dive right into their Easter baskets, all they get is a quick photo op while they're all dressed up before we head out the door to church with Grandma and Grandpa. The baskets will have to wait until we get home tonight. Don't feel too sorry for them, I'm sure they'll get plenty of sugar and Grandmas. After all, that's what Grandma's are for, right? Happy Easter to all of you from all of mine!

Brooklyn's 6th Birthday

2009-04-11T22:33:00.001-06:00

Post and pictures coming as soon as I get my pics from Sandy. My camera battery died and of course I didn't have my spare with me. Yeah, the one that I got just for problems like that. Brilliant I know.

Me and Em - Dyeing of Laughter

2009-04-10T23:58:00.001-06:00

Well, I never claimed to be normal and after posting these pictures I guess you will know why. Em and I sure enjoyed our night together, even if we were surrounded by 11 kids. I think we were more hyper and silly than they were. I guess that's what happens when you get 2 best friends together surrounded by kids and food. We tend to get a little giddy.

Mmmm. Dye is my favorite!
Yeah Em, get it in there.

Do you like my pinky ring?

This one is my fave 'cause it has the flared nostril. Haha!

I don't think I can get it in.

This Is What We Do With Naughty Kids

2009-04-10T23:47:00.002-06:00

We have a huge roll of industrial plastic wrap (for when we move), and Em and I tried using it to cover the dining room table. After we gave up on that (totally didn't work) Hailey thought she would grab the pieces off the table and wrap Martha in them. Em and I decided that was a great idea. So she rounded up Hailey, Martha, Corlie and Brooklyn and I wrapped them with the actual roll of plastic. It was hard to do 'cause the roll was so heavy and awkward, but it was fun to have them all wrapped up and captive. We decided next time we should do all the kids, then we can just go stick them in the other room and then have the night to ourselves. Now that's a plan!

Hmm. Martha doesn't seem too impressed.

Me wrapping up the kids.

Help! Let us out!

Dying Eggs With Emily

2009-04-10T23:36:00.002-06:00

Since Emily (my bestest friend on earth) won't be able to make Brooklyn's birthday party tomorrow, she came over to spend the afternoon/evening at my house today. I fed the kids chicken enchiladas (my favorite recipe of Em's) and then we got to work dying our approx. 4 dozen eggs. The kids had a blast, but I don't know if they had as much fun as Em and I did. ( I will do another post with those pics. Hehe!) They all managed to dye their hands, and Amelia managed to dye her shirt blue. I was disappointed by that, but I guess that's what I get for forgetting to make her take it off. It was one I really liked too. I guess it is a play shirt now.

All the kids at the kid table. Clockwise from front: Amelia, Camren, Karissa, Martha, Corlie, Brooklyn, Daniel and Hailey.

Martha and Corlie.

Daniel and Hailey.

Camren dyed his hands a lot more than the eggs.

Brooklyn checking out Daniel dying his egg.

Half of our finished eggs.

Natalie's Baby Shower

2009-03-28T21:30:00.000-06:00

Well, here are a few of the pics that I took at Natalie's baby shower. I don't have room to post them all. It was nice to go and meet everyone, and I am glad I live close enough to be able to go since I was the only member from my family that went. I had fun talking to her grandma, she was just great. Natalie is such a cute pregnant person. She is so adorable to begin with, and being pregnant just makes her even more adorable. So not fair. I had a lot of fun, and I just love her to death. I am so glad Jacob married her. She makes a great addition to our family. I can't wait for my nephew to get here. Only 2 1/2 months to go. :)

Natalie and her mom, beginning to open presents.
Admiring one of the many totally cute outfits she got.

Holding up the sleeper I got. I couldn't resist - look at the feet!

Me and Natalie. She is just the cutest.

Company

2009-03-19T14:53:00.001-06:00

My cousin Lindsey is coming to stay the night tonight with a friend. She lives in AZ (like the rest of my extended family - both sides) and she and her friend went to her friends parents vacation home in Montana for Spring Break. They are heading home today, and they are sleeping over at my house on the way. I am excited because we haven't gotten to see each other in about 2 years. She is 10 years younger than me ( All the cousins on my dad's side are way younger than my siblings and I. My dads brother and sister didn't have kids til my youngest brother was 3) and a lot of fun. I am waaay looking forward to staying up visiting.

March Update

2009-03-18T12:04:00.000-06:00

Well I have some silence for a minute (as children are busy eating peanut butter, banana and honey sandwiches. Eww, but they like them) so I thought I would get on here since I haven't been on in forever. I have had so much to say, but right now there is SO much going on that I haven't had time to say it. I will post what I have time for and hopefully be back with the rest later.

The marriage workshops John and I have been going to for the last 6 weeks have been AWESOME! They guy that teaches them is great and my husband loves him and thinks he's hilarious. We have some one on one time scheduled with him for later in the month. So far we have learned a LOT and things are going great. If you're in Utah, check him out at: www.marriagematters.com.

I am no longer babysitting the twins. Their mom was laid off , so they couldn't afford me anymore. I can't say I was sorry for the screaming to leave, but I will miss the money. However I haven't been able to take on any more kids, because of the next item:

We're going to be moving. Where to? Who knows. No surprise there I guess. That seems to be what we do. I am a little sad though. I really like my house and friends, and supposedly when we got this house we were here for good. John has people that are interested in him both in California and in Tennessee. John's first choice would be to go back to CA because that's where our families are. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no desire to live there again. With the political climate, and the way the schools are going downhill, I don't see why anyone would move their family there if they didn't have to. It would be nice to be close to my family, but even when I was living a mile away from my parents (right before we moved to UT) they still barely had time to see us any more than when I was living in Patterson, which was over an hour away. The benefits to TN (other than it's beautiful there and I love it) are that John found out that the hospital he works for in SL has their headquarters in Nashville, which means he could transfer instead of applying as an outside applicant. It also means that he would have a lot of hospitals to choose from since out there HCA is like IHC here in UT, meaning it's everywhere. He applied for a transfer as an OR First Assist to a hospital out there, and if he gets it he will make as much as the job he is waiting to hear from in CA (which is almost twice what he's making now) but the cost of living is about the same as here in UT.

So we are sitting and waiting. I feel like we're in limbo. Everyone thinks he's wonderful, but no firm offers yet. Either way we are moving outta here.

Wedding Bells For Rebecca and Chris

2009-03-07T22:38:00.004-07:00

Today, one of my bestest friends got married. Rebecca and I have been friends since the second we met, 13 years ago. This is her second marriage and Chris' first. They are absolutely adorable. I told Becca that it worked out that she married someone several years younger than her this time, because she was finally getting someone at the same level of maturity as her. Haha! The wedding was beautiful. I think I have close to 100 pics, but here are some of my favorites. I would have included the one John took of the 2 of us, but I look like crap, so you will have to do without.

Happy bride, all laced in and ready to go.

The fabulous back of the dress.

Exchanging vows.

Everyone all lined up

You may now kiss the bride!

Exchanging rings.

They started out so nicely.

But it didn't last. (Nice red eyebrow Becca)

Licking off the frosting. Mmmm.

Friends In Town

2009-03-01T16:54:00.004-07:00

The last few days, I got to have my friend Hailee, her husband Alan and their adorable baby Hunter staying at my house. I actually met Hailee through my brother Justin. They were friends and then we met, and we talk ALL the time now. When she said taht they were coming down from Idaho for a friends birthday party, I was like Hello! Stay at my house! So down they came. It was so fun to have them here for a few days and be able to talk and talk and talk. I don't think any of us really got any sleep since we were up until all hours of the night, but thats what happens when you have a limited time to visit. You can't waste any time. While they were here we went out to lunch at Cafe Rio. Yum! They hadn't been there, so we had to go (and have the salad - duh!). It was sooo good! I was sad when they had to leave, but it was great to see them and finally get to see Hunter in person for the first time. And of course, Amelia was totally taken with their dog Scooter. After they left she kept asking me where he was. It was a lot of fun and I hope they come back soon!

Hailee and Alan.
The adorable Hunter

Brooklyn playing with Hunter.

Snuggling up on the floor.

Amelia and her new found friend (victim) Scooter.

Baby's First Ultrasound

2009-02-25T16:33:00.001-07:00

There are many benefits of having a husband that works at a hospital. One of those being that when the ultrasound techs are not busy, you can come in and have a free scan. So here is our babys first (unofficial) ultrasound. It's pretty exciting to get to see him/her and see that everything is ok so far. We haven't told any of the kids yet. We told Amelia though (I mean she's 3, even if she did tell the other kids I don't think they would listen or have any idea what she was talking about.) She was pretty dang excited. I am officially due September 26, 6 days after Amelia turns 4.

Help! Daycare Dilemma

2009-02-05T10:24:00.003-07:00

What do you do when you have a child you watch who screams the whole time? That is my current problem. One of the 2 year old boys I watch (the one that has a twin sister) will cry the whole day. I have no problems with his sister, it's just him. He was doing fine the first few weeks, but since about last week he has started standing at the door staring out the windows (I have windows on both sides of my front door, that are skinny and the height of the door) and crying for his dad or mom. Usually his dad. He is transitioning from being home with dad 24/7 to being at my house 2 days a week. I have been watching him and his sister for over a month. I don't know what to do. I have never had a child behave like this, my own or anyone elses. He will literally stand there and cry the ENTIRE time he is here, which is like 7 hours. I have tried distracting him with books, toys, cartoons, food, etc. Nothing works. If anyone (esp. Denise) has any suggestions that would be great. I need the money and don't want to quit watching them, but I really can't take much more of this!

I Knew It!

2009-02-04T14:21:00.005-07:00

My brother Jacob just called me to tell me that he and Natalie are having a boy. I totally knew it since they day they told me they were having a baby. I have been right with all of my camily and friends, so why would I start being wrong now? I am SUPER excited for Jacob and Natalie! Since Jacob is the first boy in my family to have a baby, that means his baby is the first one to carry on the family name. Pretty neat.
Yay and Congratulations!

My nephew to be. (Dec. ultrasound)

The cute couple.

My Birthday

2009-02-02T23:17:00.001-07:00

Tonight for my birthday John took me out for sushi. Well I had sushi and everyone else had chicken or whatever. They are so lame. I LOVE LOVE LOVE sushi. I hadn't had it in forever. We went to this little place by us, and I got a Rainbow Roll. It was so good, I ate the whole thing. I managed to make it through dinner without John embarassing me and getting the waitstaff to sing to me or anything, so that was a bonus. I'm glad that we were able to go out, even if we did have to take the kids with us. Maybe sometime we will actually get to go out ALONE!

All About Me On My Birthday

2009-02-02T13:46:00.022-07:00

Since today is my

29th BIRTHDAY

I thought it would be fun to do a list of some random things you may not know about me. I would have added a picture, but I was too lazy. So without further ado:

29 Random Things You May Not Know About Me:

1. I probably drink a 2 litre of Diet Coke a day (yeah, I know. it's my crack. no chastising comments please)

2. I have been in several musical productions, including Music Man, Pirates of Penzance, Grease and Phantom of the Opera.

3. My favorite foods are sushi and tacos, and I would probably eat them together.

4. Sometimes I have to wash a load of laundry several times because I can't manage to remember to take it out of the washing machine.

5. I have been asked to sing in Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society, but have been putting it off because it scares me to sing in front of people I know and see all the time.

6. I care WAY too much about what other people think and it stops me from doing the things I really want to do. (see #5)

7. If I start washing dishes, doing laundry or trying on clothes, I will suddenly, without warning have to pee so bad I feel like my bladder will explode. Every time. Without fail. Don't know what that's about.

8. Sometimes I watch Hannah Montana after my kids are in bed. (don't judge me. it's a cute show.)

9. I have perfect pitch and I was told by my HS band teacher that I should get a job where I listen to and critique or judge people's music because I can listen and immediately hear who or what is off. I used to do it in band practice all the time and she always said I was right on.

10. I am afraid of the dark. I have 2 nightlights in my bedroom, and 1 in every other room in my house.

11. I am totally obsessed with Law and Order. It is my favorite show and if they came out with box sets of all the seasons, I would totally buy them.

12. John and I are in the middle of planning our move back to California, which will hopefully take place after the kids get out of school in May.

13. John and I started couples therapy, and the guy we're seeing is freakin' awesome. Even John loves him, which is really saying something.

14. I have to be in the mood for eggs or they make me gag. I think they're creepy.

15. I love reading. I get so into a book you could stand in front of me and yell and I wouldn't know you were there. I am also a super fast reader. I read Gone With the Wind in one day, and all the Twilight books in 2.

16. I absolutely love scrapbooking. I could do it for hours and not even know it. Sometimes when I can't sleep I will start scrapbooking and be up 'til like 4 in the morning.

17. Since I was little, I have wanted to work in the NICU. I hope to start taking some online classes and then go back full time when I finally have all my kids in school.

18. I remember almost everything from when I was little. I remember moving to a new house when I was 2, specific situations or conversations at school with my friends in AZ (where I lived til I was 9), what I wore my first day of school in California, etc. I even remember and feel the same emotions I felt when the memories occured when I think about them. My husband doesn't remember much from when he was little and thinks I'm a freak. (he's probably right.)

19. I wish my family members weren't so judgemental. All my life the one thing I have wanted more than anything has been to feel like my family supports me and is proud of me, but I don't believe that will ever happen.

20. I have been to 25 out of 50 states and 3 countries. I hope to someday make it to all 50, and several more countries.

21. My husband always is talking about wanting to go on vacation without the kids, but I am too afraid something will happen to us and my kids will end up orphans. (yes I'm extremely paranoid)

22. I am a MAJOR control freak.

23. Everyone I know thinks I am so outspoken and outgoing, but really I am VERY shy and insecure and just want people to be my friend.

24. I am totally jealous that Hailey and Brooklyn are taking ballet. I always wanted to dance, but when I was little we couldn't afford it and when we could afford it, I was too busy with band and flags.

25. When people comment on all my kids and wonder how I do it, I tell them I wonder the same thing. They think I'm kidding, but I'm not.

26. After my divorce, I found myself 23 and single with a 3 1/2 year old and a 4 month old. I swore that I was never going to have more kids (and even broke up with someone I was engaged to that wanted lots of kids). Then, 2 weeks before I turned 25, I married someone that had 3 kids and immediately got pregnant. Oh, the irony!

27. I don't really like other people's kids, but I do daycare 3 days a week so I can make money while I stay home with mine.

28. Someday I want to be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

29. I like to impress my kids with my mad swing flag skills. (what can I say? I miss it and they're easily impressed. haha!).

Hailey's 9th Birthday!

2009-01-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my Hailey is 9. It doesn't seem like it has been that long. Time has just flown by. She had a blast at her party tonight. She got lots of fun things from everyone and enjoyed getting to see the Riets and her Great Grandparents (Sandy's parents). She is getting so big. I wish she would slow down a bit, but she told me "Only 4 years 'til I'm a teenager". Oh great!

Opening the purse set from the Riets.

Opening shirts mommy got at Justice.

Hailey with Uncle Chris.

Hailey with Great Grandma and Grandpa Anderson.

Hailey with Grandpa and Grandma Riet.

Hailey and Aunt Jessica.

Getting Ready For Hailey's Party

2009-01-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Jan. 4 was Hailey's 9th birthday. I cannot get over that. My first born is 9 years old! I am so getting old! We weren't able to have her party though, because Brooklyn and Amelia were sick (stomatitis and strep) and contagious. I feel bad that we had to wait til now to have it, but I'm glad everyone's finally better. I have been cooking all day to get ready. Hailey wanted me to make cookies instead of cake, so I made cute little cookies on a stick that match her party stuff. I hope she likes them. I better go and clean up and get ready for everyone to get here tonight!

Surprise!!

2009-01-17T23:08:00.003-07:00

Yep, that's just what it looks like it is. This is actually test #2. The first one I took was one of those ones that has the little lines on it. After debating with John all morning whether I really saw a line (and him saying he does and either there's a line or there's not) he went and bought me a digital one.

It cracks me up because Hailey kept telling me that she wanted me to be pregnant for her birthday - actually begging would be a more accurate description. Well, according to the dates, this baby was conceived ON her birthday. So there you go Hailey, a late birthday present. About 9 months late.

Our Anniversary

2009-01-17T17:40:00.001-07:00

Thursday was our 4th Anniversary. However, John had to work yesterday, so we decided to go out last night. The kids went and slept over at Sandy and Dave's house and we drove out to Wendover, NV. We had never been before, and I had never seen a casino before (John used to play the slots and play bingo back in the day) so we headed out to check it out. It's only a couple hours a way. It was a nice drive there. It was wierd being without the kids, and it took a while for us to figure out what to really talk about since it isn't often that we find ourselves completely alone. I enjoyed it though. When we got there we went to the casino (and I am totally forgetting the name of it now. lame I know. If it comes back to me I will put it in here) it was neat. Everything was lit up with flourescent colored lights. There were tons of people there. The only thing I didn't like was all the cigarette smoke. There were spots we would walk through and it was like a cloud of smoke. We played some of the machines. I didn't try any table games or anything because I was pretty sure they weren't going to be playing crazy 8's or Go Fish, so I would have been lost. Haha! It was fun just wandering around like we were some childless couple for a few hours. After we lost all our money (yeah I said lost, but it wasn't much) we headed back home. We got home around 2am or so and totally crashed. I was so dead tired and we had to get up early so I could go get the kids cause Dave and Sandy had to be somewhere and I had made a dentist appointement for John for this morning at 8am, not knowing we would be going out. Sigh. So much for us ever doing anything well planned out. I told him I would like to go again sometime, but let's stay overnight. I think we could use an overnight away.

Brooklyn Starts Ballet

2009-01-10T12:47:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn went to ballet for the first time today. I think she was in heaven. Anything that involves dressing up fancy and prancing around is right up her alley. It was so cute to watch and I think she is going to do great. She is always dancing around at home.

All dressed and ready to go (with her sad little cold sore).

Her fancy hair all done up for ballet.

Ballet Lessons

2009-01-09T16:49:00.013-07:00

The girls start ballet this month. My ex-husband is paying for them to take lessons now through June. Then we will see how they like it and are doing and go from there. I have known for like a month that he was going to and I had been so excited I wanted to cry. I have always wanted to take ballet, but when I was younger my parents couldn't afford it and then when they could I was to busy with band and flags and everything. So I totally admit I am living vicariously through them getting to do it. And I couldn't be more excited for them.
Hailey started Jan. 7. She loved it and is excited to return next week. I cracked up watching her because she is definitely not my most graceful child. I always joke that I should have named her Flaily instead. Hopefully ballet will go a long way to help her out with that. Because she's definitely not getting any shorter. I have to doubt that she will be as tall as me by 12.

Brooklyn starts ballet tomorrow. She is so excited she can barely contain herself. And honestly, so am I. It's just so cute.

Hailey ready for ballet.

Hailey and Brooklyn trying on their ballet stuff on Christmas.