Avery's First Day of Church

* 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!

Avery Joy

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

First Day of School!

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

It's A ?

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

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.

Alone At Last - Sort Of

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

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

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. :)

Freeways and Body Shops

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

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 Job

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. . .

Crazy Goings On

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

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

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.

Injection, Pt. 2

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.

Injection

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

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!!!!!

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.

It's About Time!

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. . .

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

On The Move

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.

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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.