So seriously cute!!!

So, I know that when you are a 10 year old boy and you are on deck and you practice your swing, you think you are just about THE coolest thing on the planet! I also know that when you are up to bat and you are waiting for the pitcher to be ready to pitch to you and you do your practice swing and take your stance and kind of swing your bat around in a small little circle above your head with your elbows out and EVERYTHING, you think you are the biggest STUD in the whole world! But when you are the mom of a 10 year old boy who does these things, you think he is THE CUTEST thing that ever was! It makes you kinda giggle. And smile. And feel that fun little motherly pride that you get when your kid is doing something absolutely adorable! You want to remember the moment forever! NOT at all what HE'S going for but SO seriously CUTE I can't take it!!!

Not quite, buddy...

So, Brian was teaching the lesson in our Sunbeam class today. He asked who the first man on the earth was. A little boy said Adam. Then Brian said, you're right, who was the first woman on the earth. Nobody answered for a minute and then our little Max says I know, it was Steve!! Oh, Dear!!! Not quite buddy, but close! hehe

Zacky's a full fledged bear!

My Zack LOVES scouts!

When he was 2 Brian was a cub scout leader and Zack LOVED it when they came over for activities! One day we were at Walmart and there was the cutest little shirt just Zack's size that looked just like a scout shirt. It has patches and badges. It's just the cutest thing. I would post a picture on here of it but it is dirty since the washing machine is broken down and has been since Tuesday. Well, Zack thought he struck GOLD!!! He proudly wore his "scout shirt" each week when the scouts came over. It was a sad, sad day when he outgrew that one!

One of the things he was the most excited about when he turned 8 years old was that he was FINALLY old enough to be a scout. I was the Wolf leader so he had been enjoying the activities when the boys came over already without receiving any awards. He has done SO well with scouts! He is very diligent at achieving his goals and attending each meeting. He gets quite upset if he misses one! I LOVE that he enjoys it so much! It's such a great program for boys!

When we moved to Price in September, he was only 3 achievements away from earning his Bear. Well...we lost his book! Poor kid! So we finally got him a new one and turns out he earned the rest of it at activities he had attended since we moved here and received his award on Wednesday night. We are so proud of him and hope he continues to love this program!


When I was the Wolf leader I attended a meeting where the new Scout Master told us how important he feels Cub Scouts is. He said that when these boys reach their teenage years the Boy Scout program is a wonderful thing for them to participate in. It's good, clean, fun. It teaches them how to be good people. How to do certain skills. It provides them with an opportunity to achieve and succeed. They make great friends. He went on and on about the importance of it. Then he said that we as Cub leaders have a VERY important role. We are setting the stage for their feelings about Scouts. If we don't make the meetings and activities super fun and enjoyable for them when they are Cubs then we will have lost them as teenage scouts. They need the support and good that comes from their participation in the Boy Scout program and we need to really encourage them all along their way! I'm glad that I heard that because it goes for parents too! It says in the books they get that the parents are to play a BIG role in this whole thing. It brings you closer as parents and sons and it brings the whole family closer together. Instead of looking at it as another time consuming, pain in the butt, thing to do we need to be supportive and proud and helpful in whatever way we can. I am POSITIVE the reason I was called as the Wolf leader at that time was so I could see how very important our part is in this program and how important it is for my son and to my son.

Now my Max wears that cute little tiny "scout shirt" proudly to all the pack meetings and every week that Zack has scouts. I hope they all love this program!

Fun Houses...

There is a street I drive down when I go to Brian's office that has such fun houses! The home owners in this neighborhood have really fixed these houses up nicely. I would just LOVE to have one of them!  (Click on a picture for a bigger view.)

This one is my favorite one!!! My favorite color is red. I imagine the person that lives in this home must be pretty sassy if they are brave enough to paint their house red! She is probably so much fun to hang out with and super creative and talented! And it looks so awesome in real life! The color is perfect!

Do you remember when we showed you this one Shani, when we were realtors and you were totally smitten by it and Matt was like NO WAY!!! You were SO right! It is beautiful all fixed up! I wonder if they ever finished the scary stair case? I wonder if it still has a random toilet just sitting in the middle of that upstairs bedroom? So silly, huh! I would LOVE to see the inside after having seen it in it's "before" state. Isn't it fun to let the imagination run wild!

The front of this house reminds me a lot of the front of the house I grew up in in Dodge City, Kansas! Same porch and front windows positioning and all. I think it would be so much fun to see what it's like on the inside to see if it's set up the same as our old house was.

I would LOVE to get my hands and a nice chunk of change on this beauty! Can you imagine how amazing it could be?! Oh, it would be so incredibly awesome fixing it up!  It's kind of sad to see this old home on the same street as these others that have been so dolled up. I imagine it's just wondering when it will be it's turn for a facelift. Am I the only one who finds it interesting that these homeowners have those 2 nice camp trailers in their driveway but the can't slap a coat of paint on the trim and porch of their home. Seriously folks! Show some love!!!  I'm sure it was simply lovely when it was built. It just needs a little love. Brian and I have always dreamed of owning a home like this and remodeling it. Maybe some day we can afford to do it. It would be so much fun I think!

It is so much fun to drive down this street! It's definitely MY kind of neighborhood!!!

Funny boy!

I could hear a commercial for a Chevy Truck coming from the t.v. yesterday morning so I knew Max wasn't watching The Disney Channel so I asked him what he was watching and he excitedly reported, "The baseball channel!" That is code for ESPN. He is 4 years old now and ever since he was tiny when he would get ahold of the remote and flip the channels he would always stop on ESPN. He stays glued to the tube when it's on. When his dad watches football, baseball, basketball, or anything sports Max is right there with him. Mesmerized. Cracks me up! He's definitely all boy! His Uncle Rob would be SO proud!!!


I was just reading a book to him and he smelled my hair and said,"mmmm, waterfalls!" What a sweetie! I just love these sweet little babies Heavenly Father has sent to me!!!

Dreamy!!!

Just as I was feeling down in the dumps Gracie put the smile back my face by starting to walk. She has taken a step or two before today but tonight she has really taken off and is walking all over the place. What a sweetheart! I love my children so much and they are truly what keeps us going every day! We are truly blessed! I don't know what we would have done without our little ray of sunshine, Gracie, this year!!! She has brought so much joy to our lives. This last year has been rough in ways and she has the power to wipe away all the frustration, fears, worry, and stress by smiling, patting my back when she snuggles in for a love, covering her little mouth with her tiny hand when she cries, blowing kisses, clapping, shaking her whole body and head as she shakes a rattle in her hand. I could go on and on about the sweet little joys of my pretty little, gap toothed angel!!! I love having a daughter added to the mix! We all have absolutely LOVED having her as part of our little family. Like I've said before...she's "everything I never knew I always wanted!!!"(Chandler Bing said this about Monica I believe) She's just plain dreamy!!!

I rarely put pics of my kids on this blog but I'm breaking the rule today and putting a couple on here of Gracie since I was talking about her in this post and I want you all to see just how adorable she is!!!

Thank goodness for Cohen!!!

Let me first say that I want to quit!!! Teaching Sunbeams (3 and 4 year olds at church) is enjoyable. However, teaching our son, Max as one of our Sunbeams is PURE TORTURE!!! We had to endure teaching him in Nursery too and it was every bit as bad! He is a perfect angel for other teachers but not for his parents.

On to the cute stuff. The stuff that keeps us from losing it completely each week.

During sharing time the counselor in the Primary presidency asked if anyone knew what an archaeologist was. Max shot his arm in the air! She called on him and he excitedly answered, "He kills dinosaurs!!!"

Our lesson was entitled "I am thankful for birds and insects." Exciting, I know! Well, after the children guessed that my clues I gave them described a bird I told them to pretend they were birds and "fly" around the room. One little boy named Cohen's eyes lit up as he said, "And I'll be the guy that shoots the birds with a gun!"

We went on a walk to see if we could see any birds or insects and a bird flew by. I said, "There's a bird!" Cohen said, "I need a real gun so I can shoot it!"

When the lesson was over I gave each child a piece of paper with, "I am thankful for birds and insects" written at the top.  Cohen said, "I'm going to draw bullets!"  Haha!!! I think little Cohen will be a great bird hunter one day!!! For now, I'm just happy he's in our class to keep me smiling through the tears of distress Max causes me!!!

Enough with the strep throat already!!!

It's been a rough couple days for Matty! Yesterday he had a crash at school with another boy and got a red bump on his forehead. Then after school we took him to a park in town without any toys at it but has super fun rolling hills to play on and he was in heaven running free all around...until...he fell on a big rock and scraped up his forehead, nose, and upper lip and got a very sad looking scrape that runs along his poor little chest. Now, he has strep throat...again!!! Poor guy!

When he'd been home from school for a while this afternoon I was talking with him and noticed he looked like he does when he's sick. He said he had a sore throat so I took his temp and it was 100.7 so I immediately called the Dr.'s office. By some miracle I was able to get him in immediately. Usually at that Dr.'s office you're out of luck if you haven't made an appointment by about 8:15 a.m.

There is another Dr. that you can get right in to see but she's really, really weird!! Her name is Ada and she is so very strange it's not even funny. You find yourself wondering if you have warped into some kind of twisted fairy tale when you are there. She talks to me like I'm about 5 months old. She is so bizarrely odd that I could go on and on about the many, many reasons I did NOT want to take him there and was so incredibly thrilled when I could get Matty in to see Madsen. So happy!

Anyway, Dr. Madsen did a throat culture and sure enough...strep! He just had it a month ago. Max had it a week before that. My poor little nephew, Josh, had it twice this year, as well. One of the times he came down with it was the day before his mom, my sister, Stephanie went to the hospital for a scheduled C-section. NOT FUN FOR THEM!!! Brian's sister, Stephanie's girls have all had it and now poor Steph has it. It's rough stuff this year!!!

The Dr. said if Matthew gets it again in the next couple months he needs to go to an ear, nose, and throat specialist to be checked over.

I made him get the shot. Poor kid! He was NOT happy to say the least!!! But at least he should get better more quickly. And I don't have to try to remember to give him medicine for 10 days.....

I love Walmart?!

I have a love/hate relationship with Walmart. I LOVE the low prices! This is where the love part ends for me.
Things that bug me about Walmart:
~It's so BIG!
~There aren't nearly enough cart returns at our particular store.
~The lines are forever long. I ALWAYS pick the wrong line. It's inevitable! If I pick that line something will go wrong with the purchase in front of me just as soon as all my stuff is up on the counter and then I'm stuck there, for life, watching my ice cream melt.
~It seems like every time we find something that we totally love and can't get enough of, they stop carrying it! Sometimes I think they track what we buy and then they are like oh no, Tara and Brian are buying tons of this item. We better stop having it in our store!
~People are RUDE! I can't blame this on Walmart but seriously, people are RUDE and it just seems magnified when you go to Walmart because there are just so many people there.
~Does anyone really know how to correctly spell Walmart? Is it WalMart, Wal-Mart, Walmart?

You can imagine how surprised I have been lately as my dislike for Walmart has started to dissipate. I am liking it more and more all the time!!!

Reasons I have started to really like it:
~This store is very, very clean.
~The employees are really friendly and nice and helpful at our Walmart!
~For the past few months I have been having the BEST luck at Walmart! I don't know if it's because they are remodeling and are trying to get rid of stuff or if it's because of the economy and they just aren't selling as much as they have in the past and are now trying to get rid of stuff or what but I..am..loving..it!!!

Each of these items were only $1.00

Each of these items were $2.00 and $3.00 

The Mickey and Snoopy things are pj sets that also included slippers, a bag, and a manicure set for $2 all together!!! The baby pj sets were just 2 pack fleece pjs that usually cost like $9 a set but were marked down to $3. The blue shirt is part of a set that is the shirt and some navy blue pants. And I always wanted a platter like this one! Can't wait to actually have my own kitchen again so I can use it!

These items were $5.00 each

Except for the Spiderman shoes I got those fo $3 but fogot to put them in that picture. Can you believe King size sheets for $10 bucks for the set?! That's a crazy good price!!!

These are just some of the MANY things I have bought for such great prices lately. I even bought Matty some cute little Starter shoes for $2 the other day but he is wearing them at school today. I have put some of the stuff in our storage and some is in the dirty clothes. We've bought jeans for Zack for $7 and on and on I could go. See why I am loving Walmart now! It's just plain fun to go there for me now. Especially when I go after I drop Max off at school and it's just me and Gracie. I just browse and relax and enjoy the experience. I linger longer than usual these days to give myself a longer break from life. I usually just run through there as fast as I can hoping to have a small piece of sanity left by the time I make it through the entire store and through the checkstand when all my kids are with me. When it's just me and Gracie it's as close to "me time" as I can get. I don't have to worry about anyone complaining when I'm looking in the fabric and craft section. I don't have to hear all the moans and groans as I stop at EVERY clearance spot searching for the next great deal! Who knew Walmart could be so great?! Certainly not me!!! :)   I think Chris is doing a wonderful job with this one!!!

The verdict is in......

pinto bean bread is delicious!!!

Even picky pooh Matthew loved it and ate 2 pieces! We all did! The texture was great too! I was concerned because I drained and rinsed the beans so when i tried to mash them it wasn't working so well so I decided to try putting them in the food processor but they still wouldn't get really very pureed. They still had some chunks. I used a wire wisk to try mashing them more. When I put them in the recipe they were pretty chunky. They just kind of disolved between the mixing and the baking process. There weren't ANY chunks in the bread at all.

Brian is the baker in our family and he kept saying it was delicious! He was pretty surprised since it had beans in it. I was too, to be honest. But what a great way to add protein and fiber to the bread.

I was SO thrilled when the dough was rising!! It's so exciting! I've told you about my past flops with yeast. I have NEVER had it work right! It was so fun and easy and made me feel kinda good to think I could actually do it right!

Here's the recipe...

Pinto Bean Bread

2 C mashed, unseasoned pinto beans (can be pureed)
6 C all-purpose flour
2 t salt
2 C milk, scalded
2 T sugar
2 T yeast
2 T shortening

Pour milk into large bowl and when warm stir in yeast until dissolved. Blend in beans, salt, sugar and shortening.

Add 4 C flour to handle easily. Knead until smooth and elastic.

Place into greased bowl and let raise until double.

Divide dough into 2 portions and shape into loaves. Place in greased pans and let rise till almost double.

Bake @ 350 for 50 min.

Today I wish I could......

go back to my warm, cozy bed curl up and fall back to sleep.

OR

lose myself in a good book.

OR

waste the day away watching mindless television.

OR

spend the day clicking on the "next blog" at the top of the blog page to truly "blog stalk" and secretly peek into total stranger's lives where I can find inspiration, motivation, new recipes, a good laugh,  and realize I'm not the only one struggling in the world and I, TOO can make the best of this beautiful life Heavenly Father has blessed me with no matter what negatives may come along.

OR

spend the day remembering how sweet my little babies were when they were born. Thinking back to the days when I used to spend my days with my, now, amazingly wonderful almost 10 year old son watching him dress up like Superman any chance he got, or reading stories to him until I couldn't see straight, watching Toy Story over, and over, and over again. Reading Dr. Seuss's ABC's book to him over, and over, and over again until Brian and I both had it so memorized that when we were trying to get him to fall asleep at night we would recite it to him word for word in a desperate attempt to get him to fall asleep. We'd also sing Bear in the Big Blue House Goodbye song to him at night to try to get him to fall asleep. These are the sweet, priceless moments I could enjoy remembering today if I just spent the day scrapbooking.

OR...........................

The bead jar...

A couple of years ago I was watching The Nanny and she had the parents set up a reward system for the kids where each child got a certain amount of marbles as a reward for good behavior to put in a jar each day. Once the jar was full they would get some sort of reward. I decided to try it with my kids. Marbles are quite pricey so I went to the good ol' dollar store and got these glass beads and a Tupperware type container and started the bead jar at our house. If we asked the kids to do something like pick up their toys or whatever they would get a bead for doing whatever the thing was we asked them to do. It worked great and it helped a lot with the problem we were having with the boys not listening to us. Their reward for filling the container was a trip to the bowling alley. They LOVED it!!! Well, we hadn't done it since then, until recently when the boys were at each others throats CONSTANTLY!!! Punishments weren't working any longer and it was just ridiculous how often we had to get after them. We were at our wits end. I remembered the bead jar and pulled it out and we started it up again with new rules. Each child would get 3 beads at the end of the day. If they hit, kicked, punched, or bit their brother a bead would be taken away. If they were mean to their brothers or wresltled (wrestling would be fine if they didn't ALWAYS get hurt and cry and whine and take it just way too far so it's off limits now) they got one taken away. They also had to keep their hands to themselves or a bead would be taken away. You would NOT believe how well this worked!!! We were pleasantly shocked!!! It worked WONDERS! WE were horribly inconsistent. We would forget to give them the beads at night, often. Suddenly they would be acting like wild animals again and we'd realize we had slacked off on actually giving them the beads again. We'd start back up again and they would behave again. Matthew and Zack were the best at having 3 beads left at night even though Matthew was the one that was the worst at beating the crap out of his brothers so I was thoroughly amazed at this development! Max rarely had 3 beads at the end of the day. It is really difficult to be the youngest and not get frustrated with your brothers. And it is especially difficult to remember to keep your hands and feet and body away from your brothers when you are 4 so even though he didn't have 3 beads he did as well as one might expect him to do. I also must say we weren't HORRIBLY rigid. We understand that "boys will be boys" so we would remind them that their behavior would make them lose a bead if they didn't stop and they usually stopped right then. Well, they filled up the jar and we are going to do something fun as a reward now. Not sure what but something super fun for them. We started it up again and the rules have changed again. Each child gets 5 beads now at the end of the day. While they still have to be kind to their brothers they also have to listen to their parents, behave at Walmart, go to primary without throwing a fit (Matthew), and help out when we ask them.They get bonus beads for doing extra stuff. For instance, they all worked together to clean out a flower bed today and got 5 extra beads each. This is the best thing ever!!! A reward system works so much better than any punishment does. All I have to say is do you want to lose a bead? and they instantly shape up. My parents used this method with a particularly difficult primary class they taught. The class would get x-number of marbles for behaving during sharing time and singing time and class time. Once they filled the jar they got to have a pizza party during the week at my parents house. It worked really well for them as well. I'm really hoping this will help us to get Max to listen to us. He NEVER listens to us!! We've been doing it for 2 days now and so far so good... Also, I love how it has helped me feel more like a loving mother instead of like a drill sergeant and referree all the time. I don't like having to constantly punish the kids but I also don't like it when they behave badly so this has just been a great blessing to our family!!!

Mumus

So I was trying on some clothes at J.C.Penney's yesterday and as I was leaving the store empty handed I started thinking... I have a closet FULL of clothes but I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to wear!!! It's true!!! Some years back women were lucky to afford fabric to make themselves one dress and had 1 pair of shoes for working in and one special Sunday dress and nice shoes for church, parties, and town dances. My source for this information comes from years of watching Little House on the Prairie so it may not be totally accurate but it sure seems about right. I'm sure that's all that Ma and Pa really could afford anyway.  :)  Now a-days we have oodles and oodles of clothes and feel like we always need more. We're kind of a mess! I was thinking yesterday though how nice those old times must have been in some ways. People back then didn't complain so much, at least Ma didn't, lucky for Pa!!! Brian would trade Pa places in a heart beat! I complain far too much about the clothes and shoes thing. Think of how easy it was to get dressed back then. I spend more time re-hanging clothes that I changed my mind about wearing once I had them on and decided I looked like crap in them. Once you wash shirts a few times they start to lose their shape and color and sometimes become unrecognizeable as the shirt you actually purchased. I once bought a shirt at Target 2 sizes too big because I wanted it for those days when I'm bloated, uncomfortable and wanted something super long and plenty roomy so when I just want to wear sweats all day long but feel like I should wear normal clothes instead of sweats I had something somewhat cutish. Well, I figured if it was THAT much too big I could surely put it in the dryer. It shrunk so small after one washing it was ridiculous!!! Way short and it shrunk at least those extra 2 sizes! If I just had one dress to wear on workdays and one for Sunday it sure would make that part easier. Also, think of all the bulges that would be hidden in one of those big ol' dresses. Who cares if you're having a "fat day". Goodbye "fat jeans" forever!!! No one would ever be the wiser because you'd be covered completely! Polynesians and Mrs. Roper had it figured OUT!!! MUMUS all the way!!!! Even I could make one of those I think. Straight lines pretty much. I could even make them in all different colors and prints if I wanted to go CRAZY!!! Short sleeved in summer and spring and long sleeved in winter and fall. There's my solution right there...mumus!!! Brian will be so happy!!! ;)     
I REALLY NEED TO GO ON A DIET!!!!!!!!!!!

A little ramble...

~So I am addicted to HGTV!!! I just love it! I used to really get into home improvement shows and then Brian went back to school and I knew there wasn't a chance of having a house of our own any time soon so it was kind of depressing to watch those shows. I am back to having hope that some day we will be homeowners so it is so much fun to watch these shows and to get all excited again about the dream of fixing a place to my liking. I can't wait to be able to actually...paint a wall!!! So now I just can't get enough. I live vicariously through all of these total strangers as they search for a home to buy and as they fix up the homes. It's just fun! Some day it will be our turn and I just can't wait!!!!
~If it snows again I think I'm gonna scream!!! And this WIND!!! I grew up in Dodge City, KS which is officially the windiest town in the country. Seriously! Google it! I know I should be used to it and it shouldn't matter to me and, honestly it probably wouldn't if I didn't have all these wonderfully rambunctious kiddos that need to get outside and play more. It was beautiful here early this afternoon so I was going to take the kids to the park after school. Unfortunately the WIND picked up again a couple hours later and it was SOOO cold!!! So I rented a movie for them from Redbox instead. Poor cooped up kids! They will play and play outside if it's cold but bitter wind is a different story and I can't blame them! I WANT SPRING ALREADY!!!!!!
~BBQ'd food is the best!! We usually bbq year round but didn't this year. So we started getting the itch for bbq and Brian made some bbq chicken last week and we have a couple other bbq'd items on our menu and I'm excited! I am so excited for all the fun family bbq's we always have during the summer!!! Can't wait!!!!
~I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my 4 year old son, Max!!! He is amazing, smart, adorable, and just plain loveable!!! He has me wrapped around his little finger and it's really kind of pathetic! However....he is driving me NUTSO!!!! He is so stubborn!!!! Basically he has the stubbornness of me AND Brian combined! Scary stuff! He RARELY listens to me. On the rare occurance that he actually does listen I point it out and say wow Max you did such a great job of listening to me! Thank you so much! That was being such a good boy! It doesn't happen often! He used to be the naughtiest little guy EVER but he has improved quite a bit! Instead of doing incredibly crazy stuff all day long every single day he has cut the insanity back to either once a day or once every few days. The stubbornness is going to kill me though! SERIOUSLY!!! Gonna lose it! Today after hours of dealing with his stubbornness I found myself longing for the day he goes to kindergarten. That makes me sad! We've been trying this parenting trick to change some of the behavior with the kids and it has been working beautifully. I am going to start using it tomorrow with Max to see if it will work to nip some of this stubbornness in the bud so I can ENJOY this last year I have him home all day to the fullest instead of wishing it away!!!!! Here's hopin'!!!

Spring Break Report: Day 2,3, and 4

Pictures follow and there are more on wordfromthezoo.blogspot.com   If you want an invite just send me your email at btzmm@yahoo.com
I had so much fun Thursday! First we ate lunch at Panda Express. We live in a tiny town that has a lot of your basic fast food restaurants but there really aren't a whole lot of great places to eat out there. Also we just don't eat out much. TOO EXPENSIVE!!! So I was SO excited to eat out 3 times this weekend!!!
After lunch we shopped at the mall for a bit and found some super cute and absolutely perfect pink shoes for Gracie that are like some I was going to order on childensplace.com for $14.99 but they were out of her size. I have been looking and looking for some like them at other stores and just haven't had any luck. The ones I ended up finding were at Payless for $9.99 and they were out of her size at the mall Payless so they gave me a list of other stores that had them in stock and at the bottom of the list was a $3.00 coupon to use when buying them. So I paid less than half of what I would have paid if I got them at Children's Place AND they even have a cute little bow that make them even cuter! I LOVE getting a good deal and finding something I have been searching for!!!!
After finding the shoes we took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo. They liked that Jumpin' Jack's but the whole time they were there they talked about how they wanted to go to Kangaroo Zoo in Pleasant Grove because it's bigger, has more stuff, and they say it's more fun. So the next morning they begged to go there so we let them go and they DID have tons of fun!!! And, bonus, there is a section for babies 2 and under so Gracie had a blast just crawling around that area and playing and being free.
Our next stop was Target!!!! I LOVE TARGET!!!! I MISS Target!!! It was fun to look around and we found some great t-shirts for the boys for only $3.50 a piece.
The kids chose Chuck-a-Rama for dinner. Gracie was in hog heaven!! She is such a great little eater and pigged out!!!! I was happy to have some of that delicious dutch oven turkey. That is one of the best things I've ever eaten and I am all for any chance to have some of that!
So, we are totally spoiled where we live because there is NO traffic! The stop lights are so short and it's the best! Well, we were driving along fine and then the interstate became quite congested. Brian said there must be a wreck. Zack said yeah and all the people are redneckin'!! Cracked us up!
Saturday was especially nice for me because we went to my FAVORITE place!!! The Sweet Tooth Fairy. They make THE most delicious cupcakes EVER!!! MMMMMMM MMMMMM GOOD!!! They are located right next to The Quilted Bear in Provo.
After getting my cupcake fix we headed to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum. The kids LOVE that place! I've only taken them twice when my friend Sarah came to visit a couple of years in a row. Brian had never been. He had a blast playing with the kids and enjoyed it as much as they did I think!  That night some of the family came to my parent's house and we all enjoyed spending time together.
Easter was interesting...it snowed several inches over night so we had to have the hunt in the house. Mom made an absolutely DELICIOUS meal! The traditional Easter ham. But she adds her special flare to make it even better! Then she made her awesome potatoes. Not the usual funeral potatoes but equally delicious! Her homemade rolls, broken glass salad, asparagus, and strawberry pie topped it off. She had made lasagna for us Thursday night, clam chowder and cheese soup for Saturday night. Sausage, biscuits, and gravy for breakfast Friday, pancakes and eggs and her homemade syrup Saturday, and Rhodes cinnamon rolls Sunday morning. We have eaten very well and have been spoiled! Next trip I want to go to the Olive Garden for sure, too and then it will be the PERFECT eating experience in my book!!!! We just never seem to make it there.
We hope to some day afford a trip to Disneyland or somewhere else super fun for Spring Break but for now this worked well. It gave us a much needed break from our normal, every day life. We spent it together as a family. We spent time with our extended family and it was just all in all a fun, nice, and even somewhat relaxing trip! We head home today and no one is looking forward to that but all good things must come to an end I suppose. I hope you all had a great Easter. It's so wonderful listening to General Conference and focusing on the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Remembering our need to repent and follow Him. A time of reflection and a time of being reminded of the things we must do to make ourselves more worthy to live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and our precious families for eternity. So grateful for the knowledge we have and continue to gain of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So thankful to see His hand work wonders in our lives. It's a beautiful thing!!!

I should have taken the pic when the box was full. There were 2 strawberry ones. On the strawberry ones they put a chocolate dipped strawberry quarter on top. The one in the box is chocolate with the most divine white frosting. If I knew the recipe for this frosting I would put it on EVERYTHING and I would weigh 500 lbs!!! I don't want the recipe!!!

Spring Break Report: Day 1

Well, the weather turned to crap so we ended up having to ixnay the oozay. We took the kids to Jumpin' Jack's in Spanish Fork and let them go nuts for about 2 hours. We had one accident..YES, HE'S 4!!!!!!!!!!! We were there all of 10 minutes before he did it, too. His timing is impeccable! Thankfully our suitcases were still in the car and we had an extra outfit for him to change into so we could stay. Then last night everyone was all happy and playing great. We all went to bed and had just dozed when Zack came in telling us that Max was having problems breathing so of course I rushed down there to find that he was right in the middle of barking like a seal and struggling to catch his breath. (Croupe)  After being outside for a while and drinking some ice water he started to sound better so Brian opened the window in the bedroom and slept with him. Thank goodness for cold air!!! Here's hopin' that's the craziest it gets and that the rest of the time we just have FUN!!!

Loveliness...

So I have a friend on Facebook that I went to elementary school with named Holly and she is so awesome! Every day she posts the best little inspirational thoughts and encouraging words. It is so great reading them everyday. I look forward to them and find that reading her posts helps boost my spirits often.

Some of my favorites...

A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future and accepts you today the way you are.

Life is a string of memories.Make sure your today is worth remembering tomorrow and make it good :)

We start in Diapers we end in Diapers... Try not to get too hung up on the crap in the middle...

Don't expect others to make you happy, happiness starts with you.

Sing your heart out, Dance in the rain, Cherish the memories, Ignore the pain, Love and learn, Forget and forgive because remember you only have 1 life to live.

I could go on and on! Today's thought is especially meaningful to me and it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. There is a person in my life that I feel sucks the joy from me and basically sucks the ME out of me. My wonderful husband tries to encourage the ME in me and I am grateful for that. Sometimes I forget this and let the bad sink in too much and feel really crappy about myself. Holly's cute little thoughts and quotes are a super great pick me up!! So anyhoo, here is today's thought....

It's better to be hated for being yourself than to be loved for being someone else.

Amen, Holly! And thanks so much for being wonderful...YOU!!!!

Now this I gotta try!

I posted a couple months ago about how yeast hates me. It really, really does! I can never get it to work. I hate the feelings of disappointment when after all the work I put into bread or rolls they don't even rise at all! Unleavened bread every time!!! I finally decided to stop fighting it. It hates me so I'll just not make my own bread. After all some nice person or machine worked very hard to make bread for me to buy at the store so who am I to let them down by making my own bread. I mean, really!  Well, yesterday at church the Relief Society bulletin thing had a recipe for pinto bean bread. Yes, that's right, PINTO BEAN BREAD! I HAVE to try this recipe! I'm definitely curious! It should definitely make it dense which I love about homemade bread. I'm going to pretend yeast loves me and I'm going to give it another try! I am always quoting, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" to my kids. It's time to practice what I preach! I'll let you know how it goes!

Spring has sprung in my book!

As I was walking out of Brian's office this morning I was so surprised!!! Right there surrounded by brown grass were the most beautiful purple flowers. I was so excited I got a little teary! Spring has sprung!!!
       Before you know it we'll be spending tons of time outside again and I just can't wait. The kids already have been spending lots of time outside but it's been a bit too windy for baby Gracie.
       I LOVE spring! I love watching flowers, trees, and grass come alive again painting the world with splashes of beautiful colors everywhere you look. I love going for walks and bike rides.
       My eldest son, Zackary, was born in April.Our sweet little Gracie was born in May.  I could not imagine a more perfect time to welcome a new precious little life to our family than in the Spring.
       Winters are so hard in this state. Dreary skys. Brown and gray everywhere you look. Freezing cold weather. Wind. Snow. It's makes spring all the more lovely and welcome by all of us!!!! Happy Spring everyone!!!

I can't wait for Spring Break!

We aren't doing anything too exciting, just planning a trip to the zoo and to Boondocks. I hope Boondocks is a fun place! It looks like it would be fun! Hopefully the kids have fun, anyway. I'm looking forward to the break from the usual routine. A break from 6:30 a.m.  A break from our callings. A break from our town. A break from the monotony that often comes with motherhood....

Chew, People, Chew!!!!!

Matthew tried to give us all a heart attack last night! We were eating chicken enchiladas for dinner and all of a sudden he ran to the hallway and started jumping up and down and making a weird noise. I ran to him and took him to the bathroom and he managed to tell me that he had a piece of chicken stuck in his throat. He acted like he was vomiting, at least dry heaving, but nothing came out so I did the heimlich maneuver on him and he was able to finally get out a huge piece of chicken. Then he started back up again with having problems and heaving again so I did the heimlich maneuver on him again and he got another big piece out. SCARED ME TO DEATH!!!! I've had to do that with 2 other kids in my life. Once when I was a teenager babysitting a 1 year old and he choked on a hot dog. Another time when I worked for a LARGE daycare when Brian and I were newlyweds and there was a little 2 year old eating hotdogs and got choked. All I have to say is thank goodness for the Young Women's organization in our church!!! At one activity they had someone who was CPR certified come and teach us how to do the heimlich maneuver on adults and babies (I've had to do that on Gracie a couple of times when she has had pennies lodged) and they taught us some other basic safety things. Things like, what do you throw on a fire in the kitchen, how do you stop a person's bleeding, etc. The things I learned at that activity have stayed with me for all these years and have helped me many times! I also remember an activity where they had someone come and tell us how to present ourselves in a job interview. How to fill out a job application. What to wear. Some helpful things to say. I still remember some of the things from that activity as well. So grateful for the Y.W. program! So grateful for great leaders!!! So grateful I was able to save my son last night! We had a discussion about how if you're choking you should stay by people and get them to understand that you need help! He could have gone in the bathroom and choked to death and we would just have thought he was going to the bathroom. SCARY!!! I think he thought he needed to puke and he KNOWS he has to get to the bathroom if that's the case. But I just never realized I needed to have that discussion with my kids about choking. Anyhoo, it was scary but thank goodness he's fine!!!!!!!!

Such a fun weekend!

My wonderful sister-in-law, Becky, invited me to go scrapbooking with her this past weekend. Overnight. In her families gorgeous log cabin. That they built with their own hands. In the middle of the mountains. In the middle of nowhere. Without my kids. With 6 other fun ladies. With tons of junk food and talking. Of course I excitedly went!! I am so glad I have a husband that loves me and is such a wonderful father that he was not intimidated in the least by having a 10 month old, a 4 year old, a 6 year old, and a 9 year old to take care of and happily said YES, you should go!!! It was so much fun and so nice to have a much needed break! We stayed up til 3:30 in the morning. I got lots of pages done to put in Max's scrapbook. He's been anxiously waiting for me to make him a scrapbook. He has been begging me, often, for like 2 years now but I haven't scrapbooked a single thing since I made Brian a scrapbook for Father's Day a couple years back full of pictures of him and the boys over the years. So I PROMISED him that I would scrapbook pages just for him! He was so happy! Looking at the pictures of my sweet little boys when they were tinier brought tears to my eyes. I can't believe how time flies! They are growing up WAY too fast! I have GOT to stop blinking!!! Every time I do they grow leaps and bounds! Can you believe Gracie turned 10 months old yesterday?! Crazy! I have decided I need to make more time for scrapbooking!
These are some of the reasons I love to scrapbook:
*It is therapeutic
*It helps me have a fun creative outlet.
*Cutting, glueing, playing with markers and with stickers is SO much fun!
*Looking at the pictures of fun times we've had and of my precious tiny babies is the best!
*I simplify my scrapbook pages so much so they are way cute without taking lots of time to do and they actually focus on the pictures instead of all the other crap on the page so it feels like more of a doable thing for me. I once had a S-I-L that would spend 5 to 6 hours per page. NO THANKS!!!
*My kids absolutely LOVE looking at their scrapbooks. Even poor Max and Matty that don't have very many pages have just as much fun looking  at their books as Zack (who has 3 whole books done) does.
*It is something I enjoy doing. It is something that gets completed and actually stays that way. Unlike house work and laundry and crap like that that is NEVERENDING and ETERNALLY INCOMPLETE!!!
*It's just plain FUN!!!

I can't help myself!

I just have to write this post! This morning I read the news of Jesse James cheating on Sandra Bullock and then went on facebook where a friend of mine had posted about it and then just now I read another friend's blog post about the subject. I have wanted to write a post for some time now about infidelity but I was afraid that some of the people I would be referring to would read what I had written and that stopped me from doing it. Well, I am so fired up today about it I just can't stand it! I have to get my feelings out about the subject! My brother and 3 of Brian's brothers have had wives that have cheated on them destroying their marriages. The basic theme was there with each of them. They cheated and their husbands wanted to stay with them because the thought of breaking apart their little families was too much for them to bare. One of Brian's brothers even stayed in his marriage for 3 years after his wife's second affair (with a member of the bishopric by the way) and then after her 3rd affair that had lasted about a year he decided it was just too much for him to take and he left. What is wrong with women?! Seriously! One of these women even met a guy one weekend on a business trip to Seattle and did the deed that very weekend! WHAT!?! Can you even imagine?!  2 of these women became completely obsessed with her body and losing weight and running and one even had a boob job and then I suppose decided to take the girls for a new ride! Each time it has happened it has broken all of our hearts! We have been heart sick for the husbands and for their children and for the end of yet another marriage and family unit. It makes us sad to think that these women would do such things. What happened to the women that we knew and loved? I always think that Satan is rejoicing each time this happens. It is really sad too that these women are the ones who make the decisions to sin and end families and such, yet they suffer very few consequenses for their actions. The husbands are the ones that suffer so much emotional pain and often are left with nothing. They belittle the husbands to the children trying to turn the children against their dads. They take away the most basic desire and right of the fathers to spend time with their children and to participate in their lives in basic father/child situations. It just makes me so sad for all of them. When Brad Pitt cheated on Jennifer Aniston I was sick and furious! How dare he hurt someone that we all loved from watching her for 10 years on Friends. Not only did he do this with a woman that is known for doing the same exact thing over and over again but the whole thng was glamourized and treated like a wonderful thing and noone seemed to give a crap about it happening. They are the "it" couple still being glamourized, still no BAD consequences for what they did. It still angers me to see their faces on the covers of magazines. I think that the more this happens the more it is accepted. The more desensitized people become to the whole thing. There are so many tv shows and movies where this happens and people just get upset for a short time and then move on with their lives and get over it and patch things up. I guess that's just supposed to be SUPER and all that they are so forgiving and stuff but I think it makes people think that if they do this it's ok it doesn't matter anyway. Just watched a movie tonight about this very subject. Made me so mad to think that it ended with them getting back together. Am I wrong and judgemental for thinking like that? I just don't think they ever show the true emotions involved with such infidelity. I posted a while back about going to my nephew's baptism. All 4 families were there. The cheater's family, her new husband's family, Brian's brother's family, his AWESOME wife's family. It started as one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my entire life. You could cut the tension with a knife! But it ended well and everyone made it work for that sweet little boy. I had the thought come to mind that if everyone could imagine how that moment felt they might not be so quick to cheat and end marriages. It just makes me so sad! Hearing about Jesse James cheating on Sandra Bullock was so disturbing for me. For many reasons. Of course the obvious thoughts come to mind but I also couldn't help but picture poor Sandra Bullock finding out this horrible news. We all love her! She's one of my favorite actresses. We've seen her movies. We've seen her be so upset and hurt in movies. It isn't a difficult stretch of the imagination to picture what she is going through. She is like the girl next door, someone that everyone can picture hanging out with. You know! I'm just so sad for her! Also, I kept thinking how he let everyone down. He came across as someone that would do something like this or worse. Sandra believed in him and looked past the exterior and loved him for who he was on the inside and convinced all of us that he was good and that we should trust him too. You know. Finding out he did this made me so mad at him. I feel like he let us all down! He hurt such a great woman who trusted him and let herself feel things in a relationship that she hadn't allowed herself to feel before and then he tore her heart out and stomped all over it. And as if that all wasn't bad enough she found this out on the heels of winning the Oscar. For an actress that is so great and such a goal and honor and means a great deal to them. She should have still been riding the high from that experience but instead she is feeling as low as a person can feel I would think. Just makes me so mad at him!!!! It breaks my heart to think that this happens so much in this world today. I can only hope and pray that I never have to deal with this in my marriage.....

Too cute!

My 4 year old, Max, asked my 9 year old, Zack, to raise his basketball goal for him. He said, "Please, Zack! I think you're VERY handsome!"  :)

Sometimes I feel like...

I'm sloppin' hogs!!!!

I put a bunch of pictures on my Word From The Zoo blog if you want to check it out! If you need an invite just give me a holler!! www.wordfromthezoo.blogspot.com

Like sands through the hour glass....

~My sister Stephanie and her husband J.J. welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world Tuesday. What a precious little angel!!! Can't wait to hold her!!!

Emily

7 lbs. 7 oz.

20 inches

~Max had strep throat and ear infections 2 weeks ago. Matthew had strep throat and a horrible hivey rash last week. This week Gracie has ear infections. The Dr. wondered if she might have RSV. He said the cough might just be from the ear infections but if it didn't improve by yesterday we needed to have her checked out for RSV at the hospital. She sounds tons better so we are thinking it was just from the ear infections thankfully! I am proud of myself for remembering all their doses of medicine so far. Usually I forget once in a while. I am tired of having to stay at home so much to keep from infecting people. I want to hold little Emily!!!! :(  
~Isn't it unreal the amount of mucus a person can produce. I can wipe a nose non-stop, suck it out a zillion times and I still end up with snot all over my shirt when I have a sick baby.  Human Kleenex...GROSSE!!!
~When I walked into WalMart the other day I was so happy! NEW CARTS!!! I even said YESSSS!!!!  It's official...I need more excitement in my life!!!
~My whole life I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. Then I actually went on a field trip with a kindergarten class to the zoo and a museum at BYU and I decided I could never be a kindergarten teacher. I just didn't have enough energy for it! I was 19 YEARS OLD! The older I get the more I realize there is absolutely no way I could do that for many, many reasons! Here are just a few reasons why...
*being confined to the same room for hours on end with 20+ kids day after day, week after week, for 9 months a year would drive me insane!!!
*not a fan of wiping other people's kids' noses.
*some kids are really obnoxious!
*not a fan of bodily functions. One day Zack brought his back pack home from kindergarten covered in another kids' vomit because he lost his lunch all over the coats and backpacks as they were getting them to leave for the day. Bye, bye backpack! Not enough soap and hot water in the WORLD!!!
*I could go on and on but you get the idea.

I went back to school when Zack was 3 and Matty was 3 months old. I was just taking generals and trying to figure out what I wanted to do as a career. I fell in love with writing when I took my first English class. I used to love to write stories and poetry when I was younger but I had forgotten about that over the years. I absolutely hated English classes in high school and college the first go around! I also HATED history classes back then but thoroughly enjoyed my history class the second go around too. Well, I decided on Journalism as my major. My dream became to write articles for magazines and newspapers and to eventually write childen's books. I stopped going to school when I got pregnant with Max. I've wanted to write since then but I used my blog as my creative outlet. Well, I finally wrote an article for a magazine this week and I am going to submit it and hope it gets published. I am excited and nervous! Wish me luck on this little endeavor! 
~Zack got 2nd over all in the Pinewood Derby Thursday night. He designed his car, painted and decorated his car, and was so excited for the big day! Last year was his first year and while his car was very cool looking it also was very, very slow. We didn't know anything about weights and graphite and all that jazz. Well, Brian and Zack observed others and studied up on it on the internet a bit and this year his car was AWESOME!!! He won 3 heats and was 2nd in one heat so he was 2nd over all out of 15 cars. He was so excited! So were Brian, Max, and Matty! I stayed home with our sick little Gracie so I missed all the excitement but I got a full and very energetic report from my guys when they got home from the derby that night. If anyone ever needs any tips about the cars Brian would be glad to share what he's learned!  :)  I was so happy for my Zacky!
~Baseball tryouts were last night. I'm trying to get myself geared up for the season. It requires MUCH energy on my part! :0  Lots of running to practices and games and chasing after kids and lots of pizza, hot dogs, and sandwiches for dinner since the games are right at dinner time and you have to make something quick for everyone when we get home at like 6:30 or 7. YUCK!!! It's a whirlwind of sunscreen and stain stick. Man...who came up with white pants for baseball players. I.mean.really! It must have been a man!!! No woman in her right mind would have come up with that! They would have been brown, black, or maybe red-ish brown like Utah dirt! I guess at least they can be bleached! Anyhoo, he LOVES it and that's all that matters...right?! It IS fun to get into the games and cheer the team on and watch the progress of the players and visit with the other parents and be out of the house in the fresh, albeit, often COLD air after a long cooped up winter! It's fun for the whole family to spend the time together. It's nice to know there are still some forms of entertainment that don't involve any sort of electronic devices or tv or movie screens. Matty and Max want to play t-ball, too so that will surely add to the craziness but that just adds to the fun, huh!
P.S. I love getting comments!!!  :)

Count Your Many Blessings...

I'm feeling discouraged and like I'm in a major FUNK so I thought I'd listen to one of my favorite church songs and count my many blessings so here goes...
1. BRIAN: I love him and am so grateful for the hard work he has put into making a better life for our family. I know he is as frustrated right now as I am about not being able to move out of his mom's house. There is NOTHING to rent here!!! I take that back. There are 2 places to rent that are WAY TOO expensive for us to rent but otherwise would be perfect. Perfect location. Perfect size. We would just have to starve to be able to live there. I'm concidering it!!! The other places to rent right now are on either side of a canal that runs fast and full and has railroad tracks running at the end of the back yard. Other than that they are superfantabulous!!! They really are though. That's the hard thing. Tons of property. Nice house. Just don't think I could handle the stress of worrying about one of my children drowning or getting run over by a train every time they go out the door to play.  Anyway I am so happy that Brian has a good job with great benefits and that his job is close by and he doesn't have to wake up so EARLY anymore and I can snuggle him a little if I feel like it before he goes to work. He also gets to come home for lunch everyday so I get to talk to an adult for a whole hour in the middle of the day.  And I like that it only takes him 5-10 minutes to get home every night instead of at least an hour like before.
2. MY WONDERFUL CHILDREN: I am so grateful to have a beautiful daughter and 3 amazing sons to care for each day. Thank goodness for them. They bring so much joy and purpose to our lives. I always think...what did we do without them. Then I remember...we just wished for them..that's what we did without them. Don't you just KNOW that your kids were meant to be yours. My soul rejoices with each new spirit we are blessed with and I just know that my spirit knew them before this life and missed them like crazy and feels more whole once they are here with me.
3. SUNBEAMS (the 3 year old church class I teach): They are so cute! One little girl sang out a great song about Jesus on Sunday so beautifully and with such conviction. She brought tears to my eyes. Sweet little angel. Then there was a boy that came up to me and said,''My dad wipes my bum with toilet paper."   Well, gee, thanks for sharing!!! Cracked me up!
4. 50 DEGREES: Yesterday it was 50 degrees!! LOVED it! The kids rode their bikes and played outside. They are so sick of the snow they can't stand it so they have loved having grass to play on again.
5. FOOD: I LOVE food!!! I love the textures, the colors, the smells, the flavors. I LOVE FOOD!!! I am not a big baker. Yeast hates me! My main food joy comes in creating meals. I enjoy the whole process. I enjoy making a menu. I learned this from my sister in law, Stephanie. She is AWESOME!!! I try my best to make a 2 week menu so that I don't have to worry about not having enough money at the end of the pay period for food. I hate going to the store. I don't mind it if I go on Saturday morning alone before everyone else wakes up and I can just browse and enjoy the experience. When I have to take the kids, which I do 99% of the time, I want to pull my hair out the entire time and feel like a crazy person!!! I really enjoy cooking delicious meals. Most of the recipes I have are so delicious I'd rather eat at home than out most days. The only reason for eating out in my opinion is so that someone else has to clean up the mess that night instead of me! I used to be the worst cook ever but have improved enough that I really enjoy the process and the end result. I am also ADDICTED to the Food Network!!!!! LOVE IT!!
6. EXTENDED FAMILIES: I am so grateful for our extended families. I love them and enjoy them so much! I hope that they all know that! I am grateful that Ruth lets us live here even though we are all driving each other crazy and want our own space we appreciate that she allows us to stay with her. Please pray for us to find a place to live before you catch us on an episode of SNAPPED!!!!
7. HEAVENLY FATHER: I love Him so much! I know He loves me! I know that I can not find any joy in this life as fulfilling and comforting as knowing that He loves me! There was a time I wondered if He did love me at all. I had experienced about 5 years of infertility at that point and wanted nothing more than to be a mother. I had had 2 miscarriages. At that point I was sad to lose those babies but so happy to know that I could actually GET pregnant! Well, I had been trying really hard to improve myself spiritually and was stronger than I've ever been spiritually I would say. Well, I got pregnant. I thought it was THE answer to my prayer. It was a reward for doing right. In our mortal life that's how it works so it's hard not to think like that. We do what we are supposed to do and then we are rewarded for it whether through a degree earned, recognition, a job, a promotion. We don't get punished unless we do something bad. That isn't how it works with Heavenly Father. We are ALL on this earth to be tried and tested. We ALL have to go through this process! Being more valiant doesn't make it so we don't have trials. Being valiant helps us to handle our trials better. To find strength when we need it most because we are inviting that strength to our lives. Well, I was THRILLED as you might imagine when I found out I was pregnant. I just KNEW it was going to work this time because Heavenly Father was rewarding me. You also might imagine how DEVASTATED I was when I lost that baby, too, at 10 weeks. I felt like Heavenly Father was mean. That He knew that I trusted Him and had faith that He could have made it work if He had wanted to...if He LOVED me. It was the most testimony shaking experience I had ever had! I was ANGRY, HURT, DISAPPOINTED, SAD, truly DEVASTATED and ALONE!!!! I think Brian thought I was going to be struck by lightning for feeling the way I did. I finally humbled myself to ask for a blessing from Brian and things were said in it that answered questions and thoughts I had not expressed to anyone. I knew from things that were said that Heavenly Father loves me. He wants me to be happy. He wasn't punishing me. It was as if His loving arms were wrapped around me and He said it's ok, I love you, I'm here for you, you have to go through this and I will help you through it. I will not leave you alone. I often think of Him now more as a parent than I did before. I can't imagine the pain He experienced during our Saviour's atonement. I think of a loving parent watching their child go through the pain of stitches, or a shot, or a broken arm, or much, much worse, and knowing that you would take it away from them if you could. That it kills you to know they are suffering. That you hold them and say it's ok, I'm here for you, I won't leave you alone, I'll help you through it. I think also about those times when it's too much to handle and you have to leave the room. You can't watch. You can't hear their crys. I wonder how Heavenly Father endured the atonement of His Beloved Son?! I am thankful for their love for us and their willingness to provide the way for us to return to live with them again! I am thankful for the testimony I gained through that difficult experience and I am thankful for His forgiveness of my questioning His love for me! I cherish this experience and gained a strength and testimony and love for my Heavenly Father that I never knew before and, knowing me, I would never have gained in another way. I am grateful for His love!!!!
8. JESUS CHRIST: I am thankful to know that Jesus Christ is a real person. That he loved you and me and everyone enough to suffer for our sins. Not only our sins but our pain. Our depression. Our disappointment. He suffered that experience I talked about in #7 so that He could be there to help me through it. So that He could help me not to feel alone. So that He could explain my heart to Heavenly Father so I could be forgiven and helped and loved. I am so thankful to know someone loves me THAT much! HE loves me THAT much! To suffer, to die, to be resurrected. To live again. Forever. So that I can live again. Forever. With Him and with my Father in Heaven, and with my family who I love so very much.
9. THE HOLY GHOST: During the years of infertility and miscarriage and monthly disappointment and sadness I learned a very important lesson that helped me so much. The Holy Ghost is there to comfort us. I asked often to feel the comfort of the Holy Ghost to help me get past the disappointment, frustration,  and sadness. He was always there for me. I am so grateful for Him as well. The Godhead. What a blessing! I know that we can receive NO greater blessing in this life!!!

The poor guy has no "skills"

Poor Zacky...he's just too GOOD! His little brother Max has an ear infection and strep throat so he decided to take advantage of the situation that was placed before him and fake sick so he could stay home from school today. This is how the conversation went...

Zack: Mom, did Max tell you how he felt the first day he was sick?
Me: Yes, he said his head hurt and his throat hurt but he only had a very low grade fever.
Zack: Well, I have a lot of gas and I keep burping for no reason.
Me: Yeah, that happens sometimes. You need to hurry and get ready for school now!

Poor guy! He just can't fib. I'm so glad! But I feel kind of bad for him. I used to be a PRO at faking sick! Brian was too. He didn't get his lack of "skills" from us! My brother Nathan beats all I've ever seen though! He admitted to all of us last year that he used to fake sick so much that my mom even took him in to have stomach tests. You know, the kind where you have to fast and drink that yucky, chalky stuff and everything! I remember when they took him in for the tests and my parents were worried about him and the conclusion the dr.s came to was that he had a nervous stomach and possibly an ulcer. Too funny!!! We all thought he had a serious problem until last year! I wonder if Zack will ever figure it out? Part of me hopes he doesn't and part of me hopes he does. Is that bad? I mean, as a parent I LOVE that he doesn't skip school yet and miss important learning opportunities. Not to mention the fact that Matthew refuses to ride the  bus to school when Zack isn't riding it too and Brian or I have to drive him to school. Then I HAVE to make sure I meet him at the bus after school or he totally flips out!!! But part of me knows that that's a part of a kids life. Skipping out on school once in a while and just vegging out on the couch and enjoying a little more attention from your mom. He's only 9, I'm sure eventually he'll meet some good little slacker friend that will show him the light. :) For now I'll just appreciate what I've got til it's gone!!!

I'm proud to be an American watching the Olympics!!!!

I've been really enjoying the olympics this year. I always do! I have to say that I am so proud to be an American!!! I always am! But as I watch our olympic athletes compete I am even more proud to be an American!!! I have watched some of the athletes from other countries try to cheat their way to gold. Pushing and shoving and tripping other people down purposely so they could win. The Russian ice skater dude that won silver in the individual men's competition was completely out of control!!! What a poor sport! He even went as far as to say that he was having a platinum medal made for himself because he feels like the gold was stolen from him by an American. Whatever dude!! Then as I watched the women's ice skating competition they were saying that some of the women competing have so much pressure placed on them from their home countries that if they don't win gold they will have hateful emails and letters even if they get a different medal. They have said this during many competitions I've watched, that many of these athletes will basically be shunned when they return from the olympics if they don't earn gold. I can't imagine being a teenager and having that much pressure placed on me. It makes me proud to be an American. We love our athletes no matter what! They play clean! They work hard! They are wonderful at what they do! It's been fun watching them!

Amazing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmm-0-Rdxo8&feature=related

For just one day....

Things I wish I would have appreciated more when I was a kid:
-Lazy days-What is a lazy day...I can't remember! Too much to do with 4 kids.
-The ability to read a book without interruptions-I can't even get a page in without 14 interruptions! Not even a magazine!
-Being able to eat anything and everything in sight and NEVER putting on a pound!!!-I was SO tall and skinny and I ate like a horse! Course, I rode my bike constantly, ran everywhere instead of walking, played outside ALL OF THE TIME, lived across the street from an elementary school so we just ran and played basketball, football, baseball, anything and everything all day long.
-Food, clothing, housing, transportation, fun- Yep! It was all just provided! I didn't even think about how or why or anything, just completely took for granted that when I opened my drawer, clothes would be there. When I was hungry there was food to eat. We had a roof over our heads and cars to drive and everything we needed. It just HAPPENED...magically!!!
-Some days I wish I could go back to those days just so I could appreciate it a little more! It's been one of those kind of scary grown up days where it isn't all secure and perfect and I have that grown up pit in the middle of my stomach. Not my favorite kind of days. So, I'm just wishing for one of those carefree, secure, blissful days of youth.........that's not too much to ask...is it???...just for one day......

Um...WHAT DID THEY JUST SAY?!?!

So I'm minding my own business, folding clothes and half watching The Today Show this morning when they mention that it has been 22 years since a man won an olympic gold medal for ice skating when Brian Boitano won it in 1988. Hold up... wait....WHAT DID THEY JUST SAY?!?!......22 years ago?!?! That CAN'T be right!! They MUST be wrong!!! I was 15 years old...22 years ago????  I LOVE the olympics!!! I remember watching him win that medal!!! I...AM...OLD!!!! VERY...VERY...OLD!!! How did this happen?

Better Choices Diary: Entry#1

I made stew for dinner. It was loaded with tons of delicious veggies, lean ground beef, V8 juice, beef boullion. It was yummy! I had a few saltines with butter on them. I HAVE to have them! I have eaten them with stew my WHOLE life!!! I did limit it to only a few though. Baby steps.....

Note to self....

Please avoid the following foods if you ever expect to lose weight and to continue fitting through doors:

Cheetos
Chili Cheese Fritos
Doritos
Cheddar Jack flavored Cheez-Its
Cheesecake
Brownies
Bacon
Sausage
CANDY
Pizza Hut Pizza
Fried Chicken
Greasy Cheeseburgers
7 layer dip
Velveeta and rotel queso dip and chips
French onion dip and chips
Cadbury eggs

Yes, sadly I have eaten all of these things in the last week.  I'm out of control! What is up with that?!?! I've lost 11 lbs. since we've moved and I'm scared to get on the scale after this last week. I probably put it all back on in a week! Several months back I decided I was going to get serious about this weight loss thing. HA!! I was going to start posting my daily efforts to be better. I wasn't going on a diet (I refuse!) I was just going to make some wiser choices. Try changing bad habits. Have you seen any posts about my progress? I didn't think so!! What is WRONG with me?! I want to be healthy and I want to feel more energetic and more comfortable taking my children places, like the pool, for instance. I've GOT to get a grip!!! I feel like I'm one step away from shopping around for a 'fashionable' Jazzy!! Ok I'm going to do it. From this point on today I am going to be better. I'm going to forget about the frozen waffle I had for breakfast that was slathered in butter and syrup. I will look past the Cheddar Jack flavored Cheez Its I just ate. I am going to put my best foot forward and do something! Look for my "Better Choices Diary". I WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE!!!!  
FYI: This list is not typical. We had Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine's Day and a 4 day weekend mixed in there. It was more of a week and a half but whatever.  :)

I am SO glad I was finally brave!

"Mother Bear" update:
(If you don't know what this is about check out the post I made on October 17th entitled, "Mother Bear".)

In DECEMBER I finally got brave enough to write an email/letter to the school district's "nutritionist" (I use this term lightly seeing as how the "nutritionist" for our school district is actually an office manager/accountant that took over the nutritionist's job when she retired. She does a decent job, I suppose, but isn't that CRAZY!!!).  I was
SO nervous about doing this! As a mother of a child with food allergies I have learned that a lot of people think it is a HUGE burdon for them to have to "deal" with his needs and I just try to take on the responsibility as much as I can alone without causing a problem for anyone. I had taken all those steps to protect Matty I thought, yet he was still in danger. Well, she called me right away and said that BY LAW they HAD to provide a peanut-free table for him. There are a lot of things I didn't know that were putting him in danger and I thought he was as protected as possible. I had taken a bottle of Benedryl and an EpiPen to the school for him and after talking with the school nurse I learned that the school couldn't even LEGALLY use the medication I provided him with because it was an over the counter bottle of Benedryl and they needed a prescription so it had Dr.'s orders and dosage information specific to Matthew. The epi pen was just there it wasn't in the box which had Dr.'s orders on it. The nurse made me feel like an unfit mother and a total moron every time I talked with her because I didn't know everything she knew that I was supposed to do.  I finally said,"Look, I had NO way of knowing these things unless someone told me and how on earth am I supposed to just PULL this stuff out unless someone tells me what I am supposed to do?!" Anyhoo, we had a meeting Wednesday that is called a 504. The people that were there: Me, the nurse (by the way her office is at the Health Department because she is the nurse for the ENTIRE district, not just for the school. Yeah, that's right, NO NURSE in the school!!! SCARY!!!), the principal, Matthew's teacher, the district "nutritionist", a representative from the superintendant's office, the cafeteria supervisor for Matthew's school, and a lady that was kind of the mediator for the meeting. I was SO nervous on the days leading up to this meeting! I prayed and fretted. The meeting went FANTASTICALLY well!!! As of Wednesday...NO MORE PEANUT BUTTER AND HONEY CUPS!!!! Matthew can eat a warm lunch like everyone else on the days they make rolls now!!! HOORAY!!! They typically have mac-n-cheese or potatoes and gravy on the days they have peanut butter and honey cups to go with the rolls. They will provide hiim with a peanut-free table!! I expressed my concerns over parents not knowing what steps need to be taken to protect their children. One KEY piece of information was unaware of is that the nurse is to be notified THE DAY a child with a medical condition such as food allergies is enrolled so that they can properly train the child's teacher on how to treat that child's condition if an emergency should arise and how to administer an epi pen as would be necessary in MY SON'S case!!! Guess when the nurse was notified of Matthew's allergy?....In DECEMBER the day the nutritionist received my email. This means my son attended that school for 3 MONTHS before the nurse was notified and the teacher trained. She still would not know to this day if I hadn't written the letter. SCARY!!! The receptionist DROPPED THE BALL!!! The school failed us and now there are still children in the school who have the same problem and they don't even know it!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!!! At the meeting it was decided that a note needs to be sent out to ALL parents saying that if they have a child with medical conditions such as food allergies they need to talk with the school and it will have a list of all steps that need to be taken to protect their children since they were improperly oriented at registration. They actually decided that this note would be sent out DISTRICT wide!!! There is also going to be a packet of information and a list of necessary steps to be taken given to each parent of a child with a medical condition at the time of registration so they can monitor the schools responsibilities and take care of their own. We went over what steps would be taken on field trips, on the school bus he rides daily. They will provide Matthew's class with a little instructional class thing that will explain to the children what it means to be "allergic to peanuts" so they can more fully understand and help him out instead of trying to hurt him like the one student did with the peanut butter cup. I didn't even know that was an option until the mediator told me it was. I offered to be an advocate for parents and students with medical conditions and food allergies to help them through the process since it has been a LONG, drawn out, difficult process for us and it SHOULDN'T be!!! It should be simple and precise and easy to make sure your child is safe at school. I feel so much better to think that things are headed in the right direction. When I told Matthew the changes he said,"YESSS!!! I can eat macaroni and cheese and potatoes and gravy now!!!"  When I told his big brother, Zack who's in 4th grade. He said with big crocodile tears in his eyes,"Thanks mom. Those peanut butter cups scared me so much for Matthew." I am so glad I didn't chicken out like I almost did! It took me 2 months to get up the nerve to write my letter. I only wish I had written it immediately. I thought the only problem was the peanut butter cups, I had NO IDEA all of the ways my son was in danger or I would have done something sooner!!!  I just needed a little time to be brave! Like I told the people in the meeting: After watching my 2 year old baby son nearly die in my arms after eating a pistachio I will do everything I can to make sure it doesn't happen again!!!

Baptism, Ikea, queso, and 50...what more could a girl ask for!!!

Our nephew was baptized yesterday about 2 hours 45 minutes from where we live. It was a beautiful day! We were happy that we could afford to make it there. It was wonderful to share in Clay's day. Clay's parents divorced a couple years ago. Since then they have each remarried. His dad, Jared is Brian's brother. Jared's new wife is WONDERFUL!!! I have known Jared for 17 years and I have NEVER seen him so happy in all that time! It's been such a great thing to see how happy he and Becky are together. We were all more than a little nervous to go to the baptism because there would be 4 extended families gathered and there are still some...shall we say... harsh feelings there. As we sat in the Relief Society room waiting for the baptism to start I thought WOW this is uncomfortable! The thought came to mind that if people could remember that feeling if thinking of being unfaithful then maybe they would think twice about it. I'm just sayin! Think of your poor innocent extended families who have to be subjected to such experiences for the rest of our lives. And the friends! Hello!!!! SHEESH!!! The ex-wife had the brunch afterwards at her new home. The thought of that was uncomfortable but all in all it was a great day. Everyone acted like civilized grown ups and I think it went much better than any of us could have imagined. I am so glad that Clay chose to be baptized. I am so glad that after all Jared has been through that he and Becky found each other and have brought so much joy to each others lives. He found someone who loves him for him and is good to him and it's refreshing I must say! She has also brought a fun, bright light to the family and we all just love her!
~It was 50 degrees up there yesterday! That was awesome! We didn't even wear jackets! It felt WARM to us compared to the freezing temps we've had this winter. I couldn't get over how things have changed this winter. Usually there is snow up there and then when you drive into our town there isn't any snow or there's very little. This year it's the opposite. We have tons of snow and they didn't have much. We have had 3 or 4 foot piles of snow all up and down the sides of the streets and down the middle of some streets here for weeks as they just keep plowing it. I've never seen anything like it in our town before. The kids LOVED it for a long time! Now they are ready to ride their bikes and want it to all just melt away.
~I got to go to Ikea! I just LOVE Ikea!!! Some people don't appreciate the JOY Ikea has to offer. I know it can feel overwhelming because of the enormity of the building but don't let it scare you. I've been there enough now that I know to just skip the upstairs floor unless you are buying furniture, cabinets, or you just need some ideas. It's just the display area. I do go upstairs to the kids department and sometimes we eat up there. 99 cent kids meals!!! And they have really good chicken strips! Then we head right back downstairs. We browse through all the fun departments down there and I usually find some great little tokens along the way. I just LOVE Ikea!!! Thanks to Brian and the boys for being such great sports and not even complaining very much! Gracie was totally happy like me!
~I can't wait for the Super Bowl! I don't know what teams are actually playing in the Super Bowl this year but we are going to eat some sandwiches, have 7 layer dip, french onion dip, and queso dip made with the big block of velveeta and two cans of rotel tomatoes. I CAN'T WAIT!!! Pop and brownies to finish things off. It's going to be a great splurging day! Love those days! AND I always get a kick out of the commercials! They are the best part after all!
~After I made this post I read my cousin John's blog and he had this link that is so neat! It's about LDS members affected by the quake. He served his mission in Haiti for 4 months in the early 90's before being sent to Florida once the conditions in Haiti became too dangerous for the missioaries to stay there. Just thought I'd share the link. It is very touching! The people's testimonies and strength are very inspiring!  http://www.meridianmagazine.com/churchupdate/100202church.html