I love our ward so much!!!!!

I just love our Ward! When we lived in Cedar City we had a really great Ward! When we lived in Pleasant Grove you could say we weren't so fond of our Ward. We absolutely adored our Ward in Salem! It was just wonderful! We feel the same way about the Ward we are in now. Loving our Ward makes such a huge difference in our lives. We actually look forward to going to church. We go to activities. We feel the spirit at church.  We have a calm, comforting feeling that we don't have when we don't love our Ward. We feel like we are part of a Ward FAMILY. We matter, you know?! It adds to our joy.....

I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me....., scripture marking, that dadgum tooth fairy!, Brian's delicioso burritos

~As a parent you I feel the magnitude of the responsibility I have to raise good, decent, humble, active participants in church, and successful, upstanding citizens of this crazy world. I realize that I have to be a good example to them in every way because they learn so much by watching others. Now that I have a daughter I feel this responsibility even more than before! What she sees and hears me do will shape the kind of person she will be, just the same as it will shape her brothers. But it will also shape the kind of wife and mother she will be. Kind of mind blowing for me! She truly watches EVERYTHING I do. She is so cute to watch as she does stuff I do. She loves to help me with every task. She is a hard little worker! Her favorite way to help is to hand me the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Today I got out a towel to dry the dishes with since I usually use plastic cups and they just never seem to dry in the dishwasher. Well, Gracie got herself a towel out of the drawer and came over and started drying off dishes too. Oh my goodness! It was adorable! She melts my heart! She.is.JOY!!!
~So I went to that little scripture marking class last month and the teacher gave us a piece of paper with all the scripture mastery scriptures on it. She said she figures that if the youth of the church need to memorize them she should probably at least have them marked in her scriptures. She marks them in a rainbow of colored pencils so she knows when she runs across them she will remember that they are scripture mastery scriptures. I have been marking them in my scriptures since Brian got them for me a few years ago and I haven't marked very many scriptures in them yet. Although, Gracie has done her fair share of marking them!  ;)   I have so enjoyed marking these scriptures because they are just wonderful, inspiring, faith building, thought provoking, scriptures! I don't really take time to read scriptures on my own. We do as a family and that is wonderful but I really feel like I need to make more of an effort personally to study the scriptures on my own. I am so grateful for the scriptures! What a wonderful gift we've been given by our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ!  The prophets in the scriptures had such courage, such faith, such obedience. We can learn so many things from them!!!
~K, soooo, my face had been feeling like I was having birthing contractions for a couple days. So intense and unbearable! I don't think I've ever cried from the pain I have there before. I just try to be tough but that pain had me curled up in a ball on my bed, crying like a baby!!! Then my last tooth on the top on the right hurt so badly it's ridiculous so I went to the doctor. The crappiest part was that my T.N. could be causing that pain or it could just be a rotten tooth. My dentist said the only way he could tell if it was the tooth was to remove the filling I had in that tooth and basically do a root canal which would cost like $1500 and it could just be the stupid nerve causing it in the first place and I would have wasted $1500. I just had him pull it. He said it's really not that important of a tooth anyway. So, now I've had 3 teeth pulled. And not once has that dadgum tooth fairy brought me so much as a penny! Can you believe that?!?!  :)
~Brian makes these AMAZING pork burritos! I mean seriously TO DIE FOR!!! They are super easy to make too. And the smell fabulous!!! Ok, so this is what he does....

Brian's Delicioso Burritos

*Place a pork roast in the crock pot.
*Pour a can of that green chili verde enchilada sauce over it.
*Cut some onion up and throw that in. Brian cuts it into pretty big chunks so the kids can easily pick it out.  :)
*Cut up an Anaheim pepper and throw that in too. We didn't have one last time and it was still fabulous!!
*Let it cook in your crock pot for  like 6-8 hours from frozen.
*Put some on a flour tortilla and roll it up and ENJOY!!! We put cheese on the kids' meat in their tortilla because they'll pretty much eat anything that is covered in cheese! :)

YA THINK, NANCY DREW?!?!?!

K, so, I have had SO much pain lately and the last thing I want to do is wash my car but it was so dirty I decided I just couldn't take it any longer. I washed it on our driveway and I was drying it off with a towel when this lady pulls into the driveway and stops her car. She was super skinny. She had bulgy eyes and long, stringy, yellow hair and was smoking a cigarrette. She kind of reminded me of a witch on a movie or something. I walked up to her car and asked if I could help her and she said, "I called the police!" I was like "Why, what happened?" She looks at me like I'm stupid and says, "Well, you ran into my car at the stop sign getting off the highway!"  I was all, "NO I didn't!!!" And she was all, "Yes you DID!!!"  I was like, "When did this supposedly take place?" She said, "About an hour ago." It was around 4:00 at the time. I was like, "Well, I haven't left my house since noon!!!" She was all, "Well, I drove by a few minutes ago and you were washing your car and it looked suspicious." Since when does it look suspicious to wash your car?!?! She said,"Well, the lady sure looked like you and the car looked just like yours!" I drive a silver Ford Windstar. I said, "It's a VAN, we live in UTAH, they're everywhere!!!"  I was all, "I don't appreciate you coming here, accusing me of something that I didn't do!" She said, "WELL, can I LOOK at your car?"  I was all, "Go for it!!!"  So she looks at my car and of course she saw nothing and said, "Well, you aren't the one!"  YA THINK, NANCY DREW?!?!  Then she said, "I'm sorry but I am just so upset and I thought you were the one who did it."  I said, "Well, I would be upset too but you really shouldn't accuse people of things they didn't do." She said that the police got the other lady's license plate # so they would be able to find her. They also told her that the lady lived on Rose Avenue. I was like, "Well, this isn't Rose Avenue! It's over..." She interrupted and said that she knows where Rose Avenue IS! Right about that time she noticed Zack, then Gracie walked around the car with our dog and Max was walking around and she just said again that she was SO sorry, that she was just upset. I told her again that I understood and that I would have been upset about her situation too if it were me. Then she drove off.

CRAZY!!! 

I needed this one...

My friend Holly posted another good thought on facebook. I really needed to read this one!

Don't lose hope. When you are down to nothing, God is up to something. Keep your faith strong! ♥

Welllllll....

I went to that Dr's appointment. The first lady that came in acted like I didn't even have TN and was trying to diagnose me. I was like I know what I have I just need further treatment...HELLO MCFLY!!! So she finally got her superior who knew a lot about TN and she came in and was like yes, I totally think you have TN. She said that she thinks I should just keep trying to find the right medicine and the right dose for me and if I ever get to the point where I don't get relief from medication anymore then I should consider surgery but otherwise it should absolutely be a last resort. She said that she understands my desire to get off of my medications and not have to take them forever but since TN can go into remission and since I am much younger that most people with it I should just patiently wait it out. Most people who get it are in their 60's or 70's but you can get it at any age. She said the surgical treatments are fairly new and they can be scary. They can cause you to have even more problems than you already had in the first place. Or the problem can happen all over again. I have heard some real horror stories so I suppose it is best to not have surgery. BUT since November, when I FINALLY had a diagnosis from 3 different doctors and I started researching treatments and stuff I have just been dealing with the pain the best I could knowing that there was an end in sight. I just KNEW that I would go to this appointment that I have been on the waiting list for all of this time and they would tell me which of the procedures they thought would work best for me, I would have it done and then I would be all better. I could be the mom and wife I really want to be again. So today I have been very upset. I just can't help it. Now that I don't have an end in sight, no motivating factor, what do I do. Am I strong enough to endure this crap? It seriously sucks! I don't want to have Trigeminal Neuralgia!!! I just want it to go away! I don't want it to continue robbing me and my family of ME!!!! I know that this stupid thing gets progressively worse and I am really scared about that. The fact that they call it "The Suicide Disease" because it just gets so horrid that you just can't take it anymore terrifies me. I have tried so hard to be as positive as possible. People are always surprised when they find out what I have because I try so hard to not let it show. But right now I just want a whole day of just staying in bed, just sleeping and crying and wallowing in self pity. Just accepting it fully as something I will have to endure the rest of my life and trying to get all the negative feelings out. Then the next day I can just get out of bed, dust myself off and go forward. But instead I have to just keep going and that really sucks. No wallowing in self pity for me. Ok, so I am still wallowing today but I just can't do it while laying in bed. :) I get to do it while I clean the house. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully I have a new attitude because today's attitude really bites!!!

Yeah, right! In your ever lovin' dreams!!!!

So, I'm officially old and all. It's my 20 year high school class reunion in August. I already have trepedations about attending the reunion anyway because of things like:

~my fatness

~the cost of attending (especially the dinner...WOW 50 bucks a couple at the Country Club)

~my fatness

~not sure if any of my friends will attend anyway

~my fatness

~what if nobody even remembers who I am because I only attended school with them for 2 years since I       moved from Kansas just before my Junior year. That would be so humiliating!!!

~my fatness

~what if nobody recognizes me because of my fatness and all and even if they would remember me they just don't recognize me because I weigh like 100 lbs. more than I did in high school. (not quite but it sure feels that way!)

~and oh yeah, have I mentioned my fatness?!

Imagine the laughter that ensued as I read the schedule of events for the reunion and saw where they are planning to have us all meet at the pool that Saturday afternoon and swim....I honestly cannot think of anything more humiliating than showing off my flab-alanche, farmer tanned (mostly ghostly white), stretch marked from having 4 babies, 38 year-old, "booty"licious, boob hangin' low, body at the POOL at my HIGH SCHOOL class reunion!!!! WHAT can they POSSIBLY be thinking?! I know there isn't much to do here for entertainment but PUHLEASE! I'm thinkin' I'll take a big ol' pass on that one. Thanks anyhoo though! "major rolling of eyes"

I'm so excited!!!!

So, I've been on a waiting list with University of Utah Neurosurgery since November. I could have had an appointment a long time ago if I wanted to go to just any old doctor but this is my HEAD we're talking about here! I want to go to someone who knows what they're doing. Since I've had this Trigeminal Neuralgia diagnosis I have heard many a horror story. Most likely I'll have to have surgery where they cut into my skull and treat the nerve so I really don't want to just go to some Joe Shmo that wants to use me as a guinea pig or something. It's been SO tempting to just go to someone else, especially lately since my medicine hasn't been working so well but I am SOOOO excited because they finally called today!! I have an actual appointment on July 11. I am so happy I could cry. I'm also more than just a little bit scared. I mean, surgery is scary!!! I'm hoping and praying that they can help me and I can be a little bit closer to normal.  ; )

It's exactly the way I pictured it!!!

Today is wonderful! I feel fantastic! The kids are having tons of fun! They played in the mud with friends. I mean PLAYED in the mud, mud from head to toe. It rained today, whatchya gonna do?! They rode their bikes. Our back "yard" is just dirt and weeds. I think it is ugly but I also think it's a really cool "boy" backyard. There is a big dirt circle drive kind of a thing that the kids like to dig in and ride bikes on and stuff. There is a big area that is like an acre that they can ride bikes on. They catch lizards. They get super dirty every day. They have a couple of adorable little neighbor friends to play with. I have a friend who comes over sometimes to play  and our kids like to play together. They have the 2 little kids to play with that I babysit. I'm so glad because I had to FORCE them to play outside last summer! They hated it and I felt so bad for them. So now they are happy and I am just so glad!
As I was hosing them down and we were laughing and they were having so much fun being hosed down, it occurred to me that THIS was exactly how I always pictured motherhood being. Everything about today just feels...GREAT!! It's great to feel good and to feel like I'm able to keep up today. I have felt really rotten for like almost 3 weeks now. So-much-pain. Yesterday pretty much sucked!!! No other way to put it! It was painful and I had to take 6 kids with me to the vet to see what is wrong with my poor, sweet, dog. More about my dog later. He's a mini schnauzer. I LOVE HIM!!! He ADORES me! He's been with us since January and has been my little pal through all the good days and bad. They say he's bleeding internally and they think he got into poison. He's on vitamin K and an antibiotic. After that I had to take Gracie to the doctor because she has an ear infection. Thankfully I only had to take Gracie and Tessa, they are both 2. They are adorable! But every time I turned around it was something. It just kept getting worse and worse all day. So it's amazing to feel so much better today! It's great to feel like I'm more "together" today. I really just love being a mom today!!!

Tomorrow is a new day.

Hopefully it's a pain free day.

 Hopefully it's another day where things just flow and everyone is happy.

Hopefully it's another day that is exactly like I always pictured it being.

I just always pictured the house being a LOT cleaner so hopefully tomorrow it WILL be!!

     ;)    

I'm hoping you are having a really great day too!!!

Hooray for great days!

My hair before...

My hair after...

I'm loving this deal I made with a lady in our church. I watch her sweet as pie little kids for a few hours a week and she does my hair and my kid's and Brian's too. Our kids all love each other so it's almost like she's doing me this big favor by letting her kids come play with my kids so my kids don't fight with each other all day and complain about how bored they are. I love it!

Pageant, Rockets, Summertime, S'mores, Scripture Marking Class

~I went to The Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti last night with the Y.W. It has been so many years since I last went that I can't remember how long ago. Before we had kids anyway. We ate BBQ Turkey dinners at a ward building...the only way to go! Then we ate yummy custard and Italian Ice treats. SO YUMMY!!! Then we watched the pageant. There were parts in it that I didn't remember from years past. I'm sure they were there before but now that I'm old (they are having our 20 year high school reunion this year...that's OLD!!!) and have kids and have a stronger testimony and such, it just was so emotional for me to watch. I got teary quite often. When they portrayed the part in The Book of Mormon when Jesus visited the Nephites and blessed them and healed the sick and taught them and blessed their children, I really cried. It was so spiritually moving and just wonderful! Of course it's one of my favorite parts to read so being able to see it acted out was really neat. I am just so grateful for the opportunity I had to go this year. I was worried about going. The umbilical cord doesn't stretch all the way to Manti ya know. :)  But I went and I am so glad I did! It was even worth getting home at 1:30 a.m. and not sleeping until 2:30a.m.! Our Y.W. are such amazing girls and I just love spending time with them! I want to go next year with my little family.

~This morning the kids woke us up at 7:30 and we got ourselves ready and went to the home of some of our church members to watch an awesome rocket show! They set off tons of rockets. All different sizes. From super tiny to about 5 feet tall. I figured I could put this in the category of "things we do for our children". I was super surprised when I actually had a lot of fun watching! The time flew by! It was fun for everyone there, especially the kids! They all wanted to be the one who found the rocket after it landed. The people live out in the boonies so the kids had plenty of room to be free and run wild! Who can ask for anything more than that when you are a boy? Gracie hated the experience. It scared her to death each time one went off. But there were some adorable little baby bunnies nestled together by their house that a wild bunny had and oh they were the cutest little things! Gracie really liked them so at least it wasn't all bad for her. The ward member's who invited everyone out do this show every year. They invite people from the college out since he used to teach at the college, they invite ward members and friends. Their kids plan their summer vacations for the rocket show weekend. It's so much fun! One of their daughters said to me that she was surprised by how many people came out for the show. I said, well, there isn't a lot of entertainment in this town so when someone invites people for a fun time we're all there!!!

~Don't you love summertime. Some days I just absolutely love summer?! Some days not so much! When the kids get along pretty well...and they make the most of the opportunity to ride bikes and dig in the dirt all day long in our back yard...we eat some kind of yummy summer food like a BLT, juicy watermelon, corn on the cob, BBQ ANYTHING, yummy potato salad and Aunt Marilyn's fabulous baked beans...we walk through the store and smell the sweet scent of ripe nectarines and peaches throughout the produce area and my mouth starts to water...Strawberry Shortcake...spending lots of time outside...the smell of freshly cut grass, lilacs, and roses...THEN, all is right with the world and I LOVE summer! 

but...

when the kids can't stop fighting with each other, hurting each other, and hurting each other's feelings...having to take 4 kids along when I go to the grocery store...having to pull pokey stickers out of my kids feet constantly because they refuse to wear shoes outside...the whining...complaining...fighting over which wii game to play or movie to watch...the constant messes...not being able to afford to go on nice little mountain drives because the price of gas is OUT...OF...CONTROL!!!, THEN I'm not such a big fan of summer!

~There is a fire pit in our back yard. Tonight we're going to roast marshmallows over it and have s'mores. I can't wait!!! Brian is cooking some delicious chicken and rice in the dutch oven. I sure do love to eat! :)

~Thursday night there was a scripture marking class for a Relief Society activity. Oh, it was awesome! The lady brought us fun little sticker things to put in our scriptures. She suggested some fun things like, mark words in your scriptures that are about Jesus, Heavenly Father, good, happy things with yellow soft color pencil. Mark scripture mastery scriptures in kind of a rainbow pattern. Mark things that are about Satan or evil with red pencil. Use other colors you like for other things. She just really got us all excited about the scriptures and taught us things that will help us be able to understand the scriptures better. It was a really great experience! I can't wait for her to come again!

Randomness...

~There is a chick in our ward named Nicki who has the cutest hair! I asked her who she goes to, since I'm still trying to find someone to do my hair. She said she does it herself and that she works at a salon here in town. I figured if she can do her own hair that well, she must be GOOD!  Well, you can imagine how thrilled I was when she called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I would like to do a trade. I would watch her kids 1 or 2 days a week and she would do my family's hair.

Ummm, yeah!!!!

 To  be honest, I was a bit worried. I mean, you never know what you're gonna get when you watch other people's kids. But they are so well behaved. Ty is 8 years old and Max and Matthew LOVE playing with him. Tessa is going to turn 2 in July and she and Gracie get along really well too. I do have to save poor Tessa from my bully daughter, who has a hard time with this whole sharing thing, from time to time. But other than that they are getting along really well. Ty has great manners too. So far it's going great and everyone is happy!  It's been fun getting to know Nicki as well. I finally found a picture of what I want my hair to look like and I can't wait to have it done!

~Between having Zack on a Cal Ripkin Majors team, Matthew on a Cal Ripkin Pee Wee team, and Max starting T-ball this week on a city league team, we go to a LOT of baseball games! We have 9 this week alone. Tonight will be #7. It's been a lot of fun watching the kids having such a great time! It's been really fun to see the different ability levels too. T-ball and Pee Wee are just so remedial compared to Majors. Everyone cheers for both teams and are just so positive and nice. There are a few overzealous (crazy) parents who expect super great things out of their poor kids at this level and are continuously disappointed when it just doesn't work out the way they want it to. It cracks me up to listen to them! Then you go to the Majors and h-o-l-y  c-o-w! The parents REALLY get into it! Last year was really fun to watch but this year is AWESOME!!! All of the players finally really get how to play and they make some incredibly awesome plays! It's exciting to watch and I don't dread the games like I used to. I think a lot of why I dreaded them so much in the past was the way I felt physically. It has been so incredible, the contrast between how I feel this year as compared to how I felt last year. It was bad! It just makes me so grateful each and every day that I feel better. I still have some sporadic pain here and there most days but most of the time I feel great! It's truly a blessing!!! An answer to prayer for sure!!! 

~I have finally started trying to lose some weight. I have gained 20 lbs since November and I can't fit my fat butt into any of my jeans except my maternity ones and ones that have that stretchiness to them. Definite low point!!! And I saw some very cute, thin, girls I went to high school with and I looked like the stay puffed marshmallow man. So humiliating!!! So, I decided I have to do something about it! I've been trying to exercise and I have made some minor changes with my eating habits. I lost 10 lbs!!! Which inspired me to keep at it! Brian has lost some weight too. We both need to be healthier for sure!

~My kids have finally figured out that it's so much more fun to play outside than it is to stay in the house, which is a huge plus! Last year I had to force them to play outside.

~We were able to find Matthew's backpack that he left at school on the last day of school. It had his inhaler in it and some other medicine equaling about $70. I was totally freaking out. We looked in the lost and found 2 different times before we found it.

~I feel like we live at the dentist office. Matty and Zack both have retainers. Both of them have broken them twice. They have only had them since like April or something. Matthew even threw his away at school and the super nice janitor spotted it on his tray in the garbage can and took it out. Thankfully! Course, about 3 hours later he broke it. I tell ya, this could drive a mom to drink!

~So we all know it's not good for us to eat fried foods. I rarely fry. Maybe a few times a year. I found another reason not to do it a few weeks when I was frying some chicken for my family to have between baseball games while I was at a Young Women's barbecue and homework burn. I placed a wing in the front of the pan and reached over it to put another one on the other side of it at the back of the pan and right when my hand was about an inch above the first wing, it popped. Oil splattered on my wrist. It burned it bad! It blistered up and has gone through some interesting changes over the past 2 weeks. Not fun! There is one part that I can't get to heal and it was the most blistered. So frying is not my friend! I feel so bad for people who are burned in accidents.I can only imagine what they must go through!

~Oh, and for those of you wondering, the Essure thing has been wonderful!Just make sure you get everything worked out with your insurance company and your drs office before having it done.

I'm not as good at it as my cousin is!!! But at least I tried! :)

My incredibly talented cousin, Becky, makes these AMAZING cakes. She lives in Utah County and has started a business making cakes for people. My sister Steph has asked her to make 3 different cakes. They are all masterpieces. I don't have a picture of the fabulous cake she make for my nephew, Josh, but it was so awesome!!! She made a Toy Story one and it was a moving day box and the characters were all coming out of it and there were packing peanuts and stuff. It was all edible except for a couple of the characters that she bought at the store but otherwise she made each character and everything herself. You can see it on her blog if you want.  http://thecakemama.blogspot.com/

She made this fun cake for my beautiful little niece's birthday.

She made this one for my mom's 70th birthday party. She was born in Kansas and lived there until I was 16 then we moved out here. This cake was perfect for my mom!!!

Gracie's party had a Hawaiian theme. I found this adorable Hawaiian Hula Girl cake idea online and copied it. You make it the same way you make the Barbie cake with the Pampered Chef Large Batter Bowl or you can use a Pyrex bowl. My friend Sherelle suggested to cut it in half and put some frosting in between so there isn't just a big ol' piece of cake without frosting. It was super easy and I think it turned out cute. It of course wasn't professional looking but still cute and fun! I'll post some more pics of her bday on my Word From the Zoo blog soon.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the $1 store for cheap, cute, fun decorations!!! The only reason I chose a Hawaiian theme was because the $1 store had such cute Hawaiian decorations! So much fun!

I had so much fun with these cupcakes! Aren't they cute?!

A little catching up...

K so I know I haven't blogged in a really long time, it's actually been almost a whole month! Crazy for me! But my medicine has been working REALLY well...most of the time anyway. I still have some really bad days, sometimes for several days in a row. But I'm definitely having more good days than bad days...I'll take it!!!! On the really good days I think of a zillion things to blog about but I'm running around doing all the things I can't do on the bad days. I still try to just work through life in pain on those days, I'm just a LOT slower! I have to sit down more often and rest. Thank goodness for recliners! I just try to find joy on those bad days by spending more time with the kids. Reading to them. We like to watch movies and eat popcorn together when it hurts too much. I love the chance that those bad days give me to just spend time with the kids, snuggling 1 or 2 kids on the recliner while we watch our movies. The good days have been like a dream come true! I can mow weeds, clean more deeply, run errands, organize our house better. When we moved in a year ago we just haphazardly put things away just to get rid of the piles boxes in the house. I have reorganized most closets, drawers, cabinets, to make them more functional. I just get so much more done on good days than I do on bad days for sure!!! I have caught myself feeling FANTASTIC many times and doing things I couldn't for so long and I just feel so incredibly happy that it always brings tears to my eyes to feel NO PAIN and I feel like myself for a change! Then when I go back to having my Trigeminal Neuralgia pain on bad days that brings tears to my eyes too. I am so grateful to have found a wonderful doctor who knew what was wrong with me AND how to help me! I am grateful to a wonderful friend who, when I mentioned I didn't have a dishwasher, gave us a dishwasher that they had in their garage that was from a different house they had. Her very clever husband build a cover for it since it is the kind of dishwasher that is meant to be built in to your cabinets. We had to have it as a portable one so he made it portable. He also came over to our house 2 evenings in a row hooking it up. I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to have a dishwasher!!! As you might imagine, we have a LOT of dishes around here seeing as how there are 6 of us and we eat out once or twice a month, if that often. So 3 meals a day for 6 people.....fun stuff!! I have spent more hours washing dishes this past year than I care to think about. What a time saver a dishwasher is! I feel giddy every time I close the dishwasher door and press the buttons to start it and walk away after spending a few minutes loading it! It's unbelievably freeing! And I am so incredibly grateful that they so generously gave us the dishwasher and that he sacrificed 2 evenings hooking it up!!!

Baseball season has been going on and tonight Matty has his second game at 7:00 and Zack has a game at 6:00 to make up for the game they couldn't play yesterday because of rain. Matty is a natural when it comes to hitting! He's awesome! Zack has been playing second base this year. He has always played third base before so it's a bit different but he likes it and does a good job! He's been hitting the ball, being pitched to him since he was 2 years old but he's been hit by the ball a couple of times from some wild pitches and he has not hit much at all for 2 or 3 years. It drives us nuts because we know he can do it he just needed to get past the fear of getting hit. I finally told him a couple of weeks ago to just forget everything his different coaches have told him about how to stand and stuff and just watch the ball. It doesn't matter how he stands or what he does if he doesn't watch the ball. I told him baseball is meant to be fun and if you aren't having fun then what's the point?! And I told him that the worst case scenario is that he gets hit by a ball. He's done that and he lived so don't worry! It did the trick! That night he actually hit the ball!!! We were so excited for him! He has been hitting the ball at games ever since! They had a tournament last week. Friday night his team won which meant he had a game Saturday morning at 9:00. That was Gracie's bday and I had a zillion things to do so I couldn't go to the game. He hit the ball way out to right field and made it to 2nd base and 2 of his teammates scored off of that hit! What a confidence boost for him! I was so happy for him! His team lost but they still have the best record in the league for the tournament  with only one loss, so they play tonight again. They would have been finished last week but with all the cancelled games because of rain, the tournament is still going on. I can't wait to see how his team fares!

Can you believe Gracie is 2 now?! It just blows my mind! I'll try to post some of the fun pics of her bday. For now I have to go...busy, busy, busy!!! :)

This is beautiful!!

I saw this on facebook and HAD to share it! It is just beautiful!!! Made me cry! She has been given a wonderful gift of a beautiful voice and a stage to sing anything she wanted and she chose this. I so love this song and she did a marvelous job!!!

A few random thoughts

~Life has been so crazy busy lately but nothing bloggable has really happened so I am at a total loss for what to blog about but I never go this long without blogging so I just had to say something so y'all know that I'm still around.

~I would like to give a shout out to my brother-in-law, Richard, who left Wednesday for his 4th tour of Iraq with the Army Green Beret's/Special Forces. I am so grateful for his willingness to serve his country! And I am so grateful to my sister and her kids for the sacrifice they are giving as well. It's not easy to have your husband or father gone from you for months on end to a scary place!!! Our thoughts and prayers are definitely with their family right now!!!


~Can you believe my Max is going to start kindergarten next school year. I have been looking forward to it quite frankly because he just needs that structure and interaction and mental stimulation. He is so smart and I have been so sick and it's been really hard to do what I know he needs. Thank goodness for preschool!!! He had kindergarten kickoff yesterday and it hit me how grown up he is and it made me sad. I can't believe my babies are growing so fast. My Zack will be 11 this month. How did that happen?! Matthew will be baptized and he'll begin the scouting program later this year. It just goes so fast! And my baby will be 2 in May. Wow did that fly by!!! I'm sure going to miss my Max when he goes to kindergarten but I'm happy for him!!! I know he'll LOVE it!!!

~So, I think we might have finally found the medicine combination that will work for me. For the past few days I've only had pain for a couple of hours in the evening when I need to take my medicine again. That has been fantastic! The medicine makes me really tired and kind of dopey but it helps the pain so that's a great thing! It's been a very busy week so it's been nice to have a couple of days without so much pain!!!

I'm A Worry Wart!!!

 So, pretty much if you know me or have ever read my blog you know that my son Matthew is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. Well, he's been having random breakouts of hives and itching and mild allergic reactions to who knows what lately so we decided to have him tested to see what else he might be allergic to. He was tested today and wellllll, lets just say, what isn't this kid allergic to?! Seriously bad!

Oats

Shellfish

Soybeans

White Potato

Egg

Whole Wheat

Horses

Cats

Dogs

Pretty much EVERY weed, grass, and tree known to man

FUN TIMES!!

Some friends of mine were telling me about some of the symptoms their kids have with their food allergies and they are things like...fatigue and orneriness because their poor little tummies were torn up and they would have headaches lots and then once they either eliminated the food item or cut their intake way down after they had their allergy tests  their kids were like completely different people. Happy and relaxed and enjoyable to be around. I decided it would be a good idea to just test all of us to make sure I'm not feeding us all things that could be causing us problems. Zack was tested today as well and he is allergic to

Milk

Soy

Oat

Egg

Horses

Cats Dog

And pretty much every weed, grass, and tree known to man

Matthew has been allergic to soy all along but when he was tested at around 2 years old it was a very mild allergy and now it is much, much worse. We've been thinking it must be worse because he is affected now to things with soy in them, where he used to be fine to eat stuff with soy in it. Soy is in almost everything!

Oh well. Whatchya gonna do!?

This just makes me more determined to make our treats from scratch and make our meals from scratch instead of feeding our kids processed foods because there are so many crazy things added to processed foods and it's just all around healthier to make our own food and to be able to control the ingredients our family eats.

Many a child in the world would give their right arm to be allergic to oats and not have to eat oatmeal for breakfast anymore but my kids were actually disappointed. Go figure!

I'm trying to "cut the cord" as Brian said and be ok with Matthew going on his first REAL field trip next Thursday. They will be on a bus for 4 hours round trip and all the kids will have uncrustable peanut butter sandwiches to eat except Matthew and the other 2 kids in his class that are also allergic to peanuts. It just scares me to death. I know I probably should trust that the teachers and parents that are going will be able to keep my son alive from 8am to 5pm with lots of other kids around him eating peanuts. It just makes me sick to my stomach to think about it. I'm such a worry wart!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.....

Tonight I can either....

Support my son by going to the Pinewood Derby

OR....

Carry out my church calling and go with the Young Women for a pedicure at a spa....

Hmmmm 

Think......Think......Think........

It sure is a toughy but I'm thinkin' I'd better 'serve' these girls and get a pedicure...

What would you do???

I feel like summer today...

I was just thinking how wonderful it was to sit outside last summer while the kids ran and played on the freshly cut green grass. Or while they played in the frigid pool or ran through the sprinklers to get some much needed relief from the sweltering heat. I read a book or fiddled on my laptop or just sat and watched their funny little antics and interactions wishing time could hold still and they could stay like this forever. I remember one day in particular when we were outside enjoying a hot summer day when the ice cream truck magically appeared. The kids were thrilled!!! They ate their treats while they sat in our little pool and everything was right with the world. I wanted to take the kids outside to run and play and just pretend that today is a beautiful summer day but then I remembered that it's chilly and windy today and that yesterday we were surprised to wake up to see beautiful blanket of white snow outside. By the time we got home from church it had all melted away and now we have a big ol' MUDHOLE in our back "yard" of dirt!

I planted some tulip bulbs in the fall and they haven't come up yet. They were covered in ice until a couple weeks ago. I've anticipated seeing those pretty, bright colored flowers come into bloom all winter long. I hope they do and that I didn't plant them wrong or something. Don't you just love spring when the grass turns green and the flowers start popping up. Even the smell in the air is different. I can't wait until the weather starts feeling like I feel today....

I'm still alive...

So, I've had some major writer's block lately but I am still alive in case you were wondering. I was in a really crummy mood for a few days there. I just felt really, really discouraged. No hope. No joy. Just empty and sad. My pain had started to go away because of a combination of medications I was taking. It was still there but very dull. Occasionally bad still, but mostly dull. I'll take it!!! Well, the medicine stopped working and it upset me. A lot!!! I've also been having a time where I'm so sick to death of scrimping by and pinching pennies I could scream. Just not in very good spirits. Low. Very low. Then last Sunday at church Brother Banasky asked me how I was feeling and I gave him my standard answer of, "I'm ok. How are you?" Then he said, "No. Really. How are you feeling?" I told him it really hadn't been a good day, painwise. He asked if I had asked Brian to give me a blessing. I told him that I hadn't even thought about it with the crazy morning we had getting ready for church. But I did ask Brian for a blessing after church and it was a really beautiful blessing! Brian even explained some neat feelings he had as he gave me the blessing. After that I had a REALLY low few days and then on Wednesday I was able to talk with my friend, Sherelle and she helped me talk some of my feelings out. Then that night some very kind members of the Relief Society came for a visit while I was at YW and Brian talked with them a bit about me. They just recently found out about my health issues and wanted to express concern and support. Our wonderful bishop called later and talked with me. Having so many people reaching out to me and praying for me really has helped me these past few days. I have felt so much happier and have had more energy and strength than I have had in such a long time I can't even remember. I know with all my heart it is because of a Priesthood Blessing and the prayers of others on my behalf. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am thankful for all of the inspired programs of the church. I am thankful for members of our family, members of our ward, and friends who follow the spirit, and try to live like Jesus and serve others in His behalf.

Tonight I went to The General Young Women's Conference Broadcast and a wonderful dinner that the Stake YW Presidency prepared for us. It was a wonderful night. I so enjoyed visiting with the leaders from our ward and the YW from our ward who attended. The broadcast was wonderful as well. I am so grateful for my calling. I am so grateful for my YW leaders when I was a YW and for the amazing General leaders of the YW. At the end of it Elder Eyring talked a bit about the challenge in the Book of Mormon that Mormon gave to everyone who reads it to pray and ask for the witness of the spirit testifying to them that The Book of Mormon is true. It made me remember when I was in college and fervently reading The Book of Mormon. I will never forget how I felt as I got to that part in The Book of Mormon and how strong my desire was to pray and know for myself that it was true. I already had felt the witness of the spirit telling me the words were true throughout my reading but I just felt strongly that I should accept the challenge and pray for that witness. I had a lovely and sacred experience that I will never forget as I prayed and received that very strong witness that it was indeed the true word of God. It was so strong and powerful that when I have struggled at times in my life since that moment I CANNOT deny the truthfulness of the book!!! It is the most wonderful feeling and I feel so strongly that everyone should get that witness for themselves as well. Especially in this day and age when there are so many evil forces surrounding us trying to lead us astray. We HAVE to be steadfast and immoveable in our commitment to living the gospel. Having that strong witness and testimony can be THE thing that keeps us going no matter how hard it gets.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me and loves me and never gives up on me, even when I give up on myself. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ who loves me and suffered my sins and pains and challenges and frustrations and sadnesses and everything that I go through. I am grateful for His compassion and understanding. I am also so very grateful for the Holy Ghost and His companionship. For His comfort and peace that buoy me up and carry me through the hard times I face in this life. I know with all my heart and soul that nothing else on earth can bring us such joy and bring our spirits such comfort and peace than living the gospel to it's fullest and bringing ourselves closer to the members of the Godhead through our faithfulness and diligence in keeping the commandments and asking for their help when we need it! I love them and I am thankful for them. I am thankful for a wonderful husband and beautiful children that keep me going. I know I am incredibly blessed and I am so grateful for all of the many blessings I have been given. I know I am so far from perfect and that I have so far to go but I am so happy for the patience and love of my family and my Father in Heaven!!!

I have an idea...

How about we change the way Visiting Teaching works. How about, when we have one of those rare days when our house is REALLY clean and tidy and has no strange smells or any horrible messes and everything feels put together, in it's place, and totally presentable...WE call our Visiting Teachers and ask if they would please come visit us today. That would be so awesome don't you think?!

So, this morning I decided it would be super great to finish the second book in a series I'm reading and start the third book because I just couldn't stand to put it down. Sure, there was a sink full of dishes that needed to be washed. And, yes, I have 4 baskets of laundry that need folded and put away. My bathroom needs cleaned. The living room needed vacuumed because we had popcorn last night and the kids got little bits all over the place.

They ALWAYS get little bits all over the place.                                                                         

 Why do I continue to buy popcorn?                                                             

Do I REALLY expect a different outcome? 

              You know what they say about that, right?!

Expecting a different outcome, that is. 

Anyway, my room looks like a bomb went off, mainly because I have the 4 baskets of laundry in there. And I shampooed the living room and Brian shampooed the dining room on Saturday and I need to shampoo Gracie's room and the kitchen. And I know I have Kindergarten Roundup in just a couple hours. But, I decided to read instead. I NEVER do that anymore. I mean, I read but I just don't do it for hours on end in the middle of the day when I have a zillion things to do. I do it in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning when I can't sleep. So this afternoon my visiting teachers called and asked if they could come visit me tonight..........Uuummmmmm.....Sure! That would be grrrrreaaaaat. 

Hence, the wonderful new idea to change the way we do visiting teaching.

Who's with me????

Rice, Surviving Sacrament Meeting, Ipod Touch, Spiritual Thought, Crazy Life, Please share!

~I finally perfected rice after 17 years of trying. When Brian and I were first married I was the worst cook ever!! I was especially bad at cooking rice. I also had a hard time actually remembering to cook rice in the first time with meals until the sauce or whatever I cooked was finished. Brian was also bad at cooking rice. He can make fabulous bread, rolls, meals. I can cook just about anything that doesn't require yeast. But we just couldn't get along with rice. It always ended up crunchy in spots and gummy in other spots when we made it. So gross!! So we started making Minute Rice all the time. It saves time and it is always cooked right. Now that we have a family of 6 people to feed and a VERY limited budget, we decided we better master the art of cooking rice. We've been trying for a few months now and Brian finally figured out Jasmine rice. But still more expensive than regular old rice. I was still struggling until I started cooking 2 cups of rice with 5 cups of water and I cook it at a bit higher temp than we were before. Now it works! Every time!!! I am SoOoO happy!! I know it's kind of weird to be so happy about that I just felt like a weirdo for not being able to figure it out before. It seemed EVERYONE but us could cook rice. Yay me!!! Now I just have to get serious about mastering recipes that require yeast. Wish me luck!!  :)
~I've decided after attending Sacrament Meeting with my kids last week as usual on Sunday morning, that every single one of them must have ADHD. Sometimes they're worse than other times and last week was rough. We've tried taking snacks, books, coloring books, notebooks, Friend magazines, lacing boards to keep them entertained but it seems they just fight over them. Or discuss what they are doing...LOUDLY!!! Make huge messes. Cause many distractions and big scenes. It just isn't pretty! So last week we tried the -not bringing anything- thing...again. I think it worked about the same as anything else does. My biggest problem is that Max and Matthew think their voices only have one volume. Full blast! I wish there was some kind of muzzle for kids that I could use at church. Is that bad? This week we didn't bring ANYTHING again and it worked pretty well. Much better than last week. Matthew's volume is still full blast but they behaved as well as any little wiggly boy could be expected to behave.
~I am truly grateful that we decided to buy Zack an Ipod touch for his birthday last year!!! He had been begging for a Nintendo DS or an Ipod for a couple of years. An Ipod touch costs more than they do but you can use it for both games AND music as well as about a zillion other things. We NEVER spend anywhere near what we spent on that thing for birthdays but he's a great kid, we can't afford to pay allowance, we can't afford to take him anywhere fun ever, he NEVER gets ANYTHING fun so we figured it was worth a splurge for him!! Thank goodness we got it for him! If you don't have one in your family you definitely need one!!! We were sitting there in Sacrament Meeting when Zack remembered he was supposed to give a talk in Primary today. He whipped out his Ipod touch, that Brian was going to borrow for Sunday School and Priesthood since it has the scriptures and lesson manual on it, and looked up the Friend magazine and found a lovely little story by Elder Uchtdorf to read for his talk. Saved again!!!
~Our lesson in Sunday School was fantastic today! I just love it when this certain man substitutes! He is outstanding!! We talked a bit about The Word of Wisdom and about how some people don't want to commit to following that commandment or any commandments but want to eat, drink, and be merry and not be accountable at all. Brother McCourt talked about how Jesus suffered all of our sins and died for us that we might be forgiven of our sins and return to live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and our families forever and what does he ask of us in return? That we obey His commandments. That we live lives that emulate Him and that we be instruments in His hands in serving others, loving others, and bringing our brothers and sisters to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that none of us is perfect and that ultimately we are all striving towards the same goal. And that we all know what we should and should not be doing but I just love how each week at church we can be inspired to live certain  commandments and principals more fully. Each of us may find something different that we, as individuals need to work on but if we all go with the same attitude of being humble/teachable, the spirit can speak to us and help us find ways to achieve our Celestial goals. I was really not thrilled to go to church this morning. Time changes are hard and I turned off the alarm and decided say a quick prayer before getting in the shower and accidentally fell asleep until 10 minutes to 8:00. Not good!! It's a circus at our house Sunday morning and sometimes when I'm sitting in Sacrament Meeting after all the craziness, I don't always have the right spirit about me. But I forced myself to go and I am so glad I did! I eventually humbled myself and allowed those wonderful whisperings to happen. Next week I'm going to try to not FORCE myself to go but to go with a happy heart and with an excitement to learn.
~The last few weeks have been crazy! Here are a few of the things we've had going on.
*baseball sign-ups
*baseball try outs
*New Beginnings: LOTS of hours and details and work but oh so worth it!!! It was a really great night!!!
*Zack received his Arrow of Light badge through a really neat ceremony at the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts. Incidentally, the entire Blue and Gold Banquet lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes! Only church should last that long and even then...kind of iffy! :)
*Meal planning for a month
*Grocery shopping for a month
*Zack's D.A.R.E. graduation
*Matthew's Patriotic concert for school on a Wednesday night that lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes
*Zackary's Patriotic concert for school the very next night that lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes also. Same program. Same parts. Same songs. Different kids. They didn't have enough room for all of the parents and families to be there on the same night so they decided to split it up and have them do it on 2 different nights. UGH!!!
*Fire station field trip with Max's preschool
*Parent/teacher conferences: Warning: Shameless bragging ahead!! Have I mentioned lately that my children are positively BRILLIANT?!!!!! I am so proud of them! I love that the teachers always say they wish they had a class full of students as well behaved and smart as my kids are! They are awesome!!! And they both have THE best teachers EVER!!!
*I had a couple of Dr.'s visits, medicine additions and tweaks, and 8 vials of blood for testing. Fun stuff!
*A 3-4 hour Book of Mormon Read
*My beautiful niece Emily's 1st birthday party

We've been busy and having fun! Brian and I are gearing up for a very busy baseball season as many of you are. I've GOT to be more organized with our meals this year. Last year we ate so many hot dogs that the mere thought of them makes me gag a bit! We never tired of sandwiches though. What is your favorite "go to" busy night meal. Please comment and share your tip with me! Even if I don't know you PLEASE help me out here! Take care everyone!!!

Nakies...

My little Gracie has begun the adorable, yet, often terribly annoying 'naked stage'. All of you mothers know exactly the phase I'm talking about. Every morning when we go into her room to get her out of her crib, we find her in only a diaper with her warm pjs in a pile on the floor near her crib. When we go ANYWHERE she rips off her shoes. If I'm lucky she leaves her socks on. So when we get to our destination, I have to put shoes, and sometimes socks, back on her. She often strips all of her clothes off during the day as well. Thankfully she keeps her diaper on instead of streaking around the house in all her glory. We used to have to duct tape the boys' diapers on them when they went through this stage. I probably wouldn't mind too much if it wasn't wintertime and if we didn't live in an old, drafty house. Oh well, I'm sure she'll outgrow it like her brothers did before kindergarten. :)

She has finally started talking more. Most of what she says is hard to understand but she is trying so that's improvement.
Some her cute little words are.....
DeDe-Gracie
DooDoo-Doggy
Yeah-Zack
YeahYeah-Zack-y
Me-Drink
oo-Food
MaMa-Mama AND Grandma  I once said, Gracie, say G-R-A-N-D-M-A. She said...M-A-M-A
wahwah-sock
wahwah-washcloth
And the ever elusive   ~DE~   Still can't figure that one out. Sometimes it means cheese but other times she says it over and over and cries and gets upset when we can't figure it out. We've pulled out our best charades playing skills but still...nothin'.

Rise and Shine...

We used to be so diligent about having family scripture study every night before our kids went to bed. That was until Zack started playing baseball. The hours are so crazy! It throws our whole schedule out of wack and we have such a hard time recovering it when the season ends. Course once that ends, football season is right around the corner and it's just as difficult to stay on track. We have a hard time squeezing dinner in, let alone scripture study. And the kids are so hard to keep under control for scriptures in the evening when they are more energetic (won't keep quiet) and can't stay still (they poke, punch, and bug the heck out of each other which leads to lots of referreeing and a general lack of feeling the spirit). When this school year started we decided that Brian and I would take turns reading scriptures while the kids ate their breakfast. They just talked to each other the whole time instead of listening. And then Brian started working 4 days a week,10 hours a day so he can be home on Fridays to help me more and he started waking up at like 6:10 a.m. The boys have to wake up at 6:50 in order to make the bus on time. So, we've started getting the kids up at 6:30 to read scriptures and I must say it is FABULOUS!!! We have iliminated all talking, poking, punching, and bugging each other. They're still half asleep so they're too tired to do anything but sit there on the couch, wrapped snugly in their blankets, listening. It's wonderful! We should have done this years ago! Getting them up a little early has been awesome! By the time we are finished reading scriptures they are good and awake. When they get dressed and eat breakfast they aren't so sluggish and that parts easier. I've even made eggs and toast for breakfast a few times and Brian made pancakes once on a Friday morning with the extra time we have. They eat cold cereal, instant oatmeal cooked in the microwave, or toast and yogurt or fruit most mornings so they love this improvement. And I don't feel so guilty so it's all good. :)

Great idea...

Matthew's Primary teacher last year was INCREDIBLE!!! All the kids loved her. She was there almost every week and really took her calling seriously and did a great job! In January she gave Matthew this book to take home and keep. It is a journal he worked on each week last year. There is always extra time after the lesson in primary. Some teachers fill the extra time by taking the children for a little walk, singing songs, letting them color, or if the kids are older, the old reliable "Spiritual Hangman". Sister Hamaker, however, chose to have the kids work on a little journal each week. I think it is just fabulous! I wish I'd had this idea with the zillions of primary classes we've taught over the years! I thought it was such a great idea I'd share.

It was also really fun to see the improvement in his handwriting since he was half way through Kindergarten when they started the books and then halfway through 1st Grade when they finished.

These are some of my favorite pages...
This is the first page but could have easily been put on the cover of the 3 ring binder. She left the cover plain. She put the pages in page protectors.

Apparently he was absent this week but it's quite nice.

 This was the Father's Day page and he wrote on the hearts...he is nice...he makes me laugh.

 I shared my blocks with Max and made him happy

 It says on the bottom of the page...I'm grabbing my sister so she won't bite my brothers.      hehe

The next picture has nothing to do with the rest of the post but I thought the roses that Brian gave me for Valentine's Day were so pretty. They all opened up really big just like they do on a rose bush. Usually they stay pretty closed, which is equally pretty.

I organized my...

recipe blog. Finally!!! I  decided to label my recipe blog. I'm still working on labeling this blog but the recipe blog is finished now. I hope you check it out!!   http://www.tarasyummyrecipes.blogspot.com/

Loser mom...again, Chore chart progress report, and Way to go Zacky!!!

~So, I'm checking facebook (rare for me because it gives my computers viruses but I was totally bored) on Sunday night around 9:00 and I read one of my friend Emily's posts that talks about her son's Valentine box he made for school. UH OH!!! We totally spaced off the Valentine's boxes. We were going to do them on Saturday. Matthew was going to make a dragon. Zack was still figuring his out. They were going to be awesome and they were totally going to win 1st prize in the Valentine box contest at school! Man I suck sometimes... Sorry mom, I had to say it! Luckily Zack was still awake because Brian has been letting him stay up until 9:00 lately. The poor kid had to stay up late and throw a box together. It was pretty cool and even had a monster drawn on it with it's mouth open around the card slot. Matthew had to get up early and throw his together. They would have totally rocked when I was a kid but since the Valentine's box competition is CrAzY and people are really intense about it, they didn't have a chance! When there are Spongebob, Bunnies, a whale, and a dragon that are all HUGE and intricate and totally awesome there is NO way my kid's had a chance at winning. They knew going into it after their experience last year. That is why we were going to make totally awesome ones this year. Unfortunately, I taught Zack to clean the bathroom Saturday, made the other kids do chores, took Max to his friend Michael's super fun 2 1/2 hour birthday party at the Wave Pool. We finally got faster Internet for several reasons and now we can watch our Netflix movies through the wii so we pretty much spent any spare time we had over the weekend watching movies. So, after the bday party we watched a movie while the kids played outside since it was a beautiful afternoon and apparently none of us even thought about the Valentine's boxes. Next year...it...is...on!!! We are going to start making them in like January so I won't be a loser mom and my kids will at least have a chance at winning! You'll see! It's going to be great!
~Max is cracking me up lately so much. He is always hilarious but lately he is just really funny. I am SO like Dori on Finding Nemo so I can't remember 5 minutes later what he said but it is fun to have a good laugh at the moment. I'm going to start writing everything he says in a notebook in my purse now so I can remember and share. I'm just a mess!
~Zhack talksh really shilly lately becaushe he hash retainersh now. He got them last Friday. His top one is cobalt blue (he picked it because it's called BYU blue but I am a Utes fan so I'm choosing to call it cobalt blue) with the Batman symbol. Totally awesome!!!
~This new chore chart thing is the best! Last night Matthew's chore was to straighten the living room, Max's chore was to vacuum the living room, Zack's chore was to peel potatoes. When they were finished Matthew asked if he could wash the dishes, too. Who am I to stand in the way of a kid that wants to work! When he was finished he was disappointed that there weren't any more for him to wash. AND he's totally stoked about learning to clean the bathroom on Saturday. He keeps telling me everyday that he just can't wait until Saturday so he can learn to clean the bathroom. He was my biggest grumbler about chores for the first few days and now he's my biggest helper. How cool is that?!
~Zacky has always been a great student. His kindergarten and first grade teachers in Cedar City called him "brilliant"! He was always one of the 3 top scoring kids in the class. His second grade and third grade teachers in Pleasant Grove were INTERESTING!!! At that school they literally tried to dumb things down for students that excelled so that everyone was on the same learning level instead of having different levels for different kids. I talked to his second grade teacher about how he was reading at a fourth grade level in the first grade and just wondered how he was doing. And she said that she didn't realize he was that great of a reader, she would have to test him. This was in FEBRUARY!!! It was just not the same, to say the least. The teacher he had in Salem for the last 3 months of 3rd grade (we moved there in March...HARD for him!) was interesting. Each time someone misbehaved EVERYONE was punished by having to put their heads on their desks for a minute. The next time it happened it was 2 minutes, then 3 and so on throughout the day. How is that fair to anyone! Here's my poor Zacky who has always behaved so well (every one of his teachers has said they wished all of their students were as well behaved and as kind to the other students as Zacky is) and he's being punished off and on all day long for other's bad behavior instead of rewarded for his good behavior. Not cool! One morning on the way to school, he was crying because he didn't want to go so I started crying too and just kept him home. I just couldn't do it. Fourth grade here last year was..eh. Now, this year his teacher is outstanding and recognizes that he is "brilliant" :) and LOVES my boy so much! She challenges him and helps him become the best he can be. It's been amazing! He and 2 other students this year are always the top scorers on everything. She moved all 3 of them up to accelerated programs in reading and math. He is doing so, so well! He's happier! We're happier! It's been a wonderful year and I am so grateful that things are going so well for him! He really needed this boost in his confidence after so much weirdness! And with all of our crazy moves and everything I am just so proud of him and his ability to be so resilient and remain the "brilliant" :) amazing boy that we love so much!!!

Valentiney stuff...

I have had some empty veggie cans that I intended to decorate cute for teacher's treats since before Halloween. I FINALLY decided to do something with them for Valentine's Day. I think they are cute. I know they could have been embellished more but I think they are cute, yet simple. :)  I also took some to some new girls in our YW and one to the kid's bus driver. She always gives them cute treats for each holiday. I had a plate of goodies for her for Christmas but couldn't get out there fast enough so I made her one of these cans. I made them Sunday evening. Then on Valentine's Day I made some red velvet cupcakes with white cream cheese frosting, some strawberry cupcakes with pink cream cheese frosting, and some of those little cherry cheesecakes in cupcake papers. I delivered those to friends, Brian's office, and gals I visit teach. I just love Valentine's Day! It makes me happy! Brian gave me a dozen red roses. They smell so good and are so pretty!

 This is my favorite one...

This one was my favorite...

Delusions of a Super Mom

I used to have chore charts for the kids. I just had them do a few chores like making their beds, cleaning toys, setting the table. Easy stuff. When we first moved to Price I never started that up again, having faith that we'd be moving any day and we'd start it in our new place. Then, when we moved here life was crazy! My health was steadily declining and I just didn't do it. Now that the medication I'm on helps with some of my symptoms I have been able to start doing more deep cleaning, organizing and just plain trying to make more sense out of life. Some days are really hard and I just can't do much so I have to play catch up for the next couple days and when I change medicine I have harder days but when it kind of evens out and I actually feel pretty decent I really dig in! I can't do EVERYTHING! I know that! Ever since my diagnoses in November I guess I have felt more like it's ok to start asking Brian and the kids to do more to help out. I have so much guilt over that usually because I have that whole complex about being a stay at home mom and feeling like because I do that I have to be super mom and super wife and get it all done and not ask for help because that's how I "earn my keep". Brian NEVER has made me feel that way I just feel that way!!! I think a lot of it is the stereotype of a stay at home mom sitting around eating bonbons or something you know. I am ALWAYS busy! There is ALWAYS something to be done. I WISH I could just sit around and eat bonbons all day. I have to force myself to take breaks because my body needs breaks and even still I have that guilt. Brian keeps encouraging me to scrapbook and sew and stuff but I just have a hard time giving myself permission to do those things. Well, I've started asking Brian and the boys to do more to help and it's been wonderful! I still have plenty to do but it really helps to have them do more. I really shied away from the usual chore chart because I have my kids help me all the time and I hated to put more on them than they already were doing not that they were over worked or anything. I was just feeling that stupid supermom complex crap that made me think I should be able to do it all and what the heck is wrong with me that I can't! My kids are always putting dishes away in lower cabinets, getting things out of lower cabinets, picking stuff up off the floor and handing it to me, getting the clothes out of the dryer for me when it hurts too much to do that, getting stuff out of bottom drawers for me, just basically being at my beck and call all day to help me perform tasks that have become impossible or at least extremely painful for me to do on my own. We had them take care of the dog most of the time and we have them do quite a lot of stuff outside as well. Well, even with the extra help I finally decided we need more organization in our lives. I knew I needed to do a chore chart again so that things were more organized and so that the kids were helping more and learning to clean and such, I just didn't know where to begin. After talking with Brian, my Mom, my friend Sherelle, and reading some chore chart stuff online I decided what I need is a flexible chore chart. There are some things that are just expected, everyday things that MUST be done every day by each of them. Like brushing teeth, making beds, doing homework, straightening bedrooms. It's the blank spots on the chart that are my favorite parts!!! Every day I get to write chores down that I need done specifically for that day. One day I needed the dining room vacuumed, the table cleared off, and the toys cleaned up around the house. Every day is different for each of them and they (mostly Matthew) grumble a lot but I keep assuring them that it will be good for them to learn to be hard workers. And it has been great to teach them about working together as a team/family to get things done and how there are 6 of us and I am only one woman and it's just impossible for me to take care of everything for 6 people. It's hard getting used to all of this again after having a break for the past 2 years from chore charts but all in all I think it is going ok. Today, I taught Zack to clean the bathroom. Many of you will be appalled that I am just now teaching my 10 year old to clean a bathroom. I know. It was that supermom thing, and the fear of bleached out clothing, etc. that held me back. I have to say that it was one of the funniest things I have ever experienced in my entire life!!! He was literally gagging when he was cleaning the toilet and the floor around the toilet. It was hilarious! He's quite the little comedian and had me in stitches the entire time as he over exaggerated his disgust at having to do this chore!!! I haven't laughed that hard in I don't know how long! He laughed too and it was actually a fun experience. Next weekend it's Matthew's turn to learn to clean the bathroom. I have a feeling it might not be so enjoyable...Wish me luck!!!

Popcorn Popping

Our Young Women activity was extra fun this week! It started out with one of the leaders reading this Parable of the Popcorn to us.

The Parable of the Popcorn

Behold at the time of the harvest, the ears of corn did bring forth

kernels which we dried and prepared for the popper's hand.

And then it was that the popper did take the kernels, all of which

appeared alike unto him, and did apply the oil and the heat.

And it came to pass that when the heat was on, some did explode with

promise and did magnify themselves an hundred fold, and some did burst

forth with whiteness which did both gladden the eye and satisfy the taste

of the popper. And likewise, some others did pop, but not too much.

But lo, there were some that did just lie there and even though the

popper's heat was alike unto all, they did bask in the warmth of the oil

and kept everything they had for themselves.

And so it came to pass that those which had given of themselves did bring

joy and delight to many munchers, but those which kept of the warmth and

did not burst forth were fit only to be cast out into the pail and though

of with hardness and disgust.

And thus we see that in the beginning all appear alike, but when the heat

is on, some come forth and give their all, while others fail to pop and

become as chaff to be discarded and forgotten.

Which are you?

Bursting with enthusiasm, ready to give your all


OR


Content to keep to yourself, and not pop or just pop a little

Then, another leader gave some examples of ways this applies to us and stuff. It was nice. Then the fun part! All of the leaders and some of the YW brought different kinds of popcorn to share with everyone and exchanged the recipes. I LoVe getting new recipes!!! And they were absolutely delicious!!! We loaded up bags full of all the different kinds of popcorn to take to our inactive and less active girls and then we each got to load up a bag full for ourselves. So fun!!! Then we loaded up into cars and visited the girls. It was a great night! I thought I'd share in case you all needed a new yummy treat to try. Also, at Max's preschool Valentine's Party yesterday a girl brought white cheddar popcorn that her mom made. Her mom says that there are some different flavored salts at Walmart by the popcorn and she just popped the popcorn in her popper and then sprinkled the white cheddar flavor on it. It was fabulous! I don't usually like cheese popcorn but this white cheddar flavor was so salty and delicious! Good stuff! I just made some and the bottle suggests buying some sort of spray stuff to make it stick to the popcorn. I didn't read it until I was home so I sprayed some cooking spray on it and it stuck and was good. Also I salted the popcorn more with regular salt as well and that made it better.  

Sesame-Ginger Popcorn

This snack is as fun to make as it is to eat. It's popcorn with a twist. Toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds, brown sugar, and fresh grated ginger give this popcorn it's unique sweet and spicy flavor. If you are looking for something tempting to serve at your next movie night, this delicious snack is the one.

Ingredients

• 6 cups popped popcorn                         
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1-1/2 cups lightly salted cashews
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons light-colored corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Remove all unpopped kernels from popped popcorn. Put popcorn and cashews in a greased 17x12x2 inch baking or roasting pan.

• In a medium saucepan combine brown sugar, butter corn syrup, ginger, and sesame oil. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Continue boiling at a moderate rate, without stirring, for 5 minutes more.

Remove pan from heat. Stir in sesame seeds, vanilla, and baking soda. Pour mixture over popcorn mixture. Stir gently to coat. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown, stirring twice. Spread popcorn mixture on a large piece of buttered foil to cool. Store tightly covered. Makes 8&1/2 cups.

Cinnamon Popcorn

• 2-3 quarts popped corn in a large bowl
• 4 Tablespoons butter-melt in a small saucepan.
• Add: 3 Tablespoons water, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Increase heat. Boil 3-4 minutes. Stir into popcorn. Stir while cooling.

White Chocolate Popcorn Crunch

• 5 cups popped popcorn
• 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
• 1/2 cups sliced almonds
• 12 ounces white chocolate baking chips, chopped white chocolate or white candy coating
• 1-2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Here's how:

Cover a baking pan with foil or wax paper; set aside. Place popcorn, cranberries and almonds in a large bowl; set aside. Melt chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth OR melt according to package directions. (If chocolate in not smooth after melting, stir in 1-2 tablespoons shortening until mixture is smooth and loose enough to coat popcorn).  Pour chocolate mixture over popcorn mixture and stir to coat.  Spread onto prepared pan; allow to cool completely. When chocolate is cooled and set, brerak into chunks for serving. Sotre in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Variation: White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Crunch: Omit cranberries and almonds. Stir in 1 cup crushed hard candy peppermint after chocolate is melted.

Marshmallow Pink Popcorn

1/4 cup plus 2 Tblsp. light corn syrup

2 Tblsp. butter

 1/4 cup water

3 cups mini marshmallows, divided

2 cups powdered sugar

6 drops red food coloring

4 quarts popped corn

1 cup salted peanuts

In heavy saucepan blend syrup, butter & water. Cook over low heat until mixture thickens. Add 1 cup of the marshmallows and stir until they melt. Add powdered sugar and coloring. Stir and cook until bubbling. Pour over corn and salted nuts and the rest of the marshmallows.

Jello Popcorn

1 c. unpopped corn (24 c. popped popcorn)
Salt, optional

3 oz. pkg. Jello

1 c. granulated sugar

1 c. light corn syrup

Put popcorn in large bowl. Salt to taste. Put Jello powder, sugar and syrup into saucepan. Heat and stir to dissolve. Bring to boil. Pour over popcorn. Stir to coat well.

One of our girls brought raspberry flavored Jello popcorn and one of the leaders brought strawberry flavor and grape flavor. All delicious!!!

Gummy Bear Popcorn

I took this one. It's my ex-sister-in-law, Anna's recipe. LOVE IT!!!

1 cup butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups marshmallows

Pop 2 or 3 bags of buttered popcorn. Pour onto cookie sheets and gently pick up popcorn and put into large mixing bowl so that the unpopped kernals fall to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle gummy bears over popcorn and gently toss. Melt butter-add sugar and syrup. Bring to boil, stir and simmer for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and stir in marshmallows. Pour over popcorn and gummy bears. It will melt the gummi bears if you it this way otherwise you have chewy gummy bears mixed in and trust me it isn't so yummy! Just stir and stir until gummy bears are nicely melted and eveything is mixed well. Then poor out onto  cookie sheets and ENJOY!!! Anna insists that Kraft marshmallows and real butter are necessary for the recipe. I am cheap and use Great Value marshmallows and it works out well but I totally agree on the butter!!!