Car Wash

The car wash is not an great adventure for all ages. I filled up the van today and it desperately needed a wash. Jared and Kamryn were with me and I was pretty sure it would freak them out but I went ahead with it anyway. Both of them had huge eyes as we drove in. I tried talking them through it and they laughed when all the soapy bubbles were sprayed on but then when the big forceful spray started washing the bubbles off they started freaking out. Kamryn lost it first and was bawling and terrified and then Jared joined in. They were both gripping my arm and hysterical. They didn't like the dryer either. When we were finally done it was Jared could talk about all the way to Sam's club - "car wash" over and over (of course I was the only one that could understand what he was saying). I guess we won't do that again soon.

Bits and pieces

Just a few "bits and pieces" thoughts for the day:
**I taught in YW today. I teach the Beehives and we have about 10 girls in our class. Today we only had 6 girls there and it's amazing how different the class was. Usually the lessons go okay but today was great and I felt really good about it and I think the girls really liked it and got something out of it. The miracle in this is that I didn't really start on the lesson until about 10:00 last night and I was up working on it until about 12:30 and we had church at 11:00 (really 10:00 in my head due to daylight savings times). The lesson was on being a peacemaker and we played spin the bottle to discuss situations of how to be a peacemaker.
**Due to the late night I was so tired after church so I decided to lay down for a short nap. I fare much better if I just lay down for 30 min - I'm too groggy if I really nap. But I must have been tired because I napped for almost 2 hours. I woke up with a start at 5:22 and freaked out. We were having dinner with my family at my mom's and I needed to put green bean casserole in at her house at 5:15. So I had Justin run it over there and then I forgot about it until about half way through everyone dishing up at dinner and Paul said "where are the beans?" I had totally forgotten about them and they were very well done with all the little french's onions burned. Naps are just not good for me.
**Can't believe Rob and Amber got out. I thought for sure it would be a non elimination round. I guess it came down to karma and they played dirty on that round and came back to bite them. We're really pulling for the beauty queens now. I'm going to have to worry about my husband though - he said "I'm all over the beauty queens now."

Book of Mormon

I finished the Book of Mormon today. I started it on Sept 11th. I try to read every morning after the kids leave for school and before Jared and Kamryn get up. For most of it I've listened to it and followed along at the same time. I really like doing it that way and feel like I've gotten so much more out of it. Now I'm going to read the Doctrine and Covenants (because Paul's reading it right now and he's downloaded it into our iTunes library).

RS Birthday

Our Relief Society birthday dinner was Tuesday night. The program was women who dressed up as former General RS presidents and told about "themselves". My mom was all dressed up and when I walked in I felt like I was looking at my grandma.

Volleyball Tournament

Brooke played in another tournament last weekend. This was a 2 day-er - Friday from 3:30 - 10:30 and Saturday from 7:30 - 7:30. This was a "reseeding tournament" so that is why it was 2 days. They played Fri and Sat morning at Open Court. I love that place. What a great facility. The spectator section was above the court so it was a fun way to watch. I was able to go Friday night without Jared and Kamryn, which was nice because I was able to just watch the team play and concentrate. Saturday was another story. We ended up having Jared and Kamryn at most of the tournament, which was CRAZY!!! I couldn't leave because I hate missing when Brooke plays. She's getting a lot better and is therefore playing more. She does a great job in the back and also played the front and did well. She had one awesome spike (HIT for those who know the correct terms). We were all cheering and excited and Justin looked up and said "What'd she do?" It was funny. I was just glad he came to support her. He must have liked it because he ended up going to the whole tournament on Saturday.
The next tournament is in Boise ID. Our 4 girls and mothers are going. It will be a fun little mother/daughter weekend. I'm really looking forward to it just for the chance to get a break from my little gremlins.

Update on bathroom project

Well, the bathroom project has gotten pretty complicated as you can see. I'd planned to put beadboard up over the 1st layer of wallpaper and even bought one sheet of the board. When I put it up it didn't look good - too many lines with the tile below it. So now I have to paint -which meant painting over the wallpaper or taking it down. I decided to take it down which was probably a bad decision. I've got major areas where the wallpaper did indeed take off the wallboard. What a mess. I've spent a lot of time getting the walls cleaned up. Whoever put up that paper did it with wheat paste. After spending most of the day yesterday I've got all the paste off the walls and then washed the walls. Now I've just got to patch the tears and holes - which I have no idea how to do but I guess I'll learn. Paul wants me to wait for him to do it but who knows when that will be since he's got his own bathroom project downstairs. So I guess I'll go to Home Depot and learn how to patch walls.

February goal

I did pretty good on my February goal. As you can see, I posted 25 times in February which is way more than I normal. So I'm going to try to keep up with regular posts, just not every day (which will be relief to some, I'm sure).

New project

I've done a terrible thing - jumped into a new big project before totally finishing my last project. I'm not quite done getting the 72 hour kits put together and haven't figured out exactly where we are going to store them.
Today I got this bug to strip the wallpaper off in the main bathroom upstairs. It was actually a fun project - I love demolition work. It came off so easy - the 1st layer that is. Underneath is another layer of very old 70s silvery/gold foil plaid that is never coming off, at least not without taking the sheetrock with it. So I am going to put up beadboard over it. I went to Home Depot and priced it and got the paint picked out.
And I did this all today in less than 3 hours. It's always easier and faster doing the demo work than the new work. And this is at the same time that Paul is working on building/installing a bathroom downstairs so I've definitely complicated things. Sorry about that.

Visiting Teaching

I try not to have too much guilt in my life but I do when it comes to Visiting Teaching. I've been a terrible VTer over the last year. I have not once made an in home sit down visit with any of my 3 ladies. I've dropped off lots of things to compensate. Part of my problem is I have a companion who is pretty flakey and can never go so I've kind of used that as an excuse. I have decided to just kind of pretend I don't have a companion and just go on my own. Another "problem" is two of the ladies I have are too easy to count - 1 lady is one of my best friends in the ward and we walk every morning so I certainly have regular contact with her and know what's going on in her life. The 2nd lady is in the YW presidency with me and I see her all the time too but don't really visit with her like I should. The 3rd lady is who I really have guilt about and should visit her in her home regularly. So I resolved to do better this year. I took each of them Valentine's cookies and visited with them briefly at the door. And today we all went to lunch together to this place. We had a great time and enjoyed good food and especially good desserts. It was fun to visit and get out. I plan to do this on a quarterly basis and maybe we can even get my companion involved. Now I just need to call my supervisor and report 100% for once.

A night of TV

We don't usually watch TV on Sunday - we try to spend time together and have FHE or play a game. But tonight we just boob tubed it all night. We watched this and were excited that Jennifer Hudson won. We've been a fan of hers ever since we was on Idol. We also watched this. How much have Rob and Amber won? Do you think they're paying their taxes and do you think they've been able to go on all those trips? My family is rooting for them but I think they've had their turn. I'm for the beauty queens and really, really want Kentucky and the cousins to go home.

Favorite Spot

This is Kamryn and Jared's favorite new spot. It's kind of like their little hideout. It's in the kitchen under the desk. I keep my church bag and the diaper bag there. They love to go through the diaper bag and read their books and then pull everything else out. It's fun to watch them under there together.

72 hour kits

So my project to finish for Feb is to get our 72 hour kits put together. I bought most of the stuff back in Nov when our ward sponsored some nights to inspire us to get this project put together. So I ordered everything I thought we would need and then when I picked it up I put it all in the garage for awhile and then moved it to the dining room and finally down to the storage room, where it's been for the last couple of months. I look at the pile every time I go in the storage room - which is frequently considering that is where our extra fridge is and most of our food. It's been driving me crazy so I've put it at the top of my list of things to do the last two weeks. I didn't get to it last week so now I have 5 days until the end of Feb to finish. I pulled all of the stuff out of the storage room and moved it into our office area so I could spread things out and fill up the back packs. I spent time on it today while Jared and Kamryn where playing and watching their latest favorite thing to watch. I have all the back packs filled with food, extra clothes, flashlight, emergency blankets and radio, etc. I have 5 buckets to put the backpacks in. My friend gave me that idea - then if you are faced with that emergency you can where the backpack and carry the empty bucket if you need to and it will then become your stool and one will become the "potty." Now that I've done all that we are only missing toothbrushes and some soap (that I'll go buy later today) and a water filter (the good kind you have to buy here and I've assigned that to Paul). I don't feel like I can cross it off my list until it's totally complete and I've gone over the packs with the family and where we are going to store them but it's mostly done. It's been a big job and i'm so glad to have it done.

Who's your Favorite?

Are you an Idol fan? Who is your favorite?
So far, I like Chris Sligh (mostly because he's funny) and Lakisha Jones (man, can she sing!)
The results show was way too long (thank goodness for recording it and fast forwarding through commercials and bad songs).

Stake Dance

Our mutual activity last night was a stake dance - not the multi-stake, 14 and up kind. It was just our stake and it was 12 and up. There were invites with a theme (Dancing with the Stars ... and the Asteroids and the Planets) but no other info. We had no idea what the plan was or what the dress was or anything. We heard from someone in one of the other wards that maybe there would be dance instruction, which as a mother I thought sounded like a good idea.
Well, we got there and after opening exercises in the chapel, which was attended by about 40 youth (for the whole stake) they dismissed us to the gym. When we walked in they had a funny scene playing from this movie - where the main characters are showing how they dance (I've seen the movie but can't remember the names). It's a funny clip but there wasn't any sound. Then they started another clip of this movie where the main character was up on stage dancing. Again, no sound.
As leaders we're just standing there wondering what the plan was. Was anyone going to get the night started? Have some mixer games or dances? No - just thanks for Bro so-and-so doing the music and have fun. The kids all just stood there in big groups. It brought back such bad memories. Dances are such bad things for teens. The girls get all excited and want to dance and are just hoping a boy (not just any boy, the cute boy they have a crush on and not the nerdy boy who has a crush on them) asks them to dance. The boys on the other hand are mostly too shy to ask a girl and wander around the gym aimlessly or chase each other around the gym.
The music was a disaster - lots of technical difficulties and he kept playing the same 3 songs over and over. Finally, after about an hour a DJ in the stake saved the night and set up his stuff and started playing songs the kids knew and fun line dances. The kids finally got into it and most seemed to be out having a good time and dancing. My poor 14 yr old son - it was pure torture and one of the worst nights of his life.
(I may be able to get hold of some pictures to post from one of the leaders there).

Update on resolutions

I was looking back at the resolutions I set for this year. I'm doing pretty good on half (2 out of 4 isn't too bad).
I'm doing pretty good on scripture reading - almost every day (extra on some days to make up for some missed days).
I'm definitely posting more often - hopefully it's not too boring.
Haven't even come close to losing weight - definitely need to improve on that one.
And my project resolution - I've decided to change that to get at least one major project done monthly. Once a week was definitely not going to happen. My project for Jan was to repair the wall hanging that goes on the stairs wall. I got that done. Now my project for Feb is to finish putting together the 72 hr kits that I started in Nov. I have 8 days to finish and I'm making myself work on that before I can do anything else. (the clothes are really hanging me up on that one).

blog title

After reading a blog from a member of my book club and about how she titled her blog I sat back and thought my blog title should have some meaning to it. This new title was as good as I could come up with. It kind of fits my family right now - double teenagers, double toddlers (and poor Taylor stuck in the middle of that). Then after I posted the new title and looked at the blog I decided it fit really well with the background that kind of looks like you're seeing double.

SNOW?!

What is with all this new snow?! What a way to ruin a perfect day off? I'm so done with winter. We need to go on some errands today and this only makes it a big mess out there.

Fun Family Movie

We just watched this movie tonight. I really enjoyed it and laughed a lot. It was fun to watch a movie together with my kids.

Photos

One of my AZ friends said she checks my blog occasionally to see if there are recent photos of the kids - so I try to post photos whenever there are some new ones. These are from our little family Valentine's party.

Valentine's update

It's been a pretty good day - I'm finally feeling better (don't think I mentioned that I got sick AGAIN! more of a head cold this time). I baked and frosted sugar cookies all day. The kids and I had fun delivering them.
Paul had to go to Logan today so I knew that meant he wouldn't be home any sooner than 6:30-7:00 so I told him we'd just do the family valentine's night and he and I could go out another night. We had Papa Murphy's and watched American Idol. Then we had little presents - shirts for the bigs kids and teletubbies for Jared and Kamryn.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you all have a nice Valentine's Day. Things are up in the air at our house as to what we are doing tonight - date night or family night.
I just wanted to share this article from our ward newsletter - it really touched me:

A Valentine Challenge
I remember when I was in elementary school we had to make a Valentine box in order to receive a Valentine from everyone in the class. I remember making tinfoil mailboxes, robots, hearts, bears, etc. I would work very hard on these boxes but took even more care with the actual Valentines cards. I was extremely careful to make sure certain people got Valentines with the very best candy. You couldn’t give a “My heart is yours!” Valentine to just anyone. You did not want to send the wrong message. At the end of the day you received 30 or so crumpled Valentines and a lot of heart shaped candy that later got lost somewhere in your room. Years later you really didn’t look forward to Valentine’s Day, especially if you didn’t have a boyfriend. What fun is it when you don’t have anyone to give you chocolate and flowers?
Years later, you have found that eternal Valentine. Valentine’s Day is now a fun date night. You may not get the chocolate and flowers anymore, but you don’t really care. A quiet evening out, being served at a restaurant, is enough to call the holiday a success. Valentine’s Day means something different to everyone. Whoever you are or whatever your situation, Valentines should be a time to show love and remember those people you love most in your life. During the month of February, take an extra minute in your day to compliment your spouse on ANYTHING, actually get down on your hands and knees and play with your children, shovel the snow off your neighbor’s driveway or make yummy heart shaped sugar cookies and give them to someone you really look up to. My personal favorite is to write a letter expressing why you love that person. Ryan will do this for me every birthday and anniversary. The bottom line,
make this Valentine’s Day different and do something that will really show the people you love most that they are indeed, loved by you!

Dinner

We went here for dinner tonight to celebrate my mom's birthday. She likes to go here because we can have a reservation for our group of 32 and we get a separate room so it's a lot easier with all of those kids. I have a problem when I go out to eat. I can never decide what to order and usually end up with "order regret." My brother-in-law coined this phrase. I like to try new things instead of sticking with what I know I like. So, tonight was one of those nights. Instead of getting the 'Shroom Burger I went with the Fiesta Salad. It was okay but I wished I'd ordered the burger. And the strangest thing - I ordered a hot dog for Jared and the waiter came back and said they were out of hot dogs. How can you be out of hot dogs?

Poor Kamryn

Poor Kamryn. This is how she looked when I got her out of bed this morning. She's got a bad cold and probably the start of pink eye (which she got from her cousins this weekend). Those are dried buggers all around her mouth and they were on her binky too. GROSS! She went straight into the bath so we could clean her up. She was actually a very happy sick baby for most of the day.

Random thought

So, after family prayers tonight, Paul said "Does anybody have anything they want to share?"
Justin (14 yr old) says "Oh I do. One day I was walking home from school, I think it was in November, and I was chewing gum but wanted to spit it out. I didn't think it would be good to just spit it on the ground so I wrapped it around a tree branch. And you know what? It's still there!"

Talk about random thoughts!

I'm off

I'm off to the cabin with Jared and Kamryn. My sister is going up with her 5 kids because they are off track. She didn't want to be up there "alone" so we're tagging along. It's a lot easier to get ready to go to the cabin when it's just me and the little rugrats. I'm all packed up and now I just have to get them up and dressed and fed.
So I'll be back on Saturday and have to do some catch up them. Hope you all enjoy your weekends.

Feb goal

I guess I should have stated this before the 7th of Feb but that is the way this month has been going so far.
My goal this month is to blog every day - of course, I picked a short month to do that.
So far this will by my 7th post for the month and it is the 7th. You'll notice that there are several days already where there are more than one post on a day and none on another - I figure it'll even out.
Hopefully there will be something to say every day - of course, with the way my life is going with teenagers and toddlers in the home, it is NEVER BORING.

Mating

Recent dinner conversation with our family:
Brooke (12) and Justin (14) are for some reason talking about animals mating and which animals mate. Taylor (9) pipes in some comment which I can't remember exactly what it was.
Brooke: "Do you even know what mating is?" (I glare at her not wanting to get into that with Taylor)
Taylor: "Sure. Mom and Dad mated." (He states this very matter of factly while Paul and I are laughing so hard and trying not to).
Taylor goes on: "Of course they mated. They mate all the time!" (Does he know something we think he doesn't know?)
Taylor: "Mating is just another word for dating." (oh that explains everything)

Jared

I wanted to share a sweet story about Jared. He loves to read The Strength of Youth pamphlet and he will frequently sit down and look at the pictures and thumb through the pages. It's almost like he knows what it says.
Well the other day, he was sitting on the couch and he was looking at the first picture in the book, one of Christ. He would look at the picture in the book and then look up at this picture.
Several times he would look from the picture in the book to the picture on the wall and very thoughtfully compare the two pictures. It was very sweet to watch.

One good thing

One good thing about being sick is having some reading time. I love to read and would rather read than watch a movie. I usually don't have much time to read these days and I'm lucky to get my book club book read. Mostly I read toddler books these days, which is fine.
On Wednesday I read Once Upon A Day by Lisa Tucker. I really enjoyed the book, obviously since I said I read it on Wednesday. The ending was a little weak and it had some language so not one I can use for book club.
On Friday I read for one more day by Mitch Albom. I'd already read Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven and loved them both. I also loved this new one and was really believing it to be true for awhile.
Now I've started one by Jodi Piccoult. When I'm finished I'll let you know how it is.

more sick days

How come, as a mother, you don't really get a sick day? Even when you're really sick life goes on and so must you. I had the worst night Thursday. First I made the mistake of going with the youth in our ward to do baptisms at the temple. I was feeling okay when we left but steadily got worse while we were there. At least it was quiet place to feel awful. From there I went straight to Justin's church basketball game. I have a hard time missing my kids' sports games. His team tried hard but they lost. Then we continued on at the church and watched our ward's priest team play - they were ahead the whole game and then lost it in the last 4 minutes. Heart break for them. By then I was a wreak and should have been home in bed. I was freezing and shivering. When I got home, then the sweats started. I have never sweat so much in my life as I did that night while trying to sleep. When it was time to get up - after the kids got themselves off to school I called the doctor and they could get me in at 8:45. Lucky. And lucky for me I had something treatable - strep throat. So now I'm on antibiotics and should be feeling better soon - so far not too much better. Hopefully by tomorrow.

In-Laws update

Here's an update on the in-laws:
John was transferred to HealthSouth, a transitional care facility last Friday and has done really well there. He's been doing physical therapy and getting his strength back. He called me this morning to tell me he's going home tomorrow and he was so excited he just had to call someone. That was sweet. I've taken Carolyn (his wife) there a couple of times to see him. When we went on Tuesday it was quite the sight. She in her wheelchair, him with his walker and Jared and Kamryn helping them. It really was cute with Jared walking with Grandpa and Kamryn pushing her Grammy. Carolyn has been on her own at home this week but has had plenty of people checking on her and helping out. It hasn't been too bad and once John is at home it will be easier just because we will only have to go to one place to check on them and help them with anything that needs to be done. My main job will be doing their grocery shopping and I think I can handle that.

Sick Day

Yesterday I had a sick day - didn't start out too bad, just a little achey and a bit of a sore throat. By evening I had the chills/fever going on and worse sore throat, very achey and major head ache. I was freezing and couldn't get warm. Luckily during this sick day Jared and Kamryn were very good. They were happy to watch PBS shows and read books and play while I laid on the couch. The big kids took care of themselves once they were home from school. It was a long night of either freezing or boiling but I think I must have gotten the worst of it out of my system. I'm doing a little better today - mostly the sore throat is left and no energy. So it will be another lay around day I'm sure.

What a weekend

I wrote before (I think) about Paul's parents and his dad having open heart surgery. The surgery went well and he was doing okay for a couple of days and then started going down hill Friday. Saturday he was even worse and late at night he was unresponsive and they thought he was maybe having a stroke. They did a CT scan and it didn't show anything. He started coming around but was still not himself. They took him off LorTab and he seemed to do much better. That was not a good drug for him. Now he's on Percaset (sp?) and that seems to be a better match for him. So I was up there Sunday and 3 times on Monday. Paul's been staying at the hospital since Friday (I'd say sleeping there but he really hasn't gotten much sleep). John will probably be there at least 2 more days and then the real hard time starts with taking care of him at home. It's going to be a long couple of weeks.

Sandwich Generation

I'm truly feeling a part of the "sandwich generation" these days. That's where you are raising your young children and at the same time caring for your aging parents. In my case, it's raising the 1 1/2 yr old twins that takes up most of my time and the aging parents are Paul's. His dad had a heart attack at the end of Oct and had 2 stints put in. His mom fell in Dec and broke her femur and had major surgery to repair the leg. She is still recovering and is in a wheelchair at home and cannot put any wait on the broken leg. She goes back to the ortho doc tomorrow to see if she can start putting some wait on it. And then Paul's dad had a quadruple bypass yesterday at LDS Hospital. He is doing pretty good today and they moved him out of ICU. He will be in the hospital another 5 days and then at home recuperating for 3-6 weeks (6 weeks no driving).
I spent a few hours there yesterday and today staying with Carolyn. That's the best assignment for me because I can take Jared and Kamryn there (not a good idea to take them to the hospital for LOTS of reasons). Jared and Kamryn love playing there and it's a great boost for their grammy. They were very good down there today and even watched Teletubbies with her. I've been trying to cook dinner more regularly so that I can take them the extra that I make. My house has gone to pot but that's okay.

Sunday morning

Kamryn.
I really love Sunday mornings now. We just switched to the 11-2 block and it is the greatest.
This Sunday Jared and Kamryn got up a little too early though. They woke up a little after 8:00 but were happy in their beds playing and talking until just before 9:00. We got them up and had breakfasts and baths and were ready for church an hour early. I actually got a little mixed up on the time and when I thought it was 10 minutes to 11 and time to leave it was really 10 minutes to 10. So we had an hour to kill - we took the opportunity to get some pictures and videos of the kids.
This is the best one I got of Jared.
He would never stay still long enough to get a good picture.
Kamryn is quite the poser and loves to have her picture taken.
The other is of Taylor with the twins at Paul's parents house in the evening. Jared and Kamryn love to sit in their Grammy's wheelchair and have Taylor push them around the house.

What a mess

Look at this mess!
Earlier in the morning I had gone in and Kamryn had unloaded just Jared's jammies drawer. I told her no and put everything away (it was actually a good thing because I'd been meaning to clean out that drawer and put away jammies that were too small).
So, later in the day I was going in their room to get a diaper and this is what I found.
There are at least 4 drawers emptied all over the floor.
I couldn't believe it!
I don't know if Jared helped or not but I do know Kamryn started it.

Here's the little culprit. When I am going to clean that mess up? I guess this morning after they wake up they will be staying in their beds while I sort it all out and put everything away.

So, what do you do ...

Yesterday morning Taylor asked me, "So, what do you do all day, anyway?"
I told him a big long list of things and I'm not sure he really believed me. Here's the list
1. Get up at 5:45 to exercise with my friend Cynthia
2. Read in the Book of Mormon
3. Get kids up and off to school
4. Clean up the living room again
5. Whatever it is on the list - pay bills, read emails, dishes, projects, make bed, shower, clean - before Jared and Kamryn wake up.
6. Once Jared and Kamryn are up a lot of my time is devoted to them - feeding, changing diapers, getting them dressed, cleaning up their messes, putting on "Tele guys" (as Kamryn calls them), getting them out of trouble (yesterday it was getting into Brooke's room and her hair spray, body spray and deodorant).
7. When they go down for their naps (which used to be a good 2-3 hours but this week they've only slept for an hour which just kills me) then I hurry to try and get a few more things done from the list.
8. Clean up the living room again.
9. Make dinner
10. When big kids get home busy with them and their homework and driving them to practices, sports, activities, scouts, etc.
11. Have dinner - now this is actually a rarity it seems but one of my goals is to do better about having dinner regularly (more than once a week) with whoever is home at dinnertime.
12. Go to young women's, basketball games, volleyball practice or tournament, meetings, book club, RS, etc depending on the night.
13. Put Jared and Kamryn to bed - which is usually too late, like around 9:00 or 10:00.
14. Clean up the living room - again!
15. Fall into bed exhausted.
One day a week (usually more) throw in doing laundry all day.
Other days there are errands to run.
What do you do all day?

Grocery shopping with twins

So, today I decided to do something crazy and go and do a big shopping with Jared and Kamryn. We went to Macey's for 2 reasons: 1 - they had a lot of good things on sale and 2- they have great carts for twins - the car type with two steering wheels and they sit up high by me.
Amazingly it went pretty well. Of course we bought some club crackers and peanut butter M & Ms that were not on the list to snack on while we shopped. And it took two carts, one of them overflowing by the end. Thank goodness for awesome customer service at Macey's: for the stocker who picked up a couple of frozen items that Jared and Kamryn threw out, for the nice checker who watched my first cart while I filled up the 2nd cart, for the very nice older gentleman who bagged my groceries and did just as I asked and put the frozen stuff in paper bags and put them in the car last so I could get them out first.
So if I paid a little more at Macey's than SuperWalmart it's okay because the customer service and the cart were worth it!

Volleyball World

Welcome to a whole new world. Brooke has been practicing for over 6 weeks with a new volleyball team. They are called Club Union. It is basically a polynesian team with some white girls thrown in. The head coach of the teams is Coach Sam Vaitai. He started this club because he noticed several years ago that the polynesian girls weren't playing on the high school teams. The reason is to play on a high school team you pretty much have to play "Club" volleyball and "club" volleyball can be very expensive. So he does this without pay or compensation and volunteers a lot of time to this club. So, we're benefitting too.
Brooke likes to play volleyball and decided to try it out. Here she is in the left corner in one of her first time's playing in a tournament.
Their first tournament was last weekend and that was an eye opening event. It was Friday from 3:30 to 10:00 pm and Sat from 7:45a to 8:00p. She was there the whole time Friday and Saturday and probably played a total of 10 minutes.
Her team is pretty good but she is definitely not a starter and spent most of the time on the bench. It's frustrating as a parent but she had a good attitude about it.
It was crazy there - a huge warehouse converted into volleyball courts. There were 11 courts there and 48 teams playing in this tournament. It's amazing how many 13-14 year old girls out there that are AWESOME volleyball players. We watched a lot of great play during the tournament.



This is Brooke's team with her coach before one of their games. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes.

New Years resolutions

I struggle with resolutions every year. One year the only one I made was to not make any - I succeeded that year. Last year I decided to keep it simple and made 2 - to make my bed every day (I pretty much succeeded at that with a few days missed here and there) and to exercise. I succeeded at that one (didn't start until the end of Aug but I did start).
So this year I've been thinking about what goals I'd like to work on this year. I think I should challenge myself a little more this year. So here there, for everyone to see (they say a goal not written is only a wish).
1. Post more regularly on my blog - at least once a week but strive for more than that.
2. Get back in the regular scripture reading habit. I started in the Book of Mormon in Sept and was doing really good until Dec and took most of the month off. So I read again this morning and plan to finish before school gets out. I also want to keep up with the reading in the New Testament for Sunday School.
3. Lose 10 pounds before April (when we go on the Disney Cruise). I've got to be diligent and get the rest of the junk out of my house and get back on eDiets.
4.Work on at least one item from my big project list each week.

Okay, that's double from last year. Hopefully I can stick to these goals.
A side note on resolutions, for a great article read Afton Day's article "The New Me Has Been Cancelled" in the January 1981 Ensign. (One thing on my project list is to learn how to put links in the text of my blog).

Markers

Kamryn is really starting to get into everything. These pictures were taken at the cabin after she had fun with a marker. We showed her how she looked in the mirror and she smiled. She's going to be my little trouble maker.

She also got into some of our carpet cleaner and poured over 2 cups in one spot on the living room carpet. Concentrated cleaner does not make for a clean carpet. Now there is a big dirt spot in that area.
Yesterday when I was at Kohl's with Brooke Paul thought that Jared and Kamryn were being awfully good (all mom's know that means trouble). Jared came walking in the front room and something was in his hair and on his hands. Then Kamryn came in covered from head to toe in LOTION. As he was telling me about it on the phone I couldn't help laughing. Too bad he didn't take pictures.

Don't know where to start

I had no idea that it had been over two weeks since I'd last written. It just seemed so overwhelming to write during the holiday craziness. So, now I'll catch up (just think, Paige, now you will have something to read, sorry to disappoint).



Christmas - was okay. Not our best ever. Kamryn started with a bad cold a couple days before Christmas and Jared got sick on Christmas Eve. He seemed fine at Paul's parents but when we got home he just sat on the couch in a daze. I thought it was because I'd given him a little cold medicine when I was giving Kamryn her medicine (he loves medicine and she hates it, and she's the one that has to take it more often). Finally I felt his forehead and he had a fever. So then I rightfully gave him some Motrin and we put them to bed. Our big kids stayed up late so needless to say Paul and I were up late. Got to bed about 1:30 and Taylor came in our room at 4:44. Luckily he went back to sleep until about 7:00. Brooke got up at 7:30 and Justin got up at 8:30. I had told them they had to wait for Jared and Kamryn to wake up before we could do Christmas so we had breakfast first and Paul went to get his parents so they could enjoy the fun.

The morning was okay - Jared and Kamryn fought over each other's toys and the boys didn't seem too excited about the PS2 they got. At least Brooke seemed happy with her volleyball and piano themed Christmas.
We went down to the Adams for the afternoon and to have lunch. Jared and Kamryn were supposed to sleep there but that didn't work out too well. Jared finally napped at my parents in the evening. All in all, it was still a nice day.
The biggest surprise gift was from my parents - they had all of their home movies transferred to DVD and gave them to us. They also spent most of the summer and fall watching all of them to write an index. What a great gift.
We went to the cabin over the weekend - Thur to Sat. We had a great time up there doing the usual - playing in the snow, playing games, eating, watching movies and just relaxing. Jared and Kamryn love playing up there with their cousins. It was nice to have them happy again.
New Years Eve was a little different this year since it was on Sunday. I was fortunate enough to go the youth fireside at the conference center with Brooke and 7 other girls in our ward. We got there early so we would be sure to have good seats and it was worth going early. I really enjoyed the rehearsal that was going on and I knew we were going to be in for a major treat. That is the best fireside I've been to in a long time and Brooke said it was the best ever for her. The music was SO GOOD (and Paige, I saw you and really loved that song). The talks were so good and we plan to watch them again for FHE. It was especially neat hearing from President Hinckley without the time constraints he's usually under. I highly recommend watching this program if you missed it. KBYU is airing it again next Sunday at 6:30 (http://www.kbyutv.org/schedule/?dateselect=2007%3A1%3A7&v=day#)
New Years Day was half kick back and half working. I went shopping to Kohl's in the morning with Brooke. In the afternoon I started the huge mountain of laundry and also started taking down all the Christmas decorations. I didn't really intend to do either yesterday but it just kind of happened. All of Christmas is put away except for the little tree we have downstairs. Can't remember where I stored it. The laundry is probably about half done.
So, there you have it.
Look at my next post for goals next year (one of them about regular posts).

Thanks for ...

Thank goodness for Teletubbies. They are the GREATEST!! Jared and Kamryn have one tubby DVD and they watch it every day. It's a great diversion for them and gives me a few minutes to do something. They've watched it longer today than ever before. Usually they watch it for about 5 minutes and then start playing. Today they've watched most of it. It's fun to watch them watch it. They get so excited about it.

ebay

I've been spending quite a bit of time on ebay.com lately - trying to get something for Justin. This morning there was an ad for a sweepstakes at ebay express - Wish for It Sweepstakes. You create a wish list and then if you win the grand prize you get $5000 to buy what is on your wish list. Man that was fun shopping.

A great party

Last weekend we had our annual group Christmas party. I meant to write it about before now but I just barely got the pictures loaded onto the computer from the camera.
I think we all had a great time and it was so nice to enjoy a wonderful dinner together. I loved visiting with everyone and it was fun to see what gifts everyone received. I am so grateful for such great friends.

Can't sleep

I just hate it when I wake up some time during the night and can't get back to sleep. Tonight is one of those nights. This is the second night this week that this has happened.
After reading everyone else's latest entries, I guess I'll catch up on mine.
Life is so crazy busy sometimes and it has been around here.
On Monday, Carolyn (Paul's mom) fell in the morning and broke her femur on the same leg where she'd had a 2nd hip replacement in Feb. It was a bad break and she was in surgery for several hours on Wed morning. She will be in the hospital for several days and then to a care center for many days and then home with a very long recovery ahead of her. Paul's dad is just recovering from a heart attack and so we are just as worried about him as we are her.
Last Saturday I took Brooke, Jared and Kamryn to the festival of trees. My niece, Kierra, was performing with her dance group. She did a great job as did the rest of the dancers. Jared and Kamryn loved looking at the trees, especially ones with stuffed animals, dolls and toys. I was reminded why we don't go to that event on a Saturday.
I'm so behind this season. I usually have my Christmas card out by now and I'm nowhere near getting it out.
Shopping is going okay. I'm struggling with ideas for all of my children this year. They really don't need anything.
My exercise buddy has been out of town for several days and I'm really noticing the effects of not exercising in over a week. Hopefully we'll get back to it Friday morning.

Holiday Goal

My goal during the holidays this year is to really try to enjoy them and not get too stressed out. To help me with that one of the things I'm going to try to do is wrap presents as I buy them. I went out shopping on the BIG DAY and again a little yesterday. So, this morning I set up my wrapping station (a corner of our crazy office area). I wrapped 9 presents. There's a great way to get in the holiday spirit. I love wrapping presents especially while listening to good Christmas music. It also makes the snow a little more bearable.

A great weekend

I love a laid back holiday weekend. We didn't really try to cram in too much and it was great that way.
Thanksgiving dinner was yummy but I do not recommend having it at 5:30 in the evening. Way too late. There's no down time to recover before having a pie. I don't think we'll ever have it again that late. On the upside of a late dinner it gave us time to have a family football game that I think will be a new tradition.
Friday's morning excursion went very well - got the one item at Toys R Us and it only took about 30 minutes. Then we were off to ShopKo for a few things and only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes there. Then came the big wait at Kohl's. We were there in line for about 90 minutes - taking turns standing in the line while others shopped. Got some great deals and cash back too.
To top it off, went to breakfast at Mimi's - YUM!
And then there was the BIG GAME! Talk about a rollercoaster! Paul, Justin and I watched it at my dad's. He was cheering for BYU and we were all for the U. My dad takes games like that very seriously and it was very stressful for him. We had to do all of our cheering silently so that he didn't kick us out (he said he wouldn't have kicked us out but we probably would have had to go watch on the little kitchen tv). And then Utah goes ahead with only a minute - man were we cheering!!! And my dad says it would be a miracle if BYU could score. Never count out a miracle with BYU involved. We just sat there in shock when it was over. Justin went home sick and depressed. Paul was on a high because that is his favorite kind of game - just plain old good football, nice and close and down to the wire. I was bummed that the Y won but so glad that Utah held their own and didn't get blown out.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. It's Paul's favorite. I love it because he is home and not even working from home.
The 3 big kids and Paul went out at 8 this morning for the ward Turkey Bowl. All had a great time and Brooke even scored the winning touchdown.
I stayed home with Jared and Kamryn and started on my assignments for the big dinner (green bean casserole, banana cream pies, jello salads - plain grape for the little kids, and little english muffin pizzas for lunch time appetizers).
We've already been over to my mom's for a little bit this morning. I went out to buy a couple of papers at 7:30 this morning and both Dan's and 7-11 did not have them yet. So I looked at my mom's and will get my own later.
One of the things my mom started a couple of years ago was having the kids go through the ads and make wish lists after the BIG DINNER. It's great for her and all the parents.
Are you going out tomorrow morning bright and early?

Reconnect

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend away with my sweet husband. It's so good to get away just the two of us and reconnect. We loved sleeping in, walking together holding hands, eating dinner and breakfast together. I love my husband very much and am looking forward to getting away with him again.

Belated Anniversary Trip

Paul and I are leaving tomorrow for a little weekend getaway, of sorts. We're flying to Phoenix early tomorrow like we've done in the past. Only this time we're staying over night there for one night. It's the end of the project (3 level parking garage for the hospital) and we're supposed to be doing a team dinner with the project team and their wives on Thur evening (I say supposed to because it may not happen if they're not ready for the grand opening Fri morning).
Then Friday afternoon we're flying to Vegas for one night. We want to go see the cool hotels and the fountains at Ballagio (sp?) and just hang out together.
Thank goodness for my mom who is willing to watch Jared and Kamryn for 3 days. The big kids said they would help out when they are home.

Jared and Kamryn's best day ever

Yesterday was the best day I've ever had with Jared and Kamryn (well, in days that I can remember). They were so happy for most of the day - no whining, not too much fighting with each other.
They slept until 11:00 am and even at that I went in their room before they were really talking and jumping in their beds. They were happy when they got up and ate a good breakfast. Then they were happy to play downstairs and watch TeleTubbies. They were happy when we went in the van to pick up Taylor and his friends from school on early day. They were happy to go down for a nap and happy when they woke up 2 hours later. They were happy going in the van up to the U to go the Utah vs Wyoming women's volleyball match. They had on their cute Ute outfits and they loved being at the game. Jared was jamming out to the band and Kamryn was waving to everyone. We were there for 3 hours and they were so good. Only a little bit of crying at the end and when they got scared by the Ute mascot coming to talk to them. They didn't even fall asleep on the way home and were really good about getting ready for bed. They gave kisses to everyone and then went to bed.
What a great day. When Jared and Kamryn are happy, we're all happy.

To Do List

Paige asked "what's on your to do list", so here's mine for this week:
1.Ironing - This is my nemesis, although lately I've kept up with it a lot better and haven't had to write it down on THE LIST. But I got behind and it's on THE LIST. I've got 3 more shirts and a pair of pants to go and then I can cross it off.
2. Clean shower - just finished that this morning.
3. School area - in our office area I have some shelves with arts and crafts supplies and a shelf where school papers go to sort out later. I need to sort that shelf. This one has been on THE LIST for several weeks. I just can't make myself do it.
4. Living Room Carpets - I just need to call and schedule to have them cleaned.
5. Windows - we want to replace the downstairs windows. I got several bids last year and then we never did anything with the bids so now I'm back to getting bids updated and trying to schedule someone to come do the job.
6. Call Denise - my cousin. We want to go to lunch and catch up.
7. Taylor's parent/teacher conference - crossed this one off yesterday. He received glowing reports from his teacher and had all Es for behavior. AWESOME!
8. Plant spring bulbs - did that one on Tues when it was such nice weather. Now I can hardly wait for spring to see what comes up.
9. Mop kitchen floors - did that one yesterday.

THE LIST keeps me going and more organized. Some weeks are better than others with finishing THE LIST. What I don't cross off gets carried over to THE LIST for the next week.

Happy Birthday Justin

I really meant to do this on Justin's birthday but I didn't get these pictures of him until the next day. As a tribute to Justin I thought of a list.

14 Things I LOVE about Justin

1. He is a great big brother to Jared and Kamryn.
2. He is an awesome soccer player.
3. He finished his Deacon Duty to God.
4. He has a great smile (even with braces on).
5. He is almost always in a good mood.
6. He always does what I ask him to do.
7. He cleaned the house as a birthday present to me (while he was tending Jared and Kamryn).
8. He is a very good student and is independent about getting his work done.
9. He LOVES the U.
10. He has a great sense of humor.
11. He's comfortable hanging out with his sister and all of her friends.
12. He honors his priesthood, attends church and activities.
13. He likes riding MY bike a lot.
14. He has a good time wrestling with his brother Taylor.

I love you Justin and I am so grateful you are my son.

Tagged

So, I've been tagged by Paige for the name game. This one is why you named your children what you did. We had our reasons at the time I just wonder if I can remember them. Unfortunately we don't have any real good ancestor stories or anything significant like that - just like the names.

Justin Paul Adams - We didn't know what we were having with our first baby. We both made lists of names and tried to narrow them down from there. We both liked Justin a lot. We also liked Benjamin but I didn't like any of the nicknames that go with that name. Paul liked the name Justin because one of his all time favorite bands is the Moody Blues and their main guy is Justin Hayward. I knew all along that I wanted the middle name to be Paul if it was a boy, and it was, so there you have it one the first one.

Brooke Lindsey Adams - Brooke was our number one name from the first time I was pregnant so it wasn't too hard to come up with that. This time around I found out what I was having and started calling her Brooke from then on. Paul wouldn't really agree to it until she was born and he looked at her. My only reservation with the name Brooke came from our neighbors who had a daughter named Brooke and they called her Brookie and I really didn't like that. So what do we do? Call her Brookie. It fit when she was little but not now. Her dad still calls her that sometimes.
Lindsey is a compromise. Paul really wanted the middle name to be Lynn and then she would be Brooke Lynn. I really didn't like that and didn't people calling her Brooklyn Bridge or something to do with Brooklyn, NY. So Lindsey was kind of like Lynn but different and we both liked it. (Since then I've heard of several Brooklyn and the name has grown on me).

Taylor Benjamin Adams - Here again, it's just a name we both agreed on. That is the big point - we BOTH AGREED ON. Paul and I really struggle with naming our children. He never wants to agree on a name until they are born and he can look at them. I disagree. I think they become the name you name them. We were deciding between Taylor and Nathan (I really liked Nate better than Nathan but we would have gone with Nathan to give him options). Justin and Brooke both liked Taylor better and I think that helped us decide. And Benjamin worked great for a middle name.

Jared Truman Adams - I have never struggled so much with naming a child as with Jared. It was so hard. Truman was easy and I really wanted it for the first name but Paul doesn't go for last names being first names so it was perfect for the middle name. I'd sworn after Justin no more J names to keep it more simple with calling for a certain child (that certainly doesn't make a difference since I go through all of them most of the time before getting the right name) but we just kept coming back to Jared. When he was born he just looked like a Jared.

Kamryn Lindy Adams - Kamryn was another easy one. I knew right when I found out I was having another girl that would be her name. I'd loved the name for a long time. Paul of course had to make up a list and see if there were any other options but there weren't. I'd first seen it one of those law shows - an actress on the show's name is Camryn. I loved it with the Y but I thought it should start with a K instead.
Lindy is one of the names Paul was considering for the first name so I suggested it for the middle name. He thought it sounded good. It wasn't until we were home from the hospital that someone pointed out how similar Brooke and Kamryn's middle names are. Oh well.

There you have it. I tag Ashley, Rebecca and Julianne (if you don't blog, just email me or put it in the comments.

Picture update

For those of you who thought I was extremely out of my mind to take Jared and Kamryn on Halloween to get their pictures taken, let me put your mind at ease - I didn't do it. Jared woke up in the worst mood and right then I decided it wasn't going to happen. So now we're going on Friday when my kids are out of school and can go and help me.

Go Utes!

One of the best thing the Utes have going for them this season are their new cheerleaders.
These are Jared and Kamryn's costumes for Halloween. When I saw them at Walmart back in Aug I think, I had to buy them. I justified buying them saying they could be their Halloween costumes. It worked out great. Easy costumes that they were comfortable in.
We took them to Paul's work for trick-o-treat. They got their first piece of candy in their hands and they were happy and that's all they needed. Taylor made sure to get a little more candy for them in their buckets.
I stayed home with Jared and Kamryn most of the night. We did go to two houses - perfect for their age. It was more fun for them to be at home and they would get all excited each time the door bell rang. They loved seeing who was at the door and getting more candy out of our bowl.
Taylor went out with friends and came home around 9:00 and Brooke went out with a big group of girls from the ward and didn't get home until almost 10:00. Her dad couldn't believe she didn't have more candy than she did. He figured out after her stories from the evening that the trick-o-treating is much different for girls than boys. For the girls it's a big social outing with lots of visiting at friend's houses in between the candy collecting.
And poor Justin. He's too old and big to go. But he doesn't really care. He stayed home and played his favorite football video game and ate whatever candy he wanted out of the home bowl.

Happy Halloween

Hope you all enjoy a fun filled day - in other words, I hope we all survive the day. I've set myself up for complete frustration. I am crazily planning on taking Jared and Kamryn to Kiddie Kandids to get their pictures taken in their Halloween costumes. Since that is my plan they of course woke up way too early today (I could hear them mumbling at 7:00 am. It's now 8:30 and they are still in bed but awake) and will probably be very ornery by 10:00 when I want to be at the mall ready. Why do I do this to myself? Why?

Made my Night

Thoughts from Thursday:
**The day started out great with a luncheon with great friends. It was so good to visit with everyone and see the kids having fun playing together.
**I spent two hours at the church with my Beehives for volleyball. We got there early to practice and they asked us if we wanted to play a practice game against one of their wards who's opponent ward didn't show up. So we said sure. Most of the girls didn't hear that we were playing just for fun and were kind of stressed out because we lost both games. When we told them it was just for practice they felt much better. Then the ward we were supposed to play at 5:45 didn't show up so we played another practice game with whatever girls were there. Then we hung around for a 1/2 hour waiting for our 6:30 game. We had fun and got in some good practice. Finally at 6:45 our opponent ward shows up (15 min late), with only 5 girls and a leader. There has been a lot of controversy in our stake this season about leaders playing (long story but basically last year they started out with leaders playing and decided it didn't work out so this year they said no leaders but every week there have been leaders playing). So our girls feel like it's not fair and that the other teams are cheating. I try to keep them positive and say it's just for fun anyway and let's be good sports but they're getting tired of it. I can't blame them. When we were finally done playing we went to Arctic Circle for ice cream. It helped us all feel better.
**The world series is messing up our tv schedule. We were all excited to watch a new Survivor episode and it was a recap night.
**But, what made my night (again due to the world series being on) was that ER was a rerun. Not just any rerun, the season premiere from just a month ago. I'd missed it and was rather bummed about it. So I was so excited it was on. I know, how shallow of me but it made my night.

Winter weather

For most people they may welcome the first snow but for me it is so depressing. I am not a winter lover at all. And this year will probably be worse than most because Jared and Kamryn love to play outside. They are happiest outside playing in their very little sandbox on the patio or going for a walk in their cars. I guess we could still bundle up and do both of those things but I'm really not into being cold.

Birthdays

Birthdays are good things. A guy in our ward said " you only have one birthday, the rest are anniversaries."
I had a good birthday yesterday. For the most part a pretty normal day with a couple of exceptions - went out to lunch with my sisters and parents and then went out to dinner with my family. Applebee's for lunch and Burger King with my family. When you have 2 17 month olds with you it dictates where you go.
Before dinner we went to Brooke and Justin's volleyball game. It was their first game in a co-ed county rec team. It was so much fun to watch their team play. They have a good team and a diversity of players.

Dinner groups

In our ward one of the activities we have quarterly is dinner groups. Everyone who is interested signs up and those that are willing put down if they can host. I figured I could handle hosting this time around. Long story short, I hosted at my mom's house. We had 3 other couples join us and we had a great time. I made vegetable lasagna (I was reminded why I very rarely make lasagna) and had fun setting a pretty table.

Nice note

This great note is what I found this morning on my bathroom mirror when I get back from exercising. It was so nice and it feels so good to have someone call me his.

The Dash

I'd heard this story before but it's told very nicely here www.thedashmovie.com

Update on RS Lesson

My lesson went very well. I was happy with how the discussions went and it was a fun change. To explain why I was teaching RS - a while ago our RS president had to teach on short notice because the teacher for that week had to go out of town very unexpectedly. I asked the pres why she was teaching and she said she didn't dare call anybody on Thur to teach that Sunday. I told her she could call me (I'd rather have short notice than too much notice). So, recently she asked me if I'd be willing to come in and teach sometime and bring in the YW with me and I said sure. The Laurel class occasionally goes in with RS so this would work out fine. Since it was UEA weekend and we had several girls out of town we had all of the YW go in. They seemed to enjoy being in there although one of my Beehives came up to me after the lesson and said "great lesson but boy was that long."

Get Away

We had a short get away over the UEA weekend. After church on Sunday we went up to our cabin at Brighton. My parents joined us overnight and Paul's parents came up for dinner. It was beautiful up there, even though a lot of the trees are already bare. It was nice to spend some good quality time together, especially with our parents. We enjoyed a nice dinner and played some games. Monday morning we woke up to snow. It snowed on and off most of the day. Kamryn and Jared even went out on the deck to have their first real snow experience. It was cute watching them in their little hooded jackets.

Relief Society

I get to teach in Relief Society today. The subject is service. I've thought about it a lot over the last 10 days or so. Hopefully it will go as planned. What is your most memorable act of service that you have received?

Quote

I've been playing around with my blog this morning. They've changed to a BETA format (whatever that means) and it is much more user friendly. Yeah!!
Anyway, check out the quote I added - it's at the bottom. It's from the movie "Akeela and The Bee"

Post Cleanout

Yesterday I helped my 12 year old daughter clean out her room. You wouldn't think it would have been to bad since we've only been back living in this house for a little over a year and before we moved from Phoenix her grandma had helped her clean out her room there.
You would be amazed at how much STUFF was in her room. We started with under the bed first - dolls and all the STUFF that go with them. Old rollerblades, several beach bags, old shoes, easy bake oven, socks, pencils, etc. She also had her American Girl doll (Molly) and all her stuff in their original boxes. We debated about what to do with Molly and ended up deciding to keep her for Kamryn to play with in several years (sorry Paige).
Next we moved to her desk - papers, papers, papers. Almost every drawer is empty now.
Then her dresser. Unbelieveable what was still in those drawers.
Lastly was the closet. I have one very picky daughter when it comes to what she wears. We filled up several kitchen garbage bags with clothes - some with the tags still on. We boxed up two boxes for my sister's daughter and are taking the rest to the D.I.
My daughter was a very good sport about this. She really is not sentimental so she has no problem with purging. I asked her if it felt good to get rid of all that stuff and she said "Yeah." Today she just has to finish - dusting and cleaning. I told her dad that we spent the day in her room and he looked in and said "it doesn't look any different."

UEA

Breaks from school are a great thing. I think I look forward to them more than my kids do :)
I know I would like year round school if all of my kids were in the same school but it wouldn't be as great now that I have kids in middle school and elementary.
We have some big cleanout plans for the long weekend. Brooke's room is full of old toys, dolls and clothes and we've got to go through that. And Taylor's room is a big mess which will take a while to straighten out. We've got regular chores and then we get to put up the basketball standard on Sat and finally try out the new court.
Of course, we'll have to fit in some fun times too.

So MAD

You know what makes me so MAD? I'll tell you.
We have been having some work done in our backyard, specifically a basketball court. Luckily we know someone who used to be in our ward that does awesome concrete work. He did our side driveway last year and now he's had a free week so he could do this court for us. He was supposed to pour the concrete last Thur and Fri but the weather didn't cooperate so he postponed to Mon and Tues of this week. (It's been very stressful watching the weather and having them say chance of rain, the worst thing for pouring concrete). Well, the weather ended up cooperating and they poured half the court on Monday. It's amazing to watch these guys work. It's like a work of art getting that concrete smooth and level. Our yard backs onto a park area and I've been worried about kids getting in the yard with the wet cement pad out there. We put the yellow caution tape up across the fence opening and hoped that would deter most people.
Well, yesterday we had an incident. They poured concrete in the morning and were pretty finished with the job by about 2:30. I was heading out there to kind of guard the area while kids were walking home from school. I got out there too late. Some kids had a thrown a long handled piece of reber on the just finished side. There was a big scrape where it landed and some divots. I was so mad. All that beautiful work defaced by some stupid kids. What are they thinking? They are lucky I didn't see them or they would be in jail today (or worse). I was so MAD!!
Thank goodness I saw it right after it happened and was able to call our friend and he came right back and fixed it. Any later and he wouldn't have been able to fix it.
Why do kids do stupid things like that?

A walk

Our family frequently goes for a walk on Sunday evenings. We all enjoy this and it's a great activity that our whole family can participate in. One of the things I like the most about it is that Justin, my 14 year old son, is the one who usually asks when we're going to go on our walk.
Tonight was great - sunny, beautiful fall evening with a slight chill in the air. We usually see a few friends on the way around the neighborhood. Jared and Kamryn love it as well. We'll all be sad to see our walks come to an end for a season.

Nightmares

I can't remember the last real nightmare I had (I know it had something to do with Paul leaving me in some way, that's how most of my nightmares go).
Well, Friday morning at 5:00 am we thought Jared was having a terrible nightmare. He is almost 17 months old and too young to be soooo scared. Paul went in and got him and he was sitting up in his crib screaming/yelling/growling combination at something. Paul brought him in our room while I got Kamryn who woke up from all that noise (luckily Paul got her back to bed pretty quickly). Jared went on with his terror for about a half hour. It was very scary and I felt so bad for him. He did have a pretty high fever so I'm sure that had something to do with it. It almost felt like an evil spirit was trying to possess him. Even though Paul or I were holding him he was staring at something and trying to scare it away. My friend later suggested that maybe he was hallucinating due to the fever. That seemed to fit. Boy, did I feel bad for my little boy.

A little bragging

It's my blog so I guess it's okay to do a little bragging about my two middle school children. We had student led conferences on Wed. This is something kind of new to the middle school. They started it last spring and have continued this year. Each of my kids had compiled a portfolio of their work, grades and evaluations from each class. Then at the conf. they shared their portfolio with me. I am very lucky and my first 2 children are very good students. They are responsible and conscientious about their school work. They are both almost straight A students (each one has one class keeping them from straight A status.) I am very proud of both of them!

Best and Worst

So, this evening I asked Justin what is the best thing in your life right now? After a little discussion about why I was asking him that and what did I mean, he answered the best thing in his life right now is when he doesn't have any homework (that is very rare this year) and the babies.
The worst thing in his life right now is school.
Then he asked me the same questions. My answer for best is my family and for worst is doing laundry. Laundry day really gets me into a bad mood.
What are the best and worst things in your life right now?

A good haircut

Don't you just love it when you get a good hair cut? I went to my favorite stylist today and told her what I needed - something fresh. Of course, I'm not brave enough to really do something new although I'd really like to do it sometime. I went back to one of my old standards, kind of a long bob with layers. She blew it dry, straight and curled under. My hair looked so nice when she was done. Now if it could just like nice every day but it won't because 1 - don't have time to do it (or the patience) 2 - don't know how, I'm just not coordinated enough to use a blowdryer and round brush at the same time.
Of course I loved my haircut but you should hear the comments from my family
"You look weird" - 9 yr old son
"I liked it better before" - 12 yr old daughter
"what did you do to your hair?" - husband
It used to bother me, these comments, but now I just figure I feel better about myself and who cares what they think.

Catching up

I'm not really back in the habit of posting regularly. I'll try to add that to my goals.
I'm into a To Do List lately. For the last 3 weeks I've written out a list on Sunday of things I want to do the coming week. It has been a great thing and I've gotten a lot done. I am getting a little obsessed about it though. Last week I didn't do fun stuff because I wanted to finish this list. So this week I've put fun stuff on my list. It feels so good to cross things off that list. I've got a bit of cleaning on there, clutter clearing, paperwork, and fun on there this week.
I was dreading the kids going back to school but it's actually been kind of nice. My days are actually a little less complicated. I seem to get more done while my helpers are away.
I took my boys clothes shopping yesterday. We went to Mervyns and I spent a fortune for 2 boys. Hopefully that will do them for a while.
I had a great day with the babies. I guess I can't call them babies anymore. THE TODDLERS! It is so much fun to watch them walking down the hall together. They love to explore and they love to get into EVERYTHING! Nothing is safe anymore. It's new enough that it's still cute all that they are doing but that is going to end soon, I'm sure.
We went to story time at the library. They liked it but it was quite a challenge for me. It's hard to keep track of two little walkers - esp when they are going different directions. Jared kept walking up to the front and taking the flannel board story down. And it was difficult to get to him fast enough since I had Kamryn on my lap or was going a different direction. Next time I'll have to break out their new back packs (leashes really).
The bad thing about my kids being back in school is the HOMEWORK! My 8th grader has really been slammed this year. My 7th grader is doing okay but it took her almost a month to turn in her disclosure for gym ( how hard is that?) . I finally had to threated her with cleaning out the basement window wells if she didn't turn it in. It worked -she did it. I guess I know what to threaten her with now.
And my 3rd grader - life is way too hard for him now. I don't know if WE'RE going to make it through 3rd grade.
Well, there's a bit of what's been going on lately.

20 years

Saturday night I went to my 20 year high school reunion. This was the first reunion I've been to. Our five year was on the day I got married and I was living in Tucson for the 10 year. So I was really looking forward to going this time. At $75 a person I didn't even invite Paul to come. I didn't go to his and he didn't really want to come to mine (although he would have if I wanted him to).
I had a good time visiting with lots of people there. At first it was a little embarassing to not remember people's names and have to look at their nametag but then realized everyone was doing that. It was fun to see how people had changed, esp the guys, or had not changed, a lot of the girls.
It was disappointing to not have any type of program or welcome from the committee. The DJ was terrible, in my opinion - he played yucky music of today and way too loud.
I enjoyed visiting with people but it sure would have been nice to have really talked with some people and talk about what we've really done in the last 10 years. Mostly it was - where do you live and how many kids do you have?
I look forward to the 30 year reunion and hope more people come.
PS For phots of the event, go to Paige's blog

Photos

I put that first photo on and then haven't done any since. I finally went through my photos on my camera from camping and our trip back east so I'll add one from each event. I wanted to take a good family photo on our big trip and this was the only photo we got - in front of the DC temple. I had planned to use it for our Christmas card picture this year but Justin and Brooke said no way.

A Great Day

Yesterday I flew to Phoenix with Paul for the day. Since he flew so much over the last year he earned a companion pass on Southwest. So, I can fly with him anytime during the next year for FREE!!!! How awesome is that?
I had a whole day to myself to do whatever I wanted ! I loved it !!
I went to Kohl's and Mervyns to try and find something to wear to my 20 yr high school reunion. I enjoyed just leisurely wondering around both stores without children or worrying about getting back to a sitter.
I visited with several friends, went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory, visited my kids' teachers from there and went to dinner with our bishop and his wife. (we left 15 minutes later than we planned to go to the airport and just squeaked on the plane before they closed the doors).
I can't wait to do it again and see more friends the next time I go - in October.

Funerals

I went to the funeral today of my great uncle "Dick." I saw him a lot at my grandparents while growing up. If you didn't go right up to him the second you came in the door and say "Hi, Uncle Dick" then you were in big trouble with him and he'd let you know it. So, I went mostly because I wanted to and a little because I'm afraid if I didn't go that when I got to Heaven (hopefully Heaven) he would be all mad and I'd hear about it.
Anyway, I think funerals are so interesting (when it's someone who is old and it's their time to go). I learned so much about my Uncle Dick today and it was great. I learned that he didn't go by his real name and my uncle once teased him about his real name and Uncle Dick got mad and twisted his arm and the two families involved didn't see each other for a long time. My Uncle Dick dated my grandmother before his brother (my grandfather) did. I also learned that he was a great record keeper and made scrapbooks for his grandchildren. What a neat gift to them.

A Good Cry

I stayed up late Sunday night finishing a good book. It was the first book I'd read in a long time. It was "My Not So Fairy Tale Life" by Julie Wright. It's an LDS book (if that bothers you than never mind reading it). I really enjoyed it and bawled my eyes out. It taught some very good gospel principles and I think all young women should read it. Now I can start my book club book "The Princess Academy."

Teaching YW

We haven't been to our ward in a month - what with 2 baby blessings and then 2 Sundays on our trip back East. We are all excited to be back to our home ward. So, I get to teach the Beehive class for the rest of the month. Tomorrow's lesson is entitled "Personal Purity through Self-Discipline." The title sounds very overwhelming but it is actually a very good lesson, I think, and one that I really could work on. Hopefully the Beehives will find it interesting. Wish me luck.