snow, visits, and Las Vegas

Saturday Tevan and I ventured south for a haircut. My sister in law cuts hair and I needed a new look. I cannot do anything about the way my body looks right now, so the next best thing is a drastic change to my hair. I had it all one length and now it has several layers and thinned dramatically! I like the way it turned out and I really like that I can still wear it curly or I can straighten it. It is barely long enough to pull it up, but that's okay. My mom and I both got cuts. My dad watched the boys at my brother's house and they had fun. My nephew, Jaxon, was there and he was adorable. He is so fun! Daeson actually spent the night Friday night, so he was already down there. He went rollerskating for the first time with my niece, Brooke, my bro and sis in law. He didn't like it much he said and got bored really fast. Maybe next time...practice makes perfect!

We get a lot of snow where I am from. A lot. It snowed and blew Sunday. The power went out on Sunday morning about 5:30 am. The stake president wanted us to hold church still, but after the 9:00 meeting, it was freezing in the building. The Bishop called church off. We have church at 11 and the power came back on at 11:30. I was secretly praying in my heart that it would be cancelled, but kinda sad it was. My kids and I were actually ready at 10:50 and walking to the church when we got the cancellation call. We were ready for church on time. This NEVER happens! However, I was able to get the house cleaned up and ready for my parents to visit.

They got here Sunday night and we had stir-fry and dessert crepes. Delicious! I love crepes and I know that my dad loves crepes! Daeson was out of school Monday for Pres. Day, so we got to see my parents without interruption. My mom and I shopped and Troy and my dad took the boys. I found a cute baby girl outfit at JCPenney on clearance and I was soooo tempted to buy everything I saw. They have their baby girl Easter dresses out right now and they are gorgeous! I wanted to buy one of every size and style! But, I resisted! My mom purchased a couple of things for the baby also. I am getting excited and as it gets closer to her arrival, I pray the ultra sound tech was right! I am keeping my boy things for now...just in case!

My mom and dad left Tuesday morning and we were all sad to see them go. We don't get to visit them much, so when they come we love to hoard them. My dad has an I PAD and quickly became my boys hero when he downloaded Angry Birds. The kids thought that was pretty darn neat. They play on our phones, but the I PAD is sooo much bigger.

Friday we are flying to Vegas for a much needed vacay. We are excited. My sister and brother in law are watching the kids and we cannot wait until Friday night. It should be a ton of fun. Troy needs a break from work and we have some friends keeping an eye on things here. So...nothing to worry about. We are meeting my mom and dad down there. We will come home Monday afternoon. It should be about 60-70* there and for that I am so excited. I am tempted to take my flip-flops! We are still trying to figure out where to stay Sunday night, my parents will be on their way back home by then. We don't really know many of the casinos and hotels as far as where to stay because we usually stay in my parent's condo. We have stayed in the Luxor and Mandalay Bay, but we are not too familiar with the others. We have been in all the casinos for the most part and really wanted to stay at MGM or somewhere like that, but I am too cheap to fork out the money for an expensive hotel. It should be a ton of fun wherever we stay. I will be glad to get out and do some walking! Now I get to concentrate on getting everyone ready. Laundry, house work, and fridge-cleaning are more fun to do when I have a purpose! I will be whistling while I work today and tomorrow! Bon Voyage!

Childhood memories

Over the years I have received, acquired, been handed-down, purchased and inherited many things. I have sold, given away, ebayed, craigslisted, freecycled, and D.I.ed many things. Most of the things I have not regretted getting rid of to make room for our growing family and the kids' toys. However, when I was four or five I was given a pink and white cupboard. This cupboard was given to my mother by, I believe, her grandfather. She refinished it for me twenty something years ago and I got it for Christmas one year. I loved this cupboard. I played with this cupboard, if I remember correctly, daily. When we moved to Malad, it got stuck out in the shed and for the most part it got ruined. I had it here at my home for a while then it went back to my parents where we discovered it had molded and was no longer a safe toy. Now that my baby girl is coming soon, my heart aches for that cupboard. I have a few pictures of it when I first received it, but none since then. I would love to recreate this cupboard identical to the way it was. I wish so badly I could pass on this heirloom cupboard made by my daughter's great-great grandfather.

Doctor visit update

I have had various text messages inquire of the dreaded Dr visit yesterday. I didn't hear back from them, and they say no news is good news. I am weighing in exactly where I thought I would after a weekend of late night eating and unhealthy snacks. That puts me at 8 lbs total gained. I got to the office and they immediately took my blood for the glucose test. Then I went back to the waiting room. A few minutes later I went in to the visit room and got ready for the bacterial test or whatever they check for. I was in there for about 45 minutes, but he had just delivered a baby and was running about six patients behind. I am okay with this due tot he fact that doctors can't always help running behind. I played several games of spider solitaire on my phone while waiting and sent numerous texts to Troy. When the dr came in, he said, "Looks like you are coming up on your sixth month and before you know it, it will be here." I didn't realize that I was that close to six months! Hurray! He said she is measuring perfectly and that I have a great blood pressure. He said everything looked great and that I have nothing to worry about. So, I got back in March putting me at 27 weeks, then in April putting me at 31 weeks. I am almost there! I cannot wait until this winter gets a bit warmer and I get a bit more motivated to get ready for her. It is just so cold that I really just want to sit by the heater and relax. But, he is right...she will be here before I know it!

a breath of fresh air

Today it reached a whopping 54* in my fair city! I am so glad it warmed up! Tevan had preschool today, his Valentine's Day party and he had a blast. While he was gone, Daeson and I put vinyl decals on our baby girl's walls. Unfortunately, they are not sticking very well. Troy got home just in time to get Tevan while I made lunch...open face sandwiches with mashed potatoes, peas and pears. The kids ate really well and Troy did too :)! I love a meal that I can make everyone happy! Then I made tomorrow's dinner: shepherd's pie. We took Daeson to school, picked up Troy's work truck from the shop, got Tevan a bed frame for his bed...finally and then I vacuumed and wiped down our car. Oh this felt so good to be able to do!! I got out Tevan's Diego bike and let him cruise the drive way. When Troy got back from picking Daeson up, I vacuumed his car too. I must admit I did his car half-heartedly since I am not the one who drives it and it is not very clean anyway. Sorry, Troy! The boys and I headed to the church parking lot for a nice snowless bike/scooter ride. The kids had a blast and by the time we came in, it was chilly. I loved the sunshine today. I think it was so good for the boys and I to get out of the house. Everything was melting, the snow was turning into water, and the sun was shining bright. I even secretly hoped I would have gotten sunburned. We had some friends stop by the parking lot to play, too. It was a lot of fun to have some mom time while we watched the cute rug-rats play. I made a fantastic dinner of left-over french toast and bacon and orange juice. The kids bathed eagerly and we had a lazy night. They finally got to sleep and I gave myself a mani-pedi. I must admit it is not as relaxing as going to the spa, but it will do just fine. My feet are starting to swell. I was happy to get the six-month old nail polish off my toes!

I am grateful for sunshine. We are supposed to get snow or rain tomorrow. But, hey, we will take the sun while we can get it! Some days you just need a breath of fresh air to get you through the upcoming months!

Happy Valentine's Day! 2011

Well it is that time of year again when love fills the air. This morning the boys and I met Troy for breakfast where he surprised the boys with chocolates and me with flowers. They were very excited and I was very relieved because I had forgotten to get them something due to the cabin rush. We enjoyed our breakfast and Troy had to rush off to work.

I am volunteering in Daeson's class today for their Valentine's Day celebration. It should be fun. He mad all of his Valentine's Day cards with stamps, heart-cutouts, markers and crayons. They turned out well, but I did not have very many patients working with him. I turned the responsibility over to Troy towards the end. Tevan gets to hang out with Dad while Daeson and I are gone.

I have a doctor's apt today...the strep test and the blood-glucose test. I am not thrilled. I am sure my sugars are high due to the lack of responsible eating habits this weekend. AND...I am only four pounds away from where I was when I delivered Daeson! Yup...there goes my 15 pound goal. I guess as long as she is healthy. I am trying to get back on that treadmill, if only I can find 30 minutes to walk!

I hope that everyone has a great Valentine's Day. Love is in the air! For those of you who have no significant other, I am thinking of you and sending my love!

Running around wild

Well, this morning I got up, ready, fed the kids, got Tevan to school, dropped off a couple of things to a friend, got the oil changed, filled the car with gas, picked up a couple of forgotten items at the grocery store, did two batches of laundry, got Daeson ready for school, packed while Troy picked up Tevan, folded some laundry, ran to JoAnns for some snaps for an unfinished project, cheated and went to the deli for lunch and took Daeson to school. Daeson and I enjoyed some delicious sushi for lunch...he even had an orange roll. If you are not sure what an orange roll is, it has some crab, cucumber and I think avacado and cream cheese in it then rolled in fish eggs. Yup. Fish eggs. He loved it and even continued eating it after I told him what was in it! Tevan stuck to mac and cheese :).

I just loaded the car for our fun cabin trip and it is stuffed to the brim. I just realized the suitcases are waiting for the laundry in the dryer and they are not in the car. Hmm. If I ask Troy, he will tell me to leave my sewing projects home. This is not going to happen. I would rather leave the carb-filled junk food home than my sewing machine and projects. Where to put the suitcases?? It is a good thing this baby girl still fits in my tummy...we would have to leave some major gear home to fit her in the car. :) I hate packing and unloading for trips, but I try to take everything that I can think of...it never fails. The one thing you forget is the one thing we end up needing. It should be a super fun weekend.

There are a few necessary things we have to do while up to the cabin: Daeson has to prepare and make 24 Valentine cards for school Monday. This I have packed stamps, paper, scraps, glue and heart hole punchers. He might protest that the paper is PINK, but it is Valentine's Day and pink is a must. I do think that having a girl gets me into the pink mood, too! Also, we are in charge of a couple meals. I have breakfast one morning. We are having french toast, hashbrowns, bacon and sausage. The other meal we are splitting and it is hawaiian haystacks. Delicious. I am in charge of the chicken gravy, rice and cake. The cake is a Valentine's Day/ brithday cake. It is my other mother's birthday on Saturday and it should be a fun celebration.

So, without further delay, I must get the rest of the packing done and loaded into the already cramped car. Sigh...just to unload it all in a couple of hours!

Tax time, again

Yuck. The piles and piles of receipts and papers have been staring me in the face for sooo long now. I hate preparing tax information (luckily we take all the prepared stuff to the tax man so I don't have to do that part). I have filing cabinets and binders full of junk that needs gone through. Why is it again that we pay taxes? All of our states are going broke...education has gone to the pot...I pay out the wazoo for medical care and I drive everyday on pot-hole filled roads. Tell me again why I go to the grocery store and pay taxes on all of the food that is already priced too high, and why I pay taxes on my money, get to write off a PORTION of my expenses, I pay our employees and they pay taxes on their income that I have already paid some kind of tax on. I pay taxes on clothes, food, houses, land, cars....I am tired of taxes. I am just glad Troy is not a CPA and that I get to spend some time with him! I am sorry to all of those who do have CPA's for husbands...I am sure you cannot wait until April!

So, it is early. I have been doing tax stuff since 6:45 this morning. I was a bit under the weather yesterday and didn't do much of anything. Tomorrow I have a friend coming to learn a bit about cake decorating and I have a ton to do before we get to that point. Today is also the day that I start PFA (parent-faculty-association) work in the class room. I am so excited about it. I will be there all afternoon! Finally, I get to do a little bit with Daes at school!

So, I better get busy preparing taxes so I can have them turned in before our Grover cabin retreat. I also have loads of laundry and bathrooms to clean, floors to mop and vacuum. Dishes to unload and reload...breakfast to cook and ironing to do. I have cakes to bake and projects to prepare for the cabin. I have a desk to clean and bills to pay...do I need to go on? I get to have all of this done by Thursday afternoon! Anyone wanna take bets on if I get it done or not???

new week

Yesterday we had fast and testimony meeting. I have been very uncomfortable in fast and testimony meeting since last July due to some things that happened at Girl's camp. My testimony has been very dim since then and I had no intention of bearing my testimony yesterday. There was five minutes left to the meeting and Daeson leaned over and started asking questions about his testimony. He asked if he could bare his testimony and if I would help him. I told him that I could not tell him what his testimony was and that it was something that he had to do for himself but he was welcome to bare it. Then he asked something that crushed me: Mom, do you have a testimony? Why don't you go share it? So, completely unprepared I made my way to the front of the chapel. I had not given a lot of thought to my testimony lately and I had some bitter feelings in my heart due to some things happening in our home. I decided, because my five yr old was watching me very closely, that I would keep it very basic and simple to set an example. I told him that I did believe in my Savior and I know that the scriptures are true. I shared with him that I am grateful for the gospel in my life. I found myself saying some other things that right now I cannot recall, but I also found myself really wondering what my testimony included. Because it has dimmed over the last few months, I wasn't sure what I believed. I have always had a strong testimony and I have never been afraid to share it. I could not understand the feelings I was feeling. They were not feelings of doubt...I do not doubt the gospel or the teachings within. I do however doubt my dedication to the gospel at certain times in my life. I grew up knowing the gospel was true. My parents did not force me to attend and they never were strict about it but they always went and set the example. My mom held FHE and I would often find my dad reading his scriptures. No matter what mistakes I made in my teenage yrs, I always came back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I always have known it was true. So what are these unrecognizable feelings we have sometimes? Are they feelings of inadequacy? Are they feelings of being completely overwhelmed? Are they feelings that we have because we are supposed to be perfect and be examples to all those around us? And if we have such feelings, what do they mean? How do we overcome them? I am positive that each member of the church has had feelings such as these. I am sure at some point we all step back and analyze our lives and try to understand what we are supposed to be doing and how we are supposed to do everything we have been handed as saints. It is a huge responsibility to be a member of the church. It can be overwhelming. Meeting after meeting, being away from our families, fighting with children in Sacrament meeting and constantly shushing them...the stares of the older couples in the ward who claim their children were never like that. Sitting week after week, alone, having multiple callings because there are those members who actually say no because they have" done their part". Or those who are never asked for whatever reason. Do we have such feelings because we doubt the gospel? No, we have these feelings because we are human. Because we constantly doubt ourselves and our own abilities. The gospel of Jesus Christ has not changed. The priesthood in which so many hold should be honored and kept sacred. That is why we sit week after week alone in Sacrament meeting, fighting and shushing our children. That is why we are overwhelmed with callings and meetings...because we know the gospel is the only solid thing that we have in life. There are several who call themselves Latter-Day Saints who fall short, who even set a bad example for the church, but the gospel is solid. I guess that is what my testimony boils down to: I do believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Simple. I do all the extra stuff because I want to do what is right. I want to set an example, like my parents did for me, for my children. I want my kids to know that I have a testimony. I don't ever want Daeson to ask my again if I have a testimony. I should be happy to share it and I should let it burn bright. I should not let the doubts and fears get in the way of being a good latter day saint, no matter how inadequate I feel. I am so far from perfect and I have so many short comings that I cannot even list them all. But all I can do is try to be a better person...to start a new week every week and pray that I can be a better person, mother, wife, friend, and member of the church. Being a member of the greatest church in the world is not easy. It is time consuming and very task oriented...but it can bring such happiness and joy.

So for every week, I am going to set a new goal to bring me closer to a brighter testimony. This weeks goal: read my scriptures every day.

I know by taking tiny steps such as prayer, scripture study and attendance testimonies burn brighter and we take the baby steps to understanding the gospel. Line uppn line, precept on precept. Right?