For Thanksgiving we went to Visalia. Everyone was there except Casey. Wednesday my mom and I took Danny and Rachel shopping at the outlets. They were using their signing bonus for mom school. Thursday we ate and went to see the new Hunger Games movie. And the dads took the kids to the Penguins of Madagascar movie. Friday we went to the coast. We tried to go to Hearst Castle but all the tickets were sold out by the time we got there. So we played at a park and walked on a pier and went out to eat. Saturday we went to the Fresno zoo. We had a great time there.
The second week of December the Deans asked if they could stay at our house on their way to Disneyland. And then they asked if we'd come with them. They were going to Disneyland for one day and Knotts Berry Farm for the other. Bob hardly has any time off left and we had already gone to disneyland this year and it's so expensive. So Bob just took one day off and we met them at Knotts for a day. Everyone had a great time. The Deans stayed here on their way down and back. And we got to do Christmas trains with them.
I started Mom School with the kids. I've been wanting to do it for a while. I started at the beginning of the year but they fought me on it enough that I stopped. But then in General Conference there was a talk about a mom who made her kids read books because the successful people she worked for had lots of books in their home and her son went on to become a pediatric neurosurgeon. So that made me want to do it again and I came up with a signing bonus. They each had to write me a persuasive essay about what they wanted money for and then depending how good it was they could have up to $100 for it. But if they took that money it meant they were committed to doing what I told them for mom school. They all did it. Rachel wanted clothes, Danny wanted basketball shoes and Aaron got an amazon gift card. For school, they have to read at least a book a month and write one page about it. And I give them an assignment every week or so on their day of the week. I did some church lessons with them and I've had Rachel read a book about colored pencil animal drawings and draw them. Aaron is doing some mapping lessons with Bob. Danny is learning photoshop. I don't really have a grand plan right now for what I want them to learn, but I just don't want them to be so lazy after school. With the Deans gone, we haven't been able to find good replacements for the kids to play with so they've been watching lots of netflix.
It's Christmas break. I'm so glad. December is busy. My mom and Dad and dustin and Sheila are coming Tuesday night. And then Kristal comes after Christmas. They'll be here until Sunday.
I got a new computer. I only had my old one for a year and half, but it had problems the whole time. So Bob got me a new one and a new huge monitor. It's so much nicer to move all my stuff to a new computer while the old one is still working instead of trying to recover everything after it crashes. We're going to get the old one fixed and make it a kid computer.
We've had an issue with Danny and girls again. I had been checking his texts like I always do but he wasn't texting very much so I thought things were going fine. We had had a talk a while ago about deleting texts and I trusted him that he wasn't. I guess I shouldn't have but he had been doing well at it for months so I got lazy. I was checking my bill online and happened to notice he had 1600 texts this month but I'd only seen maybe 100. So I confronted him about it and he lost his phone for a month. I asked him about who all the texts were to and he said they were from this girl who really likes him. I knew a little about her because she'd been telling Rachel's friends to talk to him for her and she'd been talking to Aaron to try to get to Danny. Then this week, 2 weeks into the punishment, I turned on his phone mostly to see if that girl was still texting him. When I turned it on the texts were flashing and going crazy for about 5 minutes while it was miraculously loading all those deleted texts. He's deleted texts before. They never come back. I think there was some divine intervention here because there's no other reason those texts should have loaded. I was able to read them and see that Danny isn't doing well with peer pressure. He and his friends had some very inappropriate jokes and comments going on. Bob and I went to the temple yesterday and we have a plan to help him be ready for peer pressure better and work on hanging out with better friends.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
November 9, 2014
Seth stepped on a rusty nail this week. He and Ruby were playing on the side of the house with the air conditioners. They never play there, so we've never worried about some old bike ramps Danny made once and stored there. It got red and swollen. He's on some strong antibiotics.
The kids have a 5 day weekend. I forgot how messy the house gets when they're all home!
The kids had parent teacher conferences last week. All had great things to say. There were no complaints with Rachel, she's a delight and works hard. Aaron's teacher is impressed with him and asks him to explain things to other kids sometimes. Her only complaint was that he talks a lot! Somehow he still gets his work done while talking, but the kids around him aren't as good at that. Danny is doing well too. He is smart but doesn't always try as hard as he can and his teachers only complaint was his horrible hand writing.
The kids have a 5 day weekend. I forgot how messy the house gets when they're all home!
The kids had parent teacher conferences last week. All had great things to say. There were no complaints with Rachel, she's a delight and works hard. Aaron's teacher is impressed with him and asks him to explain things to other kids sometimes. Her only complaint was that he talks a lot! Somehow he still gets his work done while talking, but the kids around him aren't as good at that. Danny is doing well too. He is smart but doesn't always try as hard as he can and his teachers only complaint was his horrible hand writing.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
November 2, 2014
We had a fun Halloween week. Danny was a gorilla, Rachel was a black cat, Aaron was a werewolf, Seth was a knight, and Ruby was tinkerbell. We had trunk r treat on Wednesday and then our potluck with friends and trick or treating together Friday night. My mom got here during the Trunk or treat wednesday night. The kids were out of school on Thursday and Friday. Thursday we went to flip n out with some friends to celebrate Aaron's birthday. Friday my mom and I went to check out the new mall in summerlin. Saturday Seth got the stomach bug that had been passing around the ward all week. So we got chinese and brought it home and Danny and Rachel watched the first Hunger Games movie with us at night.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
October 26, 2014
Danny accidentally got another girlfriend. We've had good talks after the last one and since then and I think he really understood how and why that wasn't right. But I was checking his email a few weeks ago and one said "I broke up with her" and the thing that set me off was that he was emailing the girl I knew was his girlfriend last year. So we talked about it. He was defensive, but once he understood I just wanted to know what he was thinking he answered my questions. A girl liked him for a while. He admitted to his friend that he kind of liked her too, but he wasn't going to do anything about it because he knew what happened last time. But his friend told the girl and somehow, Danny doesn't really know, they were then boyfriend and girlfriend. So he had to tell the girl he didn't like her like that. But it was just so funny how he was totally confused about what happened.
Our Family Home Evenings have been going better. I've been putting more of an effort into them and praying about what I should teach. That makes such a big difference rather than just picking what I want to teach.
Our Family Home Evenings have been going better. I've been putting more of an effort into them and praying about what I should teach. That makes such a big difference rather than just picking what I want to teach.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
October 21, 2014
Life is so busy. I keep trying to figure out what to cut, but I can't find much. There are just too many people in this house with activities they like and messes to clean up and food to buy and make.
Bob took the boys camping at Goblin Valley last weekend. They had a great time. The girls stayed with me and we went to the fall festival on Friday night. It was fun and so much easier with only 2 kids. Rachel stayed home from camping to go to Stake Activity Days Camp on Saturday. They do an amazing job with it. Rachel had a good time.
Rachel and I went to see Wicked. We had a great time. She really liked it and it was nice to spend some time with just her. We went on Thursday night and we didn't get home until 11. So she skipped her first 2 periods on Friday and slept in.
Sunday was Aaron's 9th birthday. We got Krispy Kreme's the night before and he opened his presents in the morning. Then we had white sauce and noodles and his funfetti birthday cake and ice cream after church.
My mom and maybe my dad are coming for Halloween weekend. That will be fun.
Bob took the boys camping at Goblin Valley last weekend. They had a great time. The girls stayed with me and we went to the fall festival on Friday night. It was fun and so much easier with only 2 kids. Rachel stayed home from camping to go to Stake Activity Days Camp on Saturday. They do an amazing job with it. Rachel had a good time.
Rachel and I went to see Wicked. We had a great time. She really liked it and it was nice to spend some time with just her. We went on Thursday night and we didn't get home until 11. So she skipped her first 2 periods on Friday and slept in.
Sunday was Aaron's 9th birthday. We got Krispy Kreme's the night before and he opened his presents in the morning. Then we had white sauce and noodles and his funfetti birthday cake and ice cream after church.
My mom and maybe my dad are coming for Halloween weekend. That will be fun.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
September 28, 2014
The kids had a half day on Thursday and no school Friday so we decided it would be the perfect time to go camping. It was still pretty hot so we couldn't go to our usual Valley of Fire camp spot (plus that place isn't so magical for us since Seth fell off the mountain). So we went to Mt. Charleston. That was the first time we camped there overnight. We had a great time. We enjoyed the fire quite a bit since it was colder there. We made tinfoil dinners and s'mores in a cone, as well as the usual roasted marshmallows and starburst.
It was windy but we didn't really notice how windy until we went to bed. In our family prayer Danny asked that the wind would stop. I knew that prayer probably wouldn't be answered the way we wanted it. So I suggested in everyone's personal prayers that we ask that people will sleep soundly. That prayer was definitely answered because it felt like we were sleeping in a walmart bag with a fan on it! The wind was insane. Bob and I were up most of the night. But the kids all slept perfectly! Aaron and Seth woke up once but went right back to sleep. Ruby, who hasn't slept through the night in 2 weeks since her surgery, begged to go to bed and fell asleep first and was the last to wake up.
Ruby is doing so much better. It was right about 2 weeks. She's eating so much better and she's so fun and happy. I hadn't realized how much I missed that. She's such a fun little girl. She had her follow up visit and the dr said she was healing well. He gave us the report on her tonsils. They were both about 3 x 2 x 1 cm.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
September 21. 2014
Middle School basketball didn't work out. In the end neither school was willing to work with me even though they say they are supposed to. Bummer. But maybe it'll be better for Danny to be one of the really good players on his Somerset team.
Ruby is slowly getting better. I felt impressed to put her name on the temple prayer roll when we were there Friday night and I think that's really helped her. She was just getting tired of not feeling well, I think. By Friday she was hardly eating or drinking and didn't want to take medicine and she was being a lot more grumpy and tired. She's still talking funny and cries easily, but she's doing better.
I'm trying to get our family to eat healthier. It started because I had a few minutes a few weeks ago so I watched the beginning of a documentary on netflix called Hungry for Change. It talked about how industrialized and processed all our food is. So I started reading some things and researching. One of the things that confused me was that a lot of the current trends and "clean eating" things say to stay away from wheat. That must be wrong because the word of wisdom says wheat is for man. So today I started reading the word of wisdom and praying about that. Then I found several websites where other people have studied about it and tried living it and learned a lot. I'm going to start working toward understanding and living it better. We bought a wheat grinder on craigslist an I've made bread with it a few times. Maybe I'll make that a regular thing. I'm going to buy plain greek yogurt and have the kids mix honey or berries in it. And I'm going to buy less chips and crackers and cereal and be better at making healthy after school snacks and more smoothies and have more fruits and vegetables available. I've let me kids know my plans so hopefully they'll get on board and not fight it too much. I like the feeling of being more in control and knowledgeable about what we're eating.
We're still discussing the possibility of buying Bob's grandparents house next fall. There are just so many variables that would have to work out right for it to be a good fit for us. But we keep thinking about it. Maybe it's really a good option for us or maybe we just like the excitement of possibilities.
Ruby is slowly getting better. I felt impressed to put her name on the temple prayer roll when we were there Friday night and I think that's really helped her. She was just getting tired of not feeling well, I think. By Friday she was hardly eating or drinking and didn't want to take medicine and she was being a lot more grumpy and tired. She's still talking funny and cries easily, but she's doing better.
I'm trying to get our family to eat healthier. It started because I had a few minutes a few weeks ago so I watched the beginning of a documentary on netflix called Hungry for Change. It talked about how industrialized and processed all our food is. So I started reading some things and researching. One of the things that confused me was that a lot of the current trends and "clean eating" things say to stay away from wheat. That must be wrong because the word of wisdom says wheat is for man. So today I started reading the word of wisdom and praying about that. Then I found several websites where other people have studied about it and tried living it and learned a lot. I'm going to start working toward understanding and living it better. We bought a wheat grinder on craigslist an I've made bread with it a few times. Maybe I'll make that a regular thing. I'm going to buy plain greek yogurt and have the kids mix honey or berries in it. And I'm going to buy less chips and crackers and cereal and be better at making healthy after school snacks and more smoothies and have more fruits and vegetables available. I've let me kids know my plans so hopefully they'll get on board and not fight it too much. I like the feeling of being more in control and knowledgeable about what we're eating.
We're still discussing the possibility of buying Bob's grandparents house next fall. There are just so many variables that would have to work out right for it to be a good fit for us. But we keep thinking about it. Maybe it's really a good option for us or maybe we just like the excitement of possibilities.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
September 14, 2014
Ruby had her tonsils out on Friday. Bob and I dropped the other kids at school and then drove to the Summerlin hospital. She was a little nervous but did ok. Her surgery only took about 25 minutes. Both the Doctor and Anesthesiologist commented on how enormous her tonsils were. She woke up and was happy. She said her throat hurt one time, but other than that was happy and ate all day and even had chicken nuggets for dinner. She did so well they let her come home that night. During the night her pain medication wore off and she woke up crying. But during the day she was fine and playing. Then again the next night she was hurting again. I told her to take some medicine and it would help her feel better. But she said it would only feel better when the sun was up. I guess that's what she's experienced so it made sense to her.
Her breathing is already so much better. The Doctor said she'd still snore for a few weeks while she heals. But her chest doesn't suck in nearly as far as it did. When she's not breathing her sternum is dented in more than a normal person's. I'm hoping that will get better over time.
I'm getting going with the kid's days pretty well. Rachel and I talked about taking care of our bodies and we talked about healthy snacks and some exercises she can do. I hope it helps empower her to be healthy and not worry about what she looks like. Danny and Seth built solar ovens out of pizza boxes and cooked smores in them. It worked so well.
I'm trying to get the school stuff set up so Danny can play basketball at Cram middle school. Everyone says that will be great for his skills. Hopefully we can make it work.
Her breathing is already so much better. The Doctor said she'd still snore for a few weeks while she heals. But her chest doesn't suck in nearly as far as it did. When she's not breathing her sternum is dented in more than a normal person's. I'm hoping that will get better over time.
I'm getting going with the kid's days pretty well. Rachel and I talked about taking care of our bodies and we talked about healthy snacks and some exercises she can do. I hope it helps empower her to be healthy and not worry about what she looks like. Danny and Seth built solar ovens out of pizza boxes and cooked smores in them. It worked so well.
I'm trying to get the school stuff set up so Danny can play basketball at Cram middle school. Everyone says that will be great for his skills. Hopefully we can make it work.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
September 7, 2014
For Labor Day weekend, we went to visit Ryan and Venessa. Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Donna, Kristal and Dustin came too. We went to Magic Mountain on Friday. Everyone had a great time. Then Saturday we went to the beach. The everyone had a great time boogie boarding and playing in the sand. Danny fished with Ryan. We stayed until Monday morning.
While we were at Ryan's, Bob talked to his grandparents and his grandpa mentioned that if we wanted it we could buy their house and 5 acres in Virginia for $100,000 next summer when they downsize. I had been feeling like I need a purpose or something to root me especially since the deans moved and Las Vegas isn't a dreamy for us as it was. I was actually praying that weekend for something new or to give me more purpose or something. At first we were both really excited about the idea. But then we realized that even though we wouldn't have much of a house payment there, Bob would probably make significantly less money so we'd end up about the same as we are now. That's not what I want because if we were that far from family, I'd want to have better finances so we could come out to visit more and it's going to cost a lot to get 7 people across the country for a visit. So Bob still wants to feel that situation out and see if we could make it work somehow, but it's also been great because it's helped me see what a good situation we're in here, even without the Deans.
Ruby gets her tonsils out on Friday. About 2 months ago I started noticing that she was talking like there was something in her throat. And then we knew she snores a lot, but didn't notice much more. All the kids go through phases of snoring. Then we went to Lake Tahoe and she slept in our room and we noticed how hard she was working to breathe. Her chest goes concave to try to pull in her breaths. So I took her to our doctor when we got back and he said her tonsils were big so he sent us to an ENT. He looked and said they are enormous and are 4 times the normal size. He had me look. They seemed to me like they were the size of a walnut on both sides. That doesn't leave much room to breathe.
While we were at Ryan's, Bob talked to his grandparents and his grandpa mentioned that if we wanted it we could buy their house and 5 acres in Virginia for $100,000 next summer when they downsize. I had been feeling like I need a purpose or something to root me especially since the deans moved and Las Vegas isn't a dreamy for us as it was. I was actually praying that weekend for something new or to give me more purpose or something. At first we were both really excited about the idea. But then we realized that even though we wouldn't have much of a house payment there, Bob would probably make significantly less money so we'd end up about the same as we are now. That's not what I want because if we were that far from family, I'd want to have better finances so we could come out to visit more and it's going to cost a lot to get 7 people across the country for a visit. So Bob still wants to feel that situation out and see if we could make it work somehow, but it's also been great because it's helped me see what a good situation we're in here, even without the Deans.
Ruby gets her tonsils out on Friday. About 2 months ago I started noticing that she was talking like there was something in her throat. And then we knew she snores a lot, but didn't notice much more. All the kids go through phases of snoring. Then we went to Lake Tahoe and she slept in our room and we noticed how hard she was working to breathe. Her chest goes concave to try to pull in her breaths. So I took her to our doctor when we got back and he said her tonsils were big so he sent us to an ENT. He looked and said they are enormous and are 4 times the normal size. He had me look. They seemed to me like they were the size of a walnut on both sides. That doesn't leave much room to breathe.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
September 2, 2014
We went to Visalia in July this year so we could spend our annual week with Grandma Zonda. We had a great time. We did the usual stuff like we went in the hot tub, fed the turtles a lot, swam at the neighbors, went to the park. We also went bowling and went to Hanford to Superior Dairy.
We left Danny in Visalia to have a week by himself with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma is going to host each kid like that when they turn 12. Danny had a great time. He did jobs for Grandma and her friends because he was trying to earn money to buy a phone. They also went shopping for clothes, played basketball with anyone Grandma could set it up with, and went fishing with Grandpa.
My mom brought Danny back at the end of his trip and watched all the kids for 2 days while Bob and I went to St George for a late Anniversary trip. We stayed at Inn on the Cliff because our friends' parents own it. We saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat at Tuachann. It was so good. And we went on a hike in the morning and went to the temple and did some shopping. It was really nice.
We had another fabulous vacation to Lake Tahoe this year. The Smiths are always such wonderful hosts. We were a little worried because there was rain forecast all week, but it turned out great and only rained a couple times. Amanda had a great matrix set up for us. We went on a hike, to the bmx track, had a fun day of jet skis and kayaks at Sand Harbour, had a carnival, had a picnic and played at Donnor beach, and Amanda borrowed bikes for the adults and Danny and Rachel babysat while the adults went mountain biking. The Clarks went home on Sunday and we stayed 2 more days. We went to the bmx track again and went to Sand Harbour again with just our family and rented a stand up paddle board and did lots more crawdad fishing and Amanda took our family pictures at a great spot she knows.
Our family pictures worked out so well. We were nervous because it was raining as we got ready and drove to the spot. But it was our last night there, so we just really hoped it would work out. It stopped raining about 5-10 minutes after we got to the spot and the sun came out and the light was beautiful. Amanda did a great job getting us into poses and looking at the camera. Ruby was not super excited about smiling at the camera and liked to make crazy faces. But we got a great pictures to choose from with the 700+ she took! It worked out great because in our final family picture Aaron and Seth weren't looking at the camera so I photoshopped them over from another picture and I took out the towel we were sitting on because the ground was so wet.
We came home from Tahoe and had about a week and a half until school started. We were lazy a lot and did some school shopping. We did our second annual "buy dry ice and throw it in the pool" end of summer party.
The kids all had a great start to school. They were excited and a little nervous. Rachel was really excited about middle school. Seth was pretty excited about kindergarten. He's not super in love with it yet, but hopefully he'll get used to it.
We left Danny in Visalia to have a week by himself with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma is going to host each kid like that when they turn 12. Danny had a great time. He did jobs for Grandma and her friends because he was trying to earn money to buy a phone. They also went shopping for clothes, played basketball with anyone Grandma could set it up with, and went fishing with Grandpa.
My mom brought Danny back at the end of his trip and watched all the kids for 2 days while Bob and I went to St George for a late Anniversary trip. We stayed at Inn on the Cliff because our friends' parents own it. We saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat at Tuachann. It was so good. And we went on a hike in the morning and went to the temple and did some shopping. It was really nice.
We had another fabulous vacation to Lake Tahoe this year. The Smiths are always such wonderful hosts. We were a little worried because there was rain forecast all week, but it turned out great and only rained a couple times. Amanda had a great matrix set up for us. We went on a hike, to the bmx track, had a fun day of jet skis and kayaks at Sand Harbour, had a carnival, had a picnic and played at Donnor beach, and Amanda borrowed bikes for the adults and Danny and Rachel babysat while the adults went mountain biking. The Clarks went home on Sunday and we stayed 2 more days. We went to the bmx track again and went to Sand Harbour again with just our family and rented a stand up paddle board and did lots more crawdad fishing and Amanda took our family pictures at a great spot she knows.
Our family pictures worked out so well. We were nervous because it was raining as we got ready and drove to the spot. But it was our last night there, so we just really hoped it would work out. It stopped raining about 5-10 minutes after we got to the spot and the sun came out and the light was beautiful. Amanda did a great job getting us into poses and looking at the camera. Ruby was not super excited about smiling at the camera and liked to make crazy faces. But we got a great pictures to choose from with the 700+ she took! It worked out great because in our final family picture Aaron and Seth weren't looking at the camera so I photoshopped them over from another picture and I took out the towel we were sitting on because the ground was so wet.
We came home from Tahoe and had about a week and a half until school started. We were lazy a lot and did some school shopping. We did our second annual "buy dry ice and throw it in the pool" end of summer party.
The kids all had a great start to school. They were excited and a little nervous. Rachel was really excited about middle school. Seth was pretty excited about kindergarten. He's not super in love with it yet, but hopefully he'll get used to it.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
July 16, 2014
This summer has been busy. Danny is doing so much better, but just recently. It was a good 2 months of him really not liking us. I've asked him a little about it and he won't tell me anything. But during that time he pretty much got a girlfriend. He was texting her all the time. He got his phone taken away alot. But in the end he knew it wasn't right and we had talks about what a big deal it was. He agreed, but didn't know what to do about it. So we ended up just blocking her phone number and he was fine with that. He's been much better since that.
We stayed home for 2 weeks after school got out. We decided to move our trip to Visalia to July because the Deans were moving away at the end of June. So we had more time to spend with them. And because Danny had a basketball tournament in St. George. We played with the Deans as much as we could during those weeks. Then Bob and Danny went to Scout Camp. They did a driving tour of Nevada with RVs. They had a good time. Then I went to girls camp. Danny watched the kids in the morning and they went to friends' in the afternoon. It worked great. I had a good time. The Jovaag girls went so I was excited about that. They had a pretty good time, but they weren't excited to go again.
Then we left for McMinnville Oregon for a family reunion and Grandaddy Gene's 85th birthday. We took 2 days to drive there and stayed in Reno on the way. We stayed in a farmhouse that had blueberries all around it so it was fun to pick berries and eat them any time we wanted. We went to the indoor waterslides, and air museum that were close by. We floated in the river. Danny enjoyed fishing in the creek several times. We road a steam train along the coast and went to the Tillamook cheese factory. And did fireworks in the front yard. The weather was great and never rained. We stayed for 5 days.
Then we drove up to Vancouver, British Columbia. We went to sacrament meeting there. We were disappointed we didn't get to hear any strong Canadian accents during testimony meeting. Then we went to a little hike that crosses a wobble suspension bridge. It was so pretty, but raining, so the ground was all muddy. Ruby loved it and even stepping in the glacial river and didn't mind the wet feet the rest of the way. But Danny was worried about his nice white tennis shoes getting ruined. From there we drove over to Kitsilano Beach. It had a fun playground and a volleyball tournament going on. By then the sun was out. The kids loved the playground and throwing rocks in the ocean. Ruby loved to get dirty again and rolled around in the wet, rocky sand.
The second day in Canada we took the ferry to Vancouver Island and then the bus to Butchart Gardens. It was sunny again and a little warm. The gardens were gorgeous. I was so glad we made the trip out there to see it. The kids got a little whiney after walking around for too long. But we got ice cream cones and that helped and Ruby walked almost the entire time. It's awesome to not have to travel with a stroller. Then we went to the Butterfly Garden nearby. The kids liked that more. We had a really great Butterfly garden near us in Georgia that we loved to go to with Danny and Rachel, but this one was pretty good too. Then we caught the bus back to the ferry. We had a good talk with the boys because they were a little embarrassed we were taking the bus. Hopefully they have a little less judgemental opinion of the bus now.
Next we went to Seattle to stay with Grandma Monte and Grandpa Gene. They were so nice to let us take over their apartment. We went to see the Locks and the fish ladder. There were scientists there that day catching the salmon and putting trackers in them. It was fun to watch. We ate fish and chips nearby and then went to Pike Street Market. It was a little too crowded for the kids to like it much. But they got to see some fish thrown and we checked out a few shops. That day was Grandpa Gene's actual birthday and they took us out to their favorite local pizza place. The next day we went to the Seattle aquarium. And then over to a fun park near Renton. And then to Ikea where we met some of Bob's mission companions and had dinner. We loved getting to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. And the kids loved using their pool and gym and basketball court.
We drove home through the night to make it go faster. It wasn't quite as great as I thought it would be, but Bob did most of the driving and it was nice to get home. We were gone 11 days. We've found that week long vacations feel too short a lot of the time, but by the time we get into the second week, we've had a great time, but we're ready to get home. So it was a perfectly timed vacation.
We're home now for one week and then next week the kids and I will go to Visalia. We're craming a lot of appointments and visiting teaching and helping friends who are moving into this week before we leave again. We're also going to the new waterslides tomorrow. That should be fun.
We stayed home for 2 weeks after school got out. We decided to move our trip to Visalia to July because the Deans were moving away at the end of June. So we had more time to spend with them. And because Danny had a basketball tournament in St. George. We played with the Deans as much as we could during those weeks. Then Bob and Danny went to Scout Camp. They did a driving tour of Nevada with RVs. They had a good time. Then I went to girls camp. Danny watched the kids in the morning and they went to friends' in the afternoon. It worked great. I had a good time. The Jovaag girls went so I was excited about that. They had a pretty good time, but they weren't excited to go again.
Then we left for McMinnville Oregon for a family reunion and Grandaddy Gene's 85th birthday. We took 2 days to drive there and stayed in Reno on the way. We stayed in a farmhouse that had blueberries all around it so it was fun to pick berries and eat them any time we wanted. We went to the indoor waterslides, and air museum that were close by. We floated in the river. Danny enjoyed fishing in the creek several times. We road a steam train along the coast and went to the Tillamook cheese factory. And did fireworks in the front yard. The weather was great and never rained. We stayed for 5 days.
Then we drove up to Vancouver, British Columbia. We went to sacrament meeting there. We were disappointed we didn't get to hear any strong Canadian accents during testimony meeting. Then we went to a little hike that crosses a wobble suspension bridge. It was so pretty, but raining, so the ground was all muddy. Ruby loved it and even stepping in the glacial river and didn't mind the wet feet the rest of the way. But Danny was worried about his nice white tennis shoes getting ruined. From there we drove over to Kitsilano Beach. It had a fun playground and a volleyball tournament going on. By then the sun was out. The kids loved the playground and throwing rocks in the ocean. Ruby loved to get dirty again and rolled around in the wet, rocky sand.
The second day in Canada we took the ferry to Vancouver Island and then the bus to Butchart Gardens. It was sunny again and a little warm. The gardens were gorgeous. I was so glad we made the trip out there to see it. The kids got a little whiney after walking around for too long. But we got ice cream cones and that helped and Ruby walked almost the entire time. It's awesome to not have to travel with a stroller. Then we went to the Butterfly Garden nearby. The kids liked that more. We had a really great Butterfly garden near us in Georgia that we loved to go to with Danny and Rachel, but this one was pretty good too. Then we caught the bus back to the ferry. We had a good talk with the boys because they were a little embarrassed we were taking the bus. Hopefully they have a little less judgemental opinion of the bus now.
Next we went to Seattle to stay with Grandma Monte and Grandpa Gene. They were so nice to let us take over their apartment. We went to see the Locks and the fish ladder. There were scientists there that day catching the salmon and putting trackers in them. It was fun to watch. We ate fish and chips nearby and then went to Pike Street Market. It was a little too crowded for the kids to like it much. But they got to see some fish thrown and we checked out a few shops. That day was Grandpa Gene's actual birthday and they took us out to their favorite local pizza place. The next day we went to the Seattle aquarium. And then over to a fun park near Renton. And then to Ikea where we met some of Bob's mission companions and had dinner. We loved getting to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. And the kids loved using their pool and gym and basketball court.
We drove home through the night to make it go faster. It wasn't quite as great as I thought it would be, but Bob did most of the driving and it was nice to get home. We were gone 11 days. We've found that week long vacations feel too short a lot of the time, but by the time we get into the second week, we've had a great time, but we're ready to get home. So it was a perfectly timed vacation.
We're home now for one week and then next week the kids and I will go to Visalia. We're craming a lot of appointments and visiting teaching and helping friends who are moving into this week before we leave again. We're also going to the new waterslides tomorrow. That should be fun.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
May 18, 2014
Danny is being horrendous. It probably only started at the beginning of May. But it's so bad I can't really remember what it was like to enjoy spending time with him. He's so hateful and mean to me and all the kids. Luckily he still mostly likes Bob. I hope it'll clear up soon. Or at least if it doesn't get better soon I think the end of school will really help. Bob and I went to see Valerie Dimmick about 2 weeks ago. She said we need to be unemotional and set out all the rules and then when he breaks the rules or after 5 minutes of non-compliance we take away his favorite thing for 24 hours. He's currently lost his phone until his grades come up and he's lost basketballs for 48 hours.
Bob and I also talked to Valerie about us when we went there. It was really helpful. She told us how we process information is pretty much exactly opposite. I want to talk it out and he wants to think about it. I've felt for a long time that I carry most of the responsibility for our family and kids. So we got to talk about that. Since he doesn't want to talk about anything I assume he's not thinking about it. And he waits for me to tell him what to do most of the time. So we talked about how we need to set up times to have conversations and then we each take turns telling our view using only "I" statements and then we use all that information to make a decision. It's been really helpful so far.
Bob and I also talked to Valerie about us when we went there. It was really helpful. She told us how we process information is pretty much exactly opposite. I want to talk it out and he wants to think about it. I've felt for a long time that I carry most of the responsibility for our family and kids. So we got to talk about that. Since he doesn't want to talk about anything I assume he's not thinking about it. And he waits for me to tell him what to do most of the time. So we talked about how we need to set up times to have conversations and then we each take turns telling our view using only "I" statements and then we use all that information to make a decision. It's been really helpful so far.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
May 11, 2014
Today is mothers day. Bob made norwegian waffles and got me a gift card and flowers and all the kids made me cards. I was in charge of the YW fundraiser to sell mothers day corsages. So this weekend has been busy with that.
Yesterday Bob and Danny and I went to the temple to do some names Bob found. It was great.
Yesterday Bob and Danny and I went to the temple to do some names Bob found. It was great.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
May 4, 2014
Bob got called as the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric again today. We are heartbroken that the Deans are moving to Utah. He lost his job in January and has been look since then for a job and just got one in Salt Lake. So we've known it would be a possibility for a while, but I kept having hope that he'd just find another job here. It will be such a change for our whole family to have them gone.
Anyway, last Sunday Collin announced there would be a new bishop this week. When I heard that I felt like they might need Bob and I prayed and told the Lord that I'm ok with that even though it might mean that I will lose Young Womens. I feel like I can be a little too opinionated with my callings. I felt for a while that I might be the next young womens president. But then a year ago they started talking a lot in conference about hastening the work and I really felt like I wanted to and should be more involved in that. And Bob got called as the ward mission leader and that helped me too to get more involved in missionary work and trying more actively to help the missionaries and to look for people to talk to and befriend. That was exciting and I starting feeling like I would rather keep working on that than be yw president. I think I even prayed about it and said I'd do either, but I'd rather not be president so I could have more time to work on hastening stuff. Maybe I should have just been more obedient and not had an opinion about it or maybe it didn't matter. But I thought of that when they announced there'd be a new Bishop and I felt like I should pray that I wouldn't be so opinionated this time and I would be good with however the Lord needed us. So I wasn't too surprised when they called Bob in. They sustained him today. And he'll do an awesome job. I think it will be great. Our family is in a much easier position now without a new baby and I have kids who can babysit. So I think it'll be much easier this time. Hopefully.
I've been having horrible allergies this season. I've had a stuffy nose and sneezing for 2 months. This week my eyes got really bad. They're red and so itchy. I haven't been able to wear my contacts much. I hope the summer comes soon and that next season I can go back to normal.
Danny has been having knee pain. Probably overuse and some kind of tendonitis. We took him to a physical therapist last week. Hopefully he'll do better now that soccer is done and he's just doing basketball.
Anyway, last Sunday Collin announced there would be a new bishop this week. When I heard that I felt like they might need Bob and I prayed and told the Lord that I'm ok with that even though it might mean that I will lose Young Womens. I feel like I can be a little too opinionated with my callings. I felt for a while that I might be the next young womens president. But then a year ago they started talking a lot in conference about hastening the work and I really felt like I wanted to and should be more involved in that. And Bob got called as the ward mission leader and that helped me too to get more involved in missionary work and trying more actively to help the missionaries and to look for people to talk to and befriend. That was exciting and I starting feeling like I would rather keep working on that than be yw president. I think I even prayed about it and said I'd do either, but I'd rather not be president so I could have more time to work on hastening stuff. Maybe I should have just been more obedient and not had an opinion about it or maybe it didn't matter. But I thought of that when they announced there'd be a new Bishop and I felt like I should pray that I wouldn't be so opinionated this time and I would be good with however the Lord needed us. So I wasn't too surprised when they called Bob in. They sustained him today. And he'll do an awesome job. I think it will be great. Our family is in a much easier position now without a new baby and I have kids who can babysit. So I think it'll be much easier this time. Hopefully.
I've been having horrible allergies this season. I've had a stuffy nose and sneezing for 2 months. This week my eyes got really bad. They're red and so itchy. I haven't been able to wear my contacts much. I hope the summer comes soon and that next season I can go back to normal.
Danny has been having knee pain. Probably overuse and some kind of tendonitis. We took him to a physical therapist last week. Hopefully he'll do better now that soccer is done and he's just doing basketball.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
April 27, 2014
My mom stayed for Spring Break. It was so great. We watched movies at night and went shopping one day. She cleaned my windows. We went swimming. And it was just nice to have someone to do all my normal stuff with.
Thursday we left and drove to her house. Ryan and his family and Kristal came too. We went to hike at slick rock one day and and went to the park and dyed eggs and had an egg hunt. We had Easter at their house and hid the Easter baskets and had a nice dinner and then came home.
We organized a block party that we had yesterday. The weather got really cold and windy this weekend, but it got slightly less windy for the party. We had 5 families come to the block party. It was fun.
Thursday we left and drove to her house. Ryan and his family and Kristal came too. We went to hike at slick rock one day and and went to the park and dyed eggs and had an egg hunt. We had Easter at their house and hid the Easter baskets and had a nice dinner and then came home.
We organized a block party that we had yesterday. The weather got really cold and windy this weekend, but it got slightly less windy for the party. We had 5 families come to the block party. It was fun.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
April 13, 2014
My parents came Friday at lunch time. Danny is getting ordained today. It's been nice to have them here. Friday we went swimming. The pool was up to 85 degrees and watched Frozen and had pizza. Saturday we spent most of the day at games and then we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse for my dad's birthday and then came home and had cake and ice cream. My dad will go home tomorrow morning and mom will stay until Thursday when we all drive to their house to have Easter with everyone. It'll be fun to have my mom here for Spring Break.
Seth still concerns me a little. He's doing soccer and he's happy about it. But he doesn't pay attention well at all. He'll just stand in the middle of the game and watch people on the sidelines. Or he'll keep up ok if I'm constantly yelling to ask him where the ball is. And I thought we'd gotten him doing better at school but it's really not that much better. He worked really hard to not be the last one done with the assignment and did pretty well for a week. But there are usually two assignments and he's usually last in at least one. We're working on sight words and reading at home and it's so hard for him. Maybe he's just going to be slower or maybe my other kids are all just quicker to pick things up, but I keep worrying about it so after spring Break I'm going to start talking to people and figure out what I need to do to get things checked out. Maybe he'll be fine but hopefully I'll learn how to motivate him better.
Last weekend was general Conference. Kenton and his family decided to come visit that weekend on their way to San Diego. It was fun to see them. All the kids loved it. But we didn't get to watch conference on Saturday so that was a bummer. Danny went to his first Priesthood session though. Then we went and saw the Bellagio Fountains with them that night.
Seth still concerns me a little. He's doing soccer and he's happy about it. But he doesn't pay attention well at all. He'll just stand in the middle of the game and watch people on the sidelines. Or he'll keep up ok if I'm constantly yelling to ask him where the ball is. And I thought we'd gotten him doing better at school but it's really not that much better. He worked really hard to not be the last one done with the assignment and did pretty well for a week. But there are usually two assignments and he's usually last in at least one. We're working on sight words and reading at home and it's so hard for him. Maybe he's just going to be slower or maybe my other kids are all just quicker to pick things up, but I keep worrying about it so after spring Break I'm going to start talking to people and figure out what I need to do to get things checked out. Maybe he'll be fine but hopefully I'll learn how to motivate him better.
Last weekend was general Conference. Kenton and his family decided to come visit that weekend on their way to San Diego. It was fun to see them. All the kids loved it. But we didn't get to watch conference on Saturday so that was a bummer. Danny went to his first Priesthood session though. Then we went and saw the Bellagio Fountains with them that night.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
March 30, 2014
We had a great trip to Disneyland and the Beach a couple weeks ago. We left Thursday night. We met my mom at a hotel near disneyland. We got 2 rooms that were down the hall from each other. At one point we lost Ruby. We were sleeping with the boys in one room and the girls in the other. I had left our room to take toothbrushes to the boys. Ruby had stayed in the girls room with my mom. We didn't know she could open the door and my mom didn't notice when she went out looking for me, but by then I was already in the boys room so I couldn't hear her and her door shut and locked so she was stuck in the hallway. Someone found her crying in the hall and took her down to the front desk. Just as I had come back to our room and was asking my mom where Ruby was, the front desk called and said they had Ruby. We were so thankful.
We got up early and went to California Adventures on Friday. We had a great day. It wasn't too crowded and the weather was great. It was nice to have my mom there to take Ruby to the small rides when she couldn't go on the bigger rides. She was one inch under the 40 inch requirement for a lot of rides. Everyone had such a great time. Seth and Ruby loved it and neither of them even needed a nap. We stayed until 9 at night and then drove to Ryan's house.
We got up the next morning and went to the beach. Everyone had fun playing. The three oldest took the boogie boards out. The boys did it for a little while, but Rachel stayed out for an hour or 2. She loved it and didn't even notice how freezing it was. Ryan and Danny caught a large fish. But when they got it home to clean it they realized it was a pregnant fish when the babies started falling out of it. She had 38 babies inside. It was pretty entertaining. Sunday we went to church and had lunch and drove home.
This week Bob took Seth and Ruby to Virginia to visit his Grandparents. They left Tuesday morning and they get back tonight, Sunday. It's been nice to have 7 hours while the kids are in school to do whatever I want. I went to the temple and shopping and the gym. It was nice to be able to pick up and go and not have to plan it all out and have it take longer. We've facetimed with them everyday. But I'm so glad they are coming home tonight. I really miss those people. It helped me decide I'm not ready to put Ruby in preschool in the fall. I signed her up for 3 year old preschool because I thought she would love it, but I want her home with me one more year. We'll just have to plan fun things for us at home.
We got up early and went to California Adventures on Friday. We had a great day. It wasn't too crowded and the weather was great. It was nice to have my mom there to take Ruby to the small rides when she couldn't go on the bigger rides. She was one inch under the 40 inch requirement for a lot of rides. Everyone had such a great time. Seth and Ruby loved it and neither of them even needed a nap. We stayed until 9 at night and then drove to Ryan's house.
We got up the next morning and went to the beach. Everyone had fun playing. The three oldest took the boogie boards out. The boys did it for a little while, but Rachel stayed out for an hour or 2. She loved it and didn't even notice how freezing it was. Ryan and Danny caught a large fish. But when they got it home to clean it they realized it was a pregnant fish when the babies started falling out of it. She had 38 babies inside. It was pretty entertaining. Sunday we went to church and had lunch and drove home.
This week Bob took Seth and Ruby to Virginia to visit his Grandparents. They left Tuesday morning and they get back tonight, Sunday. It's been nice to have 7 hours while the kids are in school to do whatever I want. I went to the temple and shopping and the gym. It was nice to be able to pick up and go and not have to plan it all out and have it take longer. We've facetimed with them everyday. But I'm so glad they are coming home tonight. I really miss those people. It helped me decide I'm not ready to put Ruby in preschool in the fall. I signed her up for 3 year old preschool because I thought she would love it, but I want her home with me one more year. We'll just have to plan fun things for us at home.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
March 11, 2014
We had the Jovaag family over for dinner on Sunday and it went so well. They are a part member family with 3 young women. I really like them. I hope to get them coming. They all want to come to girls camp, even the mom.
My hip is doing well. I went to physical therapy last monday. He put it back in place but it still hurt most of the week. I thought it must have rotated back so I went again this monday. It hadn't rotated so he thought the rotation must have caused some disc irritation. He showed me some more exercises. And he told me how to get in faster next time this happens. And he said that this should get better, not worse, as I get older. I was happy about that.
Ruby has a stomach flu. She threw up 19 times yesterday. We're really hoping she gets better fast because we're leaving for disneyland in a few days.
The kids are all done with their sports. The boys both did great on their teams and got asked to be on the allstar teams. Rachel had fun on volleyball. We have a couple weeks off now before the next ones start. But Danny's school soccer team is still going right now. But at least we'll only have one game on saturdays for a few weeks. And then his will get done early so hopefully we won't have too many saturdays with 4 games.
My hip is doing well. I went to physical therapy last monday. He put it back in place but it still hurt most of the week. I thought it must have rotated back so I went again this monday. It hadn't rotated so he thought the rotation must have caused some disc irritation. He showed me some more exercises. And he told me how to get in faster next time this happens. And he said that this should get better, not worse, as I get older. I was happy about that.
Ruby has a stomach flu. She threw up 19 times yesterday. We're really hoping she gets better fast because we're leaving for disneyland in a few days.
The kids are all done with their sports. The boys both did great on their teams and got asked to be on the allstar teams. Rachel had fun on volleyball. We have a couple weeks off now before the next ones start. But Danny's school soccer team is still going right now. But at least we'll only have one game on saturdays for a few weeks. And then his will get done early so hopefully we won't have too many saturdays with 4 games.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
March 2, 2014
Rachel is at AstroCamp. She's been so excited to get to go. She has several good friends who are going. She packed herself up a few days before she had to go. Unfortunately there was a snow storm there this weekend. It's such bad timing. They have lots of fun ropes course stuff and zip lines and it was freezing for that. I talked to her for a couple minutes yesterday. It was right after they had done bottle rockets in the snow and she was so cold. She comes home tonight. We're all so excited to see her.
Ruby started a dance class at the Rec Center. She looked so cute in her ballet shoes and dress. She was nervous about it. She was excited, but she kept asking me, "how do you dance? What do we do at dancing class?". She used to love gymnastics until she moved up to the 3 year old class and I couldn't do it with her anymore. She had a hard time listening and got frustrated and scared because she couldn't do what everyone else was doing, not because she couldn't physically do it, but mostly because she didn't listen or wouldn't try. So I found this mommy and me dance class that goes up to 3 years old. So she has one more year to do it with me. She liked it better, but still didn't want to try a lot of things. Her friend Lizzy is in the class too. I hope she'll come around and start liking it better. It makes me worried that she has a little bit of feelings like Aaron does. That they are both the younger one of their siblings (Danny rachel and Aaron, Seth and Ruby) and they expect to be able to do things as well as their older siblings and if they can't they get mad or don't want to try.
I started a Power of Moms Learning Circle group this week. I've been working on it for a month. I think it would be a great thing to have to invite nonmemebers or inactives. And it would be a great thing for me as a mom too. I thought and thought about what ladies to invite and then I called them all and sent emails and then when it came to it everyone cancelled but 3 ladies. I wish I would have known it would have been that hard to get people there. I would have just started it out that way and then tried to invite people after it was going. But it turned out to be a good thing for those who came and I think we'll try it one more time and see if gets a better turnout. Hopefully it'll work. But maybe its just another good thing and we all already have a lot of good things.
Ruby started a dance class at the Rec Center. She looked so cute in her ballet shoes and dress. She was nervous about it. She was excited, but she kept asking me, "how do you dance? What do we do at dancing class?". She used to love gymnastics until she moved up to the 3 year old class and I couldn't do it with her anymore. She had a hard time listening and got frustrated and scared because she couldn't do what everyone else was doing, not because she couldn't physically do it, but mostly because she didn't listen or wouldn't try. So I found this mommy and me dance class that goes up to 3 years old. So she has one more year to do it with me. She liked it better, but still didn't want to try a lot of things. Her friend Lizzy is in the class too. I hope she'll come around and start liking it better. It makes me worried that she has a little bit of feelings like Aaron does. That they are both the younger one of their siblings (Danny rachel and Aaron, Seth and Ruby) and they expect to be able to do things as well as their older siblings and if they can't they get mad or don't want to try.
I started a Power of Moms Learning Circle group this week. I've been working on it for a month. I think it would be a great thing to have to invite nonmemebers or inactives. And it would be a great thing for me as a mom too. I thought and thought about what ladies to invite and then I called them all and sent emails and then when it came to it everyone cancelled but 3 ladies. I wish I would have known it would have been that hard to get people there. I would have just started it out that way and then tried to invite people after it was going. But it turned out to be a good thing for those who came and I think we'll try it one more time and see if gets a better turnout. Hopefully it'll work. But maybe its just another good thing and we all already have a lot of good things.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
February 23, 2014
My hip rotated a little over a week ago and it's taken all this time to get in to see Scott Pensivy. So I've just taken it easy and I've been using my roller a lot. I think my hip has started going back into the right place. It doesn't hurt nearly as much as it did. I can do all my normal activities without it hurting. It still seems a little off though so I think I'll still keep my appointment this week. But it was nice to know I can help my body when this happens.
The boys are starting into their basketball tournament. Both boys got asked to tryout for the NJB allstar team that has a tournament in California. They were both flattered, but the tournament is on a Sunday so they both turned it down.
Seth didn't have preschool this week because his teacher was out of town. We had to have kids over to play with him everyday. It made me so glad he has preschool because he really loves that interaction every day.
The boys are starting into their basketball tournament. Both boys got asked to tryout for the NJB allstar team that has a tournament in California. They were both flattered, but the tournament is on a Sunday so they both turned it down.
Seth didn't have preschool this week because his teacher was out of town. We had to have kids over to play with him everyday. It made me so glad he has preschool because he really loves that interaction every day.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
February 16, 2014
I've had some really bad headaches and tension the last two weeks. And I had some moles removed on my chin. They were cut out instead of scraped off like last time. I regret doing it that way. They told me about it, but I didn't really process what they said. I just thought it would be like last time. This has way more healing time and I didn't care that much. I just didn't like how my kids noticed them. I didn't want them to remember me by my moles. And my hip rotated again. So all these health things have been annoying lately.
Young Women's has been going well. I think I've made some good progress with some less active and inactive families.
The weather has been great. We've had a really mild winter. There was only one week where Danny wore long pants to school. And this weekend is a 4 day weekend so it's been nice to be able to play outside and do a little yard work.
We have a lot of fun trips coming up and over the summer. We just planned a trip to Disneyland next month and then Bob will take Seth and Ruby to VA, and then my mom will come for spring break, we'll go to Utah in May for Bob and Danny's basketball camp and to see Casey and Kami before they move. And then we're into the summer when we'll only have 4-5 weeks at home after all our trips. Hopefully it isn't too much. But it's fun to look forward to all the fun things.
Young Women's has been going well. I think I've made some good progress with some less active and inactive families.
The weather has been great. We've had a really mild winter. There was only one week where Danny wore long pants to school. And this weekend is a 4 day weekend so it's been nice to be able to play outside and do a little yard work.
We have a lot of fun trips coming up and over the summer. We just planned a trip to Disneyland next month and then Bob will take Seth and Ruby to VA, and then my mom will come for spring break, we'll go to Utah in May for Bob and Danny's basketball camp and to see Casey and Kami before they move. And then we're into the summer when we'll only have 4-5 weeks at home after all our trips. Hopefully it isn't too much. But it's fun to look forward to all the fun things.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
February 2, 2014
The kids have been fighting and rude a lot more lately. Bob and I are having a big contention talk today with a few rewards and punishments. Hopefully we can get things under control a little better.
This was another super busy week. I feel a little like I'm in this never ending marathon. All my days are filled before I have much of a choice for what else to do. I wonder how long this lasts. Hopefully as the littles do more school it'll just get better.
Danny joined the middle school soccer team and Seth is super excited to sign up for soccer too now that he's 5.
Seth has always had his way of doing things. And if he isn't motivated then he won't do it. He's had a little trouble getting his work done at school. So much that I started to worry that might have some kind of learning or attention problem. So I talked to Miss Kathy, his teacher. She suggested we set up a really great reward and see if he can do it. It worked. I told him we would go to Target after school and he could spend some birthday money if he wasn't the last one done with his work. He did great all week.
Rachel has been "writing a book" this week. She's been so excited about it. She's spent a lot of time on it.
This was another super busy week. I feel a little like I'm in this never ending marathon. All my days are filled before I have much of a choice for what else to do. I wonder how long this lasts. Hopefully as the littles do more school it'll just get better.
Danny joined the middle school soccer team and Seth is super excited to sign up for soccer too now that he's 5.
Seth has always had his way of doing things. And if he isn't motivated then he won't do it. He's had a little trouble getting his work done at school. So much that I started to worry that might have some kind of learning or attention problem. So I talked to Miss Kathy, his teacher. She suggested we set up a really great reward and see if he can do it. It worked. I told him we would go to Target after school and he could spend some birthday money if he wasn't the last one done with his work. He did great all week.
Rachel has been "writing a book" this week. She's been so excited about it. She's spent a lot of time on it.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
January 30, 2014
Seth's back really started hurting yesterday. He started running and then started screaming in pain. I figured it was a result of his fall. That was weighing on my mind at night when I was reading my scriptures. I'm using the seminary home study guide. It asked the question what are some things you put your trust in The Lord? I didn't have a good answer for that because I feel like I trust in the big stuff but lots of the smaller things I try to take care of myself. So I put to on my to do list for the next days scripture time to ponder more things I should trust to Him. Then as I said my prayer the first thing that came to my mind was the blessing Bob gave Seth after he fell. It said Seth would be fine and recover from all injuries from his fall. I knew that I need to trust The Lord in that blessing. I know he will be fine and need to have faith while he heals.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
January 26, 2014
We had the most wonderful miracle in our family this week. Monday was MLK day so we decided to go to Valley of Fire with the Deans. We pulled in to a campsite and Kata and I stayed there with the little girls and Bob and Collin went to keep an eye on the kids while they climbed. They climbed for a while and then Danny came back and said "Did you know Seth just fell really far?" And then I saw Bob carrying Seth back looking a little limp. Seth had been up on a high, fairly wide ledge with Maeli. Bob was watching him and couldn't tell he was in much danger, but there was a lot of loose gravelly rocks near the edge that Seth stepped on and slipped. Bob and Collin watched him fall head first about 8 feet onto the rocks below. Somehow right before he landed he turned enough so he landed on his side. He was really in shock when he came back, but the only injury he complained of was scratches on his arm, chest and thumb. He wanted bandaids for everything. So we got him all bandaid-ed and had him sit in the car for a while, but by the end of the night he was running around and happy. There was nothing wrong with him. Bob slept with him that night, but he was fine. When we first checked him out it looked like he had a pretty good bruise on his hip that I thought would hurt for a while, but it didn't. Bob gave him a blessing when we got home and it said he would be completely healed. We can't even believe how blessed we were that day. I'm so thankful for Seth and my Heavenly Father who blessed us so that a little accident didn't have to be catastrophic for our family.
We also recently found out that Collin Dean lost his job. They're looking like crazy for a new one, but there's a good chance they will move. I'm really praying that doesn't happen. That would change so many things for us. We'd all loose our best friends. We're all such better people because of the Deans. We love them so much. I know things will work out as they should, but I really hope we get to keep the Deans.
I'm going to get appointments with Seth's doctor and maybe the elementary school to ask some questions about learning disabilities. We've always known that Seth moves at his own speed and when he wants to, but I'm wondering if there is more to that. It's taken the last 6 months for him to learn to consistently count to 10. He had a hard time keeping 789 in order. And getting him to memorize his name and address and now sight words is extremely hard. It's frustrating for him and me. It seems like he know how to retain some kinds of information. He constantly says her instead of she. I've corrected him countless times, but he never changes. I don't know if he actually has any kind of disability or he just learns in different ways. Hopefully I can find some different strategies for helping him learn.
We also recently found out that Collin Dean lost his job. They're looking like crazy for a new one, but there's a good chance they will move. I'm really praying that doesn't happen. That would change so many things for us. We'd all loose our best friends. We're all such better people because of the Deans. We love them so much. I know things will work out as they should, but I really hope we get to keep the Deans.
I'm going to get appointments with Seth's doctor and maybe the elementary school to ask some questions about learning disabilities. We've always known that Seth moves at his own speed and when he wants to, but I'm wondering if there is more to that. It's taken the last 6 months for him to learn to consistently count to 10. He had a hard time keeping 789 in order. And getting him to memorize his name and address and now sight words is extremely hard. It's frustrating for him and me. It seems like he know how to retain some kinds of information. He constantly says her instead of she. I've corrected him countless times, but he never changes. I don't know if he actually has any kind of disability or he just learns in different ways. Hopefully I can find some different strategies for helping him learn.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
January 21,2013
I take stess too physically. I breathe shallow and tense my body even though I don't usually feel like I'm that stressed. So I need to work on that to help my headaches.
Ideas
Stop and relax all muscles at 10 12 2 and 4. Set alarm on phone.
Practice deep breathing every time I'm in the car or sit at computer.
Visualize and think about perspective a couple times a day.
Sleep 8.5 hours a night
Sunday, January 12, 2014
January 12, 2013
Christmas was great. The kids loved all their gifts. We had a lovely day with just our family. We did Christmas Eve at the Pettingill's Christmas party and then back to our house with the Deans to act out the Nativity. Then the day after Christmas, Bob worked a half day and then we drove to Visalia. Everyone was there. We had a great time there with everyone too. We went to the beach and rented atvs, and went to the park a lot and went shopping a little.We stayed until New Year's day. We celebrated Kwanzaa again this Christmas break. Then, since there weren't any good movies out, the kids chose to go to the buffet as their reward and we invited the Deans to go with us.
Danny's middle school basketball team is done. He had a lot of fun on it, but I'm glad it's over and he can only have one basketball team. Although, soccer tryouts are next week. But maybe he just won't make it.
Bob and I are going to see the Therapist again mostly about Aaron. She was really helpful last time I went. She gave me some good consequences and rules to use that have really worked well. Aaron is doing so much better, but he still has some really hard things like a low self-esteem, quits when he doesn't think he can succeed. I just don't want to fail him, so we're going to see if she has some good ideas for him.
This weekend I went to Arizona again with Amanda and Wendy. It was fabulous. We shopped and ate, went to a movie, saw a play, went for walks and sat in the hot tub. We had a really good time being together. I love those girls.
We got a new YW presidency. I got to stay 2nd counselor because of my relationship with a couple inactive beehives. I'm so glad I get to stay. I absolutely love my calling and the beehives.
Now I need to really jump back into things and get back into regular life. I have a lot to catch up with and get some routines going again that I got behind with over the holidays.
I set a few new years resolutions.
Danny's middle school basketball team is done. He had a lot of fun on it, but I'm glad it's over and he can only have one basketball team. Although, soccer tryouts are next week. But maybe he just won't make it.
Bob and I are going to see the Therapist again mostly about Aaron. She was really helpful last time I went. She gave me some good consequences and rules to use that have really worked well. Aaron is doing so much better, but he still has some really hard things like a low self-esteem, quits when he doesn't think he can succeed. I just don't want to fail him, so we're going to see if she has some good ideas for him.
This weekend I went to Arizona again with Amanda and Wendy. It was fabulous. We shopped and ate, went to a movie, saw a play, went for walks and sat in the hot tub. We had a really good time being together. I love those girls.
We got a new YW presidency. I got to stay 2nd counselor because of my relationship with a couple inactive beehives. I'm so glad I get to stay. I absolutely love my calling and the beehives.
Now I need to really jump back into things and get back into regular life. I have a lot to catch up with and get some routines going again that I got behind with over the holidays.
I set a few new years resolutions.
Planned out fhe on Sunday nights
Piano-have at least 3 hymns ready to play
game plan for hastening the work
sleep better/more
set up a learning circle in our ward
Pray for kids one a day
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