I don't have MS. Yay! Now I'm waiting for some nerve conductions tests. I went back to physical therapy to try that again. It was good. I had a blessing of comfort last Sunday for it. It was good to not have MS, but I still don't have any end or diagnosis in sight. Last week I was up a few times in the night because of my hands. One night I prayed and I got a nice reminder of ways the Lord has led and blessed me. Like eating healthy and how much better I've felt and paying tithing and generous fast offering and how blessed we've been financially. And I felt that this will be another thing that the Lord will go through with me. Then Sunday I had a blessing and it was different than my other blessings. It was a lot more counsel and talked about how the Atonement is for physical, as well as spiritual and emotion, pain. It said to learn more about that. Also this week my hands have been doing so much better. They haven't kept me up at night since my blessing. I still wake up and have to change positions, but I haven't had to sit up.
School is out. I'm so glad. That last week before school was out was so busy. We had 2 dance recitals and a piano recital and a big Christmas activity for YW. I loved going to the girls' recitals. They did a great job. Ruby just loved being on stage. Rachel liked it. Aaron and Rachel did great at their piano recital. It's nice we have most of this week off before Christmas. So we can get to a lot of the Christmas traditions we haven't had time for yet. And then we're looking forward to a lazy week at my parents' house after Christmas.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Sunday, December 6, 2015
December 6, 2015
We went to Utah for Thanksgiving and stayed with Katrina in their new house. We got there Wednesday night and we went to Kenton and Jackie's house for dinner and then went to a BYU basketball game with them. Thursday we ate with Katrina and Sarah and lots of Josh's family. Friday we went to the Temple to seal Linda and her sister and brother to their parents. That night we went to Temple Square. Friday we had a birthday party for Katrina then went to BYU then to the Dean's. Sunday we went home after church. It was so cold that weekend. It was right around freezing for the high. It was miserable to go outside. It was like that last winter the week we went.
In the spring I had a beehive activity at my house where we worked on family search. It wasn't a super fruitful activity for the girls, but as I was showing one of the girls something on Bob's line and I pulled Linda up and she had a green temple. I'd never thought to look at her before. She'd never been sealed to her parents. So from there we found out none of the living kids had either. And her mom Dorothy hadn't been sealed to her parents. So part of the reason for going to Utah was to get that work done. It was so awesome to be a part of that and help it get done.
I had my MRI. I go this week for the results. I still really hope I don't have MS, especially after talking to Katrina about her's. But I looked up diets for MS. I found that the most successful diet is exactly a strict interpretation of the Word of Wisdom. Whole food plant based with no meat or dairy. I didn't want to have to cut dairy out all the way. I hope that doesn't mean I have MS.
Kata and the 3 youngest Deans came to visit this weekend. It was fun to get to see them some more and for the kids to get more playing time in.
Seth past his orange belt in karate yesterday. He's been doing a lot better in school this year, but I've realized he's uncomfortably shy. So we've been working on helping him make friends. Aaron continues to have hard days. And to spiral things out of control when he doesn't get what he wants. We haven't been back to see Jeremy for a few weeks. It started to get where he was telling us the same things, it felt like. Aaron just really needs to put the things into practice, but that is slow to happen. Rachel is doing a volleyball clinic at school in addition to dance and piano. She's really liking it. Danny's school didn't end up having a basketball team, but he has kept in contact with the kids on the NLV team and one of the dad's is a coach so all he had to do was ask and they put him on the team. It's nice for him to not have to take the winter off. Ruby is doing great in preschool and she's so fun to have at home.
In the spring I had a beehive activity at my house where we worked on family search. It wasn't a super fruitful activity for the girls, but as I was showing one of the girls something on Bob's line and I pulled Linda up and she had a green temple. I'd never thought to look at her before. She'd never been sealed to her parents. So from there we found out none of the living kids had either. And her mom Dorothy hadn't been sealed to her parents. So part of the reason for going to Utah was to get that work done. It was so awesome to be a part of that and help it get done.
I had my MRI. I go this week for the results. I still really hope I don't have MS, especially after talking to Katrina about her's. But I looked up diets for MS. I found that the most successful diet is exactly a strict interpretation of the Word of Wisdom. Whole food plant based with no meat or dairy. I didn't want to have to cut dairy out all the way. I hope that doesn't mean I have MS.
Kata and the 3 youngest Deans came to visit this weekend. It was fun to get to see them some more and for the kids to get more playing time in.
Seth past his orange belt in karate yesterday. He's been doing a lot better in school this year, but I've realized he's uncomfortably shy. So we've been working on helping him make friends. Aaron continues to have hard days. And to spiral things out of control when he doesn't get what he wants. We haven't been back to see Jeremy for a few weeks. It started to get where he was telling us the same things, it felt like. Aaron just really needs to put the things into practice, but that is slow to happen. Rachel is doing a volleyball clinic at school in addition to dance and piano. She's really liking it. Danny's school didn't end up having a basketball team, but he has kept in contact with the kids on the NLV team and one of the dad's is a coach so all he had to do was ask and they put him on the team. It's nice for him to not have to take the winter off. Ruby is doing great in preschool and she's so fun to have at home.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
November 22, 2015
Last weekend we went to San Francisco. I found $40 flights so we took our whole family from Friday to Monday. My parents met us there, which made it even more exciting. We had a wonderful time. We stayed a few blocks away from Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. We rode Bart and buses. We crammed 6 of us in the back seat of a Ford Explorer taxi. My Dad drove 9 of us to church and across the Golden Gate bridge in my mom's 5-seater BMW. We played uno and skipbo and chinese jump rope. And we marveled at how awesome it was to not even need a stroller for our 5 fairly self-sufficient, fun kids.
Saturday we went to Pier 39. We got there right when everything was opening, which was awesome because it wasn't crowded yet. We did the 7D experience game and laser maze, watched the seals play king of the hill, did the mirror maze, watched a magic show and looked in lots of shops. We ate lunch and then walked over to Ghiradeli Square for dessert. Then we took a bus over to China town. We saw fortune cookies being made and the kids loved to point out weird vegetables and look at all the cheap china toys.
Sunday we went to church. We drove down Lombard street on the way back to the hotel. Then we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and walked out on it a little ways. We came back to the hotel and walked some of the big San Francisco hills to the street car museum by Chinatown.
Monday we went on a tour of Alcataz. Everyone loved that, except it was so cold out there! We came back and did the Musee Mechanique by Fisherman's Wharf. It was an arcade with all kinds of old and newish coin-operated games. The kids had a lot of fun there. We went back to Pier 39 and the Cal State marching band was just setting up so we watched that for a while and then looked through a few more shops and had dinner.
Today we got called to be Ma's and Pa's for our stake's Youth Trek this summer. I found out our stake was doing it Tuesday at a YW meeting. Since then I've been really wanting to go. Today it kept coming to my mind and I prayed a few times that we'd be asked to do it. Then after church, Brother Ewing came over and as soon as he sat down I knew he was from the Trek committee. It's going to be so great. The only bummer is that it's 14 and up so Rachel won't be able to go.
I went to Sports physical therapy to try to get help with my tingling hands. Scott Pensivy didn't have any openings for a month so I went to Anthony, which worked out better because he takes insurance. They both checked me out and thought I had Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. I went to therapy twice a week for 3 1/2 weeks. They did lots of massage, nerve stretches and traction. It seemed to help a little, but it didn't fix it and it should have if that was the correct diagnosis. So he referred me to a neurologist. I just saw him last week. He seems very good. Much better than the one I went to when I was having bad headaches. He wants to do an MRI of my brain to see if something is wrong there. It really seems like that's not it, though. It seems like I have a nerve that gets pinched somewhere in my neck. It gets worse as soon as I lay down. That seems like it's more a physical problem than MS or something in my brain. It still isn't a horrible problem during the day. But it always starts at night. The last week or two have been nice because it hasn't been as strong for some reason and hasn't really woken me up. But last night it did again. I go for the MRI after Thanksgiving. If I do have something wrong with me, then I wonder if that's part of the reason I've felt impressed to live the Word of Wisdom better.
Saturday we went to Pier 39. We got there right when everything was opening, which was awesome because it wasn't crowded yet. We did the 7D experience game and laser maze, watched the seals play king of the hill, did the mirror maze, watched a magic show and looked in lots of shops. We ate lunch and then walked over to Ghiradeli Square for dessert. Then we took a bus over to China town. We saw fortune cookies being made and the kids loved to point out weird vegetables and look at all the cheap china toys.
Sunday we went to church. We drove down Lombard street on the way back to the hotel. Then we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and walked out on it a little ways. We came back to the hotel and walked some of the big San Francisco hills to the street car museum by Chinatown.
Monday we went on a tour of Alcataz. Everyone loved that, except it was so cold out there! We came back and did the Musee Mechanique by Fisherman's Wharf. It was an arcade with all kinds of old and newish coin-operated games. The kids had a lot of fun there. We went back to Pier 39 and the Cal State marching band was just setting up so we watched that for a while and then looked through a few more shops and had dinner.
Today we got called to be Ma's and Pa's for our stake's Youth Trek this summer. I found out our stake was doing it Tuesday at a YW meeting. Since then I've been really wanting to go. Today it kept coming to my mind and I prayed a few times that we'd be asked to do it. Then after church, Brother Ewing came over and as soon as he sat down I knew he was from the Trek committee. It's going to be so great. The only bummer is that it's 14 and up so Rachel won't be able to go.
I went to Sports physical therapy to try to get help with my tingling hands. Scott Pensivy didn't have any openings for a month so I went to Anthony, which worked out better because he takes insurance. They both checked me out and thought I had Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. I went to therapy twice a week for 3 1/2 weeks. They did lots of massage, nerve stretches and traction. It seemed to help a little, but it didn't fix it and it should have if that was the correct diagnosis. So he referred me to a neurologist. I just saw him last week. He seems very good. Much better than the one I went to when I was having bad headaches. He wants to do an MRI of my brain to see if something is wrong there. It really seems like that's not it, though. It seems like I have a nerve that gets pinched somewhere in my neck. It gets worse as soon as I lay down. That seems like it's more a physical problem than MS or something in my brain. It still isn't a horrible problem during the day. But it always starts at night. The last week or two have been nice because it hasn't been as strong for some reason and hasn't really woken me up. But last night it did again. I go for the MRI after Thanksgiving. If I do have something wrong with me, then I wonder if that's part of the reason I've felt impressed to live the Word of Wisdom better.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
November 2, 2015
This weekend was Halloween. We had our ward Trunk or Treat on Friday night. Danny didn't dress up this year. He handed out candy in the van. Rachel was Pikachu, Aaron was the guy from scream, Seth was a SWAT guy, that he's wanted to be all year, but then when it came time, he just wanted to wear the sumo costume. So I let him wear that for trick or treating, but he had to wear the SWAT one for trunk or treat. And Ruby was bat girl. We had a great time at the trunk or treat. Then Saturday was halloween. We had our annual potluck dinner with our friends in the area and then went trick or treating. Danny didn't dress up again and just hung out with a couple of friends at their house. Rachel went trick or treating with a bunch of beehives. Aaron went out with some friends who had plans to go really fast. They did 2 neighborhoods in the time we did one. So then Bob and I just walked around with Seth and Ruby.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
October 18, 2015
Aaron Ruby and Bob have been gone this week. I've learned that three kids is so much easier than five kids. And it was nice to change the dynamics with the kids. Seth got a whole lot more individual attention. And I was able to do fun things with Danny and Rachel. And then it was nice for Aaron and Ruby to get their own attention in Virginia.
I went to the temple one of the days that Ruby was gone. I also went to see a physical therapist. I called for an appointment with Scott Pensivy. But he doesn't have any appointments for two months. So I made an appointment with one of the therapists he works with. His name is Anthony. He seem to know what he was doing. He thinks it's some kind of tight muscles and soft tissue problem. So he did a lot of deep massage and stretching and Soundwaves and things. It seems to help. But my hands weren't tingling very bad when I went to see him. I have been keeping a daily record of my activities to try to find triggers. So far I have no idea. I go to see the physical therapist again this week. So hopefully it can help.
On Friday night it was the fall festival at school. Rachel signed up to do face painting. And Danny didn't want to go. So Seth and I got to go around and do all the booths together. It was nice to spend time with just him. After the fall festival we put Seth to bed and Danny and Rachel and I watched a movie. On Saturday Danny had a basketball game and then we all went out to eat. Rachel went over to Mckayla's house. So the boys and I watched a boy movie. And had candy and soda. They seemed to really like the time together. Sunday morning Seth surprised me and got up and got himself dressed before I even got up. So I didn't have to get anyone ready for church today. It was great.
I went to the temple one of the days that Ruby was gone. I also went to see a physical therapist. I called for an appointment with Scott Pensivy. But he doesn't have any appointments for two months. So I made an appointment with one of the therapists he works with. His name is Anthony. He seem to know what he was doing. He thinks it's some kind of tight muscles and soft tissue problem. So he did a lot of deep massage and stretching and Soundwaves and things. It seems to help. But my hands weren't tingling very bad when I went to see him. I have been keeping a daily record of my activities to try to find triggers. So far I have no idea. I go to see the physical therapist again this week. So hopefully it can help.
On Friday night it was the fall festival at school. Rachel signed up to do face painting. And Danny didn't want to go. So Seth and I got to go around and do all the booths together. It was nice to spend time with just him. After the fall festival we put Seth to bed and Danny and Rachel and I watched a movie. On Saturday Danny had a basketball game and then we all went out to eat. Rachel went over to Mckayla's house. So the boys and I watched a boy movie. And had candy and soda. They seemed to really like the time together. Sunday morning Seth surprised me and got up and got himself dressed before I even got up. So I didn't have to get anyone ready for church today. It was great.
Monday, October 12, 2015
October 12, 2015
My breathing is doing a lot better since conference. I've been really trying to focus on the Savior. Elder Maynes of the 70 talked about clay pots on the potters wheel and how if they were right in the center of the potters wheel that pots with spin out of control. I Felt like that was a good analogy for my life. I think I'm spinning really fast but I don't know that I was in the direct center before. I was trying to do so many good things but Christ was probably not in the center is he should've been. So I've been really working on that. It's been helping me feel happier and more calm.
My tingling arms have been horrible though. They've been waking me up most nights. Last week they also started getting weak. My muscles feel sore and my hands move in slow motion like when you've been out in the cold really long and your muscles are kind of frozen. So I decided to fast last Thursday for help with my arms. I found a website that talks about helping pinched nerves because of poor posture. That makes sense that that could be part of my issue. I don't have the best posture. So I've been doing the exercises that that site says to do. I felt a lot of help after I fasted and my arm seem to do a little bit better. But it still continues. I had Bob give me a blessing on Sunday night. He talked about being able to recognize the correlations between my activities and my tingling arms. That would be great. Because right right now I don't see any correlation. It doesn't seem to make a difference if I am active or not or drive more or do exercises or not. I have no idea. The blessing also said that I will be led to the specific person that can help me with my issue. It's comforting to know there is someone that can help me. I hope it isn't extremely time-consuming and money consuming though. I think I will make an appointment with Scott Pensivy tomorrow. He seems to at least be a good starting place if it's not him.
Bob and I finished our love and logic class we've been taking for the last six weeks. It was very helpful. I had felt like my parenting was getting a little out of control. The kids weren't listening like I thought they should. And I was feeling a little overworked and under appreciated. The class has help me to get them to help around the house better and to be able to communicate with them without getting mad.
Bob Ruby and Aaron leave tomorrow for their trip to Virginia. They're all very excited. It will be nice to have a few extra hours during the day to get things done. I plan to go to a meeting at the school and go to the temple and get some housework done. But I think I will especially miss Ruby because she's my little sidekick.
Bill Hulterstrom came to town last week and we met at Jamba Juice one morning. It was good to refocus on my website work. I haven't been doing a very good job staying on top of that. It's so easy to prioritize other things above it. But now I am planning to have regular meetings with the communications Director to be able to stay on top of the projects they need me to do. There are also planning to redesign their website. That's always a fun project.
My tingling arms have been horrible though. They've been waking me up most nights. Last week they also started getting weak. My muscles feel sore and my hands move in slow motion like when you've been out in the cold really long and your muscles are kind of frozen. So I decided to fast last Thursday for help with my arms. I found a website that talks about helping pinched nerves because of poor posture. That makes sense that that could be part of my issue. I don't have the best posture. So I've been doing the exercises that that site says to do. I felt a lot of help after I fasted and my arm seem to do a little bit better. But it still continues. I had Bob give me a blessing on Sunday night. He talked about being able to recognize the correlations between my activities and my tingling arms. That would be great. Because right right now I don't see any correlation. It doesn't seem to make a difference if I am active or not or drive more or do exercises or not. I have no idea. The blessing also said that I will be led to the specific person that can help me with my issue. It's comforting to know there is someone that can help me. I hope it isn't extremely time-consuming and money consuming though. I think I will make an appointment with Scott Pensivy tomorrow. He seems to at least be a good starting place if it's not him.
Bob and I finished our love and logic class we've been taking for the last six weeks. It was very helpful. I had felt like my parenting was getting a little out of control. The kids weren't listening like I thought they should. And I was feeling a little overworked and under appreciated. The class has help me to get them to help around the house better and to be able to communicate with them without getting mad.
Bob Ruby and Aaron leave tomorrow for their trip to Virginia. They're all very excited. It will be nice to have a few extra hours during the day to get things done. I plan to go to a meeting at the school and go to the temple and get some housework done. But I think I will especially miss Ruby because she's my little sidekick.
Bill Hulterstrom came to town last week and we met at Jamba Juice one morning. It was good to refocus on my website work. I haven't been doing a very good job staying on top of that. It's so easy to prioritize other things above it. But now I am planning to have regular meetings with the communications Director to be able to stay on top of the projects they need me to do. There are also planning to redesign their website. That's always a fun project.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
September 27, 2015
I've been having a hard time with my breathing thing. I feel like I've been trying to read more and take out as many nonessential things from my life, but I keep holding my breath and reacting to slightly stressful situations with bigger responses than I should. It's so frustrating because it's a problem I'm causing and I have no idea how to fix it. Then this week my tingling hands are back and it wakes me up at night and then I find that I'm holding my breath and that combination keeps me up for hours. So this week has been hard. Today is fast Sunday because of conference next week. I fasted about this issue and I've been trying to brainstorm any possible ideas that can help me. Over the last two days the scripture came to my mind "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." I looked up the reference last night and thought it would be a good thing to keep in mind as I try to work on this. Then today Rachel and I watched the Women's Conference broadcast because we couldn't last night. They had a video on there with a woman who was talking about her trials with not having kids and things not working out how she thought they would and she shared Phillipians 4:13 and said how much comfort it gave her. I felt so loved and watched over when I heard that. I don't remember ever paying particular attention to that verse in the past. But I know the Spirit whispered it to me yesterday in preparation for watching this broadcast. I know that the Lord is aware of me and wanted to comfort me even though this trial is probably not over. What a blessing that is to know I'm loved and important enough to let me know in such a special way.
My hands have been tingling again. They were doing so much better. There was just a slight tingling, but not enough to wake me up. But I talked to a friend who had a similar thing and she said hers was some kind of nutritional imbalance. And since I've been changing our diets with less meat and more grains and beans I was a little worried that something new was causing the issue. So I went to see her doctor. But he didn't think it was anything like that. He thought my ribs were out of alignment and the muscle tension is pinching the nerves. It sounded kind of like my SI rotation thing so I let him adjust my ribs even though I really hate chiropractic adjustments. He said I'd need to come back at least 4-5 times to get my ribs to stay in the correct alignment, but after going once it made my tingling come back a lot. So I don't know if he was right and I should have stuck with it to fix it or if it caused more problems. I didn't go back. I'm trying to decide if I want to go talk to my home teacher who is a chiropractor and get his opinion or just wait and see if it gets better. It's so frustrating. I think I'm going to try to swim at least once a week though. My back seems to be weak and that is good for it.
I took Seth to an allergy specialist this week. They did the skin test on his back. He responded to pretty much all weeds, trees and grasses and animals. Thankfully, though, he doesn't have any food allergies. They prescribed an extra nasal spray to help dry out his sinuses. Hopefully that will really help his hearing.
I met with Seth's teacher. Seth is below grade level in reading. We talked about things we can do to help him. He's not confident in his ability to read and doesn't like to try hard things. So it's been really hard to get him to practice. He's liking his class this year and has been a little more interested. I bought him a set of really easy Ninja Turtle books and that has motivated him quite a bit. And I've hired Rachel as his tutor. She is going to work with him 30 minutes a day on sight words and homework and other practice. She bought some candy to help motivate him. I think it's going to be good for both of them.
My hands have been tingling again. They were doing so much better. There was just a slight tingling, but not enough to wake me up. But I talked to a friend who had a similar thing and she said hers was some kind of nutritional imbalance. And since I've been changing our diets with less meat and more grains and beans I was a little worried that something new was causing the issue. So I went to see her doctor. But he didn't think it was anything like that. He thought my ribs were out of alignment and the muscle tension is pinching the nerves. It sounded kind of like my SI rotation thing so I let him adjust my ribs even though I really hate chiropractic adjustments. He said I'd need to come back at least 4-5 times to get my ribs to stay in the correct alignment, but after going once it made my tingling come back a lot. So I don't know if he was right and I should have stuck with it to fix it or if it caused more problems. I didn't go back. I'm trying to decide if I want to go talk to my home teacher who is a chiropractor and get his opinion or just wait and see if it gets better. It's so frustrating. I think I'm going to try to swim at least once a week though. My back seems to be weak and that is good for it.
I took Seth to an allergy specialist this week. They did the skin test on his back. He responded to pretty much all weeds, trees and grasses and animals. Thankfully, though, he doesn't have any food allergies. They prescribed an extra nasal spray to help dry out his sinuses. Hopefully that will really help his hearing.
I met with Seth's teacher. Seth is below grade level in reading. We talked about things we can do to help him. He's not confident in his ability to read and doesn't like to try hard things. So it's been really hard to get him to practice. He's liking his class this year and has been a little more interested. I bought him a set of really easy Ninja Turtle books and that has motivated him quite a bit. And I've hired Rachel as his tutor. She is going to work with him 30 minutes a day on sight words and homework and other practice. She bought some candy to help motivate him. I think it's going to be good for both of them.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
September 20, 2015
School is going well. We're in the routine of drop offs and pick ups. The kids are liking their classes. Ruby is loving preschool. Danny has done especially well with the transfer to the new school. A lot of guys he knew moved over and he's a pretty outgoing guy at school. Rachel has found some good friends and says she has a huge group of friends she eats lunch with and a few closer friends in that group. Seth and Aaron are doing great in their classes.
We got a dog again. It was a Shih Tzu. He was a nice little dog. I was so happy he didn't shed. I was ready to commit to this dog and the kids just adored him, especially Ruby and Aaron. A couple days after we got him, I thought Seth got a cold. It was such a strong reaction it didn't even occur to me that it was allergies. But about 2 weeks later I was talking to him after school and realized he couldn't hear me well. He was 5 feet away and if I talked in a calm voice, he couldn't hear me, while Aaron could hear it across the room. So we took him to the pediatrician. She did a blood allergy test and confirmed he has dog and cat allergies and lots of other allergies. She put him on a lot of medicines and we go see an allergy specialist this week. His ears are getting a little better, but he still has a hard time hearing. We sold the dog.
We went to San Diego for Kristal's wedding last weekend. We decided to get up early on Thursday morning and go to Legoland while we were down there. Seth and Ruby have really been getting into legos so everyone wanted them to be able to go. Unfortunately San Diego was having a heat wave that weekend. We got out of the car and it was immediately hot and humid. We all sweat all day. But we didn't have to wait in line for anything so that pretty much made up for it. We also got tickets to go to the Aquarium next to Legoland. We had a great day. That night we went to the house my parents' rented. It was really nice, but had no air conditioner. :( We had Kristal's bridal shower that night.
Friday we went to the beach for most of the day. The water and air were so warm. That made it really fun.
Saturday Danny, Rachel, Dustin and Sheila watched all the little kids on the temple grounds while we went to the sealing. Then we took pictures. Then we went home and swam in the pool before going back to the reception. She had it at Mission Bay right by the water and there was a taco truck and churro cart. It was a fun party. That night and inside the temple were the only not-hot times the whole weekend. We went to sacrament meeting the next morning and their AC was broken too. We were all ready to go back to Las Vegas and air conditioning by the end of the weekend.
Aaron has still been having a hard time. His tantrums aren't so bad, but now he quits everything and blows it up just to make it worse. Like if he doesn't play well at basketball with Danny, he quits and says he's horrible and he's never going to play again, etc. Or I've been really working on eating healthier and Aaron isn't adjusting well to that. So at dinner, he'll be so rude about my cooking or he just won't take a lunch or eat breakfast some days. One day he had a tantrum over Saturday jobs. He'd been crying in his room for a while. And then after a little bit, Rachel came and told me she saw Aaron google how to easily kill yourself. He apologized a ton, but it was still scary. So I went to see Valerie. She said a quote that explains him so well lately: "He who cares the least, has the most power". Aaron's been using that in so many ways. Valerie had a lot of helpful things to say. She talked about him having age appropriate behavior and if he doesn't then he loses the things he cares about. That's helped. She thinks his main issue is that he has too high of expectations of himself and things around him. She suggested he see a therapist she works with who works with kids. We saw him this week. His name is Jeremy. He is going to be awesome. He talked about most of the times we act out it's because we don't feel good enough. He said Satan is picking on Aaron because he's a threat to him. And Aaron needs to go into warrior mode instead of being on the defensive. He gave him a list of things to do every day for the acronym Man Power. M-minister or serve, A-action and accountability, N-no tantrums!, P-prayer 2 times a day, W-write a letter to God, R-read scriptures or friend. We're going to keep seeing him weekly for a while and see how it goes.
I've been working on following the Word of Wisdom still. I've cut down on meat a ton. We have it maybe once a week, and that's mostly because I still have a bunch in my freezer. We're doing a lot more grains and beans and nuts. I try to add more vegetables to all my dinners. I thought a lot about milk, yogurt, cheese and eggs. We all really enjoy those. I prayed about it and decided that we'll try not to just eat those to eat them, but use them to enhance fruits and vegetables. Cheese makes so many things taste better, but I won't buy cheese sticks or make cheese nachos. I buy plain yogurt already, but we'll try to eat it mostly with fruit or granola or in smoothies. The kids miss a lot of the processed snack foods we used to have. I buy trail mix or nuts for snacks and I try to make whole grain muffins or breads to use for snacks too. I feel healthier and happier with my body eating this way. The kids are mostly adjusting pretty well. Aaron is trying to hold out, but he's doing better.
We got a dog again. It was a Shih Tzu. He was a nice little dog. I was so happy he didn't shed. I was ready to commit to this dog and the kids just adored him, especially Ruby and Aaron. A couple days after we got him, I thought Seth got a cold. It was such a strong reaction it didn't even occur to me that it was allergies. But about 2 weeks later I was talking to him after school and realized he couldn't hear me well. He was 5 feet away and if I talked in a calm voice, he couldn't hear me, while Aaron could hear it across the room. So we took him to the pediatrician. She did a blood allergy test and confirmed he has dog and cat allergies and lots of other allergies. She put him on a lot of medicines and we go see an allergy specialist this week. His ears are getting a little better, but he still has a hard time hearing. We sold the dog.
We went to San Diego for Kristal's wedding last weekend. We decided to get up early on Thursday morning and go to Legoland while we were down there. Seth and Ruby have really been getting into legos so everyone wanted them to be able to go. Unfortunately San Diego was having a heat wave that weekend. We got out of the car and it was immediately hot and humid. We all sweat all day. But we didn't have to wait in line for anything so that pretty much made up for it. We also got tickets to go to the Aquarium next to Legoland. We had a great day. That night we went to the house my parents' rented. It was really nice, but had no air conditioner. :( We had Kristal's bridal shower that night.
Friday we went to the beach for most of the day. The water and air were so warm. That made it really fun.
Saturday Danny, Rachel, Dustin and Sheila watched all the little kids on the temple grounds while we went to the sealing. Then we took pictures. Then we went home and swam in the pool before going back to the reception. She had it at Mission Bay right by the water and there was a taco truck and churro cart. It was a fun party. That night and inside the temple were the only not-hot times the whole weekend. We went to sacrament meeting the next morning and their AC was broken too. We were all ready to go back to Las Vegas and air conditioning by the end of the weekend.
Aaron has still been having a hard time. His tantrums aren't so bad, but now he quits everything and blows it up just to make it worse. Like if he doesn't play well at basketball with Danny, he quits and says he's horrible and he's never going to play again, etc. Or I've been really working on eating healthier and Aaron isn't adjusting well to that. So at dinner, he'll be so rude about my cooking or he just won't take a lunch or eat breakfast some days. One day he had a tantrum over Saturday jobs. He'd been crying in his room for a while. And then after a little bit, Rachel came and told me she saw Aaron google how to easily kill yourself. He apologized a ton, but it was still scary. So I went to see Valerie. She said a quote that explains him so well lately: "He who cares the least, has the most power". Aaron's been using that in so many ways. Valerie had a lot of helpful things to say. She talked about him having age appropriate behavior and if he doesn't then he loses the things he cares about. That's helped. She thinks his main issue is that he has too high of expectations of himself and things around him. She suggested he see a therapist she works with who works with kids. We saw him this week. His name is Jeremy. He is going to be awesome. He talked about most of the times we act out it's because we don't feel good enough. He said Satan is picking on Aaron because he's a threat to him. And Aaron needs to go into warrior mode instead of being on the defensive. He gave him a list of things to do every day for the acronym Man Power. M-minister or serve, A-action and accountability, N-no tantrums!, P-prayer 2 times a day, W-write a letter to God, R-read scriptures or friend. We're going to keep seeing him weekly for a while and see how it goes.
I've been working on following the Word of Wisdom still. I've cut down on meat a ton. We have it maybe once a week, and that's mostly because I still have a bunch in my freezer. We're doing a lot more grains and beans and nuts. I try to add more vegetables to all my dinners. I thought a lot about milk, yogurt, cheese and eggs. We all really enjoy those. I prayed about it and decided that we'll try not to just eat those to eat them, but use them to enhance fruits and vegetables. Cheese makes so many things taste better, but I won't buy cheese sticks or make cheese nachos. I buy plain yogurt already, but we'll try to eat it mostly with fruit or granola or in smoothies. The kids miss a lot of the processed snack foods we used to have. I buy trail mix or nuts for snacks and I try to make whole grain muffins or breads to use for snacks too. I feel healthier and happier with my body eating this way. The kids are mostly adjusting pretty well. Aaron is trying to hold out, but he's doing better.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
August 23, 2015
School starts tomorrow. We met everyone's teachers this week. I especially love Seth's teacher. That makes it easier to spend all the extra time driving him to the other school. Danny and Rachel have schedules that I'm really happy with. Aaron is happy with his teacher. I don't really know her. I still really hope he can switch to sky pointe.
We got a dog. It was a little spur of the moment. We all decided we all wanted a shih tzu. The kids looked a few times on craigslist and didn't find anything that looked right. Then last Sunday Aaron found one so I texted her. We went and saw him on Monday and he looked good. He was a little skinny it had been a while since he was groomed, but he was so calm and easy. He was in a house with several little kids. We were thinking we'd have to check out several dogs, but we brought home the first one we looked at. So far he's been good. He had a few accidents the first day, but then he's been fine. He sleeps in his kennel. And he's so good with the kids. I love that he doesn't shed.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
August 16, 2015
We had a great trip to Visalia. We did some shopping, went to Adventure park because Ruby wanted to go to the place with the games where you get a cup of money, swimming at the neighbors' house, and we rode the train from Hanford to Fresno. The kids thought that was great. We walked around for a couple hours and rode home and ate at Superior dairy on the way home. My dad made a knife throwing target for YM and Danny had a great time with that. We had a family party there for Rachel's birthday. We went out to Sizzler for dinner and then had cake at home. We gave her her Iphone there. She thought it was great.
For Rachel's real birthday, she had McKayla over for a lateover and they went and got manicures. Then the next day we took Danny and Rachel to the temple. It was great. It's so nice to have the temple that is so accessible and kids who want to go. We want to try to get a regular trip going once a month and maybe rotate through different parents driving. I think that will be so helpful to the kids to keep their testimonies strong.
Seth got in to Sky Pointe too. I thought the boys had no chance this year. I went ahead and registered him. I'm hoping Aaron will get in too, but that isn't as likely since we're only one week out from school starting. So now my carpooling will be a little crazy with kids at 2 different elementary schools, middle school and preschool. The legislature just voted for kindergarten to be all day for everyone starting next year. So it'll be a little sad to lose Ruby all day, but it'll be so nice not to have a middle of the day pickup.
I've started doing family history. Bob's uncle Jody has been doing a lot of work on ancestry.com and he shared it with Bob. So while I was at my mom's I had her show me some things so I can try to combine the two sites. I've found a lot of names that way. Also there were a lot of names just waiting because it's been a long time since someone in Bob's family has done family history. It's nice to have something I can do. My family has so much done. My mom spends hours and hours to just get a name or 2. The church has been saying to "find your cousins" so I figure that doing Bob's names is like finding my cousins.
Kata and my mom have both been telling me about books they've been reading about the Second Coming. So I read a couple. I think I need to work on my food storage and emergency preparedness.
For Rachel's real birthday, she had McKayla over for a lateover and they went and got manicures. Then the next day we took Danny and Rachel to the temple. It was great. It's so nice to have the temple that is so accessible and kids who want to go. We want to try to get a regular trip going once a month and maybe rotate through different parents driving. I think that will be so helpful to the kids to keep their testimonies strong.
Seth got in to Sky Pointe too. I thought the boys had no chance this year. I went ahead and registered him. I'm hoping Aaron will get in too, but that isn't as likely since we're only one week out from school starting. So now my carpooling will be a little crazy with kids at 2 different elementary schools, middle school and preschool. The legislature just voted for kindergarten to be all day for everyone starting next year. So it'll be a little sad to lose Ruby all day, but it'll be so nice not to have a middle of the day pickup.
I've started doing family history. Bob's uncle Jody has been doing a lot of work on ancestry.com and he shared it with Bob. So while I was at my mom's I had her show me some things so I can try to combine the two sites. I've found a lot of names that way. Also there were a lot of names just waiting because it's been a long time since someone in Bob's family has done family history. It's nice to have something I can do. My family has so much done. My mom spends hours and hours to just get a name or 2. The church has been saying to "find your cousins" so I figure that doing Bob's names is like finding my cousins.
Kata and my mom have both been telling me about books they've been reading about the Second Coming. So I read a couple. I think I need to work on my food storage and emergency preparedness.
Monday, August 3, 2015
August 3, 2015
We've had a busy summer! We got passes to Cowabunga Bay because we thought we didn't have as many trips as usual. Ha! But it's been so fun to have them. We try to go every week we're home. Ruby and Seth are tall enough to ride most of the rides now, but they each have to have someone older than 16 go with them. So if Bob goes with us we get to ride all the rides, but that's only been 2 times this summer. So on all the other weeks we spend a lot of time in the lazy river, wave pool and kiddie slides. It's still super fun, though. Seth even rode "The Drop" this last time we went. You have to be 48 inches to ride it. He barely is, but I thought for sure he'd want to wait another year. They put you in a tube and close the door and then the bottom drops out. Out of the blue, he said he thinks he wants to do it. So we went up there and we let several people go in front of us while he watched to make sure he wanted to do it. But then he did it and he loved it! He even went again. He's a little thrill seeker. He likes the bigger roller coasters at Magic mountain too.
Right after school got out, we spent a night at the Excalibur to celebrate their graduation from this year of Mom School. We got 2 rooms and played skipbo. We had fun at the pools Thursday night. Friday we got up and went to the Coke store and M&M world. We had such a great time at those. We watched a 3D movie at M&M and then we ordered different sodas from around the world at Coke.
My tingly arms are getting better. They did a bunch of tests and couldn't figure out why it's happening. I haven't done much exercise with my arms and I think all our vacations have helped because I didn't have to do much cleaning. They still tingle sometimes, but it isn't as strong. And I can't sleep on my right side, yet, but my back is usually just fine now.
The girls had their dance recital. They did great!! It was so fun to watch. I'm so glad they have this cute little place for them to dance. Sandy and May came too. While they were there, Sandy mentioned they need a new dog walker. Danny and Rachel got the job. It's been awesome for them. And they earn a lot of money.
After girls camp, Danny went to Scout camp. He had a good time. They camped lower on Mt. Charleston, so it was a little hotter for them. Bob went for the last couple of days. He came home Saturday morning and that night the Deans came to stay with us that night and then we drove to Mexico on Sunday. Celise Salmon's family has a beach house south of Rosarito and she invited a few families to come stay. We also met the Mechams there. They have kids Danny, Rachel and Aaron's ages. So there were plenty of kids for everyone. We stayed from Sunday to Thursday. We had a fabulous time. The house had plenty of room for all of us. It was cloudy most of the time and a little cold at night. We had the beach to ourselves every day. The kids played in the sand and boogie boarded for hours every day. Because the beach wasn't used very much, there were hundreds of perfect sand dollars all over the beach. The kids collected buckets full. The kids played fun games at night. We went to a little tourist market one day and the kids all bought cheap souvenirs. Rachel bought a purse. Danny got a hat. Aaron bought a hammock for his bedroom. Seth bought a crossbow. And Ruby didn't like any of the junk so she decided she wanted her own trip to Winco to get candy when we got home.
We got home from Mexico 5 minutes before Ryan and Venessa got to our house for 4th of July. Kristal and Dan came too. We had a great time with them. We swam in the pool, the adults went to the Stratosphere one night, we did fireworks and ate good food. There were tons of illegal fireworks this year. Our neighbor behind us did them for hours. We had such a good time watching them in between doing ours, until we went in our backyard and realized it was covered with cardboard and other things that had fallen when the fireworks exploded. It took us an hour and a half to clean up our backyard. Everyone left on Monday.
Then that Friday we left for Lake Tahoe. We got there in time for their airport's airshow that Kevin organizes every year. It was so fun. They had lots of airplanes we could look inside and they had airplanes flying all the time doing tricks and showing off. They kids watched a puppet show and Ruby got her face painted. They had all these cute girly designs of butterflies and flowers, but when she sat down and they asked what she wanted, she pointed right to the big black batman mask. We get to eat lunch in the VIP tent and we had snowcones as we walked around.
Sunday we had our annual family testimony meeting by the reservoir. It was nice. And then that night we went to Sugar Pine state park and Amanda took our family pictures. They turned out great again.And then we walked around and had fun. We went to Donner lake one day and put in the jet ski and kayaks. We went to the neighborhood pool and played tennis and went to the bmx track. We went to Watson lake. It was so fun. It was this tiny lake with tons of tad poles. The kids put the kayaks in and paddled over to "Tadpole Terrace" where there were tons of them. Ruby was fearless with them. She'd reach right down and grab a frog or tadpole as soon as she saw one. Her brothers would even call her over to get some for them because they were a little grossed out by the slimy things. We also went of a hike around the lake and had a picnic there. And then we had a day at Sand Harbor. We just did the kayaks because the lake is too low for the jet ski. The kids found a great place to catch crawdads and Amanda cooked them up for them again this year. We played games every night and Danny joined us this year and he loved it. Kevin and Amanda are such wonderful hosts. We have so much fun with them and we're so glad they let us come every year.
We left Lake Tahoe and headed to Utah for the weekend because Bob's college friends were getting together. We stayed with Wendy and Ryan, who are so kind to let us stay there. I was so happy to get to see them, especially since they weren't able to come to Tahoe this year. We got together with Trina and Sarah for breakfast on Saturday and then that afternoon we went up to Salt Lake to Jeff's house for a barbecue with all Bob's friends and their families. Everyone had a great time. Bob stayed longer with some of the guys. Sunday we got to stay at Wendy's and play in their great backyard and walk on the trail that goes behind their house. Monday we headed home and stopped at the Dean's house for a couple hours on the way home. The kids loved to have that time with them.
Rachel left yesterday (Sunday) to go stay with my mom for a few days. She flew all by herself. Then we'll all get there Thursday night. Bob will stay until Sunday and then fly home and we'll stay until the next Thursday. We have to be home that night because Bob is taking Rachel to a concert of a band they both like that night for her birthday. Then the next night she'll have a party with her friends on her actual birthday. And hopefully then next day we'll be able to take her and Danny to the temple to do some family baptisms. We've been saving lots of female names for her.
Then we'll just have a week until school starts. Danny and Rachel are starting at Somerset Skypointe. It's similar to ours, but it has a real school building and we've heard great things about it. The kids might stay there for high school too, so it'll be nice for them to try it out this year and then Danny will be better able to make his choice for High School. And Ruby will start preschool. She's so excited and so am I!
Right after school got out, we spent a night at the Excalibur to celebrate their graduation from this year of Mom School. We got 2 rooms and played skipbo. We had fun at the pools Thursday night. Friday we got up and went to the Coke store and M&M world. We had such a great time at those. We watched a 3D movie at M&M and then we ordered different sodas from around the world at Coke.
My tingly arms are getting better. They did a bunch of tests and couldn't figure out why it's happening. I haven't done much exercise with my arms and I think all our vacations have helped because I didn't have to do much cleaning. They still tingle sometimes, but it isn't as strong. And I can't sleep on my right side, yet, but my back is usually just fine now.
The girls had their dance recital. They did great!! It was so fun to watch. I'm so glad they have this cute little place for them to dance. Sandy and May came too. While they were there, Sandy mentioned they need a new dog walker. Danny and Rachel got the job. It's been awesome for them. And they earn a lot of money.
After girls camp, Danny went to Scout camp. He had a good time. They camped lower on Mt. Charleston, so it was a little hotter for them. Bob went for the last couple of days. He came home Saturday morning and that night the Deans came to stay with us that night and then we drove to Mexico on Sunday. Celise Salmon's family has a beach house south of Rosarito and she invited a few families to come stay. We also met the Mechams there. They have kids Danny, Rachel and Aaron's ages. So there were plenty of kids for everyone. We stayed from Sunday to Thursday. We had a fabulous time. The house had plenty of room for all of us. It was cloudy most of the time and a little cold at night. We had the beach to ourselves every day. The kids played in the sand and boogie boarded for hours every day. Because the beach wasn't used very much, there were hundreds of perfect sand dollars all over the beach. The kids collected buckets full. The kids played fun games at night. We went to a little tourist market one day and the kids all bought cheap souvenirs. Rachel bought a purse. Danny got a hat. Aaron bought a hammock for his bedroom. Seth bought a crossbow. And Ruby didn't like any of the junk so she decided she wanted her own trip to Winco to get candy when we got home.
We got home from Mexico 5 minutes before Ryan and Venessa got to our house for 4th of July. Kristal and Dan came too. We had a great time with them. We swam in the pool, the adults went to the Stratosphere one night, we did fireworks and ate good food. There were tons of illegal fireworks this year. Our neighbor behind us did them for hours. We had such a good time watching them in between doing ours, until we went in our backyard and realized it was covered with cardboard and other things that had fallen when the fireworks exploded. It took us an hour and a half to clean up our backyard. Everyone left on Monday.
Then that Friday we left for Lake Tahoe. We got there in time for their airport's airshow that Kevin organizes every year. It was so fun. They had lots of airplanes we could look inside and they had airplanes flying all the time doing tricks and showing off. They kids watched a puppet show and Ruby got her face painted. They had all these cute girly designs of butterflies and flowers, but when she sat down and they asked what she wanted, she pointed right to the big black batman mask. We get to eat lunch in the VIP tent and we had snowcones as we walked around.
Sunday we had our annual family testimony meeting by the reservoir. It was nice. And then that night we went to Sugar Pine state park and Amanda took our family pictures. They turned out great again.And then we walked around and had fun. We went to Donner lake one day and put in the jet ski and kayaks. We went to the neighborhood pool and played tennis and went to the bmx track. We went to Watson lake. It was so fun. It was this tiny lake with tons of tad poles. The kids put the kayaks in and paddled over to "Tadpole Terrace" where there were tons of them. Ruby was fearless with them. She'd reach right down and grab a frog or tadpole as soon as she saw one. Her brothers would even call her over to get some for them because they were a little grossed out by the slimy things. We also went of a hike around the lake and had a picnic there. And then we had a day at Sand Harbor. We just did the kayaks because the lake is too low for the jet ski. The kids found a great place to catch crawdads and Amanda cooked them up for them again this year. We played games every night and Danny joined us this year and he loved it. Kevin and Amanda are such wonderful hosts. We have so much fun with them and we're so glad they let us come every year.
We left Lake Tahoe and headed to Utah for the weekend because Bob's college friends were getting together. We stayed with Wendy and Ryan, who are so kind to let us stay there. I was so happy to get to see them, especially since they weren't able to come to Tahoe this year. We got together with Trina and Sarah for breakfast on Saturday and then that afternoon we went up to Salt Lake to Jeff's house for a barbecue with all Bob's friends and their families. Everyone had a great time. Bob stayed longer with some of the guys. Sunday we got to stay at Wendy's and play in their great backyard and walk on the trail that goes behind their house. Monday we headed home and stopped at the Dean's house for a couple hours on the way home. The kids loved to have that time with them.
Rachel left yesterday (Sunday) to go stay with my mom for a few days. She flew all by herself. Then we'll all get there Thursday night. Bob will stay until Sunday and then fly home and we'll stay until the next Thursday. We have to be home that night because Bob is taking Rachel to a concert of a band they both like that night for her birthday. Then the next night she'll have a party with her friends on her actual birthday. And hopefully then next day we'll be able to take her and Danny to the temple to do some family baptisms. We've been saving lots of female names for her.
Then we'll just have a week until school starts. Danny and Rachel are starting at Somerset Skypointe. It's similar to ours, but it has a real school building and we've heard great things about it. The kids might stay there for high school too, so it'll be nice for them to try it out this year and then Danny will be better able to make his choice for High School. And Ruby will start preschool. She's so excited and so am I!
Sunday, June 21, 2015
June 21, 2015
Girls camp was great. I loved getting to know my beehives better. And it's so fun to have Rachel in there. Rachel ate too much at dinner one night and threw up and felt sick for a day. We did a life line activity where we held an egg and were blindfolded and had to move along a rope while people tempted us to let go. Rachel bore her testimony and was one of the first girls to do it. She did great. My tingly arms were all better while I was at camp.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
June 14, 2015
My weekend in Arizona with the girls was fabulous.
School is out. The last few weeks were a blur. We've been out of school a week. It's still busy, but at least we sleep in.
We aren't doing screens until 5:00 everyday unless I have to go somewhere and then they can have screens when I'm gone. It's been awesome. We also got passes to the YMCA to help give us something to do. Danny, Rachel and Aaron can workout in the gym with me and Seth and Ruby go to the childcare. It works out great. Track was great for Rachel. She slimmed down quite a bit, so I'm hoping to keep her more active. We also got passes to Cowabunga Bay. It seemed like our summer was going to be a little quiet, so we spent a bunch of money on these activities while we're here, but now it turns out we have every weekend booked for the whole summer and most of the weeks.
My hands have been going tingly. It's been pretty bad for the last 3 weeks. It's a little annoying during the day, but it's really bad at night. There's only one position I can lay in that doesn't make my hands tingly and it's much worse at night than in the day. I've been going to doctors and haven't found out anything yet, but about a week ago my primary care doctor prescribed some kind of nerve pain medicine that also helps me sleep. It's awesome. My life is so much better with it. Without it, I was awake for at least 2-3 hours every night. I don't know how I would go to girls camp without it. I've been to my primary care doctor and an orthopedic surgeon and had xrays and an emg, but they still don't know why. Next they are going to try an mri.
Girls camp is Tuesday. I'm excited to go to camp with Rachel and her friends. It should be lots of fun. Then the next week is scout camp. And the next day the kids and I leave to go to a beach house in Mexico with the Deans and several families from our ward. And the day we get home from that Ryan and Kristal are coming to our house for 4th of July weekend.
School is out. The last few weeks were a blur. We've been out of school a week. It's still busy, but at least we sleep in.
We aren't doing screens until 5:00 everyday unless I have to go somewhere and then they can have screens when I'm gone. It's been awesome. We also got passes to the YMCA to help give us something to do. Danny, Rachel and Aaron can workout in the gym with me and Seth and Ruby go to the childcare. It works out great. Track was great for Rachel. She slimmed down quite a bit, so I'm hoping to keep her more active. We also got passes to Cowabunga Bay. It seemed like our summer was going to be a little quiet, so we spent a bunch of money on these activities while we're here, but now it turns out we have every weekend booked for the whole summer and most of the weeks.
My hands have been going tingly. It's been pretty bad for the last 3 weeks. It's a little annoying during the day, but it's really bad at night. There's only one position I can lay in that doesn't make my hands tingly and it's much worse at night than in the day. I've been going to doctors and haven't found out anything yet, but about a week ago my primary care doctor prescribed some kind of nerve pain medicine that also helps me sleep. It's awesome. My life is so much better with it. Without it, I was awake for at least 2-3 hours every night. I don't know how I would go to girls camp without it. I've been to my primary care doctor and an orthopedic surgeon and had xrays and an emg, but they still don't know why. Next they are going to try an mri.
Girls camp is Tuesday. I'm excited to go to camp with Rachel and her friends. It should be lots of fun. Then the next week is scout camp. And the next day the kids and I leave to go to a beach house in Mexico with the Deans and several families from our ward. And the day we get home from that Ryan and Kristal are coming to our house for 4th of July weekend.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
May 19, 2015
We went camping last weekend. We had a mother daughter campout for activity days and yw. We didn't get that great of a turn out. Partly because it's May and partly because mom's don't love to camp. Maybe next year we'll open it up to all the women of the ward. We also had a hard time getting priesthood to come. So Bob and the kids came and one of the other leaders' families came and they slept in the next campsite over. It worked out well. It was nice I didn't have to spend more time away from my family. The temperature was good, but it was super windy. I think it helped that last time we camped it was like that. So this time it didn't bother me as much.
The kids are so busy with all their activities. Somehow most of the kids are double booked this season. Danny is just doing one basketball team, but somehow they have several games most saturdays and they're doing lots of tournaments. But they haven't had a gym to practice in, so that's been a little nice. Aaron is doing basketball and the school track team. Rachel is doing dance and track. Seth goes several times a week to karate. And Ruby is in dance. We didn't plan on track happening. But it's worked out well and has been good for Aaron and Rachel.
This weekend I go to Arizona with Amanda and Wendy. I'm so excited!
The kids are so busy with all their activities. Somehow most of the kids are double booked this season. Danny is just doing one basketball team, but somehow they have several games most saturdays and they're doing lots of tournaments. But they haven't had a gym to practice in, so that's been a little nice. Aaron is doing basketball and the school track team. Rachel is doing dance and track. Seth goes several times a week to karate. And Ruby is in dance. We didn't plan on track happening. But it's worked out well and has been good for Aaron and Rachel.
This weekend I go to Arizona with Amanda and Wendy. I'm so excited!
Thursday, May 7, 2015
May 3, 2015
Our trip was fabulous! We had good weather. It only rained one day even though it was forecast to rain a lot more than that. But most days were windy and that made if feel colder than I was prepared for. But it was probably better to be a little too cold for all the walking we did than if it was too hot and we got all sweaty.
So Bob picked up my mom from the airport on Wednesday at 7. He brought her home; I had about 30 minutes to tell her about the schedule and everything and then she drove us back to the airport. We had a 5 hour flight to New York that night. It worked out perfect because we got into New York about 6 and we went straight to the statue of Liberty. We got the second boat out there and we had no crowds at all. We had a great time walking around and then visiting ellis island too. By the time we were done it was starting to get crowded. Then we did a super walking tour of southern Manhattan. We saw Wall Street and the Bull statue and the new world trade center and the 9-11 memorial. That was really cool. And we went to Little Italy and Chinatown. We ate pizza at Lombardi's. That was really good. We sat for a bit at a public library, where we got in trouble for sitting in the children's section and then I got in trouble for sleeping at a table. It was a lot of walking that day. But it was just the start for our trip. Then we headed back to the airport for our second red eye.
We flew 8ish hours to Milan the second night (Friday). Bob was amazing at setting up all our transportation for the trip. He had trains and buses and metros all mapped out and tickets ordered and everything went so smoothly. We walked through downtown Milan to our hotel that morning in the rain. It turned out that it was fashion week in Milan while we were there and they were setting up to host the world's expo in a few weeks so things were busier and more expensive that usual. I was impressed with how thin and pretty most people were there. We got our hotel and walked to a market and had some great pizza that day.
It was hard to sleep at the right times that night. It took me several days to get over my jet lag. Bob did better than I did. I was ok if we were doing things, but whenever we sat on a metro or train or anything, I fell asleep. The second day in Milan (Saturday), Bob booked a 3 hour bus and walking tour. We went to the cathedral where the Last Supper is painted, and the Scala opera house, Scorza Castle and the Galleria shopping center where the first Prada was.
After that we took a bus to Bergamo. It's a city on a hill about an hour from Milan. It's a really cute little Italian city. We rode a funicular up the hill. They had lots of shops and a cathedral and cobblestone roads. That night we took a flight to Paris. We got to our hotel about 1:00 in the morning. We stayed at a nice hotel in a great area. It was called Hotel Demeure in les gobelins. We had a couple grocery stores, a bakery, creperie, kebab place and Metro stop on our road.
Sunday was really cold and windy in the morning. We went to sacrament meeting where we sat behind a woman from Utah and a woman from Norway. They had earphones for us in English. Then we went to Notre Dame. We waited in line to go to the top of the towers. That view was awesome. We had our first french crepes across the street from Notre Dame. They weren't as amazing as I had hoped they'd be. We went to the Pantheon and Pompidou Center.
Monday, we went to the Louvre. We spent about 4 hours there. It was amazing. I loved all the super decorated rooms near the Mona Lisa. We walked through the whole museum, but about hour 3, we hit fast forward and breezed through a few of the rooms. Then we walked through the jardin tuileries right outside of the Louvre. We walked to the Paris Opera House. We walked around the outside and then decided it was too expensive and wasn't included in our Paris Museum Pass and we'd already seen an opera house in Milan so we didn't go inside. Then we went to Sacre Coeur Cathedral. It was beautiful and so was the view. And then we went to the arc de triomphe.
We had pastries from the bakery nearby for most breakfasts. We also had Macarons there. They were awesome. Tuesday we went to musee d'orsay. We loved that one. But we also really liked that we went to the Louvre before the Orsay because we still took over 2 hours there, but if we had to do the Louvre after the smaller one, it would have felt more overwhelming. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower. We only took the stairs to the 2nd floor. But it was still a great view. That evening we took a river cruise on the Seine. That was cool to see all the locals come hang out by the river. We were hoping to see everything lit up, but we were just a little too early. So then we walked over to the Eiffel tower again to see it lit up. We got there just in time to see it sparkle at 10:00. That was awesome.
Wednesday, we rented a car in downtown Paris and Bob drove through those crazy streets. We drove out to Versailles. We stayed there for half the day. It was beautiful, but so super crowded. We didn't even see all of the main castle because it was so crowded. It was nice the grounds were so big. We enjoyed those and saw all of the lower houses and Marie antoinette's house. Then we drove another hour to Fresneux, France. I thought that was funny, like Fresno. We stayed at a Chateau there. Bob did an awesome job finding the place. The actual castle had mostly fallen down, but they'd restored all the side buildings and we stayed in one of those. It was beautiful and peaceful. We ate dinner there. We had pheasant and salmon and it was all delicious and french.
Thursday we drove to the airport and flew to Venice. We stayed in a great little flat outside of the main tourist area, which I loved. The tourist areas were so crowded. It was a little overwhelming. The owner of the flat met us with the keys. She talked with us for about an hour about all the politics and history of Italy. Bob was very impressive with how much he knows while he talked to her. We went out that night and walked around and had gelato and I had lasagna. It didn't have any cheese sauce in it. I don't know if that's an Italian thing or just that restaurant, but I think I like american lasagna better. We also went to St. Marks square. Being out at night I was impressed how much the sky with the ocean clouds looks like the ceiling they painted in the Venetian hotel.
Friday we took a walking tour of Venice and then rode on a gondola. There's only a limited number of actual gondoliers so to ride a gondola by yourself costs $80 for 30 minutes. We shared it with 2 other couples.
Saturday we took the water taxis to Murrano and Burano and Torcello islands. The glass and lace islands. Those were super fun. They were less crowded and fun to see. Especially Burano because the houses were so colorful.
Sunday we got up early and took a train to Milan and then flew to NYC. It was so nice to be heading back to America and closer to our kids. We got in around 7 to New York. I was so tired. It felt like 3 a.m. Bob got us a great hotel. We stayed at the Hilton on Times Square. That worked out great so we could see Times Square at night. We walked around for a while and Bob got some dinner and we went to bed.
Monday morning we got up and Bob found a place that was supposed to have good donuts that was about a 20 minute walk. That turned out to be one of my favorite things about New York. We went out about 8:30, right when everyone was walking to work. It was fun to see what that's really like for people who live there and not just all the touristy stuff we were doing. On the way back we saw a foot locker and decided to stop in because Danny had been trying so hard to get these red shoes he'd ordered for his birthday. They were backordered and then they sent the wrong ones and then they were backordered again. So we just thought we'd check it out. And they had them! It was so fun to surprise Danny with them. The rest of the morning we walked around Central Park. It was a great day for it. All the tulips were out and the trees were blooming. When we'd been in NY 12 days before, the trees all still looked dead. So it was nice to catch some Spring. We also ran into Line, from Norway while we were walking in the Park. It was such a blessing. She's a nanny there and we just happened to walk by her in this enormous park. It was fun to chat with her for a while. She also mentioned Norwegian air has cheap flights sometimes. So now we have all these grand ideas of taking our kids to Norway. Then we ate lunch at a great deli and flew home.
It was so wonderful to be home to our kids. They did great while we were gone. My mom stayed for 9 days and then Erica Kelly, a college girl in our ward, stayed the last 4 days.
So Bob picked up my mom from the airport on Wednesday at 7. He brought her home; I had about 30 minutes to tell her about the schedule and everything and then she drove us back to the airport. We had a 5 hour flight to New York that night. It worked out perfect because we got into New York about 6 and we went straight to the statue of Liberty. We got the second boat out there and we had no crowds at all. We had a great time walking around and then visiting ellis island too. By the time we were done it was starting to get crowded. Then we did a super walking tour of southern Manhattan. We saw Wall Street and the Bull statue and the new world trade center and the 9-11 memorial. That was really cool. And we went to Little Italy and Chinatown. We ate pizza at Lombardi's. That was really good. We sat for a bit at a public library, where we got in trouble for sitting in the children's section and then I got in trouble for sleeping at a table. It was a lot of walking that day. But it was just the start for our trip. Then we headed back to the airport for our second red eye.
We flew 8ish hours to Milan the second night (Friday). Bob was amazing at setting up all our transportation for the trip. He had trains and buses and metros all mapped out and tickets ordered and everything went so smoothly. We walked through downtown Milan to our hotel that morning in the rain. It turned out that it was fashion week in Milan while we were there and they were setting up to host the world's expo in a few weeks so things were busier and more expensive that usual. I was impressed with how thin and pretty most people were there. We got our hotel and walked to a market and had some great pizza that day.
It was hard to sleep at the right times that night. It took me several days to get over my jet lag. Bob did better than I did. I was ok if we were doing things, but whenever we sat on a metro or train or anything, I fell asleep. The second day in Milan (Saturday), Bob booked a 3 hour bus and walking tour. We went to the cathedral where the Last Supper is painted, and the Scala opera house, Scorza Castle and the Galleria shopping center where the first Prada was.
After that we took a bus to Bergamo. It's a city on a hill about an hour from Milan. It's a really cute little Italian city. We rode a funicular up the hill. They had lots of shops and a cathedral and cobblestone roads. That night we took a flight to Paris. We got to our hotel about 1:00 in the morning. We stayed at a nice hotel in a great area. It was called Hotel Demeure in les gobelins. We had a couple grocery stores, a bakery, creperie, kebab place and Metro stop on our road.
Sunday was really cold and windy in the morning. We went to sacrament meeting where we sat behind a woman from Utah and a woman from Norway. They had earphones for us in English. Then we went to Notre Dame. We waited in line to go to the top of the towers. That view was awesome. We had our first french crepes across the street from Notre Dame. They weren't as amazing as I had hoped they'd be. We went to the Pantheon and Pompidou Center.
Monday, we went to the Louvre. We spent about 4 hours there. It was amazing. I loved all the super decorated rooms near the Mona Lisa. We walked through the whole museum, but about hour 3, we hit fast forward and breezed through a few of the rooms. Then we walked through the jardin tuileries right outside of the Louvre. We walked to the Paris Opera House. We walked around the outside and then decided it was too expensive and wasn't included in our Paris Museum Pass and we'd already seen an opera house in Milan so we didn't go inside. Then we went to Sacre Coeur Cathedral. It was beautiful and so was the view. And then we went to the arc de triomphe.
We had pastries from the bakery nearby for most breakfasts. We also had Macarons there. They were awesome. Tuesday we went to musee d'orsay. We loved that one. But we also really liked that we went to the Louvre before the Orsay because we still took over 2 hours there, but if we had to do the Louvre after the smaller one, it would have felt more overwhelming. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower. We only took the stairs to the 2nd floor. But it was still a great view. That evening we took a river cruise on the Seine. That was cool to see all the locals come hang out by the river. We were hoping to see everything lit up, but we were just a little too early. So then we walked over to the Eiffel tower again to see it lit up. We got there just in time to see it sparkle at 10:00. That was awesome.
Wednesday, we rented a car in downtown Paris and Bob drove through those crazy streets. We drove out to Versailles. We stayed there for half the day. It was beautiful, but so super crowded. We didn't even see all of the main castle because it was so crowded. It was nice the grounds were so big. We enjoyed those and saw all of the lower houses and Marie antoinette's house. Then we drove another hour to Fresneux, France. I thought that was funny, like Fresno. We stayed at a Chateau there. Bob did an awesome job finding the place. The actual castle had mostly fallen down, but they'd restored all the side buildings and we stayed in one of those. It was beautiful and peaceful. We ate dinner there. We had pheasant and salmon and it was all delicious and french.
Thursday we drove to the airport and flew to Venice. We stayed in a great little flat outside of the main tourist area, which I loved. The tourist areas were so crowded. It was a little overwhelming. The owner of the flat met us with the keys. She talked with us for about an hour about all the politics and history of Italy. Bob was very impressive with how much he knows while he talked to her. We went out that night and walked around and had gelato and I had lasagna. It didn't have any cheese sauce in it. I don't know if that's an Italian thing or just that restaurant, but I think I like american lasagna better. We also went to St. Marks square. Being out at night I was impressed how much the sky with the ocean clouds looks like the ceiling they painted in the Venetian hotel.
Friday we took a walking tour of Venice and then rode on a gondola. There's only a limited number of actual gondoliers so to ride a gondola by yourself costs $80 for 30 minutes. We shared it with 2 other couples.
Saturday we took the water taxis to Murrano and Burano and Torcello islands. The glass and lace islands. Those were super fun. They were less crowded and fun to see. Especially Burano because the houses were so colorful.
Sunday we got up early and took a train to Milan and then flew to NYC. It was so nice to be heading back to America and closer to our kids. We got in around 7 to New York. I was so tired. It felt like 3 a.m. Bob got us a great hotel. We stayed at the Hilton on Times Square. That worked out great so we could see Times Square at night. We walked around for a while and Bob got some dinner and we went to bed.
Monday morning we got up and Bob found a place that was supposed to have good donuts that was about a 20 minute walk. That turned out to be one of my favorite things about New York. We went out about 8:30, right when everyone was walking to work. It was fun to see what that's really like for people who live there and not just all the touristy stuff we were doing. On the way back we saw a foot locker and decided to stop in because Danny had been trying so hard to get these red shoes he'd ordered for his birthday. They were backordered and then they sent the wrong ones and then they were backordered again. So we just thought we'd check it out. And they had them! It was so fun to surprise Danny with them. The rest of the morning we walked around Central Park. It was a great day for it. All the tulips were out and the trees were blooming. When we'd been in NY 12 days before, the trees all still looked dead. So it was nice to catch some Spring. We also ran into Line, from Norway while we were walking in the Park. It was such a blessing. She's a nanny there and we just happened to walk by her in this enormous park. It was fun to chat with her for a while. She also mentioned Norwegian air has cheap flights sometimes. So now we have all these grand ideas of taking our kids to Norway. Then we ate lunch at a great deli and flew home.
It was so wonderful to be home to our kids. They did great while we were gone. My mom stayed for 9 days and then Erica Kelly, a college girl in our ward, stayed the last 4 days.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
April 14, 2015
Bob and I go to Europe tomorrow. Bob put in hours and hours over the last few months planning things. Now my work has been in the last few days arranging all the things for the kids. I wish I was a little more excited, but right now I just feel sad about missing my kids. Hopefully we keep busy enough that it won't get too bad. And it'll be nice that our phones will have service a lot better than on our cruise. I've been praying and fasting that the trip will go well for all of us and I'll come home to things just as we left it. So that feels good that I think we'll be taken care of, but I miss my kids already.
At the end of March I hurt my elbow. I was sleeping one night and woke up and when I bent my arm I felt hot, stabbing nerve pain in my elbow. For 2 days I couldn't bend my elbow past 45 degrees. I could still do most of the important things like making food and driving kids, but I couldn't do anything for me like my hair and makeup or get dress. It was frustrating. Then it started to get better, but I probably still should have been more easy on it. It was still a little achey but I could bend it. So I just stated doing everything with it. By about a week later I was getting tingling in my hand and fingers from it. So I really took it easy for several days and went to a doctor and he gave me an anti-inflammatory and that's helping a lot. Hopefully it'll be all the way better by the end of our trip.
For Spring Break we went to Cowabunga Bay one day. We got passes there for the summer. We had a great time. Ruby is just barely under the height requirement for all the good rides. Hopefully she'll grow a little this summer. Then one day we all went to the temple. My mom had sent Danny some names to do baptisms for and we're trying to get him to the temple at least every other month. So we all drove over one morning. I went in with Danny to make sure he got where he was supposed to be and then I left him and grabbed some cinnamon rolls from the cafeteria. Then the rest of us walked around the grounds and ate. Everyone loved it. Especially Ruby.
On Thursday we went to Visalia for Easter. We got there a day before everyone else. Grandma took Danny shopping for his birthday and we went to see a movie. Once everyone got there, we had a birthday party for all the April birthdays. My mom did a fishing and sports theme since that's what Danny and Ryan like. We played frisbee golf in the backyard and had a fish race by squirting goldfish in a rain gutter. We also watched conference and went to the park.
Ballet is over. It was fun. But it was a basic barre that didn't really ever change and it was kind of expensive for that.
Seth is still loving karate. And the girls are doing great in dance. Aaron and Rachel just signed up for Track at somerset. I'm excited for them to do that. Aaron and Danny are also doing basketball.
At the end of March I hurt my elbow. I was sleeping one night and woke up and when I bent my arm I felt hot, stabbing nerve pain in my elbow. For 2 days I couldn't bend my elbow past 45 degrees. I could still do most of the important things like making food and driving kids, but I couldn't do anything for me like my hair and makeup or get dress. It was frustrating. Then it started to get better, but I probably still should have been more easy on it. It was still a little achey but I could bend it. So I just stated doing everything with it. By about a week later I was getting tingling in my hand and fingers from it. So I really took it easy for several days and went to a doctor and he gave me an anti-inflammatory and that's helping a lot. Hopefully it'll be all the way better by the end of our trip.
For Spring Break we went to Cowabunga Bay one day. We got passes there for the summer. We had a great time. Ruby is just barely under the height requirement for all the good rides. Hopefully she'll grow a little this summer. Then one day we all went to the temple. My mom had sent Danny some names to do baptisms for and we're trying to get him to the temple at least every other month. So we all drove over one morning. I went in with Danny to make sure he got where he was supposed to be and then I left him and grabbed some cinnamon rolls from the cafeteria. Then the rest of us walked around the grounds and ate. Everyone loved it. Especially Ruby.
On Thursday we went to Visalia for Easter. We got there a day before everyone else. Grandma took Danny shopping for his birthday and we went to see a movie. Once everyone got there, we had a birthday party for all the April birthdays. My mom did a fishing and sports theme since that's what Danny and Ryan like. We played frisbee golf in the backyard and had a fish race by squirting goldfish in a rain gutter. We also watched conference and went to the park.
Ballet is over. It was fun. But it was a basic barre that didn't really ever change and it was kind of expensive for that.
Seth is still loving karate. And the girls are doing great in dance. Aaron and Rachel just signed up for Track at somerset. I'm excited for them to do that. Aaron and Danny are also doing basketball.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
March 8, 2015
I got my tear duct plugs removed. They were just so watery. But it was so nice. I got the 3 month ones put in. They don't seem to be that great though. I feel really dry. They don't seem any different than the 2 week ones I already tried. But those did make a marginal difference at least. I almost think it was better to have to wipe my eyes all day. It was annoying, but at least it never hurt.
We signed Seth up for karate. I can't believe how excited he is about it. His first class is tomorrow. They gave him a book about karate and told him to memorize 5 animals and 5 character traits. He's worked so hard on it. And memorizing is really hard for him. I'm so excited to watch him do this. It seems like it might really give him some confidence in this.
I keep thinking he might have some kind of learning disability or something. He seems to process and remember differently than any of my other kids. I'm trying to figure out what I can to do figure out how to help him. He's definitely smart, but he has to try so much harder than the other kids. There must be things I can do to help him, but it's so hard to find out what those things are.
We signed Seth up for karate. I can't believe how excited he is about it. His first class is tomorrow. They gave him a book about karate and told him to memorize 5 animals and 5 character traits. He's worked so hard on it. And memorizing is really hard for him. I'm so excited to watch him do this. It seems like it might really give him some confidence in this.
I keep thinking he might have some kind of learning disability or something. He seems to process and remember differently than any of my other kids. I'm trying to figure out what I can to do figure out how to help him. He's definitely smart, but he has to try so much harder than the other kids. There must be things I can do to help him, but it's so hard to find out what those things are.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
February 22, 2015
Seth is sick AGAIN. This is his 5th cold since Christmas. I guess his body is having a hard time getting adjusted to public school.
Things are just going on like usual. Basketball season is almost over and we're trying to figure out what the 2 younger boys are going to do for the next season.
I got tear duct plugs in my upper ducts. I've had them in my lower ducts for years. At that time the doctor thought I'd get lots of eye infections if I got the upper ones plugged too. But I go to a new dry eye specialist and he said that isn't much of an issue in Las Vegas. I got 2 week plugs and loved them. They dissolved and I got permanent ones put in on Friday. I have so much tears! My eyes never feel like this. I can wear my contacts as long as I want. But there are a little too much tears. Sometimes if I bend over the tears just fall out. I'm going to wait and see if my eyes will adjust and if not the doctor said there are 3 month dissolving plugs that are not quite as tight of seal as the permanent ones so I might try that.
Valentines day was nice. I gave Bob pictures of places we'll go on our trip every day with things I love about him on the back. And on Valentines day we did things we did when we were dating like ate at cafe rio and watched mission impossible 2 like we did on our first date.
Things are just going on like usual. Basketball season is almost over and we're trying to figure out what the 2 younger boys are going to do for the next season.
I got tear duct plugs in my upper ducts. I've had them in my lower ducts for years. At that time the doctor thought I'd get lots of eye infections if I got the upper ones plugged too. But I go to a new dry eye specialist and he said that isn't much of an issue in Las Vegas. I got 2 week plugs and loved them. They dissolved and I got permanent ones put in on Friday. I have so much tears! My eyes never feel like this. I can wear my contacts as long as I want. But there are a little too much tears. Sometimes if I bend over the tears just fall out. I'm going to wait and see if my eyes will adjust and if not the doctor said there are 3 month dissolving plugs that are not quite as tight of seal as the permanent ones so I might try that.
Valentines day was nice. I gave Bob pictures of places we'll go on our trip every day with things I love about him on the back. And on Valentines day we did things we did when we were dating like ate at cafe rio and watched mission impossible 2 like we did on our first date.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
February 8, 2015
I started a ballet class at the new dance studio the girls go to. Stephanie and Suzanne are doing it with me. So we switched from doing yoga tuesday and thursday mornings to doing ballet on the same days. It was really fun to do it again. That dance studio has been great for all of us.
All 7 of us went to church today. It's been a long time since all of us were healthy at the same time to do that.
Mom school is going well. One of the biggest successes so far is that Danny is liking reading again. He used to be pretty good at it, but last year he decided it wasn't cool. But now he's reading without me really pushing him and he's reading the books I pick for him just fine. Rachel and I are going to start studying art in preparation for my trip to Paris. I think we'll both enjoy that. Aaron is still a little hard to motivate. But he really wants to be homeschooled because his good friend Tyson just started it and he wants to play with him more. So at least I have that to hold over his head. I don't think I'd really consider homeschool, but I told Aaron I really won't consider it unless he can show me he'll do well at mom school. Ruby has not wanted to say her own prayers. But I finally put a chart together with a reward and she's doing awesome at it now.
I've been listening to a ton of audio books. I'm loving it. I've found that I have a lot of mindless cleaning jobs that are great for listening to books at the same time. And I've gotten good at listening at double speed, so I can finish books pretty fast that way.
Ruby is so sweet. Here are a few things she's said to me lately. "Mom, you're a miracle." "You're the best in the west", "You're so cute, I could keep you," "You're such adorable."
All 7 of us went to church today. It's been a long time since all of us were healthy at the same time to do that.
Mom school is going well. One of the biggest successes so far is that Danny is liking reading again. He used to be pretty good at it, but last year he decided it wasn't cool. But now he's reading without me really pushing him and he's reading the books I pick for him just fine. Rachel and I are going to start studying art in preparation for my trip to Paris. I think we'll both enjoy that. Aaron is still a little hard to motivate. But he really wants to be homeschooled because his good friend Tyson just started it and he wants to play with him more. So at least I have that to hold over his head. I don't think I'd really consider homeschool, but I told Aaron I really won't consider it unless he can show me he'll do well at mom school. Ruby has not wanted to say her own prayers. But I finally put a chart together with a reward and she's doing awesome at it now.
I've been listening to a ton of audio books. I'm loving it. I've found that I have a lot of mindless cleaning jobs that are great for listening to books at the same time. And I've gotten good at listening at double speed, so I can finish books pretty fast that way.
Ruby is so sweet. Here are a few things she's said to me lately. "Mom, you're a miracle." "You're the best in the west", "You're so cute, I could keep you," "You're such adorable."
Sunday, February 1, 2015
February 1, 2014
We've had a horrible long cold going around our family lately. Seth got it first, then Ruby and now Rachel. This year has been bad for sicknesses for us. Seth's turned into an ear infection and then his ear drum burst. The night it burst he started saying his ear hurt at 5:00 pm. Then he said it again at 7:30. At that point his jaw on that side was a little swollen and I just new his eardrum would rupture. It was too late to get into any semi-convenient urgent cares so I just decided to wait to go to his pediatrician the next mourning. It ruptured in the middle of the night and when he got up we could see all the fluid that had come out. I was feeling so bad because I knew it was a prompting that would happen. And I thought it was telling me I should have made the effort to take him to urgent care. But the Doctor said it was fine and doesn't cause problems if it is treated with antibiotics. That made me feel so much better and I realized the prompting was just a tender mercy to let me know what would happen. It wouldn't have made much difference to take him in that night, but it was nice to be ready for what would happen.
I started going to the main dry eye specialist in Las Vegas. He recommended I get tear duct plugs in my upper tear ducts. So I just had some temporary ones put in this week to try it out. It doesn't completely solve the problem, but it does seem to help. So that means I'll go have permanent ones put in in a few weeks. He also has me coming back in 3 months because my eye pressures are going up, which is a sign of glaucoma. That worries me because I've seen a lot of eye doctors and they've never said I had this issue, so it must have come up recently. He said my cupping percentage or something was 55% and 60%. And that makes it worse that they aren't the same. He has me on Lotomax drops that he says would never cause it even though the package says it is a risk. And I've been having lots of muscle tension around and behind my eyes related to my squinting problem from dry eyes and from stress. I really pray they can figure this out and catch or fix whatever they need to.
Here's a snapshot of what life is like right now.
Danny- He is on 3 basketball teams right now. We didn't mean for that to happen, but he's loving it. He is also loving basketball shoes. He checks shoe websites daily to see new styles and colors. And everyone in the family knows all about the brands, colors and release dates. He's bought himself a few pairs of shoes this winter and has plans for many more. He's also recognized his need to work since his allowance was cut off when he turned 12. He cleans the bathrooms for me a few times a month and is always looking for more ways to make money. He also loves to spend his money at 711 or circle K whenever he can.
Rachel- She just started a hip hop dance class at a studio that just opened close to us. She's still taking piano. She loves to draw and is getting quite good. She's doing great in Middle School. She stays right on top of her homework and gets excellent grades. I never have to remind her to do anything for school. She started shaving her legs and wearing mascara this year. She loves hugs whenever she can get them.
Aaron- He started on a club basketball team too this season. He's doing really well. He's picking up a lot of new skills. He does great at school. The kids at school just adore him. He comes home most days with some new food from a trade or deal he worked at school. He has amazing negotiating skills. He's taking piano lessons and doing well. He loves to go play with Tyson whenever he gets his work done. He's also a great friend with Rachel and he plays sports with Danny whenever Danny talks him into it. He loves to read Calvin and Hobbs, Big Nate and the Guiness Book of World Records.
Seth- He's doing well in kindergarten. Even tough, if you ask him he says he never has a good time at school and counts the days until the weekend. He's starting to read. He has lots of friends at school. He plays great with Ruby and she misses him when he's at school. He loves to have friends over as often as he can. He likes video games too much. He learned to ride a two-wheeler this year and he loves it. He's our best eater by far. We've been eating more healthy this year and he eats it all. He loves to talk and will tell anyone a story.
Ruby- She thinks turning 4 was the best thing ever and loves to try more and more things by herself. She loves to homeschool with me. And she'll work in her workbooks for hours. She's so sweet and fun and loves to play with Seth. She has a couple of girlfriends she loves to play with. She started ballet recently too and she loves it. She likes to draw. She loves to play with toys and asks me to play with her all the time. She loves juice boxes and fruit snacks. She loves to sit with BJ LeCates at church every sunday.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
January 25, 2015
We bought our tickets for our Europe trip. We were getting ready to buy our tickets when we got back from Visalia, but on the way home I checked my feed reader and a blog posted a deal for flights from NY to Italy for $400 per person. We were going to pay $2600 for tickets. So we still had to get tickets to NY and those were $300 per person, but it still was almost half what we were expecting to pay. That was really exciting. The flight goes into Milan so now we are going there for a day and a half and then Paris for 4-5 days and Venice for 3 days. And we'll have a day in NY on either side of our trip so we're hoping to go to the statue of liberty and walk around central park.
I went on a field trip with Aaron's class this week. It was so great to go with him and it made him so happy. He hugged me at least 20 times during the trip. And it was fun to watch him interact with his friends. They all are just drawn to him. He didn't even seem to notice, but they all were clamoring for his attention all the time. He's also amazing at working out food trades with his friends. From my point of view they are hardly fair with Aaron getting the way better deal, but they seem happy and keep doing it. He should really be a business man someday.
I went on a field trip with Aaron's class this week. It was so great to go with him and it made him so happy. He hugged me at least 20 times during the trip. And it was fun to watch him interact with his friends. They all are just drawn to him. He didn't even seem to notice, but they all were clamoring for his attention all the time. He's also amazing at working out food trades with his friends. From my point of view they are hardly fair with Aaron getting the way better deal, but they seem happy and keep doing it. He should really be a business man someday.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
January 18, 2015
Here are my goals:
We're in Visalia for MLK weekend. Gma and Gpa Barnhart are here so we decided to come see them. Yesterday we went over to our old house on Paradise because they are in between renters and needed some help cleaning and doing yard work. They also took down their whole fence. Bob and Danny helped for a long time; after they got up early to play basketball with my dad.
My dad gave Bob a father's blessing this morning. He said he'd had the feeling he needed to do it a few weeks ago when he was saying his prayer. It was so nice. About the middle of the blessing, my dad said that both Heavenly Father and Bob's earthly Father love him and they both started crying. I think that was the first time I've actually seen Bob cry.
I'm reading the Everyday Missionary by Christofferson right now. It's awesome. It's getting me more pumped up to share the gospel again. I feel like I was working on fellowshipping several people about 6 months ago and it was great. But they've all slowly stopped responding to me and I haven't been good at getting more going. I'm excited to have more tools to use to get going. It feels so good when I'm working on that stuff.
We're planning our trip to Paris and Versailles. Bob is really into it. He's doing most of the planning. I'm so glad because I think I might have talked myself out of going by now, but he's doing a great job planning and it will be so great to go.
- Make a plan for scripture time and stick to it. 2:30 weekdays
- Make a plan for mom school and make sure we do it every month.
- Keep to my new monthly budget system every month
- Schedule and follow through with playtime every week with family
- Earn at least $400 every month
- Have a family over for dinner every month. Reach out to one person every week
- Be kind, do not yell, don't say anything bad about anyone
- Follow the Word of Wisdom as closely as I can
We're in Visalia for MLK weekend. Gma and Gpa Barnhart are here so we decided to come see them. Yesterday we went over to our old house on Paradise because they are in between renters and needed some help cleaning and doing yard work. They also took down their whole fence. Bob and Danny helped for a long time; after they got up early to play basketball with my dad.
My dad gave Bob a father's blessing this morning. He said he'd had the feeling he needed to do it a few weeks ago when he was saying his prayer. It was so nice. About the middle of the blessing, my dad said that both Heavenly Father and Bob's earthly Father love him and they both started crying. I think that was the first time I've actually seen Bob cry.
I'm reading the Everyday Missionary by Christofferson right now. It's awesome. It's getting me more pumped up to share the gospel again. I feel like I was working on fellowshipping several people about 6 months ago and it was great. But they've all slowly stopped responding to me and I haven't been good at getting more going. I'm excited to have more tools to use to get going. It feels so good when I'm working on that stuff.
We're planning our trip to Paris and Versailles. Bob is really into it. He's doing most of the planning. I'm so glad because I think I might have talked myself out of going by now, but he's doing a great job planning and it will be so great to go.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
January 4, 2015
This year for Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa, Dustin and Sheila and Kristal came to visit us. They got a great hotel room at the Trump. We rode the High Roller, sat in their hot tub, ate at the Stratosphere and played lots of games, shopped, acted out the nativity, opened presents and ate a lot! It was fun to have them here.
We had been passing a cold around for a couple weeks before Christmas. About the time everyone left, I got it. But it turned out it was the flu and I was the only one who didn't get a flu shot this year. So they were all sick for a couple of days. But I got it for a full week. I was in bed the whole second week of Christmas break. So disappointing. The kids got to play a lot of electronics this break. We did get to do kwanzaa, but Bob was in charge of most of it and it wasn't quite as thorough as usual.
Bob and I are doing a goal setting program I found from Power of Moms. It's by Michael Hyatt. I think it'll be really good to do it together. I'll put my goals on here next week when I have them defined better.
We had been passing a cold around for a couple weeks before Christmas. About the time everyone left, I got it. But it turned out it was the flu and I was the only one who didn't get a flu shot this year. So they were all sick for a couple of days. But I got it for a full week. I was in bed the whole second week of Christmas break. So disappointing. The kids got to play a lot of electronics this break. We did get to do kwanzaa, but Bob was in charge of most of it and it wasn't quite as thorough as usual.
Bob and I are doing a goal setting program I found from Power of Moms. It's by Michael Hyatt. I think it'll be really good to do it together. I'll put my goals on here next week when I have them defined better.
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