December has been great and busy. The girls just had their dance recitals. So fun to watch. Danny has been fun to watch on his school's basketball team. They lose most of their games but they can only get better. Aaron and Seth are playing NJB basketball. Life is busy and full.
I finished going to Valerie's class. I realized another issue I had was that because of some promptings I've missed in the past, I was afraid that I can't hear the Spirit all the time. Valerie talks about how she walks with the Spirit every day and lets him tell her what to do everyday. That sounded too hard to me because of my fear that I can't hear all the promptings. So I was trying to control everything and try to do everything I thought was right instead of listening for promptings to tell me what to do. And I'm sure I was probably harder on myself than the spirit would be. And it wasn't as peaceful. So I tried it and it felt so good. I feel like there's a big cloud of things that need to be done all the time and before I was trying to grab them all. But with the Spirit I feel like I can let that cloud float all around me and the spirit will tell me what to grab. It feels so much better. I'm not so good at it when I get tired or forget to ask for help. But it's definitely better.
A month after I figured these things out, I was still having big issues with sleep and breathing. I feel like my mind and spirit are much more at peace. But my body isn't at peace. It responds extremely to stress. Like one night I had a half of a thought that I wished I was going to bed early and I wouldn't have thought much of it, but my lungs constricted and it took me hours to go to sleep. It's like my body overreacts to everything. So I went to see Valerie again to see if I had more issues I didn't know I had. She said she thought I was doing well and referred me to her doctor friend, Dr. Kruger. He's kind of a chiropractor but not really. He says he works in functional healing. So not bad like going to a hospital, but helps things function better. He's retired and only sees a few patients from his home. He's such a kind, good man. I've been to see him 3 times. He thinks he can help me and that it'll take about 6 weeks of 2 visits a week. He did a bunch of tests on me and says I'm slightly out of alignment in so many ways and that puts pressure on nerves and organs, which sends toxic signals to my brain and that can be why my body reacts so extremely. I'm just so relieved that someone can tell me what is going on. Doctors haven't been able to help and then Valerie told me all the things wrong with my brain. And it still didn't fix things. I don't know who else could have helped me. I'm really hopeful. I'm so looking forward to breathing normal. I've been having issues with this on and off since I was pregnant with Seth. And it's been constant for the last year.
I had a good experience this last week with it. I got a little relief from the things Dr. Krueger did, but every time I went back my body would be out of alignment again. He said it takes the body a while to relearn how to hold its position. So I'm still not sleeping or breathing well. Last week was the last week before Christmas break and it was so crazy busy. I was awake a lot at night and averaged 4-5 hours of sleep at night. One of the nights I was praying and I asked why the Lord couldn't just help me sleep. But then I realized that it was a really stressful week and with almost no sleep I should have been so grumpy and mean to the kid and easy to cry and slow to process things (how I usually feel on little sleep), but all I had was a headache. I realized that the Lord couldn't help me sleep right then but he had been carrying my burdens all week. It was such a tender mercy to realize how blessed I was even though it wasn't the blessing I thought I needed then.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Sunday, December 4, 2016
December 4, 2016
Halloween was fun. Danny didn't dress up. He went to a teenager party hosted by a family in our ward. Rachel and Ruby were both Pikachu. Pokemon go is big in our house. Aaron was his scream costume again and Seth was a Ghostbuster. The new ghostbuster movie came out and Seth has been on a kick ever since. Actually I guess he was before it came out. He really liked 1 and 2 also.
Rachel started volleyball with a friend from church. It's just a lesson once a week. It's been really nice. She likes it. I think it would be really good for her to be able to try out for volleyball in high school. Now they just tried out for a club team that lasts January to May and it is so expensive. So we're trying to decide now if it's worth it and if she really wants it.
Aaron finished flag football. He has such a good time on that team. We were so glad his coach decided to do flag football again this year. Danny finished ballerz for a while. They take off the winter while they play for the school team. His school team is talking about practicing year round. So that will be a hard choice for him if he has to choose between school and club. He's been with ballerz for a long time and they are so great. Seth just started basketball. He didn't do a sport in the fall. He's loving basketball because he's one of the better players since he's older and his brothers have worked with him a little. Ruby and Rachel are doing dance again. We love their close, little, low-key studio. Ruby is starting to do really well. She still complains a little when I pull her away from playing to take her to class. But she memorized their dance months ago and she practices it everywhere. It makes me so happy!
We went to Austin to visit Casey and Kami over Veteran's day weekend. We had a great time. That must be a slow time for travel because it's the same weekend I found great tickets to go to San Francisco last year. We left Wednesday night and flew over night and came home late Sunday night. So we had 4 full days there. Thursday when we got to their house, we slept most of the morning. Then we went to the State Capitol in Austin and did a little tour. It was pretty. Then we went to a military museum. It was cool, but we only had 20 minutes before they closed. We walked around outside and saw the tanks. Then we found a workout playground place. The kids thought that was great and we stayed there a while. Then we ate barbeque for dinner. Friday we went to San Antonio. We went to the Alamo, which was impressive and fun, but very crowded since it was Veterans Day. Then we went and saw the River Walk. That was really fun. We had great weather while we were there. We ate ice cream there. Then we drove back and ate at our favorite monte cristo place, Cheddars. And we picked up a cake and ice cream and went back to Casey's to celebrate Ruby's birthday. Saturday we went to a fun park with Casey and Kami. Then the kids babysat and the adults went out to dinner that night. Sunday we went to church. We did our vacation church and had a testimony meeting with them in their backyard. After lunch we went of a long walk on a trail by their house that went by 2 parks. A man at the park introduced us to pineapple guava that were growing there. We took some home and tried them. They were good.
Danny tried out for high school basketball and made varsity as a freshman. Their coach is new and he came from coaching basketball at a regular high school so he runs everything just like a regular school would. It's so great. The only problem so far was that Danny had 2 F's and a D. So he's had to work really hard to get those grades up. I'm glad for some more motivation for him because Bob and I have been working on getting him to do better all year and it hasn't helped.
For Thanksgiving we got the whole week off this year. That was great. We stayed home monday and Tuesday and those days were full of taking kids to extra practices and I took a group of girls to do baptisms at the temple. When I was at the temple a little while ago I was praying about when the Lord wants me to do and I felt prompted to help the youth get to the temple and to help Bob's sister get to the temple more.
We left Tuesday night for Ryan's house. Wednesday we went to Magic Mountain with them because they had free passes. We had a lot of fun, but it got really cold and windy toward the end of the day. It's nice that it's so close to their house and we don't have to pay anything to go. Thursday we made the food and went to the park. We ate around 3 when Kristal and Dan got there. Then we went to see the new Disney movie Moana. Friday we went to the beach. It was a really nice day there. Aaron and Seth got in the water. It was hard to keep them out when it was as warm as it is some days in the summer there. They played on the playground too and we ate a picnic. That night we went to Chuck E Cheese for Ella's birthday. Saturday morning my kids babysat and all the adults went to the LA temple. I've never done a session there. It was nice. Then we had plans to go ice skating that afternoon before we headed back but we were too slow and then it started raining and we didn't want to get into traffic so we just drove home.
Rachel started volleyball with a friend from church. It's just a lesson once a week. It's been really nice. She likes it. I think it would be really good for her to be able to try out for volleyball in high school. Now they just tried out for a club team that lasts January to May and it is so expensive. So we're trying to decide now if it's worth it and if she really wants it.
Aaron finished flag football. He has such a good time on that team. We were so glad his coach decided to do flag football again this year. Danny finished ballerz for a while. They take off the winter while they play for the school team. His school team is talking about practicing year round. So that will be a hard choice for him if he has to choose between school and club. He's been with ballerz for a long time and they are so great. Seth just started basketball. He didn't do a sport in the fall. He's loving basketball because he's one of the better players since he's older and his brothers have worked with him a little. Ruby and Rachel are doing dance again. We love their close, little, low-key studio. Ruby is starting to do really well. She still complains a little when I pull her away from playing to take her to class. But she memorized their dance months ago and she practices it everywhere. It makes me so happy!
We went to Austin to visit Casey and Kami over Veteran's day weekend. We had a great time. That must be a slow time for travel because it's the same weekend I found great tickets to go to San Francisco last year. We left Wednesday night and flew over night and came home late Sunday night. So we had 4 full days there. Thursday when we got to their house, we slept most of the morning. Then we went to the State Capitol in Austin and did a little tour. It was pretty. Then we went to a military museum. It was cool, but we only had 20 minutes before they closed. We walked around outside and saw the tanks. Then we found a workout playground place. The kids thought that was great and we stayed there a while. Then we ate barbeque for dinner. Friday we went to San Antonio. We went to the Alamo, which was impressive and fun, but very crowded since it was Veterans Day. Then we went and saw the River Walk. That was really fun. We had great weather while we were there. We ate ice cream there. Then we drove back and ate at our favorite monte cristo place, Cheddars. And we picked up a cake and ice cream and went back to Casey's to celebrate Ruby's birthday. Saturday we went to a fun park with Casey and Kami. Then the kids babysat and the adults went out to dinner that night. Sunday we went to church. We did our vacation church and had a testimony meeting with them in their backyard. After lunch we went of a long walk on a trail by their house that went by 2 parks. A man at the park introduced us to pineapple guava that were growing there. We took some home and tried them. They were good.
Danny tried out for high school basketball and made varsity as a freshman. Their coach is new and he came from coaching basketball at a regular high school so he runs everything just like a regular school would. It's so great. The only problem so far was that Danny had 2 F's and a D. So he's had to work really hard to get those grades up. I'm glad for some more motivation for him because Bob and I have been working on getting him to do better all year and it hasn't helped.
For Thanksgiving we got the whole week off this year. That was great. We stayed home monday and Tuesday and those days were full of taking kids to extra practices and I took a group of girls to do baptisms at the temple. When I was at the temple a little while ago I was praying about when the Lord wants me to do and I felt prompted to help the youth get to the temple and to help Bob's sister get to the temple more.
We left Tuesday night for Ryan's house. Wednesday we went to Magic Mountain with them because they had free passes. We had a lot of fun, but it got really cold and windy toward the end of the day. It's nice that it's so close to their house and we don't have to pay anything to go. Thursday we made the food and went to the park. We ate around 3 when Kristal and Dan got there. Then we went to see the new Disney movie Moana. Friday we went to the beach. It was a really nice day there. Aaron and Seth got in the water. It was hard to keep them out when it was as warm as it is some days in the summer there. They played on the playground too and we ate a picnic. That night we went to Chuck E Cheese for Ella's birthday. Saturday morning my kids babysat and all the adults went to the LA temple. I've never done a session there. It was nice. Then we had plans to go ice skating that afternoon before we headed back but we were too slow and then it started raining and we didn't want to get into traffic so we just drove home.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
October 23, 2016
Bob, Danny and Rachel are in Virginia right now. They went to go visit Bob's grandparents. They're having a great time. Since Bob was going to be gone, I asked my mom to come visit. She came Monday night and Bob and the kids left wednesday night. She left Sunday morning and they come back sunday night. We've had a great week. She was here for Aaron's birthday. He chose to go out to TGIFridays for dinner and and target and we had donuts in the morning. My mom and I went to the temple and went shopping and did some family history and all my regular stuff, but it was fun to have someone here to do it with.
I've been working at the school a couple of days a week. I don't love being on call, but it's nice to be at the school sometimes and it's so much better than working full time!
We had stake conference last weekend. Several people talked about going to the temple once a week. I was kind of thinking I'd get to the temple twice a month now that I'm not working, but it made me realize that I should definitely go once a week. I'm excited for that goal. Also Elder Cornish came to our stake conference. I loved his conference talk and his talks at stake conference were so good too. Very similar to the things Valerie talked about in her seminar that I just finished.
We had another girl incident with Danny. Apparently he held a girl's hand at school. I got all kinds of reports from people that it happened, but when I asked him he lied to me repeatedly. We had a pretty miserable 2 weeks where he was so grumpy and mean. He gets like that every time something like this has happened. Bob always tries to tell me it's regular teenage boy stuff, but I'm so thankful for the Spirit that keeps at me to figure out what's going on. We had a great talk once he finally told the truth and it was so great to get to share some of the things I have learned from Valerie with him. He hasn't ever done anything horrible with girls, but they are sure a temptation for him and after he does it he has such guilt it just tears him apart. Parenting teenagers can be so hard, but I can't imagine how much harder it would be without the spirit.
I've been working at the school a couple of days a week. I don't love being on call, but it's nice to be at the school sometimes and it's so much better than working full time!
We had stake conference last weekend. Several people talked about going to the temple once a week. I was kind of thinking I'd get to the temple twice a month now that I'm not working, but it made me realize that I should definitely go once a week. I'm excited for that goal. Also Elder Cornish came to our stake conference. I loved his conference talk and his talks at stake conference were so good too. Very similar to the things Valerie talked about in her seminar that I just finished.
We had another girl incident with Danny. Apparently he held a girl's hand at school. I got all kinds of reports from people that it happened, but when I asked him he lied to me repeatedly. We had a pretty miserable 2 weeks where he was so grumpy and mean. He gets like that every time something like this has happened. Bob always tries to tell me it's regular teenage boy stuff, but I'm so thankful for the Spirit that keeps at me to figure out what's going on. We had a great talk once he finally told the truth and it was so great to get to share some of the things I have learned from Valerie with him. He hasn't ever done anything horrible with girls, but they are sure a temptation for him and after he does it he has such guilt it just tears him apart. Parenting teenagers can be so hard, but I can't imagine how much harder it would be without the spirit.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
October 1, 2016
We had a good conference weekend. Now we're having Sandy over for dinner because May is out of town. Friday night I went to St. George with Stephanie Gunnell. She was running the marathon and her family didn't want to go with her. So Bob took care of all the crazy kid carpools and I drove to St. George. It was a quick trip. We got there around 5:00 that night and had dinner and then Saturday she got up and did her race and I stayed in the hotel and watched the first session. It was nice to have the long drives to get to catch up.
I'm now an on-call aide instead of full time. I was still struggling with the job. And this week they called one of the other aides in to talk to her because she'd missed 19 days last year while her sister was sick. They wanted to make sure she wouldn't miss that much this year. It was a little surprising. So I went to talk to my supervisor because I think I'll miss that much this year easily, with sick kids and trips and appointments and then a few days I might need just to keep up on my life. I thought it would be better for her to know ahead of time instead of getting mad like with the other aide. She didn't like that and thought the job might not be for me then. They were in need of someone reliable to be on-call though, so I will do that. They are working to get a replacement for me now. I'm so relieved to not have to work everyday. It was just so hard. But it'll be nice to work a little still so I can see the kids there sometimes. I hope to volunteer a lot in the classroom now too. And I plan to try to get my websites so I can work about 12 hours a week. That will make it so I earn a similar amount to when I was working full time for the school. I'm so relieved it worked out ok and I don't think I've made anyone mad at me. Well, there were a couple, but I think I've explained things to them. I just really didn't know what I was committing to do when I agreed to work full time.
I'm still having breathing and sleeping issues. That's another reason the job was so stressful. I've been to see Valerie a few times over the summer. She said I had some "false precepts" and "apparently noble thinking". I've realized that I didn't fully understand the atonement. I kind of thought I should try my hardest not to use it. But she helped me realize we all need it all the time because we are imperfect (not finished) and we live in a fallen world. It's just a fact. I always had some guilt because I thought I know about the gospel and all the things I should be doing. So since I know better I should be doing better. But I still mess up or am lazy. But Heavenly Father knows me and created and finished his plan for me before the world was (Heb 4:3 JST). So he knew I'd be right where I am right now and it's ok because I'm trying. That is why I need to keep using the sacrament. I didn't have complete faith because I didn't really know if the path I'm on was agreeable to the Lord (Lectures on Faith definition). I was afraid to ask in case I wasn't, or I had mock humility or something. I realize that I am in just the place the Lord knew I would be and that has helped me have more faith and peace. So I guess my anxiety was because I thought I had to do it all myself and that if I didn't I wouldn't get the best reward or I would miss something. But I can't miss something if I'm looking to the Savior.
Anyway, I went and saw Valerie by myself 3 or 4 times and then she recommending I take her Universal Truths class. It's 7 weeks. I really like it. It's all about the basics of the gospel but it doesn't use all the regular church phrases so that helps it sink in better. I feel like I've found most of my false beliefs. And I feel a stronger understanding of our place here and what the Savior has really done for us. My breathing and tension and bad sleeping are still going strong. It's frustrating and uncomfortable. During the day I'm not too bad and I'm able to do most everything just fine, although I hurt most of the time. But at night it feels like mental illness or something. I had Bob give me a blessing. It talked about patience and understanding the body and spirit connection better. I don't know if that means I have more false beliefs or messed up subconscious or something or if I've just really messed up my body's reactions and it'll just take a while to get better. I have 3 weeks left of Valerie's class. And it'll be nice to work less so I can have time to really ponder some of this stuff and get to the temple more.
I'm now an on-call aide instead of full time. I was still struggling with the job. And this week they called one of the other aides in to talk to her because she'd missed 19 days last year while her sister was sick. They wanted to make sure she wouldn't miss that much this year. It was a little surprising. So I went to talk to my supervisor because I think I'll miss that much this year easily, with sick kids and trips and appointments and then a few days I might need just to keep up on my life. I thought it would be better for her to know ahead of time instead of getting mad like with the other aide. She didn't like that and thought the job might not be for me then. They were in need of someone reliable to be on-call though, so I will do that. They are working to get a replacement for me now. I'm so relieved to not have to work everyday. It was just so hard. But it'll be nice to work a little still so I can see the kids there sometimes. I hope to volunteer a lot in the classroom now too. And I plan to try to get my websites so I can work about 12 hours a week. That will make it so I earn a similar amount to when I was working full time for the school. I'm so relieved it worked out ok and I don't think I've made anyone mad at me. Well, there were a couple, but I think I've explained things to them. I just really didn't know what I was committing to do when I agreed to work full time.
I'm still having breathing and sleeping issues. That's another reason the job was so stressful. I've been to see Valerie a few times over the summer. She said I had some "false precepts" and "apparently noble thinking". I've realized that I didn't fully understand the atonement. I kind of thought I should try my hardest not to use it. But she helped me realize we all need it all the time because we are imperfect (not finished) and we live in a fallen world. It's just a fact. I always had some guilt because I thought I know about the gospel and all the things I should be doing. So since I know better I should be doing better. But I still mess up or am lazy. But Heavenly Father knows me and created and finished his plan for me before the world was (Heb 4:3 JST). So he knew I'd be right where I am right now and it's ok because I'm trying. That is why I need to keep using the sacrament. I didn't have complete faith because I didn't really know if the path I'm on was agreeable to the Lord (Lectures on Faith definition). I was afraid to ask in case I wasn't, or I had mock humility or something. I realize that I am in just the place the Lord knew I would be and that has helped me have more faith and peace. So I guess my anxiety was because I thought I had to do it all myself and that if I didn't I wouldn't get the best reward or I would miss something. But I can't miss something if I'm looking to the Savior.
Anyway, I went and saw Valerie by myself 3 or 4 times and then she recommending I take her Universal Truths class. It's 7 weeks. I really like it. It's all about the basics of the gospel but it doesn't use all the regular church phrases so that helps it sink in better. I feel like I've found most of my false beliefs. And I feel a stronger understanding of our place here and what the Savior has really done for us. My breathing and tension and bad sleeping are still going strong. It's frustrating and uncomfortable. During the day I'm not too bad and I'm able to do most everything just fine, although I hurt most of the time. But at night it feels like mental illness or something. I had Bob give me a blessing. It talked about patience and understanding the body and spirit connection better. I don't know if that means I have more false beliefs or messed up subconscious or something or if I've just really messed up my body's reactions and it'll just take a while to get better. I have 3 weeks left of Valerie's class. And it'll be nice to work less so I can have time to really ponder some of this stuff and get to the temple more.
Friday, September 16, 2016
September 14, 2014
Summer is over. Rachel and I went to girls camp. It was great. We camped as award and it was so much fun to spend more time with our girls and leaders. There was a meteor shower one night and a few of us leaders stayed up past midnight to watch it. It was so fun. We saw at least 100 shooting stars in an hour.
The week after we got home we were released. I miss the girls so much. But I'm happy they are all Rachel's age so we'll continue to see them. I am on the enrichment committee now.
It's funny because the RS president has been asking for me for that calling for about a year. Bob told me and my friend who is the RS secretary told me. They asked what I thought about it and I said if it's just to fill a spot and not inspired then I totally don't want it. Bob and Stephanie both tried to get me out of it. But at girls camp I got all these ideas about how I can get sisters to come and then I knew it must be inspired. It is nice to have a calling that requires so much less time.
We had our end of summer party with dry ice and water balloons in the pool. We also took each of the kids on their own date with us before school started. We had been trying to do one a month, but hadn't gotten to it so we crammed them. It was really nice to get to spend that time with each of them.
School started. It's so great to have Aaron at the same school. Danny had a bit of a rough start because so many of his friends left for other high schools. He's settling in now. The nice thing is he has friends all over from kids who've left Somerset and basketball and stick dances. So he goes to football games he has lots of friends to hang out with. Everyone else is doing great at school Seth and Ruby are both sad when it's not a school day. Which is saying a lot because in Kender and half of first grade Seth didn't like school.
My job started also. So now all six of us are at Skypoint every day. Full-time work is so hard. It's been three weeks now and 90% of the nights my body aches because I'm so tired and I'm crying because this is so hard. The people are all really nice and I love seeing Ruby, Seth and Aaron at school every day. But I don't know if I'm going to stick with it. I don't know how working moms do it I've been really conflicted because I want to be someone who does what they say they will. But I had no idea it would feel this hard. And I feel like it's hard to be a good mom when I'm stressed and tired. We'll see. I am going to give it a few more weeks I think while I try to figure out what I want to switch to – like being on – call or volunteering A day a week or something.
The garden has had a rough time. Squash bugs killed my zucchini and watermelon. It started on the pumpkin, but they left it alone in the end. The crickets became a problem at night the dirt would look like it's moving because of so many crickets. I stopped watering the whole garden and just hand watered the tomatoes and pumpkin I had left in there. And I threw diatomaceous earth all over everything. That helped. But then there are still a ton of baby crickets. So small they look like ants. But they were eating any new things I put in. I went ahead and planted a bunch of things for fall hoping that they won't eat all of it. So far carrots and green onions have come up and are not eaten but the first night I put a kale plant in the whole thing was eaten two sticks the peas are eaten as soon as they come up. Half a cauliflower was eaten and even an entire marigold plant. So I finally bought some seven pesticide and sprayed it on everything I figured not quite organic is better than no plans at all. And the plants I buy at the nursery probably have pesticides used on them early on. I am hoping to not have to use it again. Then our pumpkin vines were getting big and finally getting lots of female blossoms. But then one day I realize all the blossoms were gone I was going to Google what could cause that when I saw a mouse run away and down the wall. So now Bob is working on getting rid of mice.
The week after we got home we were released. I miss the girls so much. But I'm happy they are all Rachel's age so we'll continue to see them. I am on the enrichment committee now.
It's funny because the RS president has been asking for me for that calling for about a year. Bob told me and my friend who is the RS secretary told me. They asked what I thought about it and I said if it's just to fill a spot and not inspired then I totally don't want it. Bob and Stephanie both tried to get me out of it. But at girls camp I got all these ideas about how I can get sisters to come and then I knew it must be inspired. It is nice to have a calling that requires so much less time.
We had our end of summer party with dry ice and water balloons in the pool. We also took each of the kids on their own date with us before school started. We had been trying to do one a month, but hadn't gotten to it so we crammed them. It was really nice to get to spend that time with each of them.
School started. It's so great to have Aaron at the same school. Danny had a bit of a rough start because so many of his friends left for other high schools. He's settling in now. The nice thing is he has friends all over from kids who've left Somerset and basketball and stick dances. So he goes to football games he has lots of friends to hang out with. Everyone else is doing great at school Seth and Ruby are both sad when it's not a school day. Which is saying a lot because in Kender and half of first grade Seth didn't like school.
My job started also. So now all six of us are at Skypoint every day. Full-time work is so hard. It's been three weeks now and 90% of the nights my body aches because I'm so tired and I'm crying because this is so hard. The people are all really nice and I love seeing Ruby, Seth and Aaron at school every day. But I don't know if I'm going to stick with it. I don't know how working moms do it I've been really conflicted because I want to be someone who does what they say they will. But I had no idea it would feel this hard. And I feel like it's hard to be a good mom when I'm stressed and tired. We'll see. I am going to give it a few more weeks I think while I try to figure out what I want to switch to – like being on – call or volunteering A day a week or something.
The garden has had a rough time. Squash bugs killed my zucchini and watermelon. It started on the pumpkin, but they left it alone in the end. The crickets became a problem at night the dirt would look like it's moving because of so many crickets. I stopped watering the whole garden and just hand watered the tomatoes and pumpkin I had left in there. And I threw diatomaceous earth all over everything. That helped. But then there are still a ton of baby crickets. So small they look like ants. But they were eating any new things I put in. I went ahead and planted a bunch of things for fall hoping that they won't eat all of it. So far carrots and green onions have come up and are not eaten but the first night I put a kale plant in the whole thing was eaten two sticks the peas are eaten as soon as they come up. Half a cauliflower was eaten and even an entire marigold plant. So I finally bought some seven pesticide and sprayed it on everything I figured not quite organic is better than no plans at all. And the plants I buy at the nursery probably have pesticides used on them early on. I am hoping to not have to use it again. Then our pumpkin vines were getting big and finally getting lots of female blossoms. But then one day I realize all the blossoms were gone I was going to Google what could cause that when I saw a mouse run away and down the wall. So now Bob is working on getting rid of mice.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
August 21, 2016
Danny passed out when he had his blood drawn. He was fasting to do it. They didn't take very much blood. I didn't think anything about it. We walked out when he was done. He was behind me. I went out the door and his legs gave out and he crashed into the door. A nice man helped us get him onto the bed and he had to lay there for 30 minutes before he felt well enough to walk out. He got a nice bump and cut on his forehead and will probably have a canker sore where his braces smashed into his lip. I wish it would have occurred to me to watch him. When he had his ingrown toenail's cut out just watching it made him almost pass out. We talked about how it feels so he can remember next time he starts feeling like that. He's so big and strong. But when that happened he just looked like my tiny little boy.
This week was nice to get things done. I listened to 2 novels while I cleaned the house. We went to Ikea. I left my wallet in Bob's car when I went to camp and forgot to get it out after. We got all our food in the restaurant and then realized I didn't have money. Luckily Rachel brought $20 so we had to put some of our food back and then we shared while we waited for Bob to bring my wallet to us.
We went to the waterslides. Bob and Danny painted Danny's room. Danny did a 4th laser treatment on his face and a bunch of extractions. We're hoping that will be the ticket to really clear him up. I also started making cookies and muffins to freeze to have as afterschool snacks when I'm working. This week I will double some meals to freeze also. Bob is going to start getting up with Danny when he gets ready for seminary and then go to work when he leaves. Then he'll be able to get home at 5:30. I think that'll be so nice to have him to help me drive kids around afterschool.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
August 14, 2016
Girls camp was great. We just got home yesterday. We camped as wards. That was fun to spend time with all the girls I know and the ward leaders that I love serving with. And when we did levels, I was over Rachel's level. We saw an amazing meteor shower one night. We saw about 100 shooting starts in an hour.
We had a fun trip to Utah last weekend. We stayed with Wendy. We spent one morning with Kartrina, then had lunch at J Dawgs and then went to the BYU bookstore and spent the rest of the day with the Deans. We went to the blessing and then had a bbq with Amanda and Wendy and their families.
Now we're on the countdown to school. This week we can catch up with things and we've been trying to get to ikea all summer so we'll do that and the waterslides. Next week I'll have to work at least one day and we have one day that is full of open houses to meet everyone's teachers.
Today is Rachel's birthday. Mostly we celebrated at Kristal's. Today we had norwegian pancakes for breakfast. And we'll have cake and ice cream after church. She'll have some friends over for a party sometime this week.
We had a fun trip to Utah last weekend. We stayed with Wendy. We spent one morning with Kartrina, then had lunch at J Dawgs and then went to the BYU bookstore and spent the rest of the day with the Deans. We went to the blessing and then had a bbq with Amanda and Wendy and their families.
Now we're on the countdown to school. This week we can catch up with things and we've been trying to get to ikea all summer so we'll do that and the waterslides. Next week I'll have to work at least one day and we have one day that is full of open houses to meet everyone's teachers.
Today is Rachel's birthday. Mostly we celebrated at Kristal's. Today we had norwegian pancakes for breakfast. And we'll have cake and ice cream after church. She'll have some friends over for a party sometime this week.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
July 31, 2016
This summer has flown by! I'll try to remember by month what happened.
May
The end of school was busy as usual. Aaron and Seth finished their soccer season. They both did great. We joined the Dinosaur park league, which was so nice to be so close. Aaron rode his bike to practice and Seth's practice was wedged between piano for Aaron and Rachel and Basketball for Danny. It wouldn't have worked if I had to drive to the other soccer park. Danny played with his club team and also played on an intramural basketball team for his school. I was the unofficial team mom for the basketball team because they had a hard time getting the team organized and communicated to the parents. The girls still did their dance classes at the cute studio close to our house.
We went to Ryan and Venessa's for Memorial Weekend. We went to the beach by ourselves on the first day because everyone else had work and school. We had a great time boogie boarding and playing. Aaron ate too much junk food, once again, and threw up in the rocks. Danny hit a sneaky squirrel in the head with a rock by accident. He didn't bother us again!
The next day all the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa joined us at the beach. We had a great time. Sunday we had our regular vacation church family testimony meeting. Grandma and Grandpa came with us for that. We walked to the HOA and went on a hike.
The week before Memorial Day a job opened up at the Elementary school for a Teacher's Aide. I applied and was interviewed that day. I have several friends who work at the school so that was really helpful. The interview went great and they said they'd get back to me in a week. They called the next day with a job offer. It all happened so fast. I called the Principal at the middle school to make sure he couldn't offer me the sports secretary job. He said they weren't ready. So I took the job. I'll be working the full hours of Elementary school. It's taken me most of the summer to adjust to the fact that I'll be working pretty much full time. It's going to be a busy year.
June
School ended. Yay! A few days after school got out we went to Visalia to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. Bob and I left for a few days for our Anniversary. We went to Cambria. We toured Hearst Castle, went for a bike ride into town for some French pastries, watched the seals and ate at some great restaurants. The weather was a little cold, but we had a nice, lazy weekend. And then Bob flew home and I stayed with the kids for the week. We had a great time shopping and swimming and going to the arcade. The kids hit some major jackpots there so it made it exciting. We also finally got to take Bob to Superior Dairy in Hanford. We did boys against girls this time. The boys took it seriously and downed their ice cream fast.
We brought Grandma back with us when we came home from Visalia. And we got back just in time for Danny and Bob to turn around and drive back to CA for a basketball tournament. This is pretty much the only tournament Danny's team travel's to (we love that they mostly just do the local tournaments) and we've never made it there. So this year Danny really wanted to go. Bob and Danny got to have a nice boys weekend. They stayed at Kristal's house about 30 minutes from the tournament. They had a game Friday night and Saturday night. So Saturday morning they got to go to the beach. They also found some awesome places to eat. After the Saturday game they raced home so Danny could go to the last 2 hours of the stake dance with his friends.
Grandma came back from Visalia with us so she could watch the kids while Bob, Danny and I went on our stake's Pioneer Trek. It was super hot that weekend in Utah, where we did the trek. But we still had a great time and really bonded with our trek families.
The month of June felt like a whirlwind. We didn't have any downtime to have a lazy summer day or catch up on things. As soon as school got out it felt like I just had to get through trek and then things would slow down. But when we got home from trek, we had 4 days at home to recover and then get ready for our 13 day trip to Oregon and Tahoe.
July
We left July 1 for Oregon. We drove straight through to get there. 16 hours. The kids did great. There were 40 people staying at the farmhouse this year. We were celebrating Grandma Monte's 85th birthday.
The first day in Oregon we went to Portland. Ryan's family and Grandma and Grandpa came with us. We went to VooDoo donuts first. It was ok. Then we went to the International Rose Test Garden. It was amazing. Such beautiful flowers everywhere. Seth and Ruby really got into it and took our phones around to take pictures of all the flowers. They actually got some pretty good ones. After the rose garden we split up and just our family went to the Nike Store since it's based in Portland. And then we rode the Arial Tram that connects two parts of the hospital. The kids thought it was pretty cool.
Sunday we went to church and celebrated Grandma's birthday. We had cake and took pictures in our matching Barnhart Family Reunion shirts. That night my mom and dad took pictures by the creek on the farm. We got some really great ones. Danny and the other kids went fishing every day. And we picked blueberries all the time. It's amazing how many of those blueberries you can eat every day when you don't have to pay for them!
Monday was 4th of July. We drove to Lincoln City. That morning when we were getting ready to go I took a step and all of a sudden my ankle was killing me. It felt like I pulled a tendon or something. So I had to limp all day. We went to the 4th of July parade. That was fun. Then we went over to the beach and played for a while. We did fireworks in the backyard. Danny and Aaron helped Grandpa with tons of fireworks. The close museum was doing big fireworks too so we could watch those at the same time.
Tuesday we went back to Portland and rode a ferry up and down the river. Wednesday we went to the indoor waterslides. I wasn't feeling very well when I got up but I thought it would wear off so I went to the waterslides with everyone. I took it easy for a while and then Danny really wanted me to ride a slide with him so I decided to try it. I got most of the way up and started feeling light-headed. I sat down and hoped it would stop. But it didn't. I threw up blueberries all over the stairs. Danny ran and got Bob to help me. But then some lifeguards came and said they'd clean it up. I went and got cleaned up and then I felt great. We had a fun rest of the day at the waterslides. Aaron really wanted to go to the aviation museum so he talked Grandpa into taking him halfway through the day.
Thursday we drove to Tahoe. Friday we played at Sand Harbor. We always have such a good time there. Saturday we went to the Air show. The kids really enjoyed sitting in a Tesla and getting all the free stuff from the vendors. We left the Smith's at the air show and we went to hike along the Rubicon trail. Ruby really liked that it was like her name. We had a good time, even though there was some whining at the beginning. It's just so beautiful there! The blue lake is amazing. Monday we went to Donner beach and we took the jet ski. Danny was old enough to drive it and take the kids on rides. Bob loved that he didn't have to be out there the whole time. It was a little cooler there than it has been sometimes so we had a harder time getting in the water a lot. We also played games at night and had smores and expoded a watermelon by putting hundreds of rubber bands around it. We had a great time in Tahoe once again. This was our 7th year in a row going there. We're so grateful the Smith's let us come stay with them every year.
The week after our big vacation was Scout Camp. Bob had to go help also. It was nice to have a week to be home and get things done. I cleaned all the carpets upstairs and the stairs.
This weekend Rachel and I went to stay at Kristal's with Grandma to celebrate her 13th birthday. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect. The first day we went shopping most of the day. It was very successful. We rode bikes to the beach that evening and got dinner. The next day we spent the whole day at the beach. Rachel can stay in the water forever. We found a fun part of Huntington beach that has a sandbar just a little way out. We had a lot of fun there. Then we rode bikes around the beach. We got cheesecake at the cheesecake factory that night. Rachel loved it. Saturday we were lazy in the morning. Then Kristal taught us pilates and we went back to our sandbar spot at the beach for a few hours then we drove home.
August seems like it will be just as busy as the rest of the summer. We're going to Utah this weekend for Sarah's baby's blessing then Rachel and I go to girls camp as soon as we get back. Then there is only 2 weeks until school starts. But I assume I'll have to start work earlier than that to get a little training.
I also have been having weird anxiety stuff for a while with my breathing and muscle tension and sleeping problems and now I think my tingling hands might be related too. I went to see Valerie. I think it's been helpful. I'll write more about it next time.
May
The end of school was busy as usual. Aaron and Seth finished their soccer season. They both did great. We joined the Dinosaur park league, which was so nice to be so close. Aaron rode his bike to practice and Seth's practice was wedged between piano for Aaron and Rachel and Basketball for Danny. It wouldn't have worked if I had to drive to the other soccer park. Danny played with his club team and also played on an intramural basketball team for his school. I was the unofficial team mom for the basketball team because they had a hard time getting the team organized and communicated to the parents. The girls still did their dance classes at the cute studio close to our house.
We went to Ryan and Venessa's for Memorial Weekend. We went to the beach by ourselves on the first day because everyone else had work and school. We had a great time boogie boarding and playing. Aaron ate too much junk food, once again, and threw up in the rocks. Danny hit a sneaky squirrel in the head with a rock by accident. He didn't bother us again!
The next day all the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa joined us at the beach. We had a great time. Sunday we had our regular vacation church family testimony meeting. Grandma and Grandpa came with us for that. We walked to the HOA and went on a hike.
The week before Memorial Day a job opened up at the Elementary school for a Teacher's Aide. I applied and was interviewed that day. I have several friends who work at the school so that was really helpful. The interview went great and they said they'd get back to me in a week. They called the next day with a job offer. It all happened so fast. I called the Principal at the middle school to make sure he couldn't offer me the sports secretary job. He said they weren't ready. So I took the job. I'll be working the full hours of Elementary school. It's taken me most of the summer to adjust to the fact that I'll be working pretty much full time. It's going to be a busy year.
June
School ended. Yay! A few days after school got out we went to Visalia to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. Bob and I left for a few days for our Anniversary. We went to Cambria. We toured Hearst Castle, went for a bike ride into town for some French pastries, watched the seals and ate at some great restaurants. The weather was a little cold, but we had a nice, lazy weekend. And then Bob flew home and I stayed with the kids for the week. We had a great time shopping and swimming and going to the arcade. The kids hit some major jackpots there so it made it exciting. We also finally got to take Bob to Superior Dairy in Hanford. We did boys against girls this time. The boys took it seriously and downed their ice cream fast.
We brought Grandma back with us when we came home from Visalia. And we got back just in time for Danny and Bob to turn around and drive back to CA for a basketball tournament. This is pretty much the only tournament Danny's team travel's to (we love that they mostly just do the local tournaments) and we've never made it there. So this year Danny really wanted to go. Bob and Danny got to have a nice boys weekend. They stayed at Kristal's house about 30 minutes from the tournament. They had a game Friday night and Saturday night. So Saturday morning they got to go to the beach. They also found some awesome places to eat. After the Saturday game they raced home so Danny could go to the last 2 hours of the stake dance with his friends.
Grandma came back from Visalia with us so she could watch the kids while Bob, Danny and I went on our stake's Pioneer Trek. It was super hot that weekend in Utah, where we did the trek. But we still had a great time and really bonded with our trek families.
The month of June felt like a whirlwind. We didn't have any downtime to have a lazy summer day or catch up on things. As soon as school got out it felt like I just had to get through trek and then things would slow down. But when we got home from trek, we had 4 days at home to recover and then get ready for our 13 day trip to Oregon and Tahoe.
July
We left July 1 for Oregon. We drove straight through to get there. 16 hours. The kids did great. There were 40 people staying at the farmhouse this year. We were celebrating Grandma Monte's 85th birthday.
The first day in Oregon we went to Portland. Ryan's family and Grandma and Grandpa came with us. We went to VooDoo donuts first. It was ok. Then we went to the International Rose Test Garden. It was amazing. Such beautiful flowers everywhere. Seth and Ruby really got into it and took our phones around to take pictures of all the flowers. They actually got some pretty good ones. After the rose garden we split up and just our family went to the Nike Store since it's based in Portland. And then we rode the Arial Tram that connects two parts of the hospital. The kids thought it was pretty cool.
Sunday we went to church and celebrated Grandma's birthday. We had cake and took pictures in our matching Barnhart Family Reunion shirts. That night my mom and dad took pictures by the creek on the farm. We got some really great ones. Danny and the other kids went fishing every day. And we picked blueberries all the time. It's amazing how many of those blueberries you can eat every day when you don't have to pay for them!
Monday was 4th of July. We drove to Lincoln City. That morning when we were getting ready to go I took a step and all of a sudden my ankle was killing me. It felt like I pulled a tendon or something. So I had to limp all day. We went to the 4th of July parade. That was fun. Then we went over to the beach and played for a while. We did fireworks in the backyard. Danny and Aaron helped Grandpa with tons of fireworks. The close museum was doing big fireworks too so we could watch those at the same time.
Tuesday we went back to Portland and rode a ferry up and down the river. Wednesday we went to the indoor waterslides. I wasn't feeling very well when I got up but I thought it would wear off so I went to the waterslides with everyone. I took it easy for a while and then Danny really wanted me to ride a slide with him so I decided to try it. I got most of the way up and started feeling light-headed. I sat down and hoped it would stop. But it didn't. I threw up blueberries all over the stairs. Danny ran and got Bob to help me. But then some lifeguards came and said they'd clean it up. I went and got cleaned up and then I felt great. We had a fun rest of the day at the waterslides. Aaron really wanted to go to the aviation museum so he talked Grandpa into taking him halfway through the day.
Thursday we drove to Tahoe. Friday we played at Sand Harbor. We always have such a good time there. Saturday we went to the Air show. The kids really enjoyed sitting in a Tesla and getting all the free stuff from the vendors. We left the Smith's at the air show and we went to hike along the Rubicon trail. Ruby really liked that it was like her name. We had a good time, even though there was some whining at the beginning. It's just so beautiful there! The blue lake is amazing. Monday we went to Donner beach and we took the jet ski. Danny was old enough to drive it and take the kids on rides. Bob loved that he didn't have to be out there the whole time. It was a little cooler there than it has been sometimes so we had a harder time getting in the water a lot. We also played games at night and had smores and expoded a watermelon by putting hundreds of rubber bands around it. We had a great time in Tahoe once again. This was our 7th year in a row going there. We're so grateful the Smith's let us come stay with them every year.
The week after our big vacation was Scout Camp. Bob had to go help also. It was nice to have a week to be home and get things done. I cleaned all the carpets upstairs and the stairs.
This weekend Rachel and I went to stay at Kristal's with Grandma to celebrate her 13th birthday. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect. The first day we went shopping most of the day. It was very successful. We rode bikes to the beach that evening and got dinner. The next day we spent the whole day at the beach. Rachel can stay in the water forever. We found a fun part of Huntington beach that has a sandbar just a little way out. We had a lot of fun there. Then we rode bikes around the beach. We got cheesecake at the cheesecake factory that night. Rachel loved it. Saturday we were lazy in the morning. Then Kristal taught us pilates and we went back to our sandbar spot at the beach for a few hours then we drove home.
August seems like it will be just as busy as the rest of the summer. We're going to Utah this weekend for Sarah's baby's blessing then Rachel and I go to girls camp as soon as we get back. Then there is only 2 weeks until school starts. But I assume I'll have to start work earlier than that to get a little training.
I also have been having weird anxiety stuff for a while with my breathing and muscle tension and sleeping problems and now I think my tingling hands might be related too. I went to see Valerie. I think it's been helpful. I'll write more about it next time.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
May 15, 2016
My arms were really bad again this week so I finally went to the chiropractor. I prayed about it because I had so much fear about it because of my past experiences. I felt like it would be ok so I made an appointment with Matt Anderson, our home teacher. I still didn't like it, but it was ok and over pretty fast. It may have helped, I can't tell yet. It's not gone, but it hasn't woken me up much either. I also got a new pillow there that seems pretty good too.
Danny went on a field trip to Disneyland this week. He had a great time. Aaron had a field trip last week to go river rafting at the Hoover Dam. They had field day. We're doing all the final things for the school year.
We met our trek family this week. It was so fun. We have great kids. I'm excited.
Danny went on a field trip to Disneyland this week. He had a great time. Aaron had a field trip last week to go river rafting at the Hoover Dam. They had field day. We're doing all the final things for the school year.
We met our trek family this week. It was so fun. We have great kids. I'm excited.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
May 8, 2016
Today is Mother's day. Bob made breakfast and he and Rachel got me flowers and candy. and the kids all made great cards. I got a knife and sharpener, creme brule stuff and a nice water pitcher. And it's a gorgeous sunny day. We've had lots or wind and rain this week. This spring has had lots of changing weather. It's been fun.
I may have a job at the kids school next year. I have been fasting and praying since last year that we'd be able to get Aaron in to Sky Pointe for next year. Then the lottery numbers came out and Aaron is #10. That's not too bad of a number, but there's no way 10 kids will leave the 5th grade this summer. So I was a little disappointed, but I kept praying and talking to the registrar. She said probably my only real chance is to get a job at the school because that would change my priority and would jump him up to #2, which could have an actual chance of getting a spot. Ruby got in to full day kindergarten so I do have time to work there if I need to. So I took my resume to the elementary side and they said they need on call aides. But on-call isn't enough to get staff priority. But what I'd really like to do is help with sports in the middle and high school. They are just getting their programs going. I've been helping with the boys basketball team quite a bit so I have a relationship with the coach and Athletic director. And I've been going to the monthly parent committee meetings and I know the principle and vice principle. So after the last meeting I sat down with the principle and he said they are actually looking to add an Athletic Secretary that would work 3 hours a day. That would be my ideal scenario. But they don't know yet if they'll have enough money to pay for a secretary after they hire some more teachers. That's actually ok because I don't care if I get paid. I think I'd probably only make $400/month anyway. So it's good to know they have a need. I'm supposed to check in at the end of the year. I'm hoping whether they can pay me or not, that they'll want my help and can at least get me the spot for Aaron.
I've felt pretty supported in this whole process. Like when a door closed I had some help coming up with the next way to try. I'm so hopeful it'll work out how I want it to. But I guess if it doesn't I've gained some experience at being persistent and looking for ways around something. Aaron should have a pretty easy time getting in to the school for 6th grade if it doesn't work this year, but I really don't want him to have to wait!
I also feel like I've had to be persistent and keeps trying with my hands. Nothing seems to be changing and I still really can't recognize hardly anything that makes my hands better or worse. I do think swimming helps a little and maybe if I work on my core muscles so I can stand straighter. But those just have a little affect. I liked acupuncture. It didn't seem to make any difference, but I only went twice. Their hours are not helpful. They aren't open during preschool and I just don't have the time right now to go twice a week and find a babysitter for something that I don't know will actually help it. Maybe I'll try again after school gets out. My neurologist said he can't help me. So now that's neurology, physical therapy and orthopedic surgery that have all tried and said they can't help. I still haven't tried a chiropractor on my neck. But it scares me and I haven't felt strongly that I need to. I did try the chiropractor on my ribs and it made the tingling worse. I think I'm going to ask my dad and Bob for a healing blessing when we're together for memorial day and see if that can help.
Our family went and volunteered at the Mt. Charleston Marathon yesterday. It was so great. I've been wanting to get my kids out to more service and then the women's session of conference was all about service so I realized I just need to make it happen. So we went and took some other youth from the ward. It was great. Danny was pretty grumpy about being there, but half way through they put us at the pizza table with no instruction and a gathering group of hungry runners and we just had to jump in. Danny rose to the occasion and it made such a difference for him. His mood got so much better and he was happy and talkative for the rest of the day. He's been in a grumpy teenager mood for a few weeks, but yesterday he was so happy and agreeable and today too. It's a really nice mother's day present.
We have a 21 day challenge in our stake to work on temple and family history. It's worked out pretty well. I've been able to go to the temple once a week for the 3 weeks and I plan to take the beehives to do baptisms so they can participate in the challenge. I also found a name on Meema's line that I felt like I needed to figure out. She took hours and I even had my mom look for a few hours. From what I could find she went by several different names at different times. Oregon Virginia Vergie Nancy Rebecka Whitley Clear. And there were so many versions of her and her kids. Once I was finally done researching her and merging everyone, the only work to be done was to seal her to her parents. Hopefully she really wanted that. Bob and I will go do it next week.
Last weekend I went to Women's Conference with Amanda and Wendy. It was so great. I love those girls. It rained a lot, but it didn't matter. We went to some great sessions. Mostly we stayed in the Marriott center. We ate a lot of good food and went shopping. We stayed up late talking. The thing I came away most from the conference was how amazing those women are. And how much they consecrate their lives to the Lord. I want to work harder and be better at that. All the work would definitely be worth the joy of being that helpful.
I may have a job at the kids school next year. I have been fasting and praying since last year that we'd be able to get Aaron in to Sky Pointe for next year. Then the lottery numbers came out and Aaron is #10. That's not too bad of a number, but there's no way 10 kids will leave the 5th grade this summer. So I was a little disappointed, but I kept praying and talking to the registrar. She said probably my only real chance is to get a job at the school because that would change my priority and would jump him up to #2, which could have an actual chance of getting a spot. Ruby got in to full day kindergarten so I do have time to work there if I need to. So I took my resume to the elementary side and they said they need on call aides. But on-call isn't enough to get staff priority. But what I'd really like to do is help with sports in the middle and high school. They are just getting their programs going. I've been helping with the boys basketball team quite a bit so I have a relationship with the coach and Athletic director. And I've been going to the monthly parent committee meetings and I know the principle and vice principle. So after the last meeting I sat down with the principle and he said they are actually looking to add an Athletic Secretary that would work 3 hours a day. That would be my ideal scenario. But they don't know yet if they'll have enough money to pay for a secretary after they hire some more teachers. That's actually ok because I don't care if I get paid. I think I'd probably only make $400/month anyway. So it's good to know they have a need. I'm supposed to check in at the end of the year. I'm hoping whether they can pay me or not, that they'll want my help and can at least get me the spot for Aaron.
I've felt pretty supported in this whole process. Like when a door closed I had some help coming up with the next way to try. I'm so hopeful it'll work out how I want it to. But I guess if it doesn't I've gained some experience at being persistent and looking for ways around something. Aaron should have a pretty easy time getting in to the school for 6th grade if it doesn't work this year, but I really don't want him to have to wait!
I also feel like I've had to be persistent and keeps trying with my hands. Nothing seems to be changing and I still really can't recognize hardly anything that makes my hands better or worse. I do think swimming helps a little and maybe if I work on my core muscles so I can stand straighter. But those just have a little affect. I liked acupuncture. It didn't seem to make any difference, but I only went twice. Their hours are not helpful. They aren't open during preschool and I just don't have the time right now to go twice a week and find a babysitter for something that I don't know will actually help it. Maybe I'll try again after school gets out. My neurologist said he can't help me. So now that's neurology, physical therapy and orthopedic surgery that have all tried and said they can't help. I still haven't tried a chiropractor on my neck. But it scares me and I haven't felt strongly that I need to. I did try the chiropractor on my ribs and it made the tingling worse. I think I'm going to ask my dad and Bob for a healing blessing when we're together for memorial day and see if that can help.
Our family went and volunteered at the Mt. Charleston Marathon yesterday. It was so great. I've been wanting to get my kids out to more service and then the women's session of conference was all about service so I realized I just need to make it happen. So we went and took some other youth from the ward. It was great. Danny was pretty grumpy about being there, but half way through they put us at the pizza table with no instruction and a gathering group of hungry runners and we just had to jump in. Danny rose to the occasion and it made such a difference for him. His mood got so much better and he was happy and talkative for the rest of the day. He's been in a grumpy teenager mood for a few weeks, but yesterday he was so happy and agreeable and today too. It's a really nice mother's day present.
We have a 21 day challenge in our stake to work on temple and family history. It's worked out pretty well. I've been able to go to the temple once a week for the 3 weeks and I plan to take the beehives to do baptisms so they can participate in the challenge. I also found a name on Meema's line that I felt like I needed to figure out. She took hours and I even had my mom look for a few hours. From what I could find she went by several different names at different times. Oregon Virginia Vergie Nancy Rebecka Whitley Clear. And there were so many versions of her and her kids. Once I was finally done researching her and merging everyone, the only work to be done was to seal her to her parents. Hopefully she really wanted that. Bob and I will go do it next week.
Last weekend I went to Women's Conference with Amanda and Wendy. It was so great. I love those girls. It rained a lot, but it didn't matter. We went to some great sessions. Mostly we stayed in the Marriott center. We ate a lot of good food and went shopping. We stayed up late talking. The thing I came away most from the conference was how amazing those women are. And how much they consecrate their lives to the Lord. I want to work harder and be better at that. All the work would definitely be worth the joy of being that helpful.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
April 10, 2016
I guess March must have been really busy. Seth and Aaron are playing soccer. Rachel and Ruby are still dancing. Danny is back with Ballerz and his school is having a late basketball season, so he's doing 2 teams at the same time. Young women's is busy. I helped Stephanie Jovaag quite a bit in March. We had Spring Break and Easter and Danny's birthday and general conference.
We went to Visalia for Spring Break. We left right after school got out on Friday because Casey and Kami were there that weekend. Everyone came to my parents' to see them. We went to the park and had a picnic, we had a party for all the March and April birthdays, we played frisbees in the backyard quite a bit. Then everyone left at the end of the weekend and the kids and I stayed until Thursday with my mom. We played miniature golf and went to the arcade, went shopping, the boys helped at Grandma Donna's, we watched movies. It was a nice, lazy spring break. We came home Thursday so Danny could play in a Basketball tournament. Then we had a nice Easter at home with Bob.
Our garden is growing great. We still have only eaten the kale, spinach and basil, but the peas, carrots, onions and tomatoes should be soon. Ruby and I love to go out an check on it every day. I look for aphids and check on things and Ruby counts all the ladybugs. If I don't remember to go out there, Ruby reminds me.
Danny turned 14. He had 4 friends over and played basketball and sting pong and had pizza and cake. They also tried the pool but it only lasted 5 minutes. Sting pong is a game Danny came up with. They play ping pong and then if a boy looses a point, he has to take his shirt off and turn around and the other boy gets to hit the ball as hard as they can at his back. They love it. Crazy boys.
My hands continue to be a problem. I had another test for MS because my neurologist thinks I could be in the 5% of people who don't show up in the brain MRI. I got an infusion of Steroids every day for 3 days. It didn't do anything for my hands, so I think that rules out MS for me. But it was a horrible drug. It made me achy and tired and gave me a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't sleep well. And then when I stopped I was really achy and tired for 2 days, so much that I had to stay in bed most of the time. I'm glad that's done. This week I'm trying acupunture.
We went to Visalia for Spring Break. We left right after school got out on Friday because Casey and Kami were there that weekend. Everyone came to my parents' to see them. We went to the park and had a picnic, we had a party for all the March and April birthdays, we played frisbees in the backyard quite a bit. Then everyone left at the end of the weekend and the kids and I stayed until Thursday with my mom. We played miniature golf and went to the arcade, went shopping, the boys helped at Grandma Donna's, we watched movies. It was a nice, lazy spring break. We came home Thursday so Danny could play in a Basketball tournament. Then we had a nice Easter at home with Bob.
Our garden is growing great. We still have only eaten the kale, spinach and basil, but the peas, carrots, onions and tomatoes should be soon. Ruby and I love to go out an check on it every day. I look for aphids and check on things and Ruby counts all the ladybugs. If I don't remember to go out there, Ruby reminds me.
Danny turned 14. He had 4 friends over and played basketball and sting pong and had pizza and cake. They also tried the pool but it only lasted 5 minutes. Sting pong is a game Danny came up with. They play ping pong and then if a boy looses a point, he has to take his shirt off and turn around and the other boy gets to hit the ball as hard as they can at his back. They love it. Crazy boys.
My hands continue to be a problem. I had another test for MS because my neurologist thinks I could be in the 5% of people who don't show up in the brain MRI. I got an infusion of Steroids every day for 3 days. It didn't do anything for my hands, so I think that rules out MS for me. But it was a horrible drug. It made me achy and tired and gave me a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't sleep well. And then when I stopped I was really achy and tired for 2 days, so much that I had to stay in bed most of the time. I'm glad that's done. This week I'm trying acupunture.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
February 28, 2016
We went to Provo last weekend. We had a 4 day weekend for President's day. We went up to see the new Provo City Center Temple. It was beautiful. We stayed with Trina the first night and Sarah came over and we all had breakfast the next morning. That afternoon we went to the Dean's. We got the kids settled and Bob and I and Danny and CJ went to visit Bishop Gibby and his wife. Danny and CJ rode their snowmobile while we talked. It was good to see them again. That night we had a candlelight dinner with the Deans as part of their Valentine Traditions. Sunday we went to church with them and then went over to Wendy's house for dinner. We had a good weekend of visiting the right amount of people so we saw a lot but it wasn't too busy.
Friday fun nights are going great. We've started having some theme nights. We did an 80s night where we listened to 80s music while we played quirkle and then Bob introduced the kids to Pee Wee's Playhouse. And we had an Indian/Persian night where Danny and I stopped by an Indian and Persian grocery store that are by his basketball game and we got lots of treats. Then we listened to Indian music while playing Don't eat Pete with some Indian wedding candy. And then we turned on a Bollywood movie on Netflix called Singh is King. We thought we'd only watch 20 minutes. But we all loved it. We watched the whole thing and it even had subtitles.
I listened to a book called How Not to Die that talks about lots of the benefits of a whole food plant based diet and how it can help with lots of diseases. It mentioned a study where they found that a dairy-free diet cured diabetic neuropathy. So I thought I'd try it. I was unsure about how much dairy fits into the Word of Wisdom so it sounded great to try it. Bob did it with me. It didn't help my nerves. The first week I couldn't tell much difference and then the second week my hands were pretty bad I think because I tweaked my neck a little one night. But it wasn't that hard and I like some of the changes we made doing it. I fasted about it also because I wanted to make sure I wasn't being extreme in my interpretation of the Word of Wisdom, but I felt like it is definitely a good thing to do. So I think I'll relax a little about how strict I was, but still continue to cut dairy as much as possible. I also mentioned cutting dairy to Danny because our dermatologist said it could help his skin. I didn't know if he'd want to try, but he did and he's been doing great with it. He says he feels like his skin feels smoother and Bob and I have noticed that his skin looks less red and inflamed. So at least that's been nice to see a little progress.
Our garden is in and we have plants! I did some seeds and some little plants. So we'll see what happens.
Friday fun nights are going great. We've started having some theme nights. We did an 80s night where we listened to 80s music while we played quirkle and then Bob introduced the kids to Pee Wee's Playhouse. And we had an Indian/Persian night where Danny and I stopped by an Indian and Persian grocery store that are by his basketball game and we got lots of treats. Then we listened to Indian music while playing Don't eat Pete with some Indian wedding candy. And then we turned on a Bollywood movie on Netflix called Singh is King. We thought we'd only watch 20 minutes. But we all loved it. We watched the whole thing and it even had subtitles.
I listened to a book called How Not to Die that talks about lots of the benefits of a whole food plant based diet and how it can help with lots of diseases. It mentioned a study where they found that a dairy-free diet cured diabetic neuropathy. So I thought I'd try it. I was unsure about how much dairy fits into the Word of Wisdom so it sounded great to try it. Bob did it with me. It didn't help my nerves. The first week I couldn't tell much difference and then the second week my hands were pretty bad I think because I tweaked my neck a little one night. But it wasn't that hard and I like some of the changes we made doing it. I fasted about it also because I wanted to make sure I wasn't being extreme in my interpretation of the Word of Wisdom, but I felt like it is definitely a good thing to do. So I think I'll relax a little about how strict I was, but still continue to cut dairy as much as possible. I also mentioned cutting dairy to Danny because our dermatologist said it could help his skin. I didn't know if he'd want to try, but he did and he's been doing great with it. He says he feels like his skin feels smoother and Bob and I have noticed that his skin looks less red and inflamed. So at least that's been nice to see a little progress.
Our garden is in and we have plants! I did some seeds and some little plants. So we'll see what happens.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
February 7, 2016
We put in a garden. The bricks and dirt are in, now we just need water and plants.
We had new beginnings last night. Bob was the priesthood there and Rachel was there. It was fun to be there together. Danny babysat.
Danny and Rachel got braces. It was nice for them to be able to do it together. They both took that day off school. We went to the mall after to spend their money because I accidentally told them they could have $100 for getting braces. At first Danny didn't want braces at all. And then he really wanted invisilign. So I told him if he really wanted it he would have to pay $300 toward it. He's been saving his dog walking money. But it didn't seem fair to get invisilign for Danny and make Rachel get regular, so we told her if she picks regular we'd give her $100. So in the end Danny decided against invisilign and they both collected on their $100. Danny bought shoes and Rachel bought a bunch of stuff at bath and body works. Then Bob met us at the mall and we had lunch at the food court. It was fun to have the day with my big kids.
Then the next day I let Aaron, Seth and Ruby stay home from school and we went to the snow. Danny and Rachel couldn't miss 2 days of school and Bob had to work. Ruby didn't get to go to the snow in Visalia because she was sick and she's been asking when she could go. We had a great time. We were the first ones there and it didn't get too crowded. The only sad part was the snow was too cold to make a snowman.
We had new beginnings last night. Bob was the priesthood there and Rachel was there. It was fun to be there together. Danny babysat.
Danny and Rachel got braces. It was nice for them to be able to do it together. They both took that day off school. We went to the mall after to spend their money because I accidentally told them they could have $100 for getting braces. At first Danny didn't want braces at all. And then he really wanted invisilign. So I told him if he really wanted it he would have to pay $300 toward it. He's been saving his dog walking money. But it didn't seem fair to get invisilign for Danny and make Rachel get regular, so we told her if she picks regular we'd give her $100. So in the end Danny decided against invisilign and they both collected on their $100. Danny bought shoes and Rachel bought a bunch of stuff at bath and body works. Then Bob met us at the mall and we had lunch at the food court. It was fun to have the day with my big kids.
Then the next day I let Aaron, Seth and Ruby stay home from school and we went to the snow. Danny and Rachel couldn't miss 2 days of school and Bob had to work. Ruby didn't get to go to the snow in Visalia because she was sick and she's been asking when she could go. We had a great time. We were the first ones there and it didn't get too crowded. The only sad part was the snow was too cold to make a snowman.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
January 24, 2016
We've implemented Family Fun Night. I've felt like we're so busy all the time and then when we're not, we all just wast our time instead of doing fun things together. We're good at having fun together on trips, but not as good at home. So Friday night is Family fun night. We play games or watch movies or anything else. The kids love it, especially the littles. The bigs don't say they love it, but they have fun.
This week we've added a scripture component to family fun night. I've been working with the bigs for several months to help them do regular personal scripture study. They struggle. Also I always mean to read scriptures with the littles but I struggle with that too. So we made calendars for all the kids for them to mark off each day they read. Then they can bring their calendar to family fun night and if they have 6 or 7 days marked off, they can get a candy. We just started last week. They were all so excited! Seth and Ruby have been reminding us to read scriptures to them every night.
Last weekend we had a 4 day weekend because of MLK day and a teacher in-service. The teacher day was only for Somersets, so we used that day to go to Adventure Dome. It was empty. We had so much fun. There were no lines. The sad part of the day was when Rachel went on a roller coaster and lost her glasses. We ordered new ones this week. In the meantime she is wearing my extra pair that are weaker than hers.
We had a big talk with Danny and Rachel because phones were being used too much. We mixed love and logic with How to win friends and influence people (which I just read and loved!) to have the discussion. We talked about how phones are a privilege and they need to be doing awesome at all their other stuff to have them. Danny hated the discussion, Rachel reacted great. However the discussion has been doing great things for both of them. Rachel is trying to use her time better and Danny is working harder at school.
This week we've added a scripture component to family fun night. I've been working with the bigs for several months to help them do regular personal scripture study. They struggle. Also I always mean to read scriptures with the littles but I struggle with that too. So we made calendars for all the kids for them to mark off each day they read. Then they can bring their calendar to family fun night and if they have 6 or 7 days marked off, they can get a candy. We just started last week. They were all so excited! Seth and Ruby have been reminding us to read scriptures to them every night.
Last weekend we had a 4 day weekend because of MLK day and a teacher in-service. The teacher day was only for Somersets, so we used that day to go to Adventure Dome. It was empty. We had so much fun. There were no lines. The sad part of the day was when Rachel went on a roller coaster and lost her glasses. We ordered new ones this week. In the meantime she is wearing my extra pair that are weaker than hers.
We had a big talk with Danny and Rachel because phones were being used too much. We mixed love and logic with How to win friends and influence people (which I just read and loved!) to have the discussion. We talked about how phones are a privilege and they need to be doing awesome at all their other stuff to have them. Danny hated the discussion, Rachel reacted great. However the discussion has been doing great things for both of them. Rachel is trying to use her time better and Danny is working harder at school.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
January 10, 2016
We had a great Christmas break. The first week we did lots of baking and kids had friends over and we slept under the tree and went to see the cactus garden. Aaron got strep throat 2 days before Christmas. This time the doctor offered 10 days of amoxacillin or 1 shot. Aaron was so disappointed that I chose the shot. But it was awesome to not have to remember to give that medicine twice a day for 10 days. He got better really fast and was feeling fine for Christmas.
Bob has a few friends who have a tradition of having Chinese food on Christmas eve. So we tried it. We got Panda express because all the kids love it. Then we did the navity and opened sibling presents. Christmas morning we got up at 7:00. Danny got shoes and socks, a speaker and a charger and a sweatshirt and lights for his bikes. Rachel got a new bike (it was so cute! It's a cruiser that has gears, it's pink and it has a cup holder-that's her favorite part), I made her a bean bag chair, pajamas, a brush and a beanie hat. Aaron got a new mountain bike, a couple remote control helicopters, some fun encyclopedia books, a sweatshirt (all the boys got matching ones. I was a little worried about them not wanting to match, but they liked them enough they don't care!). Seth got a batman imaginext toy that he and Ruby we wanting. They play great with all their imaginext guys and setups. He also got some legos, hi ho cherrio, Ruby and Seth got a lego subscription that is kind of like netflix for lego sets. Ruby got magformers, spirograph, a batman ship, playdoh set, clothes. The kids all got a ping pong table. The sad part was that I forgot I needed to buy the paddles and every store is closed on Christmas so they couldn't play it! Bob got a new computer, an egg sandwich maker, a sweatshirt and a selfie stick. I got a new camera lens that will be good for family pictures. And Bob got me a robot vacuum and a robot floor mop. I love them, especially the mop. It cleans so well. The vacuum is a little slow and random. We named the vacuum Zoram and the mop Zonda. We went over budget this Christmas. I've been working more and I hadn't added that money into the budget yet, so it was easy to just keep spending it. I've added it to the budget now and we'll use the money much more productively. But it was kind of nice to just spend for a while and not worry too much about it. We also decided to start a new tradition on Christmas Day to have a family testimony meeting. Christmas eve is more about the Savior, but on Christmas day we just eat and play, so we thought we'd add some religion to that day too.
The day after Christmas we went to Visalia. We had a good time playing with cousins. Everyone was there except Casey. Grandma Monte and Grandpa Gene and Grandma Donna were all there. Ruby had a runny nose when we got there that turned into strep a few days later. But we got her on antibiotics (no shot this time) right away and she felt better fast. Luckily no one else got strep, but lots of people got colds. The sad part was that she was sick on the day everyone went to the snow. She was really sad about that. She and I stayed home that day. It was my birthday. We also went to see some Christmas lights in Tulare one night. My grandparents and parents and Danny, Rachel, bob and I went to the Fresno temple to do baptisms one day. It was really great to be there with all of them. It was so great for Danny and Rachel. I'm so thankful for my family. We ate a Sal's on the way home. We made several shopping trips. Did a few puzzles.
We had a nice New Years Eve. We played mall madness and watched the ball drop and had sparkling Cider. Ruby made it to 11:00 and fell asleep, but everyone else made it until midnight.
On New Years Day we drove home so we could have one day left of the break to do our celebration of Kwanzaa. I love that tradition. The kids worked hard and we got so much done. We went to see the new Star Wars Movie as a reward.
This week has been nice to get back on schedule. Bob and I have been working on our 2016 goals using the same program we used last year. I love doing that with him. It's so nice to get on the same page and have such good discussions.
We're going to put a garden in our backyard. I had a garden expert come look at our yard and he's going to help us set it up. He says as long as you plant at the right time, anyone can garden in Las Vegas. I hope he's right.
Bob has a few friends who have a tradition of having Chinese food on Christmas eve. So we tried it. We got Panda express because all the kids love it. Then we did the navity and opened sibling presents. Christmas morning we got up at 7:00. Danny got shoes and socks, a speaker and a charger and a sweatshirt and lights for his bikes. Rachel got a new bike (it was so cute! It's a cruiser that has gears, it's pink and it has a cup holder-that's her favorite part), I made her a bean bag chair, pajamas, a brush and a beanie hat. Aaron got a new mountain bike, a couple remote control helicopters, some fun encyclopedia books, a sweatshirt (all the boys got matching ones. I was a little worried about them not wanting to match, but they liked them enough they don't care!). Seth got a batman imaginext toy that he and Ruby we wanting. They play great with all their imaginext guys and setups. He also got some legos, hi ho cherrio, Ruby and Seth got a lego subscription that is kind of like netflix for lego sets. Ruby got magformers, spirograph, a batman ship, playdoh set, clothes. The kids all got a ping pong table. The sad part was that I forgot I needed to buy the paddles and every store is closed on Christmas so they couldn't play it! Bob got a new computer, an egg sandwich maker, a sweatshirt and a selfie stick. I got a new camera lens that will be good for family pictures. And Bob got me a robot vacuum and a robot floor mop. I love them, especially the mop. It cleans so well. The vacuum is a little slow and random. We named the vacuum Zoram and the mop Zonda. We went over budget this Christmas. I've been working more and I hadn't added that money into the budget yet, so it was easy to just keep spending it. I've added it to the budget now and we'll use the money much more productively. But it was kind of nice to just spend for a while and not worry too much about it. We also decided to start a new tradition on Christmas Day to have a family testimony meeting. Christmas eve is more about the Savior, but on Christmas day we just eat and play, so we thought we'd add some religion to that day too.
The day after Christmas we went to Visalia. We had a good time playing with cousins. Everyone was there except Casey. Grandma Monte and Grandpa Gene and Grandma Donna were all there. Ruby had a runny nose when we got there that turned into strep a few days later. But we got her on antibiotics (no shot this time) right away and she felt better fast. Luckily no one else got strep, but lots of people got colds. The sad part was that she was sick on the day everyone went to the snow. She was really sad about that. She and I stayed home that day. It was my birthday. We also went to see some Christmas lights in Tulare one night. My grandparents and parents and Danny, Rachel, bob and I went to the Fresno temple to do baptisms one day. It was really great to be there with all of them. It was so great for Danny and Rachel. I'm so thankful for my family. We ate a Sal's on the way home. We made several shopping trips. Did a few puzzles.
We had a nice New Years Eve. We played mall madness and watched the ball drop and had sparkling Cider. Ruby made it to 11:00 and fell asleep, but everyone else made it until midnight.
On New Years Day we drove home so we could have one day left of the break to do our celebration of Kwanzaa. I love that tradition. The kids worked hard and we got so much done. We went to see the new Star Wars Movie as a reward.
This week has been nice to get back on schedule. Bob and I have been working on our 2016 goals using the same program we used last year. I love doing that with him. It's so nice to get on the same page and have such good discussions.
We're going to put a garden in our backyard. I had a garden expert come look at our yard and he's going to help us set it up. He says as long as you plant at the right time, anyone can garden in Las Vegas. I hope he's right.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)