August 26, 2012

I feel like we've had so much bad luck lately.  Last weekend I was doing some regular updates on my drupal United Way sites and one of the sites crashed. And then all the backups were corrupt. So I worked all weekend to repair it.  I finally got it mostly working Monday around noon.  We were supposed to leave that morning to go stay in St. George with the Deans.  But we had to leave late.  Then we finally got there around dinner time. At bedtime Ruby started really crying and saying her ear hurt.  With no other symptoms but a slightly runny nose.  But all the kids had had a cold the week before.  It was so not like her so I took her to the ER. She had an ear infection. We got her medicine and came home.  When I got home around midnight, I found out Seth had been crying the whole time I was gone about his ears. So I turned around and went back to the ER.  He had an infection in both ears.  Once they had the medicine they got better really fast.  Then we went up to Draper to visit Wendy and get our dog.  We stayed there a day and came back.  It's been much harder than I thought to adjust to a dog.  I really don't like it and the mess and the extra work.  But the kids love him already.  So we'll see.  And then today our water heater broke and leaked through the wall and all over the bathroom. Of course it was on a Sunday.  I just want to go back to regular life and not have all this crazy stuff happen.  A normal amount of crazy is ok, but this is way more that usual.

Last week we went to the Luxor for the reward for the kids doing their summer jobs. We had a great time.  The kids and I checked in and walked around the hotel.  Then Bob brought pizza for dinner and we went swimming.  The kids all had a great time in a the big pools.  Then we went back and watched the Lorax in the room.  The next morning we went swimming again and then we went to the Pawn shop from the tv show Pawn Stars.  The kids watch it a bunch on netflix.  They all thought it was awesome to be where their show takes place.

School starts tomorrow.  We met their teachers on Friday.  They all seemed good. The kids are all excited and a little nervous for tomorrow.  It'll be nice for all of us to get back to a regular schedule.

We had a great summer.  I feel like we probably went on too many trips because we really weren't home much at all in July and August.  But we did a lot of really fun things.

Today Bob gave the kids blessings for going back to school.  We had a testimony meeting first and then the blessings.  It was really nice.  Bob gave me a blessing too.  This is what I can remember:

• I will be able to structure my time
• I will make time to get the rest and exercise I need
• I'll see the benefit of my efforts in my kids' lives, the girls in YW and the women around me as I serve
• Health blessings
• I'll be able to set schedules and patterns from what may seem like chaos
• I'll be able to accomplish what I need to in time.
• I'll be effective with my time.
• The Lord will take my effort and double it. 

May 8, 2011

Aaron got in to all-day kindergarten! Yea! And I found out there are two other kids in our ward doing the all day class. Hopefully we can work out a carpool.

Danny's fasting didn't quite go as planned, but I think it worked out still. I talked to him in the middle of his fast and he said he thought he was feeling good about staying at Antonello. Shoot! That wasn't what was supposed to happen! So then I had to go with the spirit and figure out how to turn it around. So I told him that his dad and I were feeling good about Goynes and parents can get revelation for their children. I talked to him about learning to understand the spirit and about how it feels to me--some of the key points like it'll make sense in your mind and heart; Heavenly Father doesn't use fear as an answer. He was a little mad about me saying he should plan on going to Goynes, but I think he really listened about the other stuff. So I just left it with him being mad about my answer, but the next day he was fine and talking like it had always been the plan for him to go to Goynes. So I guess it didn't work how I planned, but it still worked.

It's Mother's day today. I got to sleep in and the kids all made me cards. I made some muffins the night before and Bob cooked them for me this morning. He's so great. They didn't turn out to be the best muffins; I was just trying a new recipe. They turned out to be a little dry so Bob made icing and put it on them, which helped them a ton, before I was awake. I was pretty impressed that he figured it all out. Then I found a website open on the computer--it was yahoo answers and the question was "Um..How do you Make Icing for Cinnamon Rolls?" He's so cute. I love my husband!

I wanted a trampoline for my present. Our old one broke before we moved. So Bob got me a new 15 foot one and put it together for me yesterday. Our old backyard barely held our 10-ft trampoline. This one feels huge and and backyard has plenty of room for it. We're so blessed.

I worked a ton on my website last week. The drupal site for United Way in Illinois has been hanging over my head for weeks and now I'm finally at the deadline and just had to get it done. I worked 3-4 hours every day. The kids went to BJ's 3 days this week and I worked at night. I made some really good progress. I'm not done, but I have enough to show them and get their feedback before I finish. I feel like I'm really understanding the software better now though. There were so many unknowns for me before that it was a little daunting. But now I feel like I still have some things to do, but I'll be able to do them. I still have to do the second site for Illinois. And then I have to do one for United Way in Provo. So I still have a lot, but I have a month before school gets out. I'm really hoping to keep this pace up for the next month while kids are at school and I can still use BJ. Then I won't have to work much this summer while the kids are home. Because I think 5 kids at home all day is going to be a big enough job. And I want to do a good job with them.

April 10, 2011

We didn't move this weekend either. We almost did. We got one of the two approvals we needed, but the third one said it would be at least Monday. But the Lewis's said we can move in if we want. So we really thought about it because I'm going to be out of town next weekend. We started getting ready to move on Thursday. Bob felt fine about it. But I kept getting this pit feeling in my stomach. And when I'd try to pray about it, I couldn't focus my thoughts on it, my mind kept wandering. And I've been thinking about moving all the time for months, so not being able to think about I realized was a stupor of thought. I prayed and prayed about it our situation because Bob felt ok with it and I didn't.

I had Bob give me a blessing because I've not understood these kinds of feelings before and ignored them and then I really regretted it after. Satan can really get to me when I mess up like that. The blessing said that the fog in my mind would clear and that my heart and mind would both make sense. I thought about it all night. Finally about four in the morning I realized I didn't feel good about it not because the sale is going to fall apart and that the house won't eventually be ours, but because it's not ours yet. And it really doesn't feel like it's the Lewis's to give either because they haven't been paying on it for almost a year. But that answer gave me the peace I was looking for. I explained it to Bob and he was good with it. So, he's probably going to have to move in without me, but he's fine with that.

Hopefully things will go well with the banks this week and we'll be able to buy our new house and move in. I've been praying about that for weeks. I even started praying for the people who will be signing the approvals with the banks. I hope they are happy and have nice lives. And I hope we get our house soon. In the meantime, we have a key to the house and we've found excuses to need to go over there most days this week. We all like to go try out all that nice space.

I also had a great experience already with assigning a day of the week to each family member. On Monday I felt that I need to get Danny reading the Book of Mormon every day. So I printed out a reading chart for him. He seemed excited about it. And then on Friday, as I prayed for Ruby, one of the things I asked for was that she would learn to roll over since she hasn't done that yet. That day she rolled over two times! And then it was just nice to have time to focus and pray about each person and make sure I spent some good time with them.

My websites are hard to get going on. I keep running into delays from server issues, but I'm also procrastinating. But I'm coming up on my May deadline for both United Ways and I'm starting to feel the pressure of that. It'll be great money and good experience, but right now I'm wondering why I'm doing this. It's just adding to my stress with moving and five kids and all the things I have going on. But the only way to get rid of that is to push through it and just do it. So I'm hoping to move this week and then really make some good progress over spring break when my mom is here and can watch the kids for me.

We've all been quite healthy other than allergies for a long time. I feel so blessed with that.

January 16, 2011

Life is crazy! I feel like we're going a mile a minute and never stopping. Most of the time I feel like I can make it, but some days I just get a little too much added to things like a sick kid or more website work and it feels like I can't make it. Then I cry a little and maybe have a small pity party, then I pray and remember the Savior and my Heavenly Father know I can do it. Then I get things under control and get going again. But it never feels easy. I'm hoping that once Ruby is sleeping on a regular schedule, and I can get enough sleep, that five kids won't always be this much work.

Ruby had her 2 month checkup this week. She's in the 75th percentile. She's doing great. She loves it when we talk to her and she coos back at us. Her reflux is getting much better. It doesn't seem to burn her so much and she doesn't make quite as much of a mess, although she still does spit up a lot. I've realized that I think the best part of Ruby's reflux, though, is that she lets me hug her to sleep all the time. I try to keep her vertical whenever I can, so I hold her so her head can rest on my chest and she falls asleep so easily that way and I love it too because she cuddles with me the whole time.

Bob and I were sick last weekend. I was still sick on Monday. That morning I kept trying to get something to eat to see if it would give me more energy, but kids kept needing things. So finally I thought I had Ruby asleep and got some oatmeal, but as soon as I started eating, she started crying. So I just let her cry for a few minutes so I could finish. But then Seth started crying. I thought he was crying about a toy or something. So I finished up and went to find him. He was on his knees crying at my bedroom door. Ruby was in my room crying and for some reason Seth wasn't able to open the door to go in to comfort her (he always tells her "don't cy Uby"--he can't say r's yet). So when I realized what was happening I started crying and we were all a mess! But it was so wonderfully sweet at the same time. These babies of mine are so precious.

We found out this week that our house now won't be ready until the end of March at the earliest. The banks are taking a long time to approve everything. I'm so hoping everything will work out in the end, but the longer things take, the more nervous I get. And I'm feeling more cramped in our house. But week keep praying about it and I'm sure things will work out how they should. It does give us more time to save up money, though, so we can feel more comfortable when we do move.

I have two big website conversions I need to get done before we move, and having more time before having to pack will be helpful. I should also be able to make quite a bit from them so that will be good too. I just have to find the time to do them. Between Seth and Ruby and then the bigger kids needing things now and then, I am so lucky when I find one spare hour a day to do any kind of work. But I really need to figure it out soon. I might have to get Bob to come help me on Fridays or something.

I signed the boys up for baseball yesterday. And tennis signups are this week. So, soon we will be right back in the thick of sports and practices and even busier than we are now! It sure has been nice to not have had any sports for a couple of months.

June 20

Last weekend we were in Visalia again. We went almost two weeks ago and dropped the kids at my mom's. The Bob and I drove to San Luis Obispo for two nights to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed at the Apple Farm. We slept in and ate breakfast in our bed. We went to the grocery store the first night and Bob found 30 day-old donuts for $3.00. He was so excited. We ate at good places. We went to Morro Bay and Cayucous and the Montanna de oro state park. It was pretty cold and windy while we were there. It was a good relaxing trip. And the night before we left, Bob and I went up to St. George to see Cats at Tuacahn. That was really fun too. We had a lot of driving that week.

The kids did swimming lessons last week and will do one more week this week. Rachel is really figuring it out and can go in the deep end now. Aaron still refuses to do much, but at least he likes it. And I thought Seth would be really hard on the side, but he's been great. Seth really likes to wander off. The other kids would wander, but when they got so far, they'd know to come back. Seth doesn't have that. He just runs and runs.

I've been working a lot on my websites. I have a pretty good schedule down. I play with the kids and do the housework and then the kids all know that while Seth has his nap, that's when I work on my websites. It's been working really well so far. We also started a new job system. The kids still have to get dressed and make their beds and brush teeth, but now they have 2 house cleaning jobs a day since it's summer and they have more time. They get paid $.50 if they do all their jobs. We used to pay $.10 for each job. Their new job is that they have to pick up one assigned room every day. I'm loving it. I just can't keep up with the clutter and toys of four kids. So it's making such a difference to have them help.

I took Aaron back to see Paula at LDS services. Aaron really likes to go. He really seems relieved that there's someone who can help with his tantrums. He realizes that they are really bad things and he doesn't know how to stop them. I think he's been getting a little better since going. The biggest thing that helps is having talked about what's going on in the tantrums beforehand and then being able to have words Aaron understands when he's having the tantrums.

We went to the Circus yesterday. The kids all thought it was great. They'd seen the commercials and really wanted to go. It was a little long for them, but other than that it was fun.

Today is Father's day. We made bacon and eggs and sausage for breakfast. Then Rachel was sick, so Bob stayed home with her and I took the three boys to sacrament meeting. I just chased Seth around the halls the whole time. Then I brought him home to have a nap and went back and taught Beehives. We got Bob a fondue pot for father's day. The kids wanted to get him a chocolate fountain, but I didn't want to have to clean it up, so we decided on a fondue pot. So we'll use that later today.

March 7

Seth has been sick all week. Last Sunday after church his fever went up to 104.5 and he kept throwing up. So I took him in to urgent care. They said it was just a virus. So he was really sick for the next couple of days and wasn't getting better. I took him back to the doctor on Wednesday morning. He said Seth had an ear infection and he was worried Seth had pneumonia too. So I spent all morning getting blood work and a chest x-ray and medicine. And then it turned out it wasn't pneumonia, just a virus in his lung with inflamation. But he's been on antibiotics for his ear infection and he's been doing much better. Last night was the first night he's slept through the night in a week. Bob is such a great dad. He slept on Seth's floor almost all week. Seth's also been getting his last molar this week. His walking is getting much better--he's more brave with it. It's fun to watch.

I've been working on two new websites this week. One of them is a newsroom site for United Way and the other is a down syndrome org site for a guy in my ward. I'm using wordpress for both of them. It's been good to learn and the sites are starting to come together.

Bob has been on a lucky streak. Last weekend he won tickets to the Nascar race. He won them by calling in to a radio show. The tickets were worth about $500. We went with Seth and Aaron on Friday. It felt like the movie Cars. It was fun to see. And then Bob and Danny went on Saturday and Bob gave the tickets for Sunday to our neighbor. Then this week Bob has really been wanting to go to the Mountainwest Championship. So he called in to a tv channel earlier this week and won 2 tickets to the final game. And then yesterday he called in to another radio station and won tickets to all the sessions. That was also worth a couple hundred dollars. He's pretty excited. His birthday also falls on the day of the final game, so that worked out really well.

We got together with the Deans this week and had a little olympics. We were supposed to do it last week while the real olympics were going on, but it was Maeli's birthday so we went to her party instead. So Kata made a torch and I made some medals with the button maker. The kids were most interested in playing, but they had fun running some races and having a throwing contest.

The boys started baseball this week. I think they'll both really like it. It's just going to be really time consuming. And Danny finished up basketball. He played really well at his last game. It seems like that happens a lot where he just starts really getting into a rhythm with his sport at the end of the season. But he really liked it and says he wants to do summer basketball too.

Rachel and I started doing a sewing class this week. I didn't want her to feel bad that the boys all have things we're going to, and she didn't have anything. She is doing really well at piano, though. But we started a sewing class for her on wednesdays. We got some fabric and she's been practicing on the sewing machine with scrap fabric. This week, we're going to attempt a pillow. She's really excited about it.

December 6

Last week we were in Visalia for Thanksgiving. We all had a great time. We left on Tuesday after school. The girls went shopping on Wednesday. We had a great meal on Thursday. We also celebrated my mom's birthday on Thursday. That night we went to see New Moon at 10:00 because we were going to try Black friday shopping at midnight. We went to one store and went home. It was so crowded. Saturday we went to Cambria for the day. All of my brothers and sisters were there. We came home Sunday night.

This week I spent a lot of time catching up on websites. I got really behind since our computer died and then we were gone last week. I worked about 5 hours a day most days. I don't like that because then I just get behind in other things and my kids don't get enough attention. I still have a few projects that need to be finished, but I shouldn't have to work so much this week.

We made christmas cookies this week and yesterday we went to the Ethel M. Chocolate factory. We've made that a tradition for us. I get a gift certificate from discover card and the kids all help us pick out a box of their fancy chocolates. And we look at the cactus garden that is all lit up with christmas lights.

Seth said his first word today. It was Jesus. All the kids when they're babies have been interested in pictures of Jesus. And Seth really has. I have a picture of Jesus in his room. He's been copying some of our sounds for the last couple of weeks and this morning after I fed him we were looking at the picture and he said "shesus". At first I thought it was a fluke, but he said it again. And then he said it for Danny later. I'm pretty impressed with my amazing baby.

Nov 1

I taught the combined young women today. The lesson was on taking care of our physical bodies. I think it went well. The young women don't give the same kind of feedback that the RS sisters do. It was a good lesson to teach for me because it really made me aware of how I need to eat better. I've been working on eating more fruits and vegetables. But then this weekend was Halloween, so I've eaten way to much candy, of course.

We had a fun Halloween last night. Danny and Aaron were Star Wars guys. Rachel was a princess and Seth was a football player. We walked down our usual street, plus an extra. So the kids came home with lots of candy. The weather was great too. We had a really cold week. Our Trunk or treat on thursday was cold, but it warmed back up.

Rachel had Hand, Foot and mouth disease this week. That is such a bad sickness. Danny had it a couple of years ago. It gives you canker sores all over your mouth. Danny didn't talk for two days when he had it because he didn't want to move his mouth. Rachel got the canker sores on her throat and tonsils. This was the sickest and grumpiest I've ever seen her. She's pretty much over it now, though. We're glad for that.

My back is still doing great. And I'm able to work out at the gym and have a great time. And my websites continue to stay busy. As soon as I feel like I'm close to being caught up, someone else calls or sends me an email wanting something new set up. I guess if it was the other way and no one was calling, I'd have that to complain about. So I guess I'd rather have it this way; and so far it's not been an overwhelming amount of work. But it's always there; I work at least an hour a day.

September 27

I missed writing last week because we were in Utah. We left Friday and drove up to Bob's mom's house. Casey came over that night. Then Saturday morning I went up to Sandy and had lunch with Amanda and Wendy. That was great. I love those girls. Then Bob and I went to the BYU game with Casey and Kami. Casey won 4 tickets to the game plus VIP parking and food before the game and at half time. BYU lost big, but it was still fun. Then we came home Sunday morning.

Today Bob, Rachel and Aaron are all sick. It was the primary program, so that was sad for the kids to miss it. Rachel seems to have it the worst. She's had a fever for 3 days, so if she doesn't get better tomorrow I might have to take her in. I really hope Seth doesn't get it. He's just barely getting back to his regular self after being sick the last time.

I got a new calling today. I'm a beehive advisor now. And they'll release me from both my other callings. I'm happy, but sad. I'm sure I'll really like Young Women's too. I loved it in GA. But I was really loving being RS teacher and VT coordinator. There are so many amazing women in our ward and I got to know so many of them because of my callings. And I loved going to Relief Society every Sunday.

My websites continue to stay busy. I keep thinking I'm almost done, but as soon as I get something done I get another request from another site. The money is really nice, and I guess it's good to get it in now since the kids are back in school and it's before the holiday season.

September 13

Seth got sick this week. He's also getting his top front teeth, so he's had a rough week. He's starting to do better now, he's not sick, just a little snotty still. But both his teeth aren't through yet, so he's not completely back to his normal self yet.

Yesterday we went boating with the Deans on Lake Mead. They have their own boat and go all the time and this time invited us. We all had a great time. We left at 6:30 and got back around 4:00. The lake was so warm. I always associate waterskiing with getting cold in the water. But the water was perfect. The kids loved it and loved being with their friends. They all really liked swimming with life jackets on. Rachel and Aaron weren't sure about it at first, but once they realized they really wouldn't go under, they had a great time.

I finished all my big website projects and the requests for updates have slowed down, so it's more back to normal. That's nice.

September 6

Aaron went to preschool this week and loved it. His teacher said he did great too. He's so excited to go to his school and make crafts and do fun things. Those times while he's at school are going to be so great for me too. Seth takes a regular nap at exactly the same time that Aaron is at school. So I can get so much done on those days!

I taught Relief Society today. The lesson went really well. I love that calling. I love that everytime I read the lesson the first time, I don't know how to teach it and then as I work at it and pray, it just comes together. And I'm able to see the things I should emphasize and questions I should ask. I also love doing the visiting teaching.

I worked on websites a lot this week. It seemed like everyone had changes they needed done right away. It was doable, but I'm glad most weeks aren't that busy.

I read the book "Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale this week. I read about it somewhere and it sounded good so I requested it from the library. It took a couple of months to come in because so many other people had requested it. At first I didn't know if I wanted to take the time to read it, most of the time reading books for fun doesn't make it to the top of my list of things to do; not because I don't like to read, but because there are so many other things that need to be done. But I really enjoyed that book. It was entertaining and easy and it was a nice break from the normal.

June 27

Seth got his first tooth this week. I hadn't even noticed it was coming in. That is about a month earlier than the other kids got theirs. But now his other tooth has bee trying to come in since then and that one has made not sleep so well. He's also sitting up pretty well. That is going to be nice to be able to set him up with toys and let the kids play around him.

I finished a redesign of the pools website I did a couple of years ago. The owners of the company are in our ward. I also am supposed to start soon on two other websites one for a phone installation company in Utah and one for a nonprofit in GA. Both of them heard about me from other people I did sites for. The design part of websites is fun, it just takes a little more time. But I should make some good money.

I signed Aaron up for preschool in the fall. So he'll go to 2 years of preschool; the other kids only did one. I'm hoping it'll help him with the tantrums and keep him more occupied. And I realized he's only 2 months younger than Rachel was when she started preschool, his birthday is just after the cutoff. So it'll also be nice to have 2 mornings a week when it's just me and Seth. That'll be nice for grocery shopping and errands.

The kids have been playing with the Dean kids a lot this summer. Their oldest, CJ, has been in Danny's playgroup all year, but we just realized that their girl, Savannah, who is six months younger than Rachel and will go into kindergarten in the fall, plays great with Rachel. And they have a boy who is one year younger than Aaron, so they don't play together much, but enough. And then we both have babies a month apart, so it's been great to trade the three oldest kids back and forth. And I really like Kata, their mom. She reminds me of Amanda.

My back has been feeling great! And I love going to the new gym I just signed up at. They built a Gold's gym about 5 minutes away. I've been doing yoga and swimming laps so far. Then I'm still walking and doing physical therapy exercises. I've just been in heaven getting to do so much. I feel really blessed. Amanda and her husband just did a triathlon, and now I want to do one too. There's a triathlon sprint in Las vegas in October. I think I might be able to do it. And if I have to walk instead of run or just go slow, that's fine with me, I just think it would be lots of fun. I never was interested in triathlons before, mostly because I don't like swimming. But I don't love biking either. But now I realize I can't just do one thing, I need to get everything strong and not overuse anything. I'm going to see how my exercising goes over the next month and pray about it some more. But it's at least fun to think about.

We leave this thursday for our vacation in Midway. We'll have a great time. I just need to get all the packing and laundry and house cleaning done before we go. My mom will come back and stay with us for a few days after, so I don't want to come home to a messy house.