Spring Break

I decided to take advantage of PJ have 10 days off from school for spring break and head to Utah to visit my family. First though we had Mr. Man's older brother's wedding to attend. Once the wedding and reception were over the kids and I headed down to the Provo area. We had a great time. The kids got to play with their cousins, and I got to visit with my siblings. I have 2 brothers and 3 sisters who all live in the Provo area. And even though I was there back in August for a couple of days, I still had missed them. I tried to not over plan our days, but we still had plenty to do.
Monday one of my sisters, a sister-in-law, I and all our kids went bowling. My kids had never been before and had a blast. And then we spent FHE at my older brother's house with most of my siblings that lived in the area along with my nieces, my one niece's husband and cute new baby.
Tuesday I watched my kids play with their younger cousins while my sister and I ate Kneader's sandwiches (so yummy) and sorted legos.
Wednesday my sister-in-law and I took my kids and her 2 youngest to Thanksgiving Point and toured the Dinosaur Museum.
Thursday afternoon the kids and I headed to West Valley to have lunch with some of friends from our old ward. I was great to visit/gossip with them while our kids played. Made me a lot homesick for my old ward. Thursday evening my wonderful brother watched my 2 crazy kids so I could spend the evening with my sisters/sister-in-laws to celebrate my youngest sister's upcoming new arrival. We visited and ate yummy food at California Pizza Kitchen. Then returned to her house to visit some more and eat delicious chocolate cupcakes that I'm sure added a few pounds.
Friday my younger brother and I took his and my kids and went to the BYU Art Museum and then on to the Bean Museum. I'm sure all that walking burned off at least a little of the food from the night before. And then Friday night we drove up to West Jordan to visit a dear friend and her family. She made a yummy dinner and we got to visit for a while before I had to head back to my parents. On the drive back to Payson all I could think was how was I going to talk Mr. Man in to moving back to Utah, even though I know that is so not going to happen.
Saturday was supposed to be the day the we returned home, but my kids decided that they needed one more day with their cousins. During our visit we stayed upstairs at my parents house. They are currently in Russia on a mission so we missed getting to see them. My younger brother and his family live downstairs taking care of my parents house for them. It was lovely having them there. I got to know my 3 cute little nieces so much better and enjoyed getting all the loves that they were willing to share. And Miss Magoo loved having a cousins right downstairs to play with. So Miss Magoo wasn't exactly ready to leave her new found cousins. And PJ just wasn't looking forward to the drive back home. Later Saturday afternoon we go a nice surprise when my older sister and 3 of her kids showed up for a visit and dinner. I loved getting to spend time with my sisters ( love my brothers too, but there is just something about sisters) it was so great to get to sit and talk to them in person not just through a phone. And to actually spend time with 3 of my sisters at once was fabulous.

And then on the drive home we got to enjoy a nice spring snow storm. No, really I enjoyed the blowing snow (*note sarcasm*). And if I knew the name of the driver in the little green pick-up I'd send him a nice thank you note. He was driving so steadily through it I figured he knew what he was doing and I just followed him through most of the storm. It was strangely calming having that truck in front of me while I was dealing with the HEAVILY blowing snow and the other crazy drivers.
When we got home it was to a cleanish house, laundry done, dishes done, and fresh cookies waiting for us on the counter, and of course Mr. Man I missed him most of all. I am so HAPPY to be home.

Say What???

Friday as I was driving into Boise with Miss Magoo in the backseat I heard her singing to herself, which is nothing new for her. But as I started to listen closely to what she was singing I had to laugh. She was singing "Follow the Prophet" and when she got to the chorus instead of singing "follow the prophet and don't go a stray" she was singing" follow the Prophet and just hit a stray.." It made much more sense to her that way she says.

Life

Sometimes it feels like life is a seagull crapping on you. Today it feels like it hit me square in the eye.

My New Favorite Author

I have a new favorite author, Mary Pope Osborne, the author of “The Magic Tree House” series. I’ll admit to never having read an entire book of hers, just a couple of pages here and there. No, my son is the one that reads her books, he’s hooked. His 2nd grade teacher recommended Mrs. Pope Osborne’s books to me at our parent-teacher conference last Sept. She said they were just perfect for his age. And was she right. PJ devours her books, sometimes in one sitting. We recently found the books on cd, and he was in heaven. He pulled out the first book and proceeded to read along with the cd. He loves to tell me all about the latest book that he’s just finished reading, and I love to hear him get so excited about reading. Thank you Mary Pope Osborne for getting my son to love reading, you are my hero!

A New Year

I’ve really debated about if I was going to make any resolutions this year. See some years I’ve made them and haven’t even made it through the end of January before dumping them. And other years I haven’t made them but realized at the end of the year I did good on things that I had wanted to do good on, so good they really should have of been my goals all along. But this year I’ve decided to be simple with my goals for the year.

Be Happy, no REALLY happy

Stress less (which really goes along with being happy)

Smile more, give more hugs

Have more music around the house (just discovered Sirius on our TV, so cool!!)

Sing to my kids more, they don’t care that I can’t carry a tune

Dance with my husband, even if it’s just around the house

Read to my kids more.

Really that’s it, I want a more positive year. At the end of 2009 I want to look back a have some really great memories of the things that I did with my family.

More of My Gratitude List

Last month I had started a list of things that I am thankful for. But I got a little sidetracked with life. I had already talked about a few of them: Mr. Man, my sisters, chocolate, socks, primary, etc. Wait that was the list, I guess I didn’t get very far. Anyway there were a few other things that I had planned to write about so here they are. (In no particular order)

My Kids- I won’t tell you how I have the very cutest, smartest, bestest ever kids. (Even though it may be true). And while it is true that they can be little snots when they put their minds to it, and can drive me insane at a moment’s notice, they are mine and I love them. There is nothing sweeter than when one of them gives me a hug for no reason. Miss Magoo can’t let me leave the room without telling me that she loves me. PJ draws me the best pictures of robots and dinosaurs. And those special moments right before bed when they say their prayers, and give loves and kisses, what sweet children they can be. They both have such special spirits.

My Parents- I truly am blessed to have the parents I do. They are such great examples to me and my children. They make me want to be a better person. They have both taught me so much. I will never forget the time we were driving around Tahoe on vacation and my dad started talking about Christ. I can still hear his voice as he talked about Christ’s crucifixion, and what it must have been like for him as he went through that ordeal. That is one of my first memories of really hearing and understanding my father’s testimony of Christ and the gospel. My parents are going back to Russia to serve their 4th mission (this is their 2nd time in Russia). What a great example they are to my children. PJ and Miss Magoo know where grandma and grandpa are and what they are doing there.

Books- I really love to read. There is no better way to escape a rough day than to sit down in a comfy spot with a snuggly blanket and a good book.

Modern Conveniences- What can I say they make my life so much easier. I love my cell phone, microwave, dvr& vcr& dvd players, my garage door opener (thanks honey), ice maker, blow dryer, computer, internet, etc. I could go on and on life is so much easier because of all these inventions. I love that these things are there for me to use or not use, it’s up to me. But when I want them they can make life sweet.

Scriptures- They bring the word of God into our home, they help me teach my children the gospel, and they bring me peace, and give me strength. They show me God’s love for me and they give me hope.

My In-laws I have the best mother-in-law that any wife could ask for. She gives advice when asked, tries very hard not to judge, and loves my children almost as much as I do. And the best part she told Mr. Man when we got married that it was his job to always take my side even if I was wrong (which of course I never am). Mr. Man’s siblings love my kids, spoil them and are always excited to see them (no really they are).

I’m sure that I could keep going but these were the top few things on my list. Making this list has really helped me to be more appreciative of the things I have, and to try and be happy with what I have. The Lord really has blessed me and my family and for that I am grateful.

So I Blew It

Funny how in life things are going great and everything is working out just fine, and them WHAM it hits you up side the head. Well that's kinda like what happened to me. I was doing great getting my thankful posts written, I had so many other things on my list to write about. Life was good (or atleast my blogging life was going good). Then one saturday I was out running errands with my kids, getting their pictures taken, having practice for the ward primary program, taking them to see their dad at his work, etc. And by the end of the day I was dying, I kid you not DYING. At first I thought it was just a sinus headache or something, but no it was so much more. The next morning I realized that I wasn't going to make it through 3 hours of church. So I called one of the counselers in the primary presidency and asked if they could cover my class, no problem she said and she meant it ( I love when people say that and really mean it). So while I went to church, I just couldn't not go and see my kids do their parts, I sat with Mr. Man and his mom & brother who both came to watch the kids. The entire primary did a fabulous job, my two were cute they did their parts and sang their songs so well. My class was very cute they all tried to sit still and most did a good job of it. Afterwards me and the kids went home for some quiet time for them, nap time for me. And Mr. Man went back to work to finish up somethings that needed to be done. By Tuesday I thought maybe I would survive, but no there was more. Wednesday I woke up with a hacking cough and not much in the way of a voice. Mr. Man's nephew was getting married that Friday, which we both missed, me because I was sick and didn't want to hack through the whole sealing and Mr. Man missed because he was the only manager for the day so he couldn't leave then. But we both made it to the reception, where I sat and watched my kids dance and have a great time. The bride looked gorgous, the groom very handsome and the cutest little flower girl looked like a princess. (did I mention that Miss Magoo was a flower girl?)
By last Monday I knew that I would make it, life was starting to settle down, or atleast I was feeling better Mr. Man on the other hand was just starting to come down with something similar to what I'd had. But after I started coming out of my fog I realized me house was barely hanging in there. I spent the next couple of days before Thanksgiving trying to restore order to my house and finish getting better. We spent Thanksgiving day at Mr. Man's bother's house, with my inlaws, we all had a nice time.
During all of the craziness I acutally started my Christmas shopping and I'm now almost done, YEAH! These next few weeks are the busiest time of year for Mr. Man at work and to top it off he'll be gone on business all next week ( we have a super loud alarm and a very very scary huge dog in case any crazys are reading). So I knew that if I wanted to have any chance to get my shopping all done I'd have to start earlier than I've done in years past. I'm going to try and get a list put up of the rest of my thankfulness stuff, dang it I worked hard on that list and I want to share it.
But until then, I hope that everyone had a very happy Thansgiving, and that no one gets too stressed out while trying to get ready for Christmas.