Last post of 2008

Here's to my last post of 2008! What a great year it has been. It has brought some unexpected turns that have totally changed our lives. We have left amazing friends in a wonderful place and made awesome new friends in another wonderful place. We have all grown older and maybe a bit wiser. We have been able to reconnect with family we haven't seen in years. We were able to visit all members of our families throughout the year. What a blessing that has been!

A quick note on Christmas...it was WONDERFUL! The boys had a blast and loved everything they were given and had fun giving gifts to each other, too. We are currently in Maryland visiting Will's family and loving every moment we have here. His mom continues to look better and better and seems to be in pretty darn good spirits seeing as she's stuck in bed all day long. She's an amazing woman and has more strength than most of us thought possible. We are ready to ring in the New Year in about 15 minutes, so I'd better be done.

Here's to a new year of many new and wonderful adventures. Here's to TurnItUp Media taking off so our purpose in moving is complete. Here's to new pastures we haven't explored and wonderful people we haven't met quite yet. Here's to family, love, and as much peace as possible in this troubled world. We love you all and wish you all a very prosperous and joyful 2009!

You have got to visit this site. It is the sweetest song I've ever heard!!It will pull at your heartstrings! To some of you it will be very much what your heart is saying already. Merry Christmas!

Old Visits

I was looking through old photos and came across these...we still need to make a visit to Santa with all the boys this year. The boys know that the Santa you visit is not the real Santa, they are Santa's helpers and give Santa the message of what you want. Last year the boys knew instantly that Santa was the Bishop...it was funny.
Logan got to visit Santa already this year, but Julie has the picture of it...I'll get it up here hopefully later! Merry Christmas!

I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas anymore!

I don't have to dream! It snowed tonight! We all had a wonderful time playing in the snow before dinner and hot chocolate! NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!! We get to sleep in, play in the snow, play with friends, and have lots of HOT chocolate!! I know I'm crazy to be so excited to not have school, but I LOVE THE SNOW! I love having the snow somewhere I love to live (I miss SLO terribly, but it never snows there)!! Our promise to the boys that we were moving somewhere it snows came true...it hasn't snowed here much the last 10+ years, so it's amazing that it's snowing already and so much in one night. We made snowmen, snow angels, had snow ball fights and by the time the boys went to bed all the snow tracks we'd made were recarpeted with more snow. It's stopped since, but the roads are slick and no one knows how to drive in snow here. Here are some pictures of the fun we had tonight. All the boys loved it, Logan loved playing and eating, but not getting hit by snow balls unexpectedly. Kaleb throws a mean snow ball when he wants to! It was so much fun to see and hear the joy in all the boys faces as they chased each other and enjoyed the beauties the Lord gives us throughout the year.

I can't wait for more fun in the snow! I love how the white makes the earth look so fresh and new. My favorite thing to do is to go on a walk when the snow is softly falling around me and the roads are quiet. I feel so peaceful and happy and fond memories flutter about in the stillness of the white fallen flakes. It reminds me of how "the world in solemn stillness lay" that night so long ago when our Savior was born.

Christmas Bells, oh Christmas Bells, Sing your happy tune!

Oh how I love Christmas! The first thing I did Monday after we returned home from Maryland was pull out our Christmas bins. I have gathered more and more decorations throughout the years...I now have 4 bins full of fun Christmas goodies to put around our house! This year I am so excited because we have a mantel to decorate, and it looks beautiful!
We also have a stairwell this year that I get to put greenery on, that's the first thing I decorated this year!I love our little village collection and we finally have somewhere to showcase it, in the front entryway.
I have been able to find somewhere to put our manger with Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus. It fits perfectly on our side table in our livingroom.
Last, but not least, we have our beautiful Christmas tree. The boys had a blast decorating it. Will and I pulled it out of the box, set it up, fluffed it, and the kids did the decorating. They had so much fun! They did a really good job, too! We only had to coach a little and rearrange even less. I'm very happy with it and love looking at it. I love that it doesn't take up all our walking and sitting space (like it did in California).

An overall look of our living room from the dining room. I feel so happy just sitting in there doing nothing.
Here's what Logan thought was important...over and over and over again. He does love Mickey!!

Thanksgiving in Maryland

We had the privilege of visiting Will's family in Maryland for Thanksgiving. It was so great being there! I love only being 10 hours away! It's a little hop, skip, and jump to get there. His mom is looking so much better and is in pretty good spirits. She's at home, in bed, but at least at home! Michelle (Will's younger sister) is able to help take care of mom and does an excellent job at it, I might add! She is so patient and learns everything so quickly. I'm so grateful she is able to be there with mom during this difficult time. I do have to say that it's great how close almost all of Will's family is to his parents. His youngest sister, Kim, lives really close and is there most days, too. She's there with her beautiful baby girl, Baelee, which helps mom feel even happier. I love Will's family so much. I feel so lucky to have such loving and kind in-laws.

While we were there Rhonda, Will's older sister, had three children baptized...Maddie (8), Colby (9), and Heather (10). Maddie asked Will to baptize her, and he was thrilled for the opportunity. It was nice to see Mom up and around (in her wheelchair). I was able to give a little talk about the Holy Ghost, I think it went well. It was short and to the point, I do believe they listened through the whole thing. I was grateful to be included in the affair! I am so proud of those three amazing children for choosing to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know they have made a very important first step to making it to the Celestial Kingdom to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

Better late than never Halloween pictures

So, I'm running a little late on posting these photos, but couldn't go on without them.


















I got to go to all the "Harvest" parties on the school "Character" day. Isn't it funny how they change names to make it more politically correct?


These pictures are from the ward Trunk or Treat. It was fun, but I wish our ward would do it on Halloween night so the kids didn't have to Trick or Treat, too. The transformer is a guy in our ward...pretty awesome. That is a homemade "costume"!
Here's all my Ninja's (notice Logan is a blue haired "Minja" like he'd wanted to be for nearly a year). We're all ready to go Trick or Treating around the neighborhood. The weather was nice and only got cold as we were finishing up.Pumpkin carving happened Halloween night before Trick or Treating. It was so nice having no homework and no church or school the next day.
We went over to Julie and Sean's and did a bit more Trick or Treating in their neighborhood, then watched "The Game Plan" together. It was a lot of fun!
Will and I even got into the spirit and dressed up for the Trunk or Treat, and Will for the Trick or Treating. It was a good Holiday! We can't wait for the next one. Also, I'll be posting our Thanksgiving trip to Maryland in the next couple days.

Christmas Memories

My friend Ashley is a graphic designer and made a Christmas Advent Calendar. I was responding to her request for favorite Christmas memories and I came out with a novel. Instead of making her post my lifetime Christmas story on her blog, I decided I should just make it a post on my blog. So here's what I wrote:

Christmas is my favorite, so I have a lot of great memories! One thing my family did growing up was always be "Santa's Elves" by taking food (lots of meat because we were dairy farmers) to a family that was in need (most farmers were). We'd put the food on the door step, ring the bell, run like crazy and hide so we could see them open the door and thus see their reactions! I always felt like we were rich because we could share with others, when in reality we weren't rich with money, we were rich with love and it helped me learn the meaning of Christmas from a very young age.

There was the year my Brothers and Sister told me the red flashing light in the sky was Rudolph and I'd better get to bed or Santa wouldn't leave any presents (it was an airplane), but I believed them and fell asleep right away. I am the youngest and they all knew about Santa already.

When I was 3 we were driving up our street on Christmas Eve and we saw Santa going into someone's house! We looked for his Reindeer (they told me they must be on the water tower, haha). The little kids ran inside, threw on our PJ's and jumped into bed, so excited that we had see Santa and that he was on his way to our house.

I think it was the year before that my Gramma and Grampa were with us for Christmas. I remember all the presents were open and my Gramma asked me if I saw anything else that hadn't been given to who it belonged to. She pointed up into the tree, and there was a grey stuffed mouse waiting for me to find, I still have it and will never get rid of that wonderful memory.

Looking at all my memories I see that family and giving is the recurring thing that stays in my memory. I don't remember every gift I got, or every gift I gave. But I do remember being with family and feeling joy and happiness because I was with them. My parents did a wonderful job helping me know from a very young age that Christmas was not about getting, is was about giving.

The thing I love to say to my children when they ask if Santa is real is: "The Spirit of Santa Claus is very real!" He is such a wonderful example of being Christ-like. I feel that I can say that, they then feel happy that Santa is "real" and I haven't had to tell a lie. I know the day is coming soon when Kaleb will know about Santa and maybe even Tyler. I hope they will know that the Spirit of Santa is real and that they can keep their new found knowledge to themselves. :) They know some people don't believe in Santa ("Polar Express" and "Miracle on 39th Street" made that very obvious) and that some do believe in Santa. I love the magic "Santa" brings into every Christmas morning.
Our Family Tradition we have continued in our family from when I was growing up is giving a gift to Jesus. On Christmas Eve we get a small box (usually a check box), wrap it up in tinfoil, write a letter to Jesus telling Him the things we will do better the coming year (New Year's Resolutions, of sorts), close up the box with the letter in it and put it under the Christmas Tree. It stays closed until the following Christmas (or you can open it to refresh yourself on what you promised) and see how well you did at the things you wrote down. It helps us, and the children, remember why we celebrate Christmas and brings things into perspective for at least a little while.

As Thanksgiving approaches and Christmas draws near I hope all my beautiful family and friends know how much I love them. I am so grateful for all the wonderful people I have in my life, especially for our Savior and Redeemer. I hope you all have a safe and grateful Thanksgiving. We get to be with Will's family for Thanksgiving. I can hardly wait to leave Saturday morning. We will definitely be Thankful this year, as we have been every year!

*The picture is of the boys at the end of the Christmas season last year...we'll see how much they've grown in a month or so. :)

Time Out For Women, Again

I had the amazing opportunity to attend my second TOFW this year. It was in Nashville this last weekend. Oh my goodness! I got so much out of it, again! Chieko Okazaki was the speaker Friday night. She spoke of teaching correct principles and then allowing that person to govern themselves. I realized I need to teach the boys more correct principles, not what they are doing wrong. I'm going to get two chairs and call them "discussion chairs". If there is any incident that happens between two boys I am going to have them discuss the issue in the chairs, instead of having them come tattle to me about what the other person did wrong. I've learned that I can help and support, teach and love the boys, but I cannot live their lives for them. This I knew, but never looked at it that way. I can't control them, I can only guide them and remind them. I will teach and re-teach as much as necessary.

Hilary Weeks was one of the musical performers Friday night, along with Kenneth Cope. Oh how gospel music lifts my soul! The stories behind some of their songs are so touching and help me understand more of what is being sung about. I was able to get pictures with both Chieko (along with a hug and autograph) and Kenneth Cope (and an autograph from him, too). Hilary Weeks has an amazing voice and plays the piano beautifully. She's a new favorite of mine.

Saturday brought us Emily Watts, Camille Fronk Olsen, Chris Stewart, Jason Wright, Carolyn Rasmuss, and Hilary Weeks was the musical performer all day. Emily taught about not being so hard on ourselves. My favorite quote from her is, "you don't have to be perfect, you have to be trying." Camille spoke on women of the Bible and barrenness and compared the King James interpretation and the Hebrew interpretation. "Womb" in the Hebrew interpretation means "compassion". She shared a lot of how Hannah was barren and pledged any child she may receive right back to the Lord. Camille said, "We need to let go when we turn to the Lord for help." We need to not keep thinking in our mind that we can still do it, it needs to not be a half hearted hand off, we need to give the Lord every bit of our problem and promise to be his disciple in return. Chris Stewart spoke on our purpose of life. That we are to have joy and joy does not mean that we can only have joy when things are going right in our life. Joy is something we should find in times of trial, also. We must look at the good in every situation and thank the Lord for giving us the trials we face to strengthen us. As Chris put it, "It is in the darkness that we truly see the light." Jason Wright reminded us that the power of the written word is strong. We need to send out more hand written letters. The computer is easier, but there is nothing as personal as receiving a hand written letter. The concluding speaker shared the message of how "the gospel is a resource when we are experiencing pain." We will all experience difficulties no matter how we live our lives. We are expected to turn to the Lord in our trials to help us through.

The main thing I learned from the TOFW is that I chose to come to earth, to experience the things I am experiencing. I knew most of the struggles and challenges I was going to face and I looked at the Lord and said I would do it because I knew He loved me and had already given me so much. What my life is and how it goes is part of the plan I knew of before I came to this earth. I have a new outlook on my day to day situation. I have a renewed hope in how I parent my children and help them become better people.

I had a fantastic time with friends. Julie and I went together Friday night. I had the privilege of meeting some of her very dear friends from Ohio. We were able to get to know each other a bit and know that we could be long time friends now, too. I was able to get to know a few more sisters in my ward a bit better. TOFW brings a renewal of purpose in my life. I love to socialize, as all of you know. This event gives me that opportunity, with women that have the same goals as I do and struggle with some of the same things. I come home more appreciative of my family and with a renewed hope in my parenting skills. One thing I have learned about myself is I need a boost in parenting styles very frequently. Some things stick with me better than others, and it's always good to get a fresh new approach to how I handle day to day life.

Pictures will be coming soon...Julie took some and I just need to get them from her. Good news! I found my camera (actually Tyler did this morning). YAY!

I voted, did you?

Yes, I voted today, and took all the boys with me. The school had a "teacher in-service" day today, so there was not any school. At 10:15 or so we took off to the polls...and it took me forever to find the road to turn on to get to the darn polls. The boys were great the whole time we were there, minus one melt down by Logan caused by Tyler, but we were mostly unscathed. We were done about 11:15, and headed to the Nashville Zoo, again. We just went Saturday, but didn't get enough. We missed a lot of the animals that day and wanted to play at the jungle gym again. There is the largest wood castle climbing jungle gym I've ever seen my entire life at this Zoo! The kids love it!!! Since we have a family pass, I can take them any time I want without having to pay. And I love having a membership to somewhere where it will actually get good use! We got to the Zoo about 12 and left at closing time, 4 pm. I still can't find my camera, and apparently it's not at Julie's, so I need to scavenge for it one of these days. Once I find it, I have fun pictures of the boys school classroom parties (3 parties in 1 hour is a bit overwhelming, but a lot of fun) to post. Julie has pictures from our trip to the Zoo on Saturday, so once I get those I'll post them, too. :)

Happy Day After Halloween!

So, I'll have pictures up shortly...left my camera at my friend Julie's house last night, oops. But I have a more pressing matter to discuss. Julie posted a link to one of President Ezra Taft Benson's talks on YouTube from 1977 here. I also found another article that was alarming to me. This one is found here and rings true in my ears for what we are facing today. I am not excited to see where we end up going after this election. I see how far away from a democracy we are headed, and it was only 30 years ago we had President Benson's warning. I know if I continue to rely on Christ, and not on the government, I will be blessed.

My Hubby

1.What's his name? William
2.How long have you been married? 10 years, 2 months (dang)
3.How long did you date? 2 weeks, engaged for 4 months (haha, funny to see written down)
4.How old is he? 33
5.Who eats more? He eats larger portions at meals most of the time. I snack more throughout the day.
6.Who said "I love you" first? I think we tied
7.Who is taller? He is.
8.Who sings better? Equally Yoked
9.Who is smarter? what kind of question is that? We are both smart in different ways
10.Whose temper is worse? Equally Yoked
11.Who does the laundry? Me, always me
12.Who does the dishes? Our new dishwasher, the kids and me :)
13.Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do, for now
14.Who pays the bills? he brings in the money (the hard part) and I am the book keeper (the easy job)
15. Who mows the lawn? He does
16.Who cooks dinner? if he had the time he would every night, but he puts up with my cooking when he has to. :)
17.Who drives when you are together? He does unless I'm feeling pushy
18.Who is more stubborn? Equally yoked
19.Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? MEEEEEEE, occasionally him.
20. Whose parents do you see the most? Neither :( We will probably start to see his more often than before now. :)
21.Who proposed? He did, on the Provo Temple grounds
22.Who has more friends? Equally Yoked
23.Who has more siblings? He does, 5 to my 3.
24.Who wears the pants in the family? He wears the pants; I tell him what pants to wear
I am tagging anyone who wants to participate.

A quick update:

So, the last few weeks have been full of fun! Kaleb went for a plane ride for Cub Scouts at a near by airport. It's a program where children ages 8-17 can fly for free one or two Saturday's a month. It's pretty awesome and he had a blast! I'm sure we'll be taking advantage of that now we know about that option!

We've caught 3 caterpillars recently. Only the first survived and became a beautiful butterfly. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of it before we let it go. The big "Heimlich" one it the picture did not survive to cocoon even, so sad we killed a movie character!

Derek's class had a field trip to the Nashville Zoo. Logan and I joined his class/1st graders for the fun one hour jog through the Zoo. Ya, only one hour to go through a Zoo the week before I completed in 4 hours! We were dead tired, but had a blast! The shot of the bugs doesn't do them justice, especially since it's fuzzy. They are the biggest bugs I've ever seen! They are HUGE!

I've also done some re-upholstering of our bar stools, they were so disgusting so I put on a Leather fabric that is completely washable! :) Anyone who had seen the stools before the re-upholster knows how nasty they were. Those who hadn't, imagine 4 young boys sitting on a canvass-y type of material dropping drinks, food, and who knows what else on them, and you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm very happy with the outcome!!
A little while ago Tyler lost a tooth. He won't let me touch his teeth when they are ready to fall out. So, being the brave little man he is, he took a paper towel into the bathroom and came out with a tooth in hand...very impressive. I'd never of been able to do that as a child, I was a wuss!

Been distracted lately...started reading the Twilight Series books...way too many things are being neglected right now...blog, house, TV, hubby, children, friends...the list is long.  I'm on "Breaking Dawn" now, so I'll come up for air soon! :)

Upliftment "08"

Shout out: I love Krissy!  And miss her so much! (just talked on the phone, so fresh in my mind)  

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the General Relief Society Meeting at our Stake building.  I also had the privilege of helping out on the food committee for the dinner before the Meeting.  Thanks to everyone's efforts on the food committee it went amazingly well.  From my understanding, about 250 women were in attendance and we didn't run out of food!  It all tasted soooooooo good, and it was well worth the effort from yesterday and today.

Before we had the dinner the Stake Relief Society Presidency had put together a program engulfing the story of the 10 virgins.  There were beautiful musical numbers (some even from my ward), scripture readings, quotes, and thoughts about the main topics they had pulled from the story.  The spirit was strong and it was a beautiful way to start the evening.  After the program we ate the delicious food.  I'd have to say my favorite part of the dinner was the dessert.  It was beautiful white sour cream wedding cake.  Very pure...white frosting and a white rose on top.  That is what the majority of the time was spent working on...the amount of time it takes to frost 26 round cakes with frosting in the middle is amazing!  But it was well worth the time for the beauty of them all.  So elegant!

The piéce de résistance was the Conference.  Oh my, how it spoke to my heart.  Sister Beck spoke of the importance in reaching out to one another and uplifting one another, for seeking to become closer to God through prayer and reading the scriptures.  The one point that stands out in my mind was a story of when she was a young married woman.  Her mom was moving away, whom she had always lived near, and she was very downtrodden about this change.  In one conversation she asked her mother, "But who's going to be my mom?"  And her mother, after great contemplation, said that she would have to look to the sisters in her ward for help and comfort (not in those exact words, but that's the main idea).  That was the first time I cried during the meeting.  Oh, how I miss my mom and dad.  After living so close to them for the 2 1/2 years we were able to, and having to move away, I realize how much I adore them.  Mom is the essence of Christlike Love.  She is such a great example to me of how to treat people with kindness and to be selfless of her time.  She reminds me so much of my Gramma Moore, her mom, in how she makes everyone she comes in contact with feel like they are the most important person on the earth.  And my dad, well our ward conference was last Sunday.  That's when the tears started falling, too.  The Sunday School lesson was on Missionary Work, Dad's big topic is "Every Member a Missionary" as the Stake President.  So I really wished he could have been up there giving that lesson.  I'm so grateful we, my family, took every advantage we could at being with my mom and dad while we were in SLO.  I know I'll see them plenty, but I'm still adjusting to not being able to go over for Sunday dinner, or to always have a party with family when it's someone's birthday (we celebrated a lot of birthdays since we were able to include Brennan and Tracie and their kids (my brother and sister in law)).  I'd have to say my sorrow extends to many loved ones...you all know who you are (most of you are to the right of this post)!  Eventually the sadness will stop being so ever present...hopefully soon.  I have a great friend here, Julie, who keeps me busy and from dwelling on the sad parts of leaving a lot of the time.  And I know more friends and surrogate mom's will come eventually, I just have to be patient. 

The next speaker was Sister Allred.  She spoke of Temple service and worship.  I rarely hear in such plain wording the beautiful things that go on inside the temple.  I just kept thinking how every person who has not been to the temple, or is not a member of the church, would be able to understand more of what goes on in the temple and that there are great purposes for temples.  It kind of gave me a kick in the tush to get to me go to the temple this week (Julie, I may need your help with Logan).

Sister Thompson is such a cute lady.  She is a warm and fuzzy type of person.  I just felt happier watching her speak.  I have brain farted on what her topic was...I'm surprised I've remembered as much as I have so far. :)

The concluding speaker was President Ucktdorf.  His humor is greater than I ever imagined.  He spoke about how women need to stop being so hard on ourselves, that we need to lose ourselves in service.  We need to be there for one another, and find someone in a worse situation than we may be in and help them...and we will find ourselves in a happier mood, too.  I felt this come to fruition when the boys and I took cookies I had made to four of our neighbors.  One was for the family that invited us over to dinner the day our belongings were moved into the house.  One was for the family on the other side of us who share their trampoline and were at the dinner at the other neighbor's house. The third was for the neighbors across the street just newer than us who are expecting their first baby together in a week.  I also let the soon to be momma know that I'll be bringing a meal over when their new baby, Blessing (will be her name), has arrived, and the look in her eyes was worth the offer.  
The last plate was going to go to another neighbor we'd already met, but they weren't home.  So we went to the newest neighbor right across the street and delivered the plate of goodies to them.  They are also expecting their first child, she's 5 months along, and it's going to be a boy.  It was so nice to talk with them for a while and get to know them a bit.  I look forward to getting to know them better, for sure.  The next morning I was taking mail to the mail box and there was an envelope in there already.  It was from the most recently moved in neighbor thanking us...never expected that.  It really does feel good to share and serve others.  I can't wait to have all our "new" neighbors and friends over for an open house (if I can ever get the house in order).  

All in all, this conference was much needed at this point and time in my life.  I feel ready to forget myself more.  I feel ready to turn to the Lord with my daily life more.  I feel more inspired to read my scriptures and to try to be a happier me.  I feel there may be a light at the end of the tunnel of my loneliness for "home".   I am so grateful for the gospel, for the upliftment it brings into my life.  I'm grateful that no matter where I end up living, the gospel will always be the same.  There will always be someone around I have a lot in common with merely for the fact that our beliefs are the same.  I'm grateful for modern day amenities like phones, email, blogs, video cams, and the means to have and use them.  I am mostly grateful for my brother, Jesus Christ, and for his empathy of the pain and sorrow I feel and experience in my life.  I know if I can turn my sorrows over to him and my Heavenly Father that I will become the best me I can be for my family, myself, and others around me I may be able to serve. 

Calling all friends that need a time out

No more info on baby Giles, yet...I'm waiting patiently to hear more. At least as patiently as I can...so I'm checking my blog about 5 times a day and my email about 7 times a day and my phone about 20 times a day...just patiently waiting for some news of baby Adeline. :) 12:00 pm: I have now collected information on Adeline. My bestest friend Krissy just saw her in the hospital. She says Adeline has amazing thick black hair, is 5 lbs 14 oz, 18 inches long and was born at 2:06 am Saturday morning. I asked Krissy to go back up (she works at the hospital) and take a picture and send it to me so I can post it. The verdict is back...she is the most beautiful baby ever! :)

I am calling all of my local friends together. Time Out For Women is coming to Nashville from Nov 14-15. I'm wanting to get a ticket for the spectacular event. It says on the site that you can save $7 a ticket if you pre-register 30 days in advance for a group of 5 or more...hello! I know I have 5 friends (local or those willing to fly here to join us) that want to go! Let's get our group together and save us all some money! If you comment just let me know if you are interrested in joining my crusade! It's well worth the money! I'm hoping to get a hotel room (still trying to convice the hubby) so it can be a true time out...even though it's only a few miles away. We'll have to see what is available. Anywho...I will have pics posted soon...including a few things I've learned recently.

Welcome Baby Giles!

I just got a text message that my sweet friends, Becky and Garrett (see below post), had their baby girl!!! She's two weeks early! No other info as of now...stay tuned and I'll update this message when I have more. I'm so excited for them...first time momma and daddy! Congratulations you two!!!!!!

ABC"s of Me...Again :)

I've been tagged again to do the ABC's of me...so go to this post. It's amazing how quickly some of the answers change.  I'd now make these changes:

D- Day of choice: Sunday, for all the spiritual upliftment I get to help me through the next week.

E- Essential Items: Wipes to clean the kids hands, Sunglasses, Excedrin, Young-Living Oils

H- Hometown: San Luis Obispo, CA; Orem, UT; Nashville (round about or near by), TN

K- Kids: Yes, Kaleb 9, Tyler 7 1/2, Derek 6, and Logan 3 1/2

T- Tag 4 people: Let's see, Krissy, Becky, Sarah, and Tracie never did their ABC post, so I re-tag them! :)

And the one difference in facts that goes with the letter was:

V- Vacation: Hawaii, France (Europe), Tahiti

The rest is all the same. 

A few things about me...It's amazing what one summer can do to you! I think the stress of everything that has gone on is catching up to me.  The one thing I do have to say is that stairs in a house are a very good thing for someone who is trying to get off a few pounds.  I'm starting to get back down to my comfortable area in weight.  It's the laundry I have to do day in and day out...the washer and dryer are downstairs and all bedrooms are upstairs. Yikes.
Also included is a picture of all the charts we've put together for the boys to remember our rules and rewards and consequences for breaking and/or keeping those rules.
The Strike is something just recently added.  They get a strike when a tantrum (rolling eyes, stomping, slamming doors, mimicking, yelling back) occur when they are told to do something (or stop doing something). Once they have 3 strikes in 1 day they lose all priviledges for the rest of the day...TV, computer, playing with friends, video games, etc.  It's not often that they have 3 strikes in one day, but it has happened.  There are times we adjust the loss of items to longer than 1 day, depending on when the infraction occurred and how bad it was.  This is something I learned from our own little town paper in a parenting advice column.  It's something the Psychologist recommended doing, since it worked for him.  It's helped a lot, and the boys like to see no strikes at the end of the day (as do we).  With 4 boys in the house the craziness is enough to send a person over the edge.  These rules help keep a bit more order to our crazy lives! 

Becky's Baby Shower

Today is my very good friend's baby shower. Originally, Krissy and I were supposed to throw one for her. My sadness is sooooo overwhelming that I don't get to be there in San Luis for her shower today! So, for you Becky, I tell you congratulations and I really missed being there with you today (and everyone else that was there, too). I hope you had a fabulous time and were able to celebrate joyfully this wonderful day!! Little flutter will be here soon!!! :) :) :) I love you, Becky!

And to Krissy who had to throw Becky's shower without me...I missed being able to plan and have fun doing that with you! Way to go for getting it done! I'm sure it was absolutely wonderful!!!! Missed you guys!

Logan...what a character!

So, quickly...we were all in the van today running a few errands. The kids really wanted the movie on, and I told them no. They were saying that they could just watch it while I still listened to my music. Logan then says, "Well, we could put on our mustaches." Kaleb then a little confused corrected him with, "Do you mean ear phones?" Logan, "Oh, ya, ear phones!" Had to document that one!

Kids say the darndest things!

Logan, yesterday, as I was paying attention to something else trying to get ready to leave for Walmart says, "Mom, can I bring my oy oy?" Hello? What the heck is an "Oy Oy"? I turn around and look to see what he is talking about. Many of you may have figured this out by now...no??? A Yo-Yo! I laughed so hard, it was so cute, and he had no idea why I was laughing. It's like when we were in SLO and Gramma became "Emma" (which is an endereing term for her still today). Logan will also look at me and with all seriousness say, "Mom, I am a blue minja, cause blue minja's are nice." Sometimes it changes to an orange "ninja". There was a short time where he said he was going to have blue hair, because he was a blue minja. Another thing about Logan...if one of his brother's gets a hold of our camera...he tends to come up with some of the funniest poses. Like this one:
Or even this one:

How crazy is my kid? These were taken before me moved. I think I've kept the camera out of their hands for the most part since we arrived here. He did break our camera at one point in January while taking pictures of Garen and himself like these:
Here's a few other pictures the boys have taken through the years:

My kids crack me up. Ya know what? I'm really glad I've given them control of the camera at times (of course most of those times I didn't know I was giving them control until after the fact). Some of the greatest pictures have come from those times! Can I just say...my kids are hilarious! It's nice to see pictures of them being who they really are, to help me remember how much fun they have, and we have, together.

A day at the Carousel in the Mall/1st Day of School

My friend Julie invited Logan and me to go to the Cool Springs Mall where they have an indoor Carousel.  So, we decided to go.  Who can refuse a chance to get out of the house and to go to an indoor mall where it's airconditioned! I remembered to take my camera, too!
The kids had a blast.  We'll have to take all four boys and all of the Gates family there some time. The best thing was getting lunch in the food court right after that.  I was finally able to have a blizzard from Dairy Queen.  Ahhhh!  Nothing like them!

I've finally gotten the pictures put together from the first day of school, too.  Given it was the 11th of August...a bit late is better than never, right?

Ok, so I threw in a few other pictures.  We've also got Logan sacked out due to waking up at 6am (bleh) to get the boys ready and off to school, Mater kickin it on his new pillow/bed, and a view from the house between rain storms.

More home

Will put this slide show together of the house. I wish I could do all those cool things on my computer. His Mac rocks! The pictures of the pool and park are the community facilities. I wish the play equipment was in our back yard. But it is in walking distance, so I can't complain too much.

I don't know why it has a single picture of the first pic of the slide show...I can't get rid of it either. I also said I'd have pics of the commons/loft area so you could see how we managed to not have any hallways. So I finally took some.

Now we have Logan and Gramma hangin' out before we moved. We stayed with them from the 2nd of July until moving day, the 7th of July. Derek jumped in there for some of the action, too.


On one of my near future posts I'm going to put pictures up of the rewards and rules we have hanging in the commons area (you can see them in small form on the pics I put up today). We find they work very well, and we've changed the feel of our rules to be much more positive then they were before.

Happy Birthday Kaleb!

I had a friend ask me if I felt like I was getting old since Kaleb was turning 9. I simply looked at her and said, "No, because I'm not getting any older, only my kids are, right?"

WOW! Kaleb turned 9 years old on Monday. I wonder if I will ever get over my amazement at how old the children keep getting. It feels like it's happening just right, but then I start to think about how quickly he is going to be teenager and I wonder if he's still going to want to give me hugs and zerberts much longer. It will be a sad day when he's done with the zerberts!

We had a great time for his birthday! We had great friends come over to help it feel like a real family birthday party. After leaving so much family we were so used to celebrating everything with it's nice to have loved ones here we feel so comfortable calling family. Here's a few pictures from the events of the evening.














Kaleb definately was excited about his presents!











Make a wish! That's a face most of you in SLO will recognize!











It was a house full of fun, laughter, and family!!




We even managed to keep it a BBQ in the midst of a crazy downpoor. This is how we were able to manage BBQing on the back porch without it having a cover. Thanks babe, for being willing to get soaked to the bone and sacrafice for all of us! We all appreciated what you did! Our tummies were happy, too!

Here's 9 things that amaze me about Kaleb:

9. How he can find joy in anything he does.
8. How easily he makes friends.
7. How everyone immediately becomes his "best friend".
6. The ways he takes after his dad...he's a techie!
5. The determination he shows in doing his best.
4. What a great big brother he is.
3. The way he understands Math so well.
2. How amazing he is doing in 3rd grade! He's blowing my mind away at his accomplishments so far. Thanks Ms. Eagan for being the teacher he needed you to be!
1. How much he knows about Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Final Guilt Trip

Ok, it's time to finish this saga. I'm sorry if I've bored some of my most avid readers, but this is my only means of scrapbooking right now (not very motivated in paper crafts with all this extra time I have on my hands).

So we finished our vacation in Utah with a trip to Cascade Springs with KC and Sarah. I'd actually never been in all the years we lived there. It was so beautiful and I certainly got my exercise! Tyler ended up with a nose bleed a ways before the end so the momma instincts kicked in and I booked it to the beginning of the trail (where the bathroom was) to get some TP for him. Kaleb followed me and was so kind to take it back to Tyler when I couldn't breathe after I reached the end...I thought it was my end for a little while. Ya know, those instincts apparently can kill a parent in some instances. I hadn't thought about the altitude difference between SLO (150 ft) and the Rocky Mountains in Utah (8000 ft or so). YIKES! I really lost my breath. I think it was the closest I'll ever come to feeling like I have asthma, at least it better be the closest I ever get to it! Tyler ended up bleeding all over his shirt, some on his pants, and all over his hand and face. I think he forgot to plug off his nose since he didn't have the Tissue. UGH. I washed off what I could, didn't let him put his shirt back on, so he wore a zip up jacket the rest of the day, and it was a hot day, poor little man!

Off we went down the mountain into the valley of Heber where we ate dinner at the Dairy Keen where Uncle KC and Aunt Sarah spoiled everyone with ice cream after their food was eaten. It was a beautiful day (this was Wednesday after we played at Kangaroo Zoo).

Thursday was our last day in Utah, so we enjoyed the sun with some fun at the Veterans Pool in Provo. Tammy and I went together with all the kids (no husbands mind you). Tammy had an extra child whom she was watching for the day and her Nephew who turned out to be a huge help (he's 16). None of my kids really knew how to swim and Logan wouldn't stop freaking out any time he was one foot away from me. But it was fun. We were able to go down the water slides with all the kids at least once. Then they closed the pool for an every 2 hour check where you had to stay out of the water for 15 minutes. We decided we were done and left. Tammy went home and we headed to KC and Sarah's for our final night together. We hung out and had a great time. I was able to catch a few Z's while the kids all played Mario Kart Wii together. They had a blast. We ate, talked, and had a very hard time saying good bye. KC and Sarah had gathered little mementoes from all the places we were able to go together and shared them with us before we left. It was so thoughtful and such a great way to remember all the fun things we experienced together. I will cherish all the time we were able to spend together especially now we are so far away. We drove back to the Knighton's for the late evening and enjoyed celebrating Devin and Tammy's birthdays with them. It was great to be there for those two very special friends (they're all special but they were the special one's with the birthdays). :) Thanks guys for thinking of us and celebrating a bit early so we could be there!

Friday morning we woke up early (9 or so) to try to get an early start for California. Julie was able to come to Tammy's so we could catch up a bit before we took off. We'd tried to get together but it hadn't worked until that morning, thanks to her being willing to drive out to see us. After our short visit we tearfully said good bye to the Iverson's and the Knighton's. We were on our way to Julie's home town, Redding, CA to see my sister, Carrie, and her family.

Oh my goodness! What a drive it ended up being. I took a wrong route and ended up going through the depths of the forest at 11:00 pm. Darkness, eyes that don't see well in the darkness, tired from an already 10 hour trip, and tons of deer were not a good combination (don't forget I'm traveling without another adult with 4 children). I just kept praying over and over again that I could make it safely. I think I went 35-40 mph most of the way. I have never seen so many deer at one time in my life. They were at the side of the road usually when it was a flat area. The whole while I kept thinking, "Please don't jump in front of me little deer!" I was lucky enough to notice the solid yellow line had a black spot in it and started to really slow down. Low and behold there was a deer standing in the middle of the road. I stopped, it took its sweet time moving to the side of the road. Definitely beautiful, but the stress won out that night. Once Carrie realized where I was she started following the map and timing how long it was from the last time we talked. She called and said many times, "So, have you now passed (such and such) a place." And she was right on to where I was. We finally made it safely and boy I was extremely exhausted.

After a great night's sleep, I awoke to my children being fed and on their way outside to play on the trampoline. It was so much fun to be able to just hang out with more family! While Carrie and I were talking she said that I needed to call this vacation my "Guilt Trip" since it was right before we were moving to Tennessee and I felt guilty (more sad) that we were going to be so far away from all of my family. :) That's when it was thus dubbed "The Guilt Trip".

The Saturday we spent in Redding was a very strange Saturday. We woke up to dark clouds that got darker. Lightning and thunder thus arose, a bit of light rain, a smidge of heavy rain, very large drops of hail, and then it cleared up and we went to the park and later swam in their back yard pool. That storm came after the hottest day ever in SLO (113 degrees) and the storm had tons of lightning strikes that started tons of fires. It was weird, but a very enjoyable day for us there in Redding.

We went to church together Sunday morning. What a pleasant time we had with our cousins we rarely saw and my sis and bro-in-law I enjoy being around so much. We needed to head out after Sacrament, as much as we would have loved to spend more time with them, so we could get back to SLO at a decent hour. We rolled in around 7 pm, piled out of the van, and crashed into our beds for a long summers nap. NOT! I then immediately had to start more house packing for our move to Tennessee, packing on Monday that is.

We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation to see family (and friends) in Utah and Northern California. It was a great way to spend time with so many of our loved ones before we had to leave them so far behind in our move to the other side of the US. :) But now, we have a great blessing…we are only 10 hours away from Will’s family…a post will come shortly about our visit to Maryland we took at the end of July. I’ll be sharing some fun pictures between cousins that hadn’t ever met and some they hadn’t seen in over 5 years, brothers and sisters reunited, and a new beautiful baby girl amongst us all.