Angels

Today in institute, the teacher talked about Elder Holland's October 08 Conference Talk, "The Ministry of Angels." In the talk he spoke of heavenly and mortal angels. My teacher posed the question, "Have you had any experiences with mortal angels?" As the sisters shared experiences, tears came to my eyes because my thoughts drifted to my own experiences. There are two that I would like to share.

One day shortly after Logan's birth (could also have been Kaylen), I was having a hard day. Eric was gone. I was at home with all the kids, counting down the minutes until bedtime. There was a knock at the door. There stood Kathryn, a sister in my ward who I used to visit teach. I hadn't talked with her very much after the visiting teaching assignments had been changed. But she had found out that I had the baby and came by to say hi and drop off some brownies. I had been having a hard time, and I really think that Heavenly Father knew what I was in need of and sent Kathryn to lift me up.

The other experience happened this past Sunday. Now that I am getting bigger with this pregnancy, I am incredibly self-conscious of how I look and how I big I look to other people. Two Sundays ago I had debated over what to wear, trying on multiple outfits, trying to find the one which made me look the smallest. When I got to church, someone who I hadn't seen for a couple of weeks exclaimed how big I was. Well that made me start sacrament meeting in tears.

As I got ready this past week. I put on a cute dress and was hoping it was "slimming." Lindsey came into my bathroom and asked, "What the heck are you wearing?" That started the tears again. I was feeling good and ready to face any stupid-people comments from church. This totally blew that idea. I went to church feeling huge and sad. I actually have a countdown of how many more Sundays I'll have to face (with people who don't think before opening their mouths) of being pregnant. Three dear sisters in the ward told me that I looked cute. Those women, unbeknownst to them, made my day.

I have a testimony that Heavenly Father is aware of my needs. He is there for me. He also "sends" angels to me to help me through the tough times in my life.

Pinewood Derby

Spencer's 2nd Pinewood Derby took place today. During the past week, he has been busy working on his car. Since we don't have the skills (or tools) to make a car, we bought a pre-cut car from a craft store. Spencer got busy with sanding and painting the car. He decorated he car with rub-ons and a driver. The car turned out looking very nice. While I was at a class, one of our friends came over. He has quite a lot of experience with Pinewood Derby car building, so he helped put the finishing touches on the car, wheels and weights specifically. (Eric told me that he was quite thankful that Max came by because he was ready to throw the car away.)

Eric was the judge at the end of the race. Spencer's car raced each car in both packs (we're combined with another ward).

In the end, Spencer won 1st place in the Bears. This was so exciting! Between all the girls and boys Pinewood Derbies we have participated in, we have never been in that place.

I was really proud of Spencer because he took the initiative to make his car and worked very hard on it.

I just won't think about it

Last night we went over to my parents' house to unload a U-Haul. My mom and dad just spent the week in Utah at my grandma's house. They both felt it was time to clean it out and try to get it sold.

What a huge task for my parents to have to do. My older sister went along to help, but I'm sure it was quite an overwhelming job. No one ever wants to condense a loved one's life into a few boxes to fit into a truck and sell the remaining things. Just thinking about it all saddens me and the tears starts.

I had never thought about the time when this would happen. I always had hoped that the house (and my grandparents) would stick around indefinitely and that I could always bring my kids there every summer to visit and play. Well, unfortunately it's not going to happen. All I have left are memories, pictures, and a few items that were G & G's.

As time passes, it'll be easier and I'll more easily cherish those times I had to go to G & G's house. But for now, I just won't think about it.

Spring Break 09

I knew Spring Break wouldn't be too exciting. I had a major nesting instinct kick in, so I declared that all of the kids' bedrooms would get cleaned out during Spring Break. The kids must have had some kind of allergic reaction because they all got sick. Logan got sick the Thursday before Spring Break started. Kaylen then got sick Friday and Saturday. Spencer and Lindsey got sick on Monday. I got sick on Tuesday. We had some kind of bug that gave us upset, achy stomachs, and vomitting. What a way to start things out!

We did manage to clean Spencer's, Logan's, and Lindsey's bedrooms. It was amazing how much trash we got from their rooms. We got 7 bags of garbage and 7 bags for DI. Their rooms are thoroughly cleaned out, looking almost like rooms you would see in a model home (plus clothing and various items in the closet). Gone were the cluttered dressers. Gone were the items lining the walls (seriously, the kids had lined up things all along their walls, as if the items couldn't be put away). Gone were the little junk things they thought they needed to keep. Gone were the stacks of winter and non-fitting clothes.

On Friday and Saturday we cleaned the playroom. That was a humongous job because the containers that once upon a time had items sorted into them had all somehow been combined and things were just put into containers and not sorted. We had to go back through every container and re-sort everything. We ended up with a couple bags of garbage and 10 bags for DI. I even managed to get 3 boxes unpacked that were never unpacked from the move.

It was not an exciting Spring Break like we've had in the past (a cruise to Mexico or a trip to Hawaii), but it was quite a productive week, even with us all being sick.

In celebration of our accomplishments, we went to the movies. We bought dinner near the theaters and carried it into the theater. We ate dinner while we watched "Race to Witch Mountain." Afterwards, we went out for frozen yogurt. It was a fun family night out.

Meet Baby No. 5

Here is a picture of the latest addition to our family. Today I had an ultrasound. The baby is measuring a week and a half bigger than normal. The baby is about 10 inches long (I guess that explains why my tummy has suddenly "popped!").

We also found out it's a boy!! Now, only to decide on a name while getting input (or ignoring it) from the kids and all their opinions.

The Big Fundraiser Winner

The kids' school had a fundraiser recently. Spencer was very motivated to sell the coupon cards.

Spencer met one of the prize break-down levels (sell 20) and got to participate in the Duck Race. Nobody else met this level, so he was the only one in the duck race and won a duck that plays "Wipe-out" and walks like it's drunk. He also got $25.

Spencer also reached the next prize level and got to participate in the money booth. He stepped inside this giant plastic box with money blowing around inside. He got to stay in for a minute and was able to keep all money he could catch (it ended up being $43).

Kaylen's Dance Class

On Monday it was visiting day at Kaylen's dance and tumbling class. Eric and I were able to go watch Kaylen. She was so fun to watch.

Eric Jumping

Here are a couple of pictures I took of Eric hanging out with Spencer on the trampoline.

What I Really Want

This morning at 3:00 I realized what I really want for my birthday.

Logan had gotten sick during the night and thrown up in bed. I started to clean it up, but immediately began gagging. So I decided what I really, really want is

1. a surgical mask so I don't have to smell puke.

or

2. a washer with a garbage disposal built in (that way I wouldn't have to wash chunkies off the sheets, blankets, pillow, and comforter before I put them in the washer).

or

3. a husband who doesn't sleep through night time puking sickness.


Poor Logan. He stayed home from school today, laying on the couch the entire day, munching on a few cheerios here and there.

Urkel Kaylen

Kaylen loves to get dressed by herself. She'll often tuck her shirt in so that the shirt doesn't hide the shorts, pants, or skirt she has on. On this day, she dressed herself (actually doing a great job of matching the shirt and shorts) and tucked her shirt in. We were on our way over to the church for the Blue & Gold Banquet when Eric even commented on how short her shorts were. It was because she had them hiked up to her ribs when she tucked in her shirt. Love it!

New Appliances

Eric surprised me and bought a new washer and dryer. (Our washer was sounding pretty scary, and the dryer was taking a lot longer than it should to dry clothes.) It was exciting for the kids to see the new appliances. When Logan opened the door after coming home from school, his mouth dropped open when he saw them. The kids thought they were pretty cool. They even sat still for a few minutes to watch the clothes inside get washed. They will still run to the washer and put their face on the washer door when the washer is in the spin cycle.

Spencer's Field Trip

There was a glass exhibit at the gardens when we were there

At the end of February, I was able to join the 4th grade and go on a field trip with Spencer's class to the Botanical Gardens. Logan woke up sick that morning. We decided to have Lindsey stay home from school to babysit Logan so I could go on the field trip. I ended up being very needed on the outing, being the only adult with my group of 12 noisy children. We went on a tour of the gardens, participating in a few activities along the way. The kids were kind of bored with it all; after all, how exciting can plants be? For me, it was fun to be there with Spencer.

After the gardens we went to a park to eat lunch. The kids had a few minutes to play after eating. Spencer started to head off to play and then noticed that one boy was still sitting at the table alone. Spencer invited him to join in the game they were going to play. It made me proud.

Happy Birthday Eric

Back in February, Eric celebrated another birthday. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from the actual day (a memory card IN the camera is a necessity!). I still wanted to blog about what we did and wish my honey a happy birthday.

Eric's birthday was on a Saturday. The Friday before that, we went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. That's one of Eric's favorite places. We had a yummy dinner.

On Saturday morning, I made Eric breakfast (breakfast sandwiches). We took it easy all day. (We had just gotten back from Cali and were still tired.) Some of the things we did during the day were watch dvr'd American Idol episodes, play Ticket to Ride, watched a dumb movie (Blades of Glory). I bought Eric a new cymbal for the drumset, so he played drums for about an hour. Eric and I went out to lunch. To top off the evening, we went to the church for the YW Camp Fundraiser dinner. Eric was a good sport, especially considering the meal wasn't something he even liked.

Happy Birthday Eric! I'm glad we were able to celebrate another birthday together.

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland Feb. 16th - 19th. We drove to Cali on Sunday. We got there and it was freezing. We woke up to rain on Monday morning. We were prepared for it, so we donned ponchos and umbrellas and headed over to Disneyland (walking from our hotel across the street). We made it to the gates and were the first ones in line (never been there 1st before). We got in and covered half the park in a couple of hours. It was amazing how the rain had diminished the crowds. We walked around Fantasyland, and it felt like we had the park to ourselves. After enjoying some of the rides in Disneyland, we went to California Adventure and enjoyed more rides there. We were all wet, our feet especially. We could ring out Kaylen's and Logan's socks. After a long, but fulfilling day, we went and ate at a restaurant near our hotel. Spencer started feeling sick that night. We got back to the hotel. I hung the ponchos and wet socks over all the shutters. I scattered the umbrellas across the floors, hoping they would dry out.

Spencer woke up in the night throwing up. He wasn't feeling good enough to go back on Tuesday, so I stayed with him in the room. Logan's foot was sore and he had trouble walking. He limped around the room. We hung out in the room, watching TLC (which I became sick of) and napping. Eric finally talked Spencer into going over to the parks, so we headed there about half way through the day. The boys took turns being pushed in the strollers - I hated pushing a 9-year old in a stroller! Logan's foot got better quickly once we were in the parks.

The rest of the days were pretty uneventful. The rainstopped Tuesday morning, which brought more people into the parks. The lines were longer, but the weather was beautiful.

On Thursday, we had issues with redeeming our Disney Visa rewards card at one of the stores. Eric ended up talking on the phone with the credit card company while trying to work things out at the store with a manager for an hour and a half. This resulted in the glorious "golden ticket." We got 3 "golden tickets" allowing us all to get onto 3 rides at the front of the line. I have never heard of these before, but I always wondered how some people could just walk in through the exit and board the ride. Well, that's what we got to do. Pretty cool. We stayed at the parks until about 5:00, then headed home, dropping Purple off at the airport. We made it home at 2:15 in the morning on Friday. We were all exhausted. We slept in, and the kids made it to school at lunch time.

Kaylen with her beloved Ariel doll she wanted. It went everywhere, even safely buckled on the rides.



Kaylen patiently 45 minutes waited to see some princesses. Once it was our turn, she posed and was done with it. She didn't even want to talk to any of them.

Kaylen watching a parade

We got to see a lot of the characters.