Things to Remember week of 11-16-14

STAKE CONFERENCE
We had a really great Stake Conference this Sunday.  I enjoyed it so much.  The kids sat reverently most of the time.  I snuck in a game (or two or three) of war with Luke and Bradley.  That was mine and Brent's stake conference game.  But all the talks were so inspiring.  I felt so motivated leaving there.  I've had several moments during the past week or so where I just felt like I was sinking into that hole again, and this really helped.  I really appreciated the reminder that Heavenly Father is there for us.  He loves us.  He loves me.  That makes me happy.  I feel like there are so many areas that I need to improve on, it's hard to pick just one, but I am really going to work on making the best choices.  I want to focus on the ladies I visit teach and I want to focus on getting our food storage going again, and in order, and being more prepared.  I feel like we've slacked off in that area for a while.  I want to be more of an asset to the ward too.  I loved the Spirit I felt there.  11-16-14

WEDDING VIDEO
I finally finished Heidi's wedding video Sunday night.  Thanks to my Dad, it wasn't completely lost.  I had saved it as a video and not an editable project, so I was unable to nit pick through the parts I had done previously.  But since I'd spent about four hours getting it to the point that it was, it was a huge blessing I didn't have to repeat it all.  Unfortunately the copy I made of it didn't work, so I did have to go back up to my Dad's to re-burn it a second time... but it all worked out in the end!  11-16-14

FHE
Kelly taught us about the talk called Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence.  She wasn't sure how to teach a lesson from a talk, but she did an amazing job.  I love the parts that she shared with us.  That was such a great talk.  11-17-14

PRODUCE MY WEEK
I was so mad at myself this week, with the produce co-op.  I had worked so hard to organize the perfect order, I'd added it up about a gazillion times, just to make sure.  Then when the guy came with the bill I had underspent about $40!!!  Which is really fine, but so frustrating to myself that I messed up that bad!!  Luckily we had had a credit of $36 from the previous week's raspberries, so it probably didn't appear as such a discrepancy in the baskets, but UGH.  Frustrates me when I mess up like that.  11-18-14

SPOTS
Took Jack and Erika to the Doc this week for well-child visits.  I was slightly disappointed to find out that we had missed a couple of Jack's and he was behind on his shots.  I pride myself on how up to date my children are on their well-child visits and shots, so this was a bummer.  (I shouldn't say that- I have pride in other things... much more worthy causes... but anyway)  11-18-14

DRESS
Nate helped me shop for a dress for the wedding all morning on Wednesday.  To no avail.  I was starting to get worried and almost settled on a sweater/cami combo that would match my black skirt.  I had really wanted to find a dress.  I've been wishing I was more dressy for church.  Half the time I just throw on one of my junky old t-shirts (maternity nonetheless), with a little open shirt over the top.  I feel like I'm setting a bad example for my girls.  They dress the same way I do (minus the maternity aspect).  SO anyway.  My goal was to find a dress.  Luckily, after much deliberation, I left Bradley in charge of the boys, ditched YW (it was combined and I knew they didn't need me that week), took Erika and went shopping.  I was SO happy when I tried on the navy blue dress at Ross.  Glad I decided to broaden my search for a non-purple one.  It was only $24!!!  I've spent more than that on a skirt in the past!  So it was a huge relief.  I texted a pic of it to Heidi, and she approved :).  So I bought it!!  It was a nice little tender mercy if you ask me.  I was happy.  11-19-14

FLOWERS
Thursday was flower day.  I had to hurry and help in Noah's class, which I'm still feeling guilty about how quickly I pumped those kids through their reading.  Some only read a couple pages... don't tell Mrs. Horning...  But I was able to leave Jack and Erika with Emily, thank goodness, and head on out!  I met up with Heidi at Costco in Bountiful, which ended up being a waste since they didn't have the white roses we were looking for.  And at first I got discouraged, thinking this wasn't going according to plan, but then I called the Costco in SL and the lady there had just had someone cancel on an order of six dozen white roses!!  Such a blessing!  We were so relieved.  We both went up there, got the roses and some more of the same samples :).  Even picked up her pictures she'd had printed.  It was so fun to see Heidi that day.  She could have been so stressed and overwhelmed, but she seemed so calm!  So happy and excited, and really very mellow about any hang ups!  It was great to see her so relaxed.  She gave me the ribbon and I headed up to Flower Patch and then Nancy's.  I was so glad things were working out so well!  Nancy taught me how to help, and we got all the bouts and corsages pumped out in only two hours!  She had to hurry off to Parent/teacher conferences, so I loaded up my car and left.  It was such a cold drive home!  I wanted to have the a/c on so that the flowers didn't wilt, but I got stuck in some bad traffic due to an accident on the freeway... the road had even caught fire!  So about two hours and a gazillion shivers later, I got home!  The storage room turned out to be the perfect place for the flowers to stay cool.  It was so fun to be a part of that aspect of the wedding this time.  Now I know how to do that too :)  11-20-14

TIES
I spent the last part of the last possible evening, finishing up the bow ties.  Those were a LOT of fun!  I couldn't believe how easy they were, yet how good they turned out.  In hindsight, I know to measure their necks more carefully before sewing on the velcro, most of them were way too big, but I really didn't get the chance since I had been working on them exclusively at night.  SO anyway- I was proud of myself :).  11-20-14

SATURDAY
Day after the wedding was an interesting one.  Nate and I had planned to go see his friend Scott sealed to his new wife that morning, so I needed to be up by 6:00 to shower and get ready and then out the door by 7:00 to pick him up from the mid and head on down to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  Unfortunately I slept through my three alarms and didn't wake up until Nate called me at 7:00 to make sure I was coming!  I haven't gotten up and awake that fast in a long time.  I was a little freaked out I was going to make us miss it.  So I skipped the shower- gross I know- got dressed, grabbed my make up and hair things and ran out the door (after throwing some quick instructions at Bradley who surprisingly had gotten up and was engrossed in his iPod... I don't love that new habit of his, but it worked to my advantage that morning).  I couldn't believe we made it there!  I was so glad Nate had been wrong on the time and we were even about 20  minutes earlier than the requested 1/2 hour early time.  So it all worked out.  It was a beautiful sealing.  They all are.  I'm really happy for Scott (and Amy of course) that they were able to find each other and start this new life together.  It's sometimes hard for me to grasp the concept of people finding happiness with someone other than the person they were sealed to in the beginning, but to each his own.  I hope I never have to do that... I don't think I could.  The rest of the day was spent dividing up the leftover wedding food.  There was so much salad!  The pulled pork was coming out of our ears too, but that's more okay since we like that and can do a lot with it.  It lasts forever in the fridge.  The salad, not so much.  But we were able to get rid of most of it.  Plus the cupcakes, mushrooms and onions.  Thankfully I don't have much of it left except what I put in the freezer.  What a crazy day it was... I was so exhausted from the day before and this new sore throat that I got on the way home from Heidi's reception has been driving me nuts.  We were able to get Noah to Corbin's party and home and then we made it over to the Maughan's for dinner.  They were so nice to make dinner for us and pretend like we were providing it all.  I love spending time with them, it's so relaxed and comfortable.  I was glad I didn't decline the offer.  They are too good to us.  11-22-14

Things to Remember Week of 11-9-14

PRIMARY PROGRAM
I LOOOOOOOOVE the Primary Program.  Did I get the point across with all the O's?  I really do just love it!  It's my favorite Sunday.  My kids did so well on their parts too, made it that much more enjoyable!  I always stress for them when they get nervous.  Cute Erika did her part with Kelly's help- that was sweet- I was pleasantly surprised :).  She did have a sad little moment when she asked her teacher if she could go down from the stage (not mentioning she needed to go potty), he told her, "I think we're supposed to stay up here." So she just sat up there, suffering with a full bladder.  She started crying and luckily Nate saw her and rescued her.  She was so cute about it.  I felt bad for her teacher, I think he felt bad, but really, she didn't tell him what she needed to do.  I know he would have let her come down if he'd known :).  While Nate was taking her to the bathroom, he missed seeing Luke's part and that was a bummer, but other than THAT... it was perfect :).  I loved it.  Poor Charity felt left out, but it was fun for her to watch.  Jack had a total blasty blast (letting my inner Steve out) waving and saying "Hiiii" to all of his cute siblings.  They were all so happy to see him waving and waved back, I'm sure we were very distracting :).  I loved it.  Can I say it again?  I loved it!  11-9-14

SEP'S
Parent/Teacher conferences were excellent this time!  I have always loved SEP's, but this one was extra special.  I really couldn't get enough of it.  I was pretty proud of myself to be able to schedule all of the appointments back to back, so we spent a good hour and a half at the school, running from room to room and destroying the hallways.  My kids got so many nice compliments from their teachers!  It was so nice.  I know they are good kids, but it's nice to hear that someone else knows it too ;).  It's also nice to think that they get some credit for their hard work and self-discipline.  Bradley was first, his teacher let us go in early, first thing she said was, "This is really cool kid you have here!"  She kept saying nice things about him the whole time, pointing out all of his 3's on his report card, no missing work, good at making friends, it was so wonderful :).  Kelly's teacher let us go in early as well (we were totally ahead of schedule, it was funny), she said, "I feel like I'm wasting your time, having you come, but I"m really happy to tell you how much I love Kelly!"  Awwwww.  And Kelly loves her to pieces, so the feeling is of course, mutual.  We got to see how well Kelly is doing, no missing work, typing 55 wpm (doesn't need to take it in 7th grade!), she wants her to aim for the Presidential Gold award!  So cool.  And I just love Mrs. Williams.  She has quickly become one of my favorite teachers.  Right up there with Mrs. Ashliman, and Mrs. Nyholm.  Luke's teacher was not busy as well, let us come in early, and we spent the entire time (up until our last appointment) in her room :).  Talking about how amazing Luke is.  His scores on Think Thru Math, how well-behaved he is, his reading scores, the math!  It was a blast!  She had games and treats for all the other kids too, so there was nothing stopping us from staying WAY longer than we should have :).  She sat us down at the computer to look at Think Thru Math, she is so fun!  I just love her!  She's one of my new favorites too.  She has motivated Luke in ways I didn't think possible.  I owe her big time.  Noah's was really great too!!  Mrs. Horning had wonderful things to say about him and let us know that he is doing fantastic on all levels.  He is reading well above the benchmark, and has been recommended by the district, because of his SAGE test results, that he should test for Spectrum.  Pretty cool.  It was fun to watch Noah talking so openly with his teacher.  He seemed like a big kid.  They are all so smart and such good readers.  It's amazing.  I give all the credit to scripture reading every night.  That is the only explanation.  Everyone wants to give me credit, which makes sense, but it is SO not me.  I feel very blessed to have such good kids, and very blessed to have the tools that Heavenly Father has given us, like scriptures, to raise our children in His way.  We couldn't be where we are without them!  11-13-14

SEALINGS
Nate and I got to go with our ward to do Sealings.  It was amazing.  The Spirit carried me through the rest of my week.  11-13-14

HEIDI
I was privileged to be Heidi's escort when she went to the Draper Temple to receive her endowment.  What a special experience that was!  I had such a great time.  I loved being there with Heidi for her big day.  Simon treated us all to China Town Buffet afterwards, good times.  11-14-14

BRIDALS
Charity, Kelly and I got to go with Heidi, Mom, Brent and Sarah to the State Capitol building for Heidi's bridals!  It was a lot of fun.  The girls enjoyed carrying Heidi's dress around and we all took turns holding up the flash/umbrella set up.  It was a lot of fun.  Heidi is way too photogenic!  She looked gorgeous!  I was relieved to see her dress turned out just fine!  That was a lot of fun.  11-15-14

BASKETBALL
Noah's first game was Saturday.  He was so excited!  And so happy to have something of his own to look forward to!  It was fun to listen to the kids all cheering for him when I showed up a few minutes late from Heidi's Bridals.  He sure has fun out there.  It's fun to watch Nate coaching too.  They're a good team! Noah says the score was "20 something to four", but they don't technically take score, so.... who's counting :).  11-15-14

ADULT SESSION
Charity and all the Young Women in the Stake were invited to sing in the adult session of Stake Conference.  I canNOT get enough of that song.  It is so beautiful and carries such a powerful Spirit.  I still get chills EVERY TIME I hear that song!  And I've heard it a LOT!!  More than I should to still be even enjoying, much less getting chills.  It's such a cool song.  I guess I should say what song it is :).  It was our camp song, and the Youth theme song for the year, "Come Unto Christ".  This was a perfect song for the theme.  I'm so glad I got to experience it.  The meeting was great too!  I loved our "Bishop's Welfare Meeting" that we got to be part of :).  Feels like we're trying to get closer to the Law of Consecration.  Interesting.  11-15-14

Riding the Horsies

Erika's BFF took her to go ride the horsies on Saturday!  I have no idea where they were, I was gone shopping with Heidi when she was invited and left, but there was no question whether she enjoyed it or not.  It was "AWESOME"!!  Even the rope "they let her have FOR FREE!" was "awesome"!!  Pretty cool stuff.  

And Emily is my hero for taking lots of pictures and not just sending a couple, but sharing all of these adorable pictures with me!! That's a friend.

In Erika's words:

Me and Kate first went to Arby's or Wendy's, and we got some food.  Then we ate some food, me and Kate didn't eat all of it, cuz our tummies were full, so we didn't eat all of it, and then they letted us, there was a big pile of the dead grass for them, it was almost close to touch the ceiling of the farm, and there was a house too, and we got in the farm and we could climb in the dead grass, and it was almost close to the ceiling.  And then we started riding the horsies and then Rachel and Josh gotta go first.  And then me and Kate got to, and Kate loved the black one more, but I liked that one (pointing at the pic) more.  And the people who taked care of the horses told us that Kate kept on running by it's bumb and whenever we do that, the horse gets kind of nervous and the horse doesn't know what we're doing and then it might kick them.  And then their mom and dad gotta have a turn.  And then this is the funny part.  Me and Kate got another turn and me and Kate were like, "go faster" we said it quiet, then we were like "go faster", and then it didn't go faster cuz we didn't do it loud and then we went "GO FASTER" and then it went kind of fast. (giggle : ) ) And then on my turn, the horse stepped over the logs and I didn't even get hurt! hehe.  And that's it.

OH! And we got ropes and keep 'em!  And then we got to when we were going home um um we gotta go inside and get some candy corns and there was different kinds of them and they were good.  Some kinds were hard and some kinds were good.  

11-8-14

This is my favorite picture :)

Things to Remember Week of 11-2-14

STAYING HOME
Jack and I stayed home from church.  He was still hurting pretty bad with his arm, and I am still sick and have this disgusting cough.  It was pretty productive (the 3 hours- the cough too, but I'm referring to the time home :) ), I finished Noah's bat that I was crocheting for him, showered, cleaned up the shower mess- yes, it was still everywhere because I had asked the girls to do it...., and I made dinner.  Not the most spiritually uplifting day, but I decided to let it be okay that I missed church. I hate missing and this was the second week in a row missing the sacrament, but I made it okay.  11-2-14

"SCHOOL PICTURE"
Thankfully, Sarah kept her equipment up for us to go get pictures on Monday instead of Saturday.  That was a blessing.  The kids all did great!  I only wish Jack Jack had been feeling up to it!  I'm gonna have to figure out a way to finagle another picture out of him somehow.  That was our FHE activity for the day.  Then for the treat (we decided it was backwards FHE- should have started with the closing prayer :) ) we stopped at Cherry Berry for all the good little smilers (and the cheap kids cups they have on Mondays + a few little coupons from the Pumpkin carving contest- consolation prize).  When we got home we had Bradley's lesson about honesty, he did a great job, and then finished with dinner :).  Yes, it was a very backwards evening, but we enjoyed it.  11-3-14

I LOVE TUESDAYS
Tuesdays have become my favorite day of the week.  They are so empty, yet so wonderful.  The only thing I don't like about it is nagging my kids to take their showers.  Why is it so difficult?  11-4-14

PRIMARY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
So Jack, Erika and I made the trek down to SLC for Jack's check up.  I don't know why, but I always feel like PCMC is so far away.  It think it's because I always get lost going up there.  SO I decided that rather than be stressed out the entire way there and once I would most likely get lost, I would leave my house a little bit early.  I started getting the kids ready WAY before it was time to go, to cut back on stress, then managed to kill a little time, but just kept feeling like we should go.  So we did.  I knew we were going to be WAY early and I did have a few little time killer ideas in my head, for when we got there, but I decided to continue following the prompting I'd felt I'd had.  We got there 45 minutes before our appointment (I told you we left early!).  So before checking in, we made our way across one of the fun sky bridges, and back... walking very slowly and just enjoying the peaceful quiet.  Then we checked in.  I couldn't believe how quickly everything started happening!  They called us back for x-rays, then only a few minutes later, called us back for the check up!  I was so excited!  And just as a side note (clearly this post wasn't meant to be about Jack's condition- but the Doc said everything looked like it was healing up properly, no pins or surgery needed, and then nixed the sling and wrapped him up in this giant white ace bandage.  Looks like a straight jacket, but seems to really cut down on pain, which is SO GOOD!!!  Jack is finally acting more like himself again.  She said we can come back in a week to get it cast-ed.  Gotta wait for the swelling to go down. So anyway, back to my story...)  We left the exam room,  had made our follow up appointment and were walking out of the office five minutes BEFORE the time his appointment had been scheduled!  Unbelievable!  And it was a packed waiting room too!!  It was so great!  I was happy because this meant that I would be home when the kids got home and all would be well there.  I hate not being here when they get home.  So anyway.  One of my little miracles.  11-5-14

TENDER MERCIES
Being at Primary Children's Hospital brings back so many memories.  Taking Charity to have her hip x-rayed a few days after bringing her home from the hospital.  Kelly's horrible nights in the RT with her kidney infection- of course the memory of tripping on her cords and tubes and yanking her off the bed inevitably comes to mind- darn this memory of mine.  Then Bradley's "failure to thrive" diagnosis, and let's not leave out the sneaky after hours visit to urology with Dr. Miles the night of his ward's Christmas Party.  Did he do that to get out of the party??  It's possible.  Then Kelly's broken arm, standing outside of the room, peeking through the tiny slits in the blinds on the window of the door... not wanting to see them rebreaking her arm and then resetting it... ugh.  We've been there enough for us, I think.  I got to go see Alicia there.  And I do remember being there for a blood drive so many years ago.  So the place triggers a lot of things in my mind and emotionally.  The thing that stood out to me this time, though, was how lucky I am.  And I know it's not luck, it's blessed, like everyone always tells me, but for some reason, I feel like "blessed" implies that I've done something to deserve it.  So on the way home, I realized what it is, it is a tender mercy!  It's a tender mercy of the Lord, that I have such healthy, happy, not medicated, benign, HEALTHY kids!!  It's huge to me that SEVEN, ALL SEVEN of them have maintained such good health and been so easy to care for all of these years.  Yes, we've had our days, or nights, or even a couple days at a time, but honestly, I just don't think I could handle what some other families do.  With multiple, weekly trips to the hospital, or even month long admits.  It just blows my mind that that is even possible.  I could never handle that.  We were in the elevator with a boy who was wearing some pj pants, a little kid's gown, a small mask, and a plastic blue rosary around his neck.  I could only imagine what he was "in for".  Just breaks my heart for those people who lose their children and even more for those who suffer a long painful road before getting to that point.  I could never do it.  I am very grateful for the tender mercy I enjoy of healthy children.  I made sure to thank my Father in Heaven for that blessing (undeserving, but still) and for the blessing of being able to raise my children, at home, with no tubing and machines attached to them.  It is a blessing. 11-5-14

SIMON'S MOM'S VIEWING
Nate and I snuck out Thursday evening to pay tribute to Simon's Mom.  It was a nice viewing.  I enjoyed talking with Linda, my Grandma's next door neighbor, about my Grandma Mottishaw, but didn't enjoy the rude thing her other neighbor said to me... well, I don't think she planned on "He's the one that makes you look good" sounding as rude as it did, when I introduced her to Nate.  But whatever.  It was cool watching the video of Simon's family pictures- I love those.  I didn't use my quarter that night, so hopefully I don't have too much bad luck, and the candy was good!  11-6-14

SHOPPING WITH HEIDI
I got to go with Heidi to Beehive Clothing to get all of her temple clothing and garments!!  This was a long awaited experience!  I was so happy she wanted to share it with me.  It's getting so close I can taste it!!  11-8-14

NOAH'S FIRST BASKETBALL PRACTICE
Noah (well, everyone except Erika, Jack and I) went with Nate to his first basketball practice!  He was SO excited and SO nervous!  I couldn't believe how anxious he was leading up to it, "how many more minutes til my practice?" like every five minutes!  It sounded like they had a good time and all went well.  I was glad to hear they passed out the treat sign up sheet... this means we don't have to bring a treat to every game like last year with Brad and Luke!  Wahoo :)  Simple pleasures... 11-8-14

Heidi's Shower

After much planning and preparing, the day was finally here!  I was so glad to be able to do this shower for Heidi!  We had such a great time!  The girls did so much of it too, that was special.  I think everyone had a pretty good time!  

We did the video interview of John with Heidi answering the same questions before hand.  That turned out to be pretty fun.  

Then we ate all the yummy salads and rolls.  There was SO much food leftover :).  Good thing I made all my favorites :)

We played Kelly's paddle game, "He said, She said", that was a lot of fun too.  I thought it went really well, except that nobody was keeping track of their scores... nobody really cared about winning, that was a bummer.  But I thought it was fun :)

Charity and Kelly took turns doing the purse scavenger hunt every half hour or so.

Then John showed up, which kind of livened things up a little.  

Heidi opened her gifts. There were a lot of gift cards, I thought that was wonderful :)

I had hung up the pictures of Heidi and John for everyone to write their advice, or best wishes to be put into a book later.  So everyone did that too, before they left.  

It was a good shower!  I was happy.

I made this cute banner for the gift table :).  I love it :)

The only bad thing that happened was I completely forgot to serve dessert!!!  I had worked so hard (well, not really, just that was the last thing I'd done, so we even had to wait a little at the beginning of the shower for me to get it finished) on the Pumpkin bars, and didn't even remember to serve them until about 10 or 15 minutes after everyone left!!  AHHHH!!!  Hate that.

11-1-14