Have you seen my sanity?

I really think I've lost it for good this time.

Nate went back to work on the 18th. Ever since then the kids have been pushing my buttons like crazy. I think they are testing the waters. Nate was home for 5 weeks and he's definitely more of a disciplinarian than I am. The kids know that what he says is law. I've decided I need to be tougher. I need to really come through with consequences. This has produced many fake tears and mini-tantrums the last couple of weeks.
For example: Lilly wanted to take her bath this morning before getting dressed. (We usually do them at night) So, I told her that if she took her bath in the morning, she wouldn't get one at night. Jonah, on the other hand, wanted his bath after dinner. Can you guess what happened when he got in the tub? Yep. Total Meltdown! My head hurts just thinking about it. Oh yeah, that's another thing. My poor head is still a bit tender from my graceful ice-capade and I've banged it on cupboards or bunkbeds at least three times today. Ouch!

So, I'm enjoying all of these joyous moments of parenthood lately and my dear sweet husband is pressing forward through the dense jungles of full time school and full time work. He's gone 3 nights a week for class until 10:30. His day off and his evenings that he doesn't have class are spent reading and doing homework and when he finally gets all that done, the poor guy passes out for some much needed rest.

Confession: at first I thought I might actually like having a few evenings to myself after the kids went to bed, but the reality is that those evenings are usually spent doing laundry, cleaning up dinner, and putting the kids back to bed because they got up for one reason or another. When an evening is quiet, it's just plain lonely. Thank goodness it won't last forever and it's for a good cause.

Anyhoo...just had to get all that off my chest. This blog stuff sure is good therapy, and so much cheaper too. If you'll excuse me, I need to go have a diet Pepsi and some deep breaths.

Happy Birthday Jonah!

Today is Jonah's 6th birthday! I can't believe it's already been six years since I first became a mother. Here are some fun facts about my favorite little boy....

• Jonah is in kindergarten this year and absolutely LOVES school! He loves to read and to learn anyway he can.
  
• Jonah loves to make things. He loves to build with blocks, paint, color, draw, you name it. He's constantly cutting things out of paper and taping or gluing them together to make animals or shapes.
  
• Jonah is a very good big brother. He's very protective and helpful with his sisters.
  
• Jonah came into the world weighing 8lbs 9oz.
  
• Jonah likes dinosaurs and all things reptile.
  
• Jonah loves to play the Wii.
  
• Jonah was definitely worth the 9 months of pregnancy and the 29 hours of labor that it took to get him here!

Here a couple of pictures of Jonah when he was 2 years old. Sadly I don't have any digital ones of him as a baby and I don't have a scanner, so these will have to do.

These are both from May 2006.

And now he's six. Yikes! Where did the time go!
I love you my handsome little man! Happy Birthday!

a slip on the ice and a bump on the head

Last Saturday night as I was getting into my Jeep, I slipped on some ice in the driveway. This was no little tumble that I took either. My feet went right out from under me and I fell backwards and whacked my head on a cement corner.
Being the trooper that I am, I picked myself up and went about my business ( I was just dropping something off at a friend's house). By the time I got home, about half an hour later, I had a goose egg to beat all goose eggs on the top of my head. I sat down and put some frozen vegetables on it and tried to think of something besides how much it hurt. I've never hit my head this hard in my entire life and I must say that the pain was something fierce.

Nate was very concerned and wanted me to get it checked out. But I just kept telling him that it wasn't that bad. I did call the 24 hour registered nurse hot-line that we have with our insurance. The nurse told me not to eat for the next eight hours and to keep icing it off and on and that Nate should wake me up every 2 hours that night to make sure I was still okay. She also said that if my headache didn't go away in 8 hours, I should get it checked out.

So Nate faithfully set the alarm on his cell phone to go off every 2 hours that night. Sunday I stayed home from church anyway with the kids because of a re-infestation of pink eye. My head was still hurting, but the bump wasn't so big anymore. Then on Monday morning I still had the constant headache plus a couple other symptoms. I decided to be safe rather than sorry and had Nate take me to a doctor.
The diagnosis.....I definitely had a concussion and I should have gone into the ER that night to have a CT scan just to be safe. But, since I haven't had any blurred vision, slurred speech, vomiting, or bleeding from the ears the doc said I'm most likely a-okay. So I just get to pump myself full of ibuprofen and if any of those scary symptoms pop up in the next few days I need to go to the ER and get that CT scan PDQ.

What did we learn from all of this? When you whack your head on a corner of concrete so hard that it gives you a giant goose egg and an enormous headache, you really should just go to the ER and get it checked out in the first place. When it comes to head injuries, playing it safe is always best. So don't be like me and think that it's not that bad and you'd just feel like you were being a baby for going to the doctor about it. Get your little butt to the hospital!
There, that's my wisdom for the day.

My AMAZING Body! (and YOURS too!)

In case you were wondering----No, I haven't lost any weight since before Christmas. I came to the conclusion that Christmas just isn't Christmas without dessert.
So I relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed my holiday without worrying about the scale. I must say, it was an absolutely delicious one!

It seems that we're always focused on the negative things about ourselves, especially when it comes to our physical appearance. I know I'm always seeing what is wrong and never what is wonderful about my own body. So I've compiled a list of things I like about my body and why it is so amazing just the way it is.

1. I love my hair and I'm always getting compliments on it, whether it's the color or the style. I personally love it in the summer, when it's blond and the sun really shines off of it.

2. I love that I don't get sick very often. I have a great immune system!

3. I love that my body has given me 3 beautiful and healthy children with no major complications during pregnancies.

4. I love my arms for carrying sleeping children to their beds, comforting crying babies, and holding tight to my husband.

5. I love my legs for being able to make the gazillion trips up and down the stairs in my house everyday. I love how strong they feel when I exercise.

6. I love the shape of my calves! Nate does too.=)

7. I love my fingers for moving lithely over piano keys and for typing the many, many, many school assignments over the years.

8. I love my blue eyes. One of the first things Nate ever complimented me on was my blue eyes.

9. I love my heart for pumping strong and keeping me going. I love feeling my heartbeat get faster when I run or play with the kids.

10. I even love my tushie for the extra padding it gives me.

11. I love the curve of my hips.

12. I love my body just the way it is!!!

I hope you'll all take a minute to think of a few things you love about your body. Our bodies are amazing gifts from God. They are capable of astounding things! Who cares if I'm hanging on to a few extra pounds? My body is beautiful and so is yours!

Blessings in Disguise

I'm usually a pretty optimistic person, but when Nate was laid off on December 17th, all I could focus on was the negative of our situation.
He starts work again next Monday, so lately I've been thinking about the many blessings that this 5 week layoff has actually given us and the small ways the Lord was looking out for us in the process. Want to know what I've come up with? Too bad, you get to anyway. =)

• The Timing--- Nate's layoff actually came at a good time. Since his boss had made it clear that everyone would have to take a turn being laid off sometime this winter, Nate's turn being when it was worked out for several reasons.....the most important being that we had his student loan money coming in the next week and the amount was enough to cover our expenses during the layoff

Just a side note, if Nate hadn't decided to go to school this semester there's no way we would have survived this little financial storm without being late on payments and going without since unemployment only pays about half of his regular income. Also, when we were working out his financial aid, we weren't sure about accepting the loan on top of the grant. I just felt that we should get it 'just in case'. Inspiration? I think so!

• It gave us lots of family time during the holidays, including the ability to go visit Nate's family in Las Vegas for an entire week.
• Nate has asthma and about a gazillion allergies. His job is all outdoors and very physically demanding. When the air is as bad as it has been lately, he gets really, really, really sick from working in it. We're talking puking, coughing, fevers, passing out kind of sick. It happens around this time every winter, so maybe this layoff has helped us avoid it this year.
  
• Nate has loved spending so much time with the kids. He keeps telling me that he feels spoiled and it's going to be hard to go back to work.
  
• I've enjoyed spending time with Nate. We've been able to do some projects around the house and just relax together a lot.
  
• I've had more time to do things that I want to do. Nate's been really supportive of letting me get my workouts in and giving me time to myself if I need it.
• It gave Nate two weeks of classes to focus on just school before he heads back to work and has to be working full time and going to school full time. I think it's making the transition a little smoother for him.
  

All in all, the pros definitely outweigh the cons of our situation and it's made me reflect on how truly blessed we really are. So there you have it, the silver lining.

Okay, so we're home, the kids are back in school, and life is sort of normal so I figured I'd better get to my forever long holiday post.

Warning: this post may be quite lengthy as I haven't written anything for about two weeks and there's a lot to cover. Feel free to read it in two or three sittings, but do me a favor and post a comment when you're done (pretty please!) so I can feel like my work was appreciated =)

Alright...here we go!

The first news would be Nate's layoff. On the 17th Nate was temporarily laid off. His boss wanted to do a "rolling" lay off where everyone takes a turn being laid off this winter instead of just laying off a bunch of people for the entire winter like he usually does. He thinks it will be more fair. Don't get me started on that one.
Anyway...the lay off was supposed to go for two weeks, but we just found out today that Nate doesn't go back to work until the 18th. So, needless to say we've had lots of family time this Christmas!

Christmas Eve was spent at my Mom's house having yummy dinner and opening presents. Being the only grandkids/nephew and nieces on my side of the family, Jonah, Lilly, & Jayne got spoiled like crazy! They love all their fun presents. Thank you everyone!

Jonah's new Cloud Cat....very manly!

Jonah's toy iguana

When we got home that night we hurried into our pajamas so we could get to sleep so Santa could come. Nate spread out some 'reindeer food' that a friend had given us and Jonah set out a plate of cookies for the Big Man that we had made earlier in the day. Then we tucked the kiddos snugly into their beds.

Christmas morning was fun and relaxed. The kids looked out their window to discover reindeer tracks in the snow and the reindeer food all eaten up. Santa had also eaten his cookies, much to the delight of the little ones!
We opened all the presents and the kids started playing right away. I made a yummy breakfast of eggs, bacon, and fruit and we settled in to relax. We have a strict stay home policy for Christmas Day. People are free to come visit us, but we like to stay home and spend the day as a family. My mom and brothers and sisters stopped by to see what Santa had brought the kids. It was a very peaceful and wonderful day!

Lilly's elephants from Aunt Amanda and Aunt Emily

Daddy and Jayne hamming it up for the camera

Jayne's favorite gift was this outfit. She carried it around all morning.

Lilly in her Fairy dress up clothes with her talking doll house

Since Nate was off work, we decided to make a trip to Las Vegas to visit his family. We left early(the alarm went off at 4:30am) the day after Christmas and arrived right around lunch time. I had started to develop a sort of sinus infection cold thingy on Christmas Day and it just got worse. So I was sick and exhausted for most of our time in Las Vegas.
The kids did great on the drive and were so excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They loved playing with them and with Aunt Emily. They even got to play with their one and only cousin, Quinn, for a while.
A few highlights of our trip included a trip to the temple with Grandma and Grandpa, seeing the fish at the Bass Pro Shop and the Silverton Hotel...


and exploring mine with Tyler and Rebekka. Nate and I and Aunt Emily went on this one without the kids. It was their nap time and we didn't think they would particularly enjoy it. Tyler took us to an abandoned mine tunnel. He and Rebekka and Quinn have explored them before. Tyler went through the mine first to make sure there were no animals lurking inside. Nate stood at the ready at the exit just in case something came rushing out. Not to worry, the place was uninhabited except for some beer bottles and surfing magazines....go figure.

Little Quinn loved the tunnel. He had his flashlight and loved walking through.

Nate and I pushed the boundaries of our claustrophobia. We both don't like tight spaces. I think mine was more the fear of the thing caving in on us or something. But it was pretty cool to walk in there and imagine what it must have been like for the men that had actually worked in there every day.

After we came out of the mine, Nate and Tyler wanted to do a little shooting. They set up some spray paint cans and a pumpkin and some other targets on the hillside and had a grand old time. They were aiming for a blue can of spray paint. As soon as Nate pulled the trigger, a gust of wind came up. He hit the can and blue spray paint got all over him and Tyler! They were little polka dotted smurfs!

After the shooting, we all went out to dinner at Claim Jumper. We ordered dessert first and then dinner. The food was fabulous and so was the company!

We were also in Las Vegas for New Year's Eve. Grandma and Grandpa pulled out some games and we all sat around the table playing. I think the group favorite was Guesstures. I was the only one who had ever played before. It was really fun watching everyone try to act out their words on the cards. After we were done playing games, we blew up some balloons. We gave one to each of the kids and took them outside. They yelled "Happy New Year!" and let the air out of their balloons, which sent them flying in all directions. Then we all turned in nice and early since we were leaving the next day.







Nate had warned me that he wanted to leave pretty early to head home, so I was expecting the 4am wake-up call that I'd gotten on the morning of the drive down. You can imagine my surprise and 'enthusiasm' when the alarm went of at 2:30 in the blessed A.M.! Nevertheless, I rolled myself out of bed and we got loaded up and on the road. We made the drive in 6 hours and only one pit stop thanks to sleeping kids(all except Jayne-she only slept about 45 minutes during the entire drive!). We got home and started unpacking, making lunch, and getting ready for a much needed nap.
Later that night, Nate and I went over to our friends' house and played some Guitar Hero and had pizza. It was really fun to just hang out and visit. Then on Saturday, we crashed.

Let's see, that brings me to Sunday. Don't fret. We're almost done. You're on the home stretch!
Sunday was Nate's first day teaching in primary. He co-teaches our largest class, the 9 year olds. We had 11 there this Sunday and there are 7 more on the roll. His partner wasn't there, so Nate got to do the lesson. The kids loved him! They all raved about him to me after class time.

The kids went back to school today. They both were very excited to see their teachers and friends again. Nate also went back to school today. He is finishing his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice through Weber State. They offer the classes in the evenings at Salt Lake Community College. He'll have class on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. If all goes according to the plan, he'll be finished in August.

Phew! I think that about does it! Thanks for sticking with me!
We hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season! We're looking forward to 2010 and the challenges and joys it will undoubtedly bring.