Blessings and Trials

My life has been a series of ups and downs lately. Mainly up because of my amazing family but man, I'm tired of the downs. We've had appliance issues, (bought a new dishwasher, washer, and dryer in the past 6 weeks!), the A/C went out today (but I fixed it... somehow, no idea how, just messed around for half an hour until it came back on!), I've had some annoying health issues causing problems (and HUGE medical bills :P), but we had a fun summer and are ready for school to start!

Yesterday was the 1st day of school here and my girls were ready! They were so cute all dressed up, backpacks on, ready to go! They have been practicing for several weeks to get up and be ready by 7:15 (the time to run to the bus!), so even though I took them to school on the 1st day, they were ready, so we left! And drove behind the bus the whole way! ;)

***Click on this collage to see the picture bigger.***


We took some pics in front of the house and in front of the school. Then we sat inside waiting for the bell to ring to let us go to class! Jillian found friends and went off to 2nd grade. She has a fabulous teacher that I was really hoping she'd get. The teacher already knows her from when she was a kindergartener and would go to 2nd grade for reading time. She said, "I've been waiting for YEARS to get Jillian in my class!"

Miranda was a little more reserved... just taking it all in. I walked her to class and took more pictures, which she happily posed for and then we put her bag at her cubby and she got to pick a seat and start coloring. One of her friends from church is in her class, so I thought that would make her comfortable but her friend was running late that day and when I left at 8 AM, she still wasn't there! Miranda was totally fine though and the friend showed up a few minutes later, I was told. :) The only problem of the 1st day was that she didn't tell the teacher she'd brought a lunch in her pretty, new pink lunch bag. So the teacher bought her a cafeteria lunch. Way to make me look like a lame parent who didn't send her kid to school with food or lunch money! :) I wrote a note to her teacher and included money to pay her back, so she actually ate her lunch today and all is well. :)

Natalie has LOVED being the big girl at home. She's been very helpful and obedient. Lately she's liked to talk silly (like a baby) and act like she doesn't know what I'm asking her to do. :( Not anymore. She is doing what she's supposed to do without me asking and no more baby talk! Seems she was just wanting more attention... oh, is THAT the problem??? :) Yeah, never enough individual attention around here. A couple of cute things I want to record for posterity... the other day I was looking for some framed pictures of Christ that I had put down and forget where I put them. I asked Natalie to look with me and she said, "Jeeesus, where arrrre you?" Hee hee! Also, we were playing Disney DVD Bingo and Rafiki (the baboon from Lion King) came on the screen and I said, "That's Rafiki," and she said, "No, Mom, that's FREAKY!" :) Love that girl's personality!


Lucas is driving me INSANE! I love the boy to death but I'm struggling to figure him out. He is spitting up, throwing up, ruining his outfit and mine several times a day, crying whenever he can't see me, and kind of moaning any time I'm not holding him, feeding him, and looking at him! I know some of this is normal baby stuff. He's teething. He's 8 months old and has separation anxiety. But the throwing up is REALLY bothering me. Something is wrong and the dr said he's a happy spitter, so it's just a laundry problem. Not so! He seems to be in pain when he's eating at least once or twice a day. Bite, bite, shriek, boo hoo, sniff sniff, bite, bite, repeat. Seriously he is a big kid and they think because he's gaining weight he's fine but I think he's in pain and that's why he's only calm in my arms. When he's in my arms, he is in heaven and he smiles at me and touches my face and "talks" to me. He is a joy in my life. I just want to help him be happier.

More on the positive side, he is rolling, scooting, clapping, smiling, playing with toys, sleeping 11 hrs straight every night, taking 2 naps a day (about 1 1/2 to 2 hrs each), reaching up to be picked up, developing wonderfully... maybe he'll crawl someday... but I'm seriously worried about him. I've changed his formula umpteen times and he's on Zantac now for reflux (it's gotta be that, right?) but it's not helping. I've tried Mylanta too but haven't noticed a difference. Any experienced mamas have advice for me???

So there have been some frustrations since I last posted but a lot of good things too. My birthday is on Friday and I'll be the big 33! What a cool number! ;) I was asked to accompany someone singing in church last Sunday and I was nervous. She has an incredible voice and I don't practice much, so I really didn't want to mess her up! I was shaking like a leaf and Ben sat beside me to turn the pages and I played it better than I ever had before, so I was happy. One friend told me I did a great job and I said, "That's what I have to do to get to sit by my husband in church for a few minutes!" :)

Ben is still the bishop and crazy busy. He's out doing bishop visits right now. Wednesdays he's at church, Thursday he has home teaching... I might see him on Friday for my birthday! Cool! :)

Summer Vacations, Baby Milestones, & Busy-ness!

So after Julie went home, we packed up and drove to Utah! The kids were a-MAZ-ing and we had a pleasant and uneventful drive to Gallup, New Mexico. We stopped for dinner in Albuquerque and just happened to find a restaurant in Old Town and it was fabulous ambience and really good Mexican food. Yay! My favorite! We got to our hotel that evening and it smelled like smoke. UGH! Oh well, we were too tired to complain. Ben took the girls swimming. I got Lucas and myself ready but when we go to the pool, Ben & the girls said it was FREEZING. So I opted to just feed Lucas a bottle. :) They had fun swimming and the next morning we had breakfast and left that yucky place vowing to never return. :) Then we had an UGLY and BORING drive through New Mexico's reservations and THEN we entered beautiful Colorado. Loved it! Then we entered Utah and stopped for lunch in Monticello at the cutest little place called The Peace Tree Juice Cafe. It had healthy food and we were tired of junk food after the day before of McDonald's (yuck) and we got wraps and blue tortilla chips and fresh squeezed lemonade. Yum! It was the cutest place and I wish I had taken a picture! We ate outside on a little deck on multicolored chairs and tables and had a view of gorgeous mountains. I said, “I think this is the prettiest place I've ever eaten a meal!” Natalie said, “Yeah, and there's a car wash!” Hmm, ok. :) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

Then we made our way to Moab (Ben's dream place to live) and went to Arches National Park. By this time it was 103 and the kids made it to a viewing area of Delicate Arch and were done. Ben & I walked around Balancing Rock while the kids watched a movie in the van (we could see them the whole time, of course). They didn't want to get out again!

Next we drove to Provo and showed our kiddos where we met (The Colony Apartments – woot woot!) and had dinner at one of our favorite places – Stans! I had my banana cream pie shake and BLT and it was heavenly! We saw my cousin Emily for a few minutes (she lives near there and dropped by to say hi) and then headed to Kaysville where we stayed with my Aunt Connie. My kids LOVED her and I think they were happy to have her as a Grandma substitute (she is my mom's sister). She totally spoiled us and fed us great food and played with the kids. Uncle Ferren told the kids stories and they kept asking him to repeat them. We played with her grandkids (and I hung out with her daughter who is my closest cousin, Gini). Actually when we left to go home, Jill & Miranda said, "Bye Aunt Connie!" but Natalie said, "Bye Grandma!" Connie thought that was pretty special and so did I. :)

We visited my grandparents' and cousin's grave in Bountiful which is close to the temple where we were married, so we walked around the temple grounds and took pictures of the kids there. Then we went to West Jordan to visit Ben's aunt and uncle who just came home from their mission to Korea and his parents were there too (also visiting from Texas). The kids had fun with their grandparents and Ben's aunt & uncle who are also like grandparents.

The next day we went to Temple Square in SLC with my cousin Gini and her kids. We rode the Frontrunner train down to SLC, which was so nice and so fun! Unfortunately the weather stunk. I had packed one pair of jeans and light jackets for the girls but not for me! So I was shivery as we walked around Temple Square. When we got back to the train parking lot, it was 49 degrees and pouring rain! At least we did our touring around before the rain hit! The rest of the trip was unseasonably cold and wet. YUCK! No zoo or swimming like we had planned. On Saturday, Connie & Ferren had a barbecue for us and the kids “burned marshmallows” according to Natalie. Ben went to see a UFC fight on base with Gini's husband, Matt, and they had a great time as well.

On Sunday, we went to Ben's aunt and uncle's ward to hear them report about their mission and then went back to their house for lunch and visiting most of his wonderful cousins. We saw so much family on this trip but still missed a bunch too! Off and on Jill wasn't feeling well (actually threw up a few times one night) and this day Miranda got a fever and didn't feel well.

We packed up to head home on Monday morning and Natalie promptly threw up, I cleaned it up, then Lucas threw up a whole bottle. LOVELY! We packed up and left knowing we'd be stopping a lot. We went a different way this time to see some more of the country and went through Wyoming and Colorado. The kids did need extra potty breaks but no throwing up. Yay! We got to Colorado Springs and stayed in an AWESOME hotel for less than the nasty place in Gallup! Ben & the girls swam again and enjoyed it more this time. We ordered Pizza Hut into our room and had a great night. Woke up to head home and everyone ate a great breakfast and we got started. Less than 40 minutes later, Jill was throwing up. Again? Seriousy? So we stopped in Pueblo for a potty break and cleaned up a bit (luckily we had a plastic bucket that Jill threw up in, so no mess in the car!). While there, Ben noticed a low tire. It only had 18 lbs in it and he suspected a nail. So we drove to the Discount Tire down the road and got it patched (for free!). We were feeling grumpy but also blessed because that was the last city for a LONG time where we could have gotten that tire repaired. We drove and drove and drove that day and finally got home late that evening. I vowed to never travel again. Ha ha!

A week later I took the kids to Dallas while Ben went to Scout High Adventure Camp! I had a fabulous time catching up with my dear friend, Natalie, who up and moved to Dallas last year. Sad! :( But we had fun at the Fort Worth Zoo and swimming in her backyard and staying up 'til 3 to talk. Seriously! We also had another great reason for being in Dallas. Ben's sister, Jocelyn, brought her family from Minnesota to Texas for a visit with her parents. We were able to let cousins play and catch up at a Splash Park, a Jumping Land, and at the house. I sure love my family!

So, that's our summer in a nutshell. It sure seems like we've done a ton!

Lucas just had his 6 month appointment yesterday (he was 6 months on the 18th but the dr's office is busy!) and he is doing everything wonderfully, of course. He is 19 lbs. 12 oz. (75th percentile), 28 in. long (90th percentile), and his beautiful head is perfectly in the 90th percentile. :) The dr asked if he'd gotten any teeth yet and I said no because the upper canine ones he got a few months ago kind of worked their way back up into his gums (exactly the same ones that Miranda did that with) and today at lunch I noticed... HE HAS HIS FIRST TOOTH! It's one of the bottom middle ones just like you are supposed to get first! He rolled from front to back on June 4th, back to front on June 11th, and starting sitting up on July 1st. He also started eating solids when we got back from our Utah vacation, around the 16th. He is growing up so fast and is just so adorable! Check out the pic of him wearing his first tie! :)

Ben is busy at work and as Bishop and takes off time here or there to help other people but hasn't had a lot of RELAX time. Luckily (I guess) there was a furlough day on July 2 (unpaid time off due to budget issues) and he had the 5th off too for the holiday, so he had a really nice lazy weekend and it was so fun to have him home! He played with the girls and Lucas (he's finally old enough for Ben to find him fun!), I won some fireworks (my name was accidentally drawn from the wrong raffle box I guess and I got $150 of fireworks that I didn't even sign up to win!), we set some off with some friends on Sunday (& had birthday cake too since their son turned 4!), set off fireworks with other friends the next day (& I brought a red, white, and blue trifle!-yum!), and we went to Family Storytime at the library last night. The kids and I also caught a puppet show at the library earlier in the day. Summer time is awesome! :)

Last week my dishwasher quit draining, washer quit agitating, and dryer quit heating. SERIOUSLY! So after a trip to Best Buy for a new dishwasher and a service call for an appliance repairman, we are poorer but back in business! Hooray! Never a dull moment around here.

Life isn't perfect but it's really good! :)

Parties and awards and visits... oh my!

Catch up time again! We had a very eventful June and I told Ben he needed to help me blog about it but he's never around, so...

I guess I should start with the last week of May actually. I threw a surprise baby shower for my friend Kim and it actually surprised her!!! Woo hoo! I sent out e-vites to a lot of our friends at church that I had e-mail addresses for and then told them to spread the word and we had a great turnout for dinner and a movie. I told Kim I wanted her to have a girls' night out with me and my friend who would be visiting. Then my friend got stranded at the airport with a cancelled flight and I told Kim that my friend wouldn't be here that night but I still wanted to go out. She was thrilled, thank goodness, or I would have had a really hard time making another excuse up to get her to her shower! So I picked her up and people were texting me to say they were at the restaurant and ready to say, “Surprise!” I was at a stop light and said, “We're at the intersection! Be ready!” I know Kim thought I was funny to be texting while driving (I was stopped though) and talking to her at the same time. I made a comment about how Julie was texting me all day updating me on the flight situation. We walked in and they yelled and she was truly surprised. Hooray!!! It was a great turnout and we had so much fun! She got a lot of cute clothing for her baby boy and money towards a double jogging stroller. We ate our dinner and then served up a Trifle that I made and it tasted as good as it looked! Eliza (our fearless RS leader) was thirsty, so asked the waiter to just bring her a pitcher of soda. :) Then some of us headed to the movie theater to watch, “Letters to Juliet.” A pretty cute, clean movie and some hilarious, crazy friends to watch it with – great night!





The next day was Jill's 1st grade Awards Assembly. She got lots of certificates for wonderful things but I was especially proud of two things. She received the 1st grade music award and I'm not sure what it's for but I love that she loves to sing and she'll always sing or play the piano on music share day. A girl after my own heart! In so many ways, really. Love that kid! She also was the #2 reader out of the 5 classes of 1st grade. She got to go to Midnight Madness (all the kids with a certain amount of Accelerated Reading points got to go to the school from 8 to midnight and play games, do crafts, eat pizza, and watch a movie) and I was a chaperone for that. It was fun for both of us and only three 1st graders got to go, so that was neat. She received a $15 gift card to Books-A-Million, which we have already spent on some childhood classics. She's almost done with “Anne of Green Gables” and she started it yesterday! I was in such a rush the day of the assembly that I couldn't find my camera and asked my friend, Sharla, to take pictures of Jill for me. It was hilarious when all the parents went forward to take pics of their kids, I just sat there and Jill looked at me like, “What's going on?” Sharla was waving at Jill and calling her name and Jill could NOT figure out why Cherith's mommy wanted to take pictures of her. Ha ha. I felt like a pretty lame mom. I told Sharla that if anyone asked I could say I hired a “professional” for my kid's pictures. :) She hasn't sent them to me yet, so I can't post how cute she was that day.

My dear friend Julie from my college days came to visit at the end of May and beginning of June. She missed the baby shower and the awards ceremony that she was looking forward to but we still managed to have fun. We went to Buffalo Gap Historic Village, Frontier Texas, the Center for Contemporary Arts, the Abilene Zoo, the Paramount Theater, and the Grace Museum. Basically everything to do in Abilene. :) My girls LOVED her and were sad to see her go. I felt like I could be easily replaced. One time I was trying to open a bottle and Jill said, “Do you want me to get Julie to do it?” Wow, I guess I'm not as good as Julie! :) I really enjoyed having her here and can't wait until I can go see her someday...

More updates to come...

May Days!

This month we celebrated Miranda's birthday! She turned 5 and we celebrated with a gymnastics play day on Saturday, her favorite meal (tacos) on Sunday, and Chuck E. Cheese for dinner plus cake at home on Monday (her actual birthday). She is such a sweet thing (most of the time) and a great helper to me. She is reading everything she can get her hands on lately and is SO excited to start kindergarten in August. Jill spent the whole day calling her "the five year old" and she really enjoyed that. :) I am glad my girls have each other, so they always have a best friend (and a nemesis). Here are some pics of our festivities.

Other things we've done in the past month... baby showers, birthday parties, field trips, dentist appointments (Natalie is tongue-tied, who knew?), Echo was neutered (and is a bit calmer surprisingly), Jill gave a talk in Primary, Ben gave a talk in church, I got an additional calling (Primary pianist), Lucas got a double ear infection (and is 18 lbs of adorableness!), I made some really great chimichangas (ha ha), and we're all here and happy. We're looking forward to a visit from my dear college friend, Julie, this week and hope she's going to start the "Let's go to Abilene" vacation trend! :)

We're Still Here!

Ben has been asking when I was going to update our blog. I just kept thinking it would take too long and I don't have any big chunks of time to myself (really, I'm serious!), but I'm starting now. With a baby on my lap and my three girls asking me when they get their computer time. Now is as good a time as any! :)

The last update was on Christmas Day when Lucas was just 1 week old. We are loving having him as a part of our family. He is sleeping through the night most nights now and is just a joy to be around. He will be 4 months old on Sunday! He has been such a good baby and I have felt WONDERFUL the whole time. I was on some meds from the day after his birth to keep my post partum depression from kicking me down and it worked! I NEVER felt bad like I did with the girls and I have enjoyed this newborn stage so much! I've weaned off of my medicine and still doing good. So many blessings!!!
2010 started off with a bang. And a shock. :) Ben was called to be the Bishop of our church congregation. For those of you who don't know what that means, this is the official definition from our church: "A man who has been ordained and set apart as the presiding high priest for a ward, or congregation. He has overall responsibility for ministering the temporal and spiritual affairs of the congregation." So, yeah, a LOT of responsibility. He was more than a little bit overwhelmed and humbled by this but we both said yes (he said yes and then they asked if I would support him and I said, "Absolutely."). This calling has definitely blessed our lives already. He has been very busy and has meetings a lot but we're doing ok at balancing our lives.

We had planned to have Lucas' baby blessing in church in February but since Ben was made the bishop in mid-January, we bumped it up, so that my dad and Ben's parents could be with us for both occasions. It was really great and I know my mom was there too in spirit. Lucas was so handsome and well-behaved for his blessing, of course. :)
Later in January we went to Ben's employer's (City of Abilene) health fair and had fun at different booths and we signed up for raffles and guess what we won? A free pet adoption from the city shelter! Ben was less than thrilled. Especially when some of the other raffle things to sign up for were free insurance premiums for a month or a Wii. Admittedly, I would have preferred those as well but they had a million people trying for them, so the odds weren't good. :) So we started the search for a pet but I wanted to take my time and get one we really wanted.

In February, my friend Kim & I decided to start doing babysitting trades, so we could go on date nights without paying an arm and a leg for a babysitter. It's been nice to get to go out with Ben a couple of times a month. We usually go to the High Priest Group Social where we eat at a nice restaurant once a month. That's pretty much the only time I get to go out to eat, so I look forward to it! :)

We also had a fun ward activity that month. An Adults Only Valentine's Dance! I guess there were a lot of people out of town or sick (everyone seemed to be sick in either January or February around here!) because we only had about a dozen couples come but it was so much fun! Our activities coordinator is really talented and made the gym look beautiful and we had prizes for most romantic couple, most reverent couple, and there was an award for "How did he get her?" Ha ha.

The next weekend was the youth Valentine's dance at the church and Ben went to chaperone, so I went with him and that was our date. :) Nothing better than FREE! :)

Miranda & Natalie took swimming lessons at the YMCA in February and it wasn't too successful. ;) They didn't like someone shoving them under the water. I find that an odd approach but they always do that in lessons around here. Natalie doesn't ever want to swim now. Miranda actually did quite well and I was surprised how well she listened to the teacher and how willing she was to try new things. Natalie just kept repeating, "I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to." Oh well. It was... an experience. :) The teacher said they would both need to repeat the beginning class before moving on. That kind of surprised me because I thought Miranda did great but she is still a little hesitant and the next class requires them to swim independently for 15 feet and she probably wouldn't be comfortable without a noodle or life jacket nearby. I would love to just take the time to teach them myself one-on-one but that would be a little hard right now since I'd have to get a babysitter to do that!

We have had such a cold winter with several snowfalls and I am so glad Spring has sprung. It sure was pretty though and the kids had a great time playing with Daddy in the snow. I didn't want to take the baby out in the cold, so I just ran out to snap some pictures and then watched them through the window. :)

On Saturday, February 27th, Jillian fell in love with a puppy at the shelter and we brought him home on Monday, March 1st. We named him "Echo" and he's half miniature schnauzer & half they-don't-know, but I would guess border terrier. He was 3 lbs when we brought him home at 8 weeks old. At his last check-up he was 5 lbs, so he's getting huge! Ha ha. I'm hoping he'll stay under 10 or 12 lbs.

He's a pretty smart puppy and has done really well with house training overall. He has started nipping at the girls whenever he can and gets really hyper around them, so they are dying to play with him and then screaming and running away from him. *SIGH* I'm going to sign up for a puppy kindergarten and learn how to train him a little better. He used to come whenever I called but now he knows he'll probably get put in his crate, so he likes to make me chase him. He does well with SIT, LIE DOWN, UP, and I can get him to dance on his hind feet and twirl for a Goldfish cracker! :) He doesn't do so well with DOWN but we're working on it. He does pretty well on a walk with me but if the girls are with me, he just runs right, left, forward, back, around my legs. *SIGH* Again, working on it. Puppies are a lot of work and I knew this going in but I just wish he was sweeter with the girls. It'll happen though, I'm sure, as he gets older.

March brought us to SPRING BREAK! Yay! We finally went back to Kansas to see my family! We hadn't been back since my mom's funeral in October because I had a baby! Ben and my dad don't think it's smart for me to travel by myself with 4 kids, so I had to wait until Ben had a break to come with me. So my relatives there finally got to see the baby and of course they all adored him. We only spent a few great days there with my Dad (wish it had been longer) and then headed to Dallas to see Ben's family for a day and a half (again, wish it had been longer). We were able to attend the Dallas Temple while we were there, thanks to my wonderful in-laws babysitting. It was a whirlwind trip (with 4 children and a PUPPY!) and it was surprisingly successful and almost stress-free. We were happy to get home though.

We had a Scout Spaghetti Dinner and Service Auction at church. It was to raise money for the boys to go to Scout Camp this summer. It was really fun and we ended up bidding on a lot of things and ended up paying $25 for a dessert! All for a good cause, right? :) And it was SO yummy! ;) We also paid $50 to have one of the Scouts help us with yard work for 5 hrs. Well worth it! :)

The beginning of April brought our ward Chili Cook-off (which was way fun and so yummy to try everyone's different chilis), Jill's field trip to a tv news station (I loved going to check out the studio & it made me miss my days at Community Cable News in college), General Conference (love to listen to a prophet's voice!), and Easter (Ben's parents visited for the weekend & we had a nice time dying eggs, hunting eggs, going to the zoo, and eating ham & scalloped potatoes!).



In between all of that stuff is play dates, story time at the library, playgroup visits to the park, zoo, fire station, and grocery store, housework :(, and just general taking care of the kiddos. We are all happy and healthy and so grateful for that! Actually, Jill is home from school today with a sore throat and a fever. *SIGH* We expect many happy and exciting times in the future and I will try to post about things more often! :)