Big Changes Are 'A Comin'

My life is changing in a major way staring on Tuesday. Why you ask?

1. Toothsome #2 starts Kindergarten
2. Toothsome #3 starts pre-school

And, in my attempts to be a better mother and give my kids more individual time, I have put toothsome #3 in morning pre-school and toothsome #2 in afternoon Kindergarten. That way, while one is at school, I can have alone time with the other. Toothsome #4 will of course still be at home, but I am hoping that I can really focus on each child individually while the other is gone. Am I crazy? Should I have had them both gone at the same time? I don't know but in my sleep deprived, guilt-inducing mind it made sense to me when I signed them up, so I am sticking with it.

Tuesday is the big day. I am having a mixture of emotions. Toothsome #2 is SO ready for school but I will miss her company. Thank goodness it is for just 1/2 a day.

I'm Still Here--Sitting in Chaos

Just a quick post to let people know that I am still around just trying to reclaim my home life now that school has started. Toothsome #1 is back into school and toothsomes 2 and 3 start next week. My sister (Goddess #1) has been here helping her oldest get settled at BYU for his freshman year and we have been staying up way too late talking every night. We have also had soccer camp, soccer practice, Pack Meeting and dance. So, things are busy. Good busy but busy. I'll be back in a few days.

Small Gifts

I have been reflecting on the small, simple gifts that come daily into my life. I don't think people realize they even give them to me or might not even consider them much of a gift, but for me, they are life changing. Some examples:

1. The friend, who knows I hate to sew, who offers to sew on my son's Cub Scout patches.

2. The e-mail sent from a friend telling me that she feels that I have always been part of her circle of friends and that she can't imagine me not being there. What a compliment!

3. The mother of my husband's best friend, who held toothsome #4 so I could eat my meal with TWO hands.

4. The friend who always answers the phone when I call (even though she has caller ID) because she knows I need to talk.

5. The child who gets his own breakfast in the morning.

6. The friend who passes on a "must have" simple tasty recipe.

7. The parent who reminds me that part of parenting is driving my kids to their various practices and that I should remember to enjoy that part too.

8. The friend, who knows we don't have cable, who burns on CD High School Musical 2 for me and my kids to watch.

9. The friend, who in her efforts to diet, drops off the cookies she made and then decided to give them away instead of tempt her.

10. The friend, who after seeing the holes in my ceiling reminds me to call my insurance agent and have them pay for the repairs, since that is why we have Home Owners Insurance.

Those are just a handful of gifts--I could name SO many more. I hope that I can reciprocate similar gifts to others.

Fun Day

Today is the last week before school starts. This morning, my kids informed me that there were two things on our "Summer List" that we have not done yet. 1. Go the Olympic Fountain 2. The zoo. It is too hot to go the the zoo, so I talked them into going there in the fall. The animals are more active when it is cooler anyway.

So, today we went to the Olympic Fountain at the Gateway. If you live in Utah and have not done it, I would recommend you do so. I just put my kids in their swim suits before we left, brought towels and when we got there, let them at it. They ran in and out of the sprays of water for over an hour. It is better than the swimming pool because I didn't have to worry about anyone drowning. I was able to just sit there under an umbrella and watch them have a ton of fun. Afterwards, we got some Ben and Jerry's ice cream and came home. It was a GREAT outing.

Now, currently, toothsome #1 is at Scouts. Once he gets home, we are having a dinner of leftovers before toothsome #1 has his first day of a week-long soccer camp from 6-8 pm. It looks like we are going to have a great last week of summer.

Oh and I am posting a picture of toothsome #1 from his baptism. Wow!

Pay It Forward

Laurie at Create Your Own Experience (I have been spying on her blog for quite sometime but only recently have started leaving comments) is doing a Pay It Forward exchange. I decided to participate with a slight twist. Hers is actually a "craft" gift exchange but since I don't have time or true abilities to do that, I am offering the following:

The first three people to make a comment on my blog will get a $5 gift certificate to Wendys celebrating my love of the all American hamburger. You just have to agree to pay it forward by doing something similar on your own blog--a homemade crafty offering, a $5 gift certificate somewhere, or a $5 donation to a charitable organization--or basically any offering in the $5 range. I don't want this to be an expensive experience for anyone. Sound good?

Enjoy your Friday!

9 Things Our Courtship and marriage

Several people have been tagged for this post and I thought I would say just one comment after reading several of people's "How I met my husband" story. It appears as if there were not singles wards, most of us would still be single. Thank goodness for the inspiration of Singles Wards.

Where did you meet your husband?

I met Dentist husband at the CU student ward in Boulder, CO. I was home for the summer from BYU (between my 3rd and 4th years) and he was finishing up his first year of Dental School.

What was the first thing you said to your husband?

He was in the bishopric and called me on the phone to give me a calling. Yes, the phone--very against protocol when it comes to extending a calling in a ward but he had just left bishopric meeting at about 10:00pm that night and was given strict instructions to call me to the position (Family Home Evening leader) before church the next day. He knew a girl (me) he had never met before would not agree to meet him at the Institute at 10:30pm on a Saturday night. So he just called me and extended the call over the phone. I said yes and that was it.

Where was the first kiss?

On the front porch of my parent's house at about 4:00 am (the newspaper boy had just delivered the paper :) at the end of our first date!

First date?

More like job interview! I was 23 and he was 24 and we both had been through enough first dates that we didn't want to waste time dating each other if either one of us didn't meet some basic criteria. The first part of dinner there were sentences like, "I moving back to Utah when I graduate from dental school. If you don't like Utah, we should probably end this date now." And, "I don't want to work after I have kids. It is nonnegotiable." We ate at the Olive Garden and saw the movie Mission Impossible then drove around for hours talking and then like I mentioned above had a GREAT first kiss at the end.

Did you have a long or short courtship/engagement?

We dated 10 months and were engaged for 9 months. We both wanted a long engagement and it was a super fun time.

How did he propose? Dental students are very poor and we did a lot of creative inexpensive dates. One of our favorites was what we called Night Kiting, where we would put a glow stick on a kite and fly it at night. We went night kiting and during the date he got down on one knee and proposed.
Where did you get married? Salt Lake Temple--on a cold day in December.

How did the reception go? Great. I wanted the reception the night before we got married so our wedding day memories were about the sealing and not all of the festivities. We had it at the Old Meeting House in Salt Lake City. A week later, after our honeymoon, we had another reception at my house in Boulder, CO.

Honeymoon? We spent part of it in a cabin my father-in-law owns and another part in a Bed and Breakfast in Estes Park, CO.

OK, if you are reading this, you are tagged. If you don't blog, put your answers in the comment section.

Holes in my ceiling

About two weeks ago, we discovered the wood floor in front of our stairs was starting to warp. We didn't know why and we tried in vain to figure out what was the problem. It wasn't that bad and we finally concluded that it was probably the air conditioning line underneath the floor condensing and creating the problem. (It has been a miserably hot summer and the air has been running almost non-stop.) Well, on Sunday, the wall above the wood floor CRACKED! CRACKED! We then discovered bubbling paint all around it. So, Monday morning, I called a plumber to come in and figure out what was going on. So, yesterday afternoon, he came and did this in my front room:

This is about one foot by one foot square and completely dry. An unnecessary hole.

Then, they did this:

A three foot long by one foot wide hole above my stairs. It turns out my washing machine--when running on warm or hot, leaks--not much maybe about 4 Tablespoons--runs into the grout and down the wall, and into my wood floor below. Since I do at least 2 loads a day, it added up and created the current problem. If we had had our washer in a tray none of this would have happened. So, for $130 I now know the problem but am left with a washing machine that still leaks, and two holes in my ceiling.

We are waiting a week to let everything dry out and then calling in dry wallers to fix the holes. On the bright side, we were planning on painting the ceilings anyway, so this might force us to do it sooner than later. Oh and in some crazy cosmic turn of events, we do have a spare washing machine in the basement.

What Would My Mom Do?

My parents have been here for the last week. They came out for Toothsome #1's baptism and stayed longer than normal so Dentist husband could do some dental work for my dad. My mother is one of those ultra housekeepers. The kind that can't go to bed unless the house is spotlessly clean--even if it is not her own house.

I, on the other hand, am relatively good at most things mother/wife related but house cleaning is not one of my "grand talents." I have no problem going to bed with a messy house. It is no big deal for me to eat dinner, curl up on the sofa with dentist husband to take a nap and do the dishes later. Not so with my mother. She is constantly on the move picking up, wiping down, and disinfecting. She emptied my garage of every item and swept the floor clean. She attacked my kitchen sink and got it cleaner than when we purchased (brand new) the house. My walls have no finger prints on them. Dust has disappeared. It is quite the wonder.

So, I have decided to step up my game and become a better housekeeper like my mother. If a 68 year old woman can attack my house with vengeance (all the while telling me to go take a nap) and I, as a 34 year old woman should be able to do it as well. So, in the 14 or so hours since my parents have left, I find myself standing in the rooms in my house and thinking, "What would my mother do?" I have to maintain what she left me and hopefully, keep up. Wish me luck.

Crazy Boulder

I am from a small town in Colorado called Boulder. Anyone who is from Boulder has a crazy almost obsessive love for it. We leave Boulder and pine to go back there. We miss the high altitude, the beautiful Flatirons, the warm days and cool nights. We cheer for CU football regardless of where we actually went to college. We love the quirkiness of the people.

Recently, while visiting my parent's there, I read this article in The Boulder Magazine. It is so hilariously (even though this author is very serious about what she is writing about) Boulder that I had to add it to my blog. I think I need to go and get a cleansing enema myself to rid myself of bad habits. Enjoy!

Migraine Attack

Last night I was hit with a migraine. About 5 years ago, I was diagnosed as a "migrainer" or someone with chronic migraines. It was actually a welcome diagnosis after about a year of going to doctors to figure out why my eyes were doing weird things, etc.

Anyway, here is the cycle of my migraines. I can feel one coming on, so I immediately take medicine. This really doesn't do anything but it makes me feel like I am doing something. I then wait for 12 hours in severe pain for it to subside. Nothing helps. If I can sleep, and I do wake up before the 12 hour period, the headache is just as bad. However, sleep rarely happens. To pass the time, I go into the kids bathroom, (it has no windows, so the light of the moon and stars doesn't make it worse--light sensitivity is a major problem for me), turn on the shower and sit in there, hoping the beating water relieves me just a little bit. It might but in all honesty, I am just in a lot of pain. Once the 12 hours is up, I have another 12 hours of "shakiness" but at least I can function and take care of my kids etc. It is a pain and fortunately, I only get the severe headache part about 4-5 times a year. I have other symptoms--blurred vision, tingling fingers, not being able to think clearly, more often but without the severe headache.

So, this morning, I am dealing with the "shakiness". I have ton to do. Oh well. I will just do it but a little slower than planned. BTW: Alberstons is having their great General Mills sale. I spent 35 dollars and saved over $45! And, all of the box tops go to my school.