Another Year, Another Car, Another Pity Party

Dalin got really lucky that he managed to squeeze in 4 years of pinewood derby.  This year his car was really cool looking.  Somehow I didn't end up with a picture of it by itself.  Anyway, all our derby's start out like this..  smiling, excited, happy Dalin.

Then there's about 4 or 5 of these.. super close races.. some good, some not. 

This year Dalin's car got slower each time it raced.  But he was holding it together pretty well.  I think getting to press the button helped alleviate the sorrow of not being the winner a little.

But in the end, this is how Dalin looks every year when it's over.  I wish I hadn't removed all my old pictures from my computer.  I could have pulled up three other pictures that look just like this one.  I took him outside to try and comfort him.  This is our typical conversation.

Me: Dalin, it's Ok. Did you have fun?  That's what it's about, having fun.
Dalin: *sniff* yeah
Me: You don't look like a kid having fun.  Dalin, how many winners are there?
Dalin: one
Me: How many losers?
Dalin: everyone else
Me: It's really no big deal, you're car was awesome! 
Dalin: *sniff* *sulk* *sniff*
Me: So quit thinking about it and go see what they brought for treats.
Dalin: ok

I'm a really bad loser, but Dalin really takes the cake.  No, it wasn't cake... I think they served popcorn.  Ü

I found Gold!

Ok, so it's not exactly gold.  BUT, for me... just as exciting!  If you know me at all, you know that a huge reason I love going to the movies is for the popcorn. I don't ever eat popcorn at home, just the movies.  There's something different, delectable.. about movie popcorn.  I'm positive it has something to do with the butter that I drizzle over it generously.  A movie can pretty much suck and as long as I have some buttered popcorn and a Diet Coke... eh...whatever!

I have been diligently following my WW program and let me just tell you... buttered popcorn is not part of that!  So when I knew I was taking Dalin to the movies for his birthday, I had quite the dilemma.  I intended to take a bowl of cut up fruit to munch on, but the morning got away from me.  Then I just decided to eat popcorn with no butter, not that bad for the diet.  However, I really hate eating things that taste like cardboard (unbuttered popcorn).  I figured if I loaded it with salt it would be fine. As I was looking for the packs of salt, I noticed one of the boys couldn't figure out how to open the seasoning bottle, so I offered my help. 

My kids put some crazy amount of seasoning on their popcorn every time we go.  Bugs me.  Popcorn is meant to be straight up with butter.  So as I'm trying to figure out the bottle, I notice the words on the bottle.  Caramel Flavor.  Hmmm, I wonder how that would be?  Then I decided to actually check out the rest of the bottles and that's when I saw it.  KETTLE CORN.  ohhhhhhh!  I love Kettle corn!!  So I checked the nutrition label and for half a tsp, five calories.  FIVE!  So I sprinkled lightly not wanting to be a glutton and headed for the movie.  Pure bliss.  It was so yummy.  I can now go to the movies and not be tortured by the thought of unbuttered popcorn.  Better late than never!

Why Does Being Older Make You Cry?

I swear the older I get the more I get emotional about silly and small things.  What happens, is it actually a physical condition that occurs in your tear ducts.. kinda like your bladder... just loss of control?? 

Thursday was our ward Temple night so we went with our good friends and did sealings.  In our church, we believe that families are forever, but only if sealed by the proper priesthood authority.  So in the Temple, we do those ordinances for those who have passed, but didn't have the opportunity to do them while on the earth.  So, by proxy.  The eight of us were in a room with a "sealer", a man with priesthood authority, and were performing marriages and sealing of children to their parents.  If that sounds weird, it's not.  It's beautiful and such an honor to get to be a part of. 

As I watched my friends kneel at an alter and go through the marriage ceremony for a couple who has passed, it was a little like getting to see all my friends get married.  I loved it.  Then when I was acting for a daughter, being sealed to her parents, I imagined how happy this girl was right now.. finally having this blessing.  Then I looked at my two friends acting as the parents and realized how much I loved them and they weren't even my family.  That was the end for me.  When my turn was over, I went back to sit by Glade and the tears began to fall.

I tried to make it stop, but it just wouldn't.  Like a waterfall.  I got sweet smiles of "awww" from those that noticed and a gentle squeeze of the hand from my husband.  I finally thought I had it mastered and we were called up again to act as the husband and wife.  During the ceremony it started all over again.  When he was  done, the sealer says to me "are ya ok?  Do you need to take a minute?"  My friends explained that my daughter was getting married in 2 months and that's why I was so emotional.  Is that what they thought?  I shoulda just went with it.  Instead, I choked out "it's not that, I just love you guys so much!"  Once I was able to express myself a little, the tears slowed down a bit.  I just had to not look around this beautiful room filled with beautiful people and think about how truly blessed I am.  That was hard.

I have a goal to go to the temple twice a month, but if I'm gonna cry every time I go I may have to reconsider! I'm kidding.  There's nothing like being in the house of the Lord.  Except being in the House of the Lord with the people you love.  I can't wait to take Chelsey there.

I'll take Mundane

So much for boring and mundane.  This week has been really quite busy.  Bo came down with a fever last Sunday night and has been sick ever since.  Wednesday he got really congested and started saying his ear hurt.  Thursday night his ear drum burst while we were gone.  I realized it Friday morning when there was a little blood crusted in his ear.  I figured that was a good thing and now it would heal.  Friday morning he was happier than he'd been all week.  By Friday night the fever was back and I had to wake him from his 6 hour nap.  A friend came over so he and Glade could give him a blessing and then I took him to urgent care.

We got back from urgent care at 10:30pm.  The doctor wasn't very happy that I had given him "left over" antibiotics in hopes to not have to end up in urgent care.  He really wasn't very nice.  So after charging me $150 (the cash discount), he gave me a $100 prescription.  Really?  After I just told you we didn't have insurance and the whole reason we used our antibiotics sparingly was because we couldn't afford to take our kids to the Dr. every time they had a little sniffle?  I chose not to buy the antibiotics and see what else I could figure out.  Now I spent $150 and had nothing but a confirmation that "yes, it burst."  Fantastic.

The next morning I had Dalin's birthday party first thing.  While they were in the movie, I called a few pharmacies to see if they had it cheaper.  Good ol' Wal Mart.  So I took it there and came to find out that what they quoted me was wrong and that their price was $96.  BUT, she said she thought they could apply some discount, but wasn't sure how much it would affect it.  At this point, I just wanted the meds for my boy, so whatever the discount was would be fine with me.  After punching in some numbers she said "with the discount, it will be $42."  Hmmmmm, really?  Wow.  That's more than 50%.  THEN WHY THE HECK WERE YOU CHARGING ME $96????  I really hate this whole system called "medicine". 

So now Bo has completed 24 hours of meds and hopefully will start feeling better soon. Still had a fever this morning.  However, Katy came down with a fever on Friday afternoon so who knows how long it will hang on with her.  This morning she said she felt fine, but she was freezing.  I took one look at her rosie cheeks and headed for the medicine cabinet.  Too fun.

Day to Day

It's been hard blogging on a day to day basis for quite a while now.  Seems like all my days are mostly the same.  If I'm sitting on the computer, I'm doing paperwork for Glade.  A girl's gotta earn her keep!  When I have free time to blog, the thought of trying to catch up is daunting.  I still have 2 Christmas posts to go!!  So I tell myself it's not big deal because I have nothing good to tell anyway.  But in a nutshell, here are some of the things that HAVE happened:

- I've stayed on my Weight Watchers plan officially for 10 days now and am down almost 6 lbs.  I posted last year that I was so ready to lose the weight and get back on track... then I gained 15 lbs.  Obviously I wasn't ready.  So I was a little nervous to commit to it this year knowing how bad I failed last time.  So far so good and it feels really good!

- Rhett has been doing cross country again.  For some reason he just isn't in to it so much this year.  It seems like everyone else has improved but Rhett.  He doesn't even seem to care.  It's not quite as exciting as it was last year.  He is running the Ragnar with us and has been training a little for that.  He seems to be a better distance runner than speedy.

-Dalin is turning 11 tomorrow.  The best thing about that is NO MORE cub scouts.  That's awful, but I'm ready for a little break.  We just had pinewood derby, I'll post that separately. 

-Whitley, Stephen and Rhett are auditioning for Krew, a performance group, this weekend.  It's at the same theater, but it's not just one play.  I always get nervous and excited for them.  I wish they had stuff like that when I was young.  Well, they probably did, I just didn't know it.

-I've had several people offer to help decorate for the wedding.  That's been a huge relief.  The rest I can pretty much handle, but that was stressing me out.  I'm so grateful for people who are willing to help and not just trying to empty my pocketbook.

-Bo has been sick for 5 days now.  Mostly just a fever, a little sore throat and today an ear ache.  I started him on antibiotics so hopefully that will start to help.  Sucks to watch your kids be sick and not be able to really help.  He started piano lessons last week and loves it!  His teacher is just the best and I'm sure she will keep him focused and interested.

-Whitley is heading to Thatcher to check out Eastern Az University tonight.  She and a friend are going just overnight and will be home the next day.  She is determined to go there.  I'm not sure how she's going to make it all work, but her mind is made up. 


All pretty mundane, but that's what we have right now!  I guess I can be grateful that nothing too exciting is going on making my life complicated.  Now if I could just get the laundry to do itself....

The Good Stuff

Best quote of the...well...I can't put a time on it.  We were sitting around laughing and having a fun time with several of our kids when a couple more arrived from a church meeting they had just been to.  Whitley came over and sat right next to me and snuggled in.  She had meetings of some sort pretty much the whole day so I hadn't even really seen her.  Stephen then "tattled" on her that on the way home she had said "I've been gone all day... I just wanna go home and see Mom."  At that, her eyes welled up.  We were all still laughing, but then there were the tear filled eyes.  Then it was my turn, now my eyes are welling up looking at her.  Uh oh... now Chelsey has tears in hers as well.  The three of us with teary eyes and yet we're all still laughing.  We stayed huddled up together like that for about an hour, it was awesome.

We talked for almost two hours telling stories, remembering old times.... laughing till we cried.  I'm still in mourning about not having babies, but this having kids old enough to be friends with is pretty cool too. Ü

It's Official

This is what the hand of a really happy girl looks like.  Chelsey and Spencer have been dating since last September-ish and on Christmas day decided they wanted to make it forever.  At that point they were just talking about the possibilities, but by the weeks end, she had a date, a ring picked out, colors and even a dress.  Ok, maybe the dress was the next week.  It took him a little bit to actually go get the ring and this last Saturday, January 7, he proposed.  Unfortunately she's a little pushy so he had promised to do it by the end of the week so since it was Saturday, there wasn't much of a surprise.  Being who she is, she didn't really mind, she just wanted the ring!  Now it's official and she can tell everyone.  The date is April 20.  He's a really nice boy and we really like him.  It took me just a little while to feel really good about it, but now I do and it's all good! Ü  We're going to be quite busy around here for the next while!

Chelsey and Spencer Hon

Student of the Month - Rhett

I love this boy!  I've really enjoyed who he is becoming and the experiences we've had together.  Unfortunately I wasn't aware he was getting this award.  He says he wasn't aware either until they called his name at the morning ceremony.  He also said all the nice things they said about him probably weren't true.  I suggested maybe those nice things come so natural to him that they aren't things he realizes he is doing.  I know he's a good kid and all those good things are true.  Good job Rhett!!

Ski Trip

We celebrated our 21st anniversary last week.  Glade surprised me with a weekend ski trip on Christmas.  I loved that I got to go on a little mini vacation without doing any of the work!  We left the morning of our actual anniversary, but we stayed in town running a few errands.  One of them was to the jewelry place that Glade got my pearls for me for Christmas.  He had gotten me a beautiful necklace, bracelet and earrings.  However, I was not in love with the periodic black pearl along the strands.  So we exchanged them for another set.  So pretty! 

That night we went out to dinner at a fancy (small town) Italian restaurant where I got to have delicious butternut squash ravioli.  Oh so yummy!  The next morning we loaded our ski equipment and headed to the mountain.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it's a little like riding a bike.  You don't really forget how.  The weather was beautiful, and there weren't very many people there.  Exactly how I like it.  I managed to stay off my rear the whole day until Glade made me go down this seriously steep and skinny hill.  I tried to just edge my way down sideways but it didn't last... down I went!  I slid down on my side almost the rest of the way down the steep part.  By then my thighs were cramping so bad from inching down sideways, that I was having trouble controlling my skiis.  I only lasted another couple trips down before I called it a day.  Now, it had been 5 hours!

We left there and went home for a little snooze. I was in much need of some time off my legs!  We ate the leftovers of the  night before for dinner and then went to see a movie.  We saw We Bought a Zoo.  I really liked it, but Glade.. not so much.  After, we went for dessert.  That was what I had been waiting for!  I couldn't decide between the chocolate cake and the carrot cake.  I decided I would get both and have one for breakfast the next day.  Then, the lady informs me they don't even serve carrot cake.  What??  But there's a picture right here of a succulent piece of cake on your menu!!  Rude.  So I got the chocolate and Glade got some cheese fries.  Not a good combination of food to eat at 9:30 at night!

The next morning we went to breakfast with John and Tracie and their kids.  What a coinky dink to be up there the same weekend!  I was still not done digesting my chocolate cheesy fries from the night before so I ordered oatmeal with a pancake on the side.  They were huge!!  Oh my.... so suffice it to say I had blueberry pancake for lunch as well. 

All in all it was a really fun trip and I'm so glad he thought of it and made all the arrangements.  So grateful to Chelsey and my mom for taking care of all the little ones and getting everyone where they needed to be.  Happy Anniversary to us!!

Ropin'

Nick has spent a little time roping with our friend. He loves doing it and seems to be pretty good at it. He has gone to one little rodeo with Colter, but that's about it. Still working on the motivation to get him up and out. Ü

He Hears

Why didn't I think of it sooner?  Without going into detail at this time, I have had some reservations about some things coming up and I haven't been able to feel good about it.  I wanted to, it just wasn't there.  Because it's not something that's my decision, it's hard to watch it happening and not feel good about it.  I decided to go to the Temple and try to find my peace.  I went by myself and at a less busy time so I wasn't rushed. 

I sat through the entire session feeling...I dont' know... I felt anxiety?  It's weird, it could have been a good feeling or a bad one, I couldn't determine.  That's really frustrating!  During the prayer at the end, I was over come with exactly what I was looking for.  This man's simple prayer, gave me everything I needed to feel peace.  So much so that I cried.  I don't think I've ever cried in the temple before, but today I did.  A good cry.  Then I couldn't stop... lol.  Now I can move ahead without feeling unsure. 

The very best part of this whole experience is not finding the answer I was looking for, but that He loves me enough to hear me.  He cares enough to make sure I have what I need.  The peace I feel about the situation is very important to me, but more than that is the love I feel from a Heavenly Father who cares. Today I'm grateful.

There Was a Moon in the Chapel

No, it wasn't a beautiful moon like this one.  It was mine.  Yes, my big ol' booty right there in front of a chapel full of people.  I don't know how many people saw it, I know at least my husband and the girl behind me did.  See, we have an elderly woman who likes to sit in our bench with us.  She had just arrived, so I started to stand up to scoot over to make room for her.....that's when it happened. 

Apparently, Bo was sitting on the edge of my skirt.  So.... when I abruptly stood up to  move over, my skirt did not move with me.  I felt it and was on my way back down, but the damage was done.  All Glade could say was, Wow!  Luckily the girl behind me was a good friend but I'm sure there are many more who will be sharing this story with their family around the Sunday dinner table tonight.  No, I don't want to know who you are.  I prefer to keep my humiliation on an "anonymous" basis.  What's a girl to do?