I'm So Over it

I know I go back and forth on this, but it's real this time.  I'm over it.  Done.  Tired of running.  My race is Saturday, 13.1 miles and I haven't run since last week.  I've only done 10 miles once.  One day while stressing about getting my runs in and being frustrated, it dawned on me.  This means nothing.  It's a race.  Totally irrelevant to my actual life.  Of course it's fun to do well, but I'm not going to.  I never got there.  So I decided once and for all that I just don't care.  I'm going to do it, but I'm not letting it ruin 2 weeks of my life worrying about it.  It's just a race!!  So I will do it, and do the best I can.  Then I will just be happy.  Whatever the time is.  THEN, I can run when I feel like it, not because I have to.  Having a race is great motivation, but sometimes.... you just need to stop.  That's where I am.  Running is a chore right now and chores aren't usually enjoyable.  I want to love it again.  So I welcome the break, plan on doing other activities to stay active and run when I want to.  So as for the race, whatever.  Whew!  That feels good♥

The Cabin - Adults Only

This weekend we spent a few days at "the Cabin".  We kinda like to think of it as ours.  It belongs to a family who lives by us and we rent it from them when we want to go up.  We love it.  It had been awhile since we had done an adult getaway so us and 4 other couples all went for the weekend.  The Bryants, the Johnsons, The Rapiers and the Kettrings all joined us.

A few of us went on  Thursday night and got there right when it was snowing.  We were in a little car that we weren't sure would make it down the steep driveway so we had to walk all our stuff down in the snow to the cabin.  It's not a short distance.  The cabin was freezing!  We finally figured out how to get the heater on, but it was just really cold.  We had stopped for dinner at a Mexican food place on the way so it was kinda late when we actually got to the cabin.  This is when we got the stupid call about Nick's little stunt.  I won't say anymore about that other than it kinda put a damper on our carefree weekend and too many conversations revolved around that.  Sorry friends!  Anyway, when I woke up in the morning, it looked like this out my window. I'm sure I've posted a similar picture once before, but it's just so beautiful!!  I was laying in bed when I took this.  Now, it warmed up and by the time we left, there was only a little bit of snow left.

Over the next few days, we played a lot of games, ate a lot of crap, and giggled like crazy!  Saturday morning we went in to town for breakfast and then went to some antique stores. ( I know, we've officially entered OLD)  But I got some really cute frames and there was a set of corner shelves I really wanted!!  Alicen did walk away with a beautiful armoir/hutch though.  So pretty.  We spent the rest of the day at the cabin playing games and packing up.  We left just in time to stop in Payson, have dinner and then head home.  I could go into so much detail about all the things we did and said, but it's only funny and meaningful if you were there. We came home with a bazillion phrases and inside jokes.  I love that we could be laughing and playing one minute and then having serious conversations the next.  I seriously have the greatest friends!

Glade and myself at the Mexican place

Just for fun: 

quiche or Keishe

Ladle for the the Keishe

extispicy

Jelly Bellies

Sexy Llamas after Dark

Jake's fake cruise

snurdyboss

It's all Business - get it in, get it out

chocolate muffins

crossfit by the fire

Being old

the Great Barbie Masacre

Sunday dinner is always a little crazy at our house, but this week was a little crazier.  I believe we had 26 children here altogether.  Mostly they are pretty good, play outside, get a little noisy.. the usual.  But this Sunday the ornery bug bit the normally sweet boy cousins.  As they were playing in Bo and Katy's room, one boy accidentally pulled the legs on the Barbie too hard and they  both came off.  Being boys, they thought that was pretty funny.  So a few of them picked up a Barbie and did the same.  In the end, 6 Barbies became paraplegics   I'm sure this event took less than 2 minutes and there was probably some serious regret when they thought 2 seconds about what they had just done.

Katy, of course, was devastated.  She cried.  Hard.  She really does like to play with her Barbies.  We don't know exactly who or what took place in that two minutes other than her Barbies look like that and the boys were not giggling anymore.  One of the cousins gave her a hug and apologized before he left promising a new Barbie.  Another called her later once his mom realized what had all happened and also tearfully apologized and told her he loved her.  Both Bo and Rhett (who didn't actually break anything) offered to put money in to buy her new dolls.  She was definitely feeling the love.

As stinky as this situation was, there were a lot of lessons learned and sweet experiences to be had.  I'm so proud of Katy for being immediately forgiving.  She definitely cried, but was quick to tell her cousins it was OK and that she loved them.  The cousins got to see first hand the hurt she felt when they had broken her dolls and feel that sorrow and then show their love for her in the end. I'm sure the promise of getting new dolls helps with her mourning.  I will be surprised if this experience is forgotten very quickly. The next day I bought her a Barbie while I was at the store.  When I gave it to her, she barely looked at it, but jumped up on the chair, threw her arms around my neck and said "I love you Mama!"   We are part of an awesome family where brother and sister love each other, parents love their children and cousins love their cousins.  I'm so grateful that we can have experiences like this where gossiping doesn't ensue and fingers aren't pointed.  Love and forgiveness prevail.  If only we could all be like the little children....

just keep swimming...

Crazy weekend.  Not sure how much detail I should go into, but I guess I'll just start and see how it goes.  Glade and I had scheduled a weekend away with several of our friends at the cabin.  We left Thursday afternoon and got there about 8 pm.  I called home to check on something and mom let me know that Nick needed to talk to Glade.  Weird.  After watching Glade silently listen for quite some time, which is extremely weird, I finally learn that Nick had a plane ticket to West Virginia and was leaving the next day.

I won't bore anyone with the ramblings of how ridiculous this is, or how hurtful to plan it all out while your parents are out of town.  His plan was to go live with a girl he had been talking to on FB that he knew a couple of years ago, but she had moved.  To West Virginia.  According to him, her parents were cool with him living there and he was already registered for HS.  He's quit his job and had an interview lined up out there.  He'd figured it all out.  My poor mother was left here to deal with all the absurdity.  She took him to buy a suitcase (wasn't taking mine) and helped him pack.  He didn't tell any of the other kids he was leaving so when his ride arrived, he just headed out the front door and left.  A couple hours later, he returned saying there was a little problem.  Apparently the girl hadn't quite cleared it with her parents and they weren't really prepared for him to come.  Maybe during spring break they said.  So mom helped him cancel his ticket and off he went to his friends house. There  he worked on plans for his friend to drive him to Illinois where he could try to look up his birth parents.

Needless to say, we weren't happy about anything that went on.  Upon our arrival home Saturday night, we found him in his jammies watching TV on the couch.  We told him to to go pack pack and come back down.  We talked with him for 30 min or so and decided at that point it was really just best he go.  He feels trapped, unhappy and unfulfilled here.  He doesn't know what he's looking for but he knows he won't find it here.  As the mother, I worry, but at the same time know that until he scratches this itch, we are just going to have problem after problem.  He doesn't want the same things we do.  We truly wished him well and encouraged him to keep in contact with us, let us know how things are going.  As well as made sure it was clear that when and if he ever decided life here wasn't so bad, and was willing to actually be part of the family, he was welcome back.  We gave him a few minutes to make some calls and offered a taxi if he couldn't reach anyone.

He called our Bishop (leader of our church) and asked him to come get him so they could talk. They were gone an hour or so then the 4 of us talked till midnight.  Of course, faced with a dark street and no where to go, our home wasn't looking so bad after all.  He was now sorry and saw the error of his ways.  I call bull crap.  He was scared.  He had no where to go and no one to help him. Now, sometimes fear can change people.  And there's always hope for change.  But I'm just not feeling it.  After talking for so long and hearing all the truths from us, our Bishop was fully supportive of us not letting him stay.  He has a property with just a garage on it where another man is living right now because no one will have him.  He poops in a bucket and bathes in cold water in a kiddie pool.  He was willing to take Nick there for the night if that's what we wanted.

Of course that thought is chilling, but at the same time, we just don't know what's best at this point.  We let him stay... for now.  No final decision has been made.  We had a very similar situation at Christmas and he didn't even last 2 months.  Why would I think this time will be any different.  We are just his comfortable place to be until he can figure out something else.  I wish this incident would have been a lesson in how truly not ready he is to be on his own, but he just doesn't see it.  I honestly don't know what the future holds, but for now we are just plugging along trying to figure it all out.

It snowed today

Today, February 20, 2013 it snowed here in the Phoenix area.  It has happened before in the higher parts of the city at the base of some of the mountains, but not really that I've experienced since I've lived here, down in the actual city.  Unfortunately we got zero where we live.  That's just how my weather life goes, but it was fun to see it every where else. Chelsey and Spencer even built a little snowman right outside their apartment. The Superstition Mountains often get a dusting of snow at the tops, but today they were covered.  It was still a cold and rainy day here (which I love and will totally take).  Every last cold day I treasure since we are heading straight into the "get hot fast" time of year for us.  

 Scottsdale, AZ

Superstition Mountains both above and below

More Stuff

The first thing Katy says to me every day when I pick her up is "what are we doing tonight?"  She hates to hear "nothing", but it makes it bearable if I say something like "but we're going to Costco today".  That was today.  While in Costco, she was shaking her hand all weird so I asked her why she was doing that.  She simply replied "because I can."  Then stated "and it's boring to not shake it".  Ok then.  How can you argue with that?  On the way home she was telling me how she was awake 3 times in the night and would just start singing some random song.  She says "I was like, this is such a weird night! And Bo was making that little squeak noise you make when you are sleeping, you know that one?  Anyway, it's really annoying but I need him so it's ok.  Cuz I get totally freaked out if there's no one there and there's nothing in my mind.  So it's a good thing there's Primary songs in there other wise I would be freaked out!"  Now this is mostly cute if you have ever watched Katy talk.  She makes really funny faces and uses her hands a lot.  I could chat with her all day, never a boring moment.

Last night, after Rhett spent the day watching the Walking Dead with Stephen, his friend and one of Rhett's friends, he came down crying holding a teddy bear saying he was too scared to go to sleep.  I knew this would happen.  I hate them watching that crap anyway, but Rhett is not tough about stuff like that.  We talked about it not being real and I asked if sleeping in the living room would be better.  He said no because even though he knows it's not real, IF it was though.. he'd be the first to go.  Oy.  He'd already prayed and turned a light on so now I don't have a lot of good advice for him.  I offered to let him sleep on the floor by my bed, as had Whitley already.  He spent some time putting a bunch of church music on the iPod to let that play while he tried to sleep as well.  We talked about the difference between dark and light and how once you let dark things like that in, you can't get rid of them.  Glade got home a little bit later and offered to give him  a blessing.

I don't know if this is too personal for a blog, but I wanted it written and this is my only journal so I'm going to do it anyway.  In the blessing, Rhett was told that he would remember this night for the rest of his life and that he has the gift of discernment.  That this experience would help in the future as he interviews people.  Pretty awesome if you ask me.  I love the priesthood.  He went back upstairs with the offer from Glade that he would sleep on the couch if Rhett wanted his side of the bed.  We didn't hear from him again.

Stephen quit his job.  He was supposed to find another first, but it didn't work that way.  He has hated it from the beginning, but it goes up and down.  This weekend he had had it so he gave his 2 weeks notice.  His boss seemed surprised and asked if he really hated it that much.  This, after she pulled him into the walk in to yell at him for not making new pans.  He told her she never taught him to do that and she said "well you should know!"  Then add in all the drop out pot heads that work there and you can imagine his distaste for the place.  She also makes him feel bad for asking for any time off.  He's worked every Fri and Sat since October.  When he gave her the dates for the regional choir concert and our 2 family trips, she yelled at him and said "all this time off is ridiculous".  Mind you, these dates spanned 3 months.  So, I hate that he didn't get a job first, but I like that he won't be there anymore.  Now back to the hunt...Yuck.

Good Stuff

Just a random post of a few things I wanted to get down.  First, Chelsey is starting to have a little baby bump.  She has lost a lot of weight since she got pregnant so her belly is all baby now. So cute.  It's still hard for my brain to wrap around a little.  I'M supposed to have baby bumps, that's what I do.  So it's strange to hear her have all the conversations I've been having for the last twenty years.  But she's doing well and they find out what it is in a couple of weeks.  Very exciting!

Not sure if I mentioned that Rhett turned 15 last week.  I can't even begin to comprehend that.  Although he proved it to me by quickly noting that he has armpit hair.  When I asked him if he wanted me to pluck all 3 of them out, he was quick to show me the proof.  Yep, he's got some hair in there.  I'm a proud mom.  He and I went to Panda Express on the night of his birthday.  I really enjoy Rhett most days, he's a cool kid.

Dalin went on his first camp out with the Deacons.  I haven't heard much about it, he's not a talker, but he had a great time and came back in one piece.  That's all that really matters to me!  Today he is forgoing the park with the family to go play airsoft with a bunch of kids in the ward.  I'm all for him having more friends!

On a spiritual note, I love when there's proof that our kids are learning.  For example, while laying in bed with Katy, somehow being blind came up and she said she wouldn't be blind cuz she would put mud on her eyes and go wash in the river.  I asked if she had learned that on  Sunday and she said "no, during scriptures!"  That was a long time ago, but she remembered.  Awesome.  While at Bo's parent/teacher conference, he showed me some of his writing samples and several of them mentioned Jesus or Heavenly Father.  He just writes it freely without concern about what his teacher might think.  I love it.  Then in Dalin's class, they had made models of their Biztown city.  His model included a Temple.  It's so rewarding to see them living what you teach them.  

Stephen and his friends stopped playing basketball one day to go help a friend work on his Eagle project.  They didn't have to and it wasn't fun work, but they did it because they love their friends.  I was able to send him away to an overnight trip with choir with complete confidence that he would make good choices and be the kind of kid we've asked him to be.  That's an awesome feeling.

So though some days seem eternal and completely unproductive, and plenty of days I growl under my breath (sometimes really loud), in the grand scheme of things it all seems to be going pretty well.

Saturday

Saturday was jam packed from start to finish.  I awoke with the ambition to get my last 10 mile run in before the half in 2 weeks.  I was really excited for my last big run.  Let's just say that excitement quickly diminished about mile 0.5.  I just didn't have it in me.  Lots of times it's hard getting started and then you work into it and it's fine, but not today.  Every part of me hurt, I was hot and was just plain defeated.  I was going to at least get 4 or 5 in but that didn't even happen. About 3.4 miles in, I ran into my good friends who were just finishing their 10 mile run so I jumped in their car and that was the end.  That day I decided I was done running.  I would do the half, but no more long runs before.  I just don't wanna.  Fast forward to Monday morning.  Glade asked if I was getting my 10 miler in today since I didn't Saturday.  I informed him of my decision to not run anymore.  He said "blah!" get your butt out there."  So I decided on a 5.5 miler, but that was it.  Well, the more I ran, the more I realized I was feeling really good.  In the end I ran 7.25 at 10:03 pace.  Really good!  Plus, I could have run more, I was feeling really good still.  So ok, I guess some days are just better than others.  I'm glad I went out.  Thanks babe!

Back to Saturday.  After running, I showered and went to the church to set up for the dance we were having that night.  That took about an hour and a half, the I went straight from the church to the theater to hopefully catch Whitley dance.  She had signed up for Queen Creek's got Talent.  Her and her friend Ethan Price were country dancing as their talent.  I got there with about 10 minutes to spare.  They were awesome!!  I had never seen her dance before so I was really impressed when he had her upside down and every direction spinning around doing tricks.  They made it to finals and won in their age group.  It's probably only fair to say there was only one other act in her age group, but she still won!!   As soon as they were done I jetted out of there. I stopped at the store for a few last minute things for the dance and got home just in time to lay down with Katy for 20 min to get her down for a nap.  The day before, she didn't get a nap because I had gone to a movie.  That night she snuggled by me and whimpered "I sure hope we get naps tomorrow".  I love that girl!  Once I got her to sleep, I decided to get up and add a song to my playlist for that night.

Ahh!! Someone had deleted my playlist and most of the songs I was using out of  iTunes.  Unfortunately, I was needing to leave to go watch Stephen in the regional choir.  So we rushed out, picked up Mom and drove to Tempe to see the show.  When we got to the window, I went to pull out the complimentary tickets Stephen got and they were no where.  Now we had to pay $10 to get in.  Stink.  They were great and it was actually enjoyable.  Other than I was a little in a zombie state because I woke up with severe allergies this day and had resigned to taking a Benadryl right before the concert.  After he sang, we drove home just in time to meet our friends for dinner before the dance and get Stephen to work.  Except I had an entire playlist to create so I did that instead of dinner.  Once I got enough put together to make it through the night, we zoomed over, grabbed a sandwich from Subway and made our way to the dance.

The dance was lots of fun other than no one wanting to dance.  A bunch of fuddy duds.  We played a couple of games: sew your line together with a spoon and a really long piece of yarn and then the we passed marshmallows from the bowl to husbands mouth to wife's mouth and back to bowl.  That was entertaining.  We did all the standard line dances including the Cupid Shuffle and a new one my friend  Tammy introduced me to.  The Jump Stamp.  I'm going to include the link cuz it was super fun.  If you want to watch, go HERE.   I give you pre warning, you will have this song in your head for awhile!  Anyway, I had a great time, sweaty and all.

The entire day was full and I tried to enjoy each part as it came, but didn't take a single picture!  I have got to get better at that.  Missing so much!  Valentine's is officially complete.

My day of 3's

I woke up exhausted this morning.  Whitley had friends over (loud friends) till after 11:30 last night.  I was already exhausted from my very long and emotional Valentine's day and just wanted to sleep.  Finally, it was quiet and I got to sleep just before midnight.  Then, Stephen came in our room getting laundry baskets about 4:45 am.  What??  Not a good start to my very busy day.

After the kids left for school I just wanted to crawl back into my  bed and go back to sleep. BUT, I had a lot of things that needed to get done today.  I hadn't done any paperwork the day before and I needed to run as well.  Bills needed to be paid and laundry needed to get done.  I must get moving!

By 11 am (time to get Katy), I had payed the bills, done 3 loads of laundry, did 30 pages of work, and run 3 miles.  I had exactly enough time to shower and get ready before I was due to get Jenny and head to the movies. Her kids had a half day so Katy stayed there while she and I went to see Safe Haven.  We were meeting my Mom and Chelsey there as well.  As we sat munching on our popcorn (lunch), I realized I was there with 3 of my favorite people!  What a lucky girl I am.  The movie was really good, but I was so tired and wanted to get home for a nap.

As we drove home, we passed Dalin's scout leader driving the other direction. That's curious I thought, he's in his scout shirt. Camp out!!  Crud, Dalin was supposed to be leaving for a camp out in exactly 5 min.  Thank goodness for canned chicken and potatoes.  I threw together a foil dinner and some other snacks while he packed a bag and we rushed him out the door.  Whew, that was great timing or I would have never remember and he would have been really sad.

I still had to get Jenny home, pick up Katy and go pick up Rhett at school which now I was 30 min late doing that.  Oh yah, Nick had called to let me know he was already at work.  I thought he worked at 4, but it was really 3 so I wasn't here to take him.  His manager had to come and get him.  Woops.

Once finally home, I promised the kids dinner if they would just give me 30 minutes to close my eyes.  Well they did, but only after 3 different children came in to ask me stuff.  Might as well get up at this point.  I fixed chicken tacos, cut some music for Whitley and tried to lay down with Katy who was also exhausted from having no nap today.  That didn't work so well so I decided to get up and Blog!  My eyes are stinging and quite blurry and I really just want to crawl back into my bed.  I think it's even legal by now!!  I wish I could say that tomorrow would be a day to rest and catch up but, no.  I have a 10 mile run, Stephen's regional choir concert and a Valentine's Dance I'm in charge of.  No rest for the weary!!

Valentine's Night

After a very short rest, I jumped up and put my Sunday clothes on to go to dinner and the temple with my good friends.  We were meeting at the restaurant at 4:30 so it's a little early, but we wanted to beat the rush and still make the temple.  Dinner was at Mimi's Cafe and we had a wonderful time.  We giggled and laughed and cried (from laughing), and had yummy dinner and dessert.  It was perfect.  Then we rushed off to make our ward Temple night session.

Unfortunately we spent too long at the restaurant and didn't make it for the 7 pm session.  Instead we did sealings.  I really enjoy sealings (doing proxy marriages for those who have passed).  It's a little like getting married all over again.  The best part came when we were done and allowed to go spend some time in the Celestial Room.  That's kind of the final room everyone ends up in after they are done doing whatever work they came to do.  It was mostly empty when we arrived, but soon it began to fill with people from a previous session.  What was so wonderful was watching a young boy ( missionary age) come in for the first time.  He is leaving on a mission and this was his first time in the temple.  As he came through, so did many of his family.  It was so beautiful!  Everyone dressed in white, hugging and smiling.  They just kept coming!  I watched from afar as more family, young and old, entered the room and hugged all their waiting family.  Tears flowed freely for many of them and soon, so did mine.  What a happy and truly joyous occasion.  I'm sure that's exactly how it will be when we die.  We'll enter the after life into waiting arms of those who love us and are waiting for our return.  I couldn't help but wish I was a part of that family in that moment.

Before we left, I had to go shake the hand of this future missionary and let him know what a blessing it was for me to witness his beautiful family sharing in all this love.  It truly filled my heart!  I couldn't have asked to a better ending to my Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day

I love love!!  Some Valentines Days I'm very into it and others I really don't care.  This one I was so busy I couldn't even think about whether or not Glade was doing a good job!  Actually, a few days before he bought me a new suit case.  A little one that matched his and wished me a happy Valentine's Day.  As lame as that may sound, I'm taking it as a promise to take me on a trip or two.♥  I always leave little boxes of chocolates for the kids on the table the night before so they get them when they wake up in the morning.  I had forgotten the night before so got out of bed at 4:50 to get those out.  That's a really early start to my day.

As I got around that morning, I realized I had forgotten a few details about the class parties I was in charge of.  So I was planning to leave early to stop by the store, but suddenly realized the party was half an hour earlier that I had set in my mind.  Yikes, now I was running late.  I made it out the door, to the store and back to the school just in time for the party to start.  The last party I went to in this class had about the same number of parents there as students.  I was assuming that would be the case at this party as well.  Nope.  Not a single parent showed up.  Well I kinda needed a little help so I texted Whitley and told her to get here ASAP. She was already planning on coming, just not that early.  The party went off without a hitch and I'm pretty sure they all had a great time.  We played Love Match (matching game with cartoon couples), had treats, passed out Valentine's, played Bingo, made Valentine's for their parents and ended with the Cupid Shuffle ( a line dance).  I was tired.

Whitley, Katy and I got lunch and I headed back to the school for party #2.  At least at this party I had a couple of Mom's to help.  But these were second graders.  A little more intimidating.  But all went well there too.  I did all the exact same things as I had done earlier.  The hit of both parties were the Jello Jigglers and the Cupid Shuffle.  For now I'm hanging up my party planner hat.  Dalin came home with a back pack soaked in Red Soda from his party.  I guess he didn't check the lid before he stuffed the 2L into his bag.  I grabbed all the kids and headed home for a quick 30 min shut eye before I had to leave for my Valentine's date.  Success!

Hate the Half Day

I've never loved a half day.  It messes with everything!  The worst is when half day kindergarten is half day.  It's actually only one and a half hours.  What a waste.  This particular half day, Dalin woke up with a fever so he was staying home and Bo had a field trip I wasn't willing to pay for so he was home as well.  So I tried to convince Katy to stay home and we would do something fun.  She was up, dressed and mostly ready for school when she finally decided she was going to stay home after all.  Whew.  I got the rest of the kids out the door just in time for the bus and started morning clean up.  Suddenly she starts to cry and say she just wants to go to school. Really???

So the bus should be pulling up in about 3 minutes.  I frantically try to get her back in her school clothes, grab a jacket and rush her out to the door yelling "run!"  Bo had been watching and the bus hadn't come yet. As she raced down the road I noticed her crazy hair.  We never quite made it that far.  Oh well, we all have bad hair days, right?

As I'm waiting for her to get out of class an hour and a half later, I retell our silly story to the receptionist and she mentions to me that today was class pictures.  Oy.  So, she will now have crazy hair photographic proof of her dedication to her schooling.  And I win mother of the year.

The next day was also a half day, she asked to stay home when she got out of bed.  I quickly responded with "no!".

Decisions Decisions

I switched my kids schools this last year and it hasn't been the best experience for us.  I knew it was right for Rhett, but not so much for the others.  The whole problem was that my kids school only went through 8th grade.  I wasn't happy with my choices for HS for Rhett so this school was perfect.  And it has been, for him.  I have really struggled with the elementary school though.  There's too many hoops and it's very expensive.  Well our old school just announced it's opening a HS in the fall. I was elated!  Their reveal meeting was this week and I was there nice and early to get all the details.  The location is fine, the curriculum is good, it's a no brainer.. until... they announced the principal.

This is the only man I can think of that truly offended me and hurt my feelings.  How can I have him govern my kids??  Now it's not such a no brainer.  I know I need to forgive, that's my problem, but what will it be like if he continues to treat us the way he previously has?  It really bothers me.  Part of me can brush it off and say it's not that big of a deal, how often do you actually deal with the principal.  But then what happens when I do?  I have no respect for him.  My big boys said he had a foul mouth as the coach of their sports teams and he was so disrespectful to me.  Why can't everything just be simple?  So now I'm at the point of deciding whether or not to confront him.  To lay it out on the table how I feel about him, clear the air or just go along like nothing.  I'm sure he doesn't even remember our encounter and maybe he just was having a bad day.  I'm just not sure I can continue on without letting him know how I feel.

Then it got even more complicated when I had the opportunity to tell the principal of our current school (who is also a very good friend), why I wouldn't be returning next year.  He was very attentive to my concerns and even agreed with many.  The problem is that he is at the high school level and most of my complaints are with the elementary. Sooo, what if they hear me and what if others have the same complaints and they decide to adjust their policies.  Now what??  Too many choices.  I really just think it's best to go back to our old school but I hate that I'm not just totally clear about it.

Wishing it Away

This week is FULL for me!  I woke up yesterday with the thought "I just wish this week was over already."  How sad is that??  This week is Rhett's bday, Bunko, the Franklin meeting I have been waiting for, Valentine's Day (I'm in charge of two class parties), ward Temple night, and a Date Night Dance (that I'm also in charge of).  So many fun things to do, how could I wish it away?  So I decided I should just get my crap together so that all my ducks were in a row so I could just enjoy it.

I'm almost completely ready for both parties, the dance playlist is put together and I finally got my Bunko gift.  I think I'm finally ready to Enjoy!  Tonight I will finally know what's going on with Ben Franklin's new High School and go to a PJ Bunko party.  Thursday I get to go to two parties, a dinner with my honey and attend the temple with my friends.  Saturday I will be dancing to fun music and enjoying games and great people.  What a full and fun week it can be.  I was wishing it away??

CERT Team

Our area has decided to put together a disaster management team.  The City has asked our Church to head up that team.  Because we have such a high concentration and a reputation for "taking action", we have been asked to join one of the squads they are creating.  I am so excited to be part of such a program.  The likelihood of ever needing to employ us is pretty low, but just to be a part of it is really neat.

There are four squads:

Recon: this squad will be the ones to assess damage, do search and rescue and then debris cleanup

Medical: obviously will perform the medical tasks related to an emergency situation.  They will be training us to the level of an  EMT (for free).

Shelter: This squad will be responsible for setting up the churches or schools to become refuges for those who are displaced.  We will feed, house and comfort those in need.

Ham Radio: this team will become certified in Ham Radio operations and be the communication between all the different authorities and other squads.

Glade signed up for  Recon and I for shelter.  I feel my talents best lie in organizing and comforting.  I was really torn about being on the Medical instead.  My trauma about the car accident I came upon a year or so ago has haunted me continually.  Had I had medical training would I have been so useless?  And yet, if I had, would I still have panicked and been useless anyway.  That thought is torturous.  So to get the medical training seems essential for me so I never have to be in that situation again, but what if I still suck?  The beauty of this program is that we can attend ALL the training!  I don't have to be on the medical squad, but I can receive all the exact same training so that in life, I'll have that knowledge... just in case.

It really is cool to live in a city that desires to be prepared, even though our threats are minuscule.  Even more cool that they would rely upon our church. ♥

Katy is 6 ♥

Katy's birthday lasted for weeks!!  We had a joint birthday party for her, Dalin, Rhett and our friends Tanner  and Kimball at Amazing Jake's a little while ago.  It was great to do it all in one big swoop.  They each got to bring two friends with them and the whole place was practically empty except for us. We were there for 3 hours and still had to drag the kids out at 8:15.  I'm glad it was such a success.

Then came the day before her birthday.  Since her birthday was on a Friday, and we all had places to be, we had her family party on Thursday night.  We opened presents, had spaghetti for dinner and root beer floats as her "cake".  It was a fun night and we had lots of giggles and everyone got along great.  

Then came her actual birthday.  She drug me out of bed with the demand that it was time for her birthday spankings so hurry up!!  We all took a turn paddling her 6 times each.  Why they love this I'll never know.  Grandma Green always takes them out for a birthday lunch, but Katy was nice enough to let me, Chelsey and Whitley tag along as well.  Her choice for lunch was Red Robin.  Chelsey brought her a little gift with balloons and she got her birthday sundae at the end.  She wasn't too sure about them singing to her.  Brian Regan did a bit about that the other night and he was right on.  We all had a little internal laugh about that because of how Katy reacted when they sang to her.

After lunch we went to Toys R Us to spend her birthday money.  She bought a sparkly skirt, a wand and a microphone.  She saved a little money but had spent most of what she got before it was even her birthday.  I think there's nothing she could say except her birthday was Super Fantabulous!!

The pictures are all in a scrambly order, but whatever Ü

Brian Regan

For Christmas, we used Grandma and Grandpa Whitley's money to buy tickets for everyone to go see http://brianregan.com/. If you don't know his stuff, go to the link and there's a YouTube link at the bottom.   The kids were super excited.  He is a very funny comedian who keeps it totally clean, no language, no off color jokes, just fun.  Several of our friends were interested in going as well so we all bought tickets in the same section so we could be together.  Many brought their kids as well.  If I can remember everyone, we had the Garners, the Williams, the Cooks, the Turners, the Woolfs, the Bryants, the Rapiers and the Johnsons.  As well as my whole family, including my mom. We went with the Woolfs for pizza before hand and met everyone else at the theater.

He was hilarious.  His opening act was really good too, can't remember his name though.  But we all had a great time.  Well, Rhett and Brooklyn got a little sleepy so they weren't into it as much as some of the rest of us.  At one point Chelsey leaned forward and asked if I was Ok, then Leslie handed me a tissue.  Sometimes something will strike you and it's just really funny!  The motorcycle bit, that one got me.  I hope it's these activities and events that my kids will remember as some of their favorite times with their family.  Merry Christmas to us!!

I had no idea

Today showed me that my prayers were being answered and I had NO idea!!  In my prayers is always the request that we will know how to teach our children and that they will desire to follow after the Savior.  This seems kinda like a long term request since you won't know how they turn out for awhile.  Today we went into Mesa to attend Amy's (SIL) babies blessings. Their's started an hour after our normal church does, so we had a little bit of a dilemma before us.  We could just stay the whole three hours of their church, but our friend Mike was being ordained a priest and we really wanted to be there to support him.  That would happen at 11 and Amy's church wouldn't end till 12.  We could stay just for sacrament meeting and then head home and get there just in time, that would have worked as well.

We were discussing it on the way there to decide what the best choice was.  All the kids piped up and very clearly stated that they wanted to make it back in time for the last hour of our church.  In order to do that, we could only stay for part of sacrament at Amy's.  Now, to simplify... an extra half hour at Amy's and then no more church the rest of the day.  OR, drive back early and spend an hour at our ward in their classes.  They all chose to go to the hour of classes.  Not just an "I guess" sort of situation, they WANTED to go to their classes.  I was so proud of all of them for wanting to be at church.  I keep praying that they will want to follow after the savior and yet they are doing it right now!  I was grateful to have this small moment of appreciation for their good hearts.

The days are long when you have early church, so we filled some time doing scout stuff and got blue cards turned in and phone calls made.  It's a lot of effort to keep these boys moving forward, uggg.  Then we all settled in and watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donnie Osmond.  I forgot how fun that is.  Dalin actually needed to review a play for his Theater merit badge so it worked out great.

Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner.  It was supposed to be tomorrow, but that wasn't working out and whoever had them today couldn't, so it was perfect.  We love having them in our home and the spirit they bring.  Our kids always have so much fun with them and we love to hear about who they are and what things they do.  Tonight was also the Super Bowl, but we wait and celebrate and watch it on Monday as to keep the Sabbath day holy.  Because they knew it wouldn't be a good night for tracting, we got to keep them a little extra longer.  Lucky us. Ü  One of them has only been out a week, so he was fresh and green.  He hasn't even had a churro before!  I told him I'd be by tomorrow.

I love when Sundays are just good.  They all aren't, it can be long and contentious, but some are just the way they're supposed to be.   A day of rest, of worship, a day of love and family.