5 years!

Today marks five years since I married this amazing man.  I am humbled by the way my life has turned out so wonderfully.  He treats me as if I was the most amazing woman on the planet.  He selflessly looks out for my every need.  He ALWAYS puts me first.  I feel so loved and taken care of.  I am blessed beyond measure.  God has really taken care of me and all of those tears of sorrow have truly turned into tears of joy.

Five years have been very busy.  We have had three pregnancies, one a miscarriage, and thus two wonderful children.  We bought a new home.  He changed jobs.  Our original four children have sure grown up.  He makes me laugh every day and he finds joy in my quirks and silliness.  We have a great life.

This weekend I planned a fun anniversary getaway to surprise him.  It turned out wonderfully.

First, my dear sister took J, V, and Little C overnight last night.  Then, I drove and he didn't know where we were going.  I turned north and we drove to Oklahoma.  :)  We stopped and ate dinner.  Then, we headed to our hotel, checked in, and hurriedly changed our clothes.  We then left and went to the temple to do some sealings.  What a great experience!  We had a few family names that we had the joy of performing.  I love the temple.

We then got to go back to the hotel and play a few games and head to bed and sleep without any children waking us up!!!  Wowzee!

 This morning,  we ate the so-so hotel breakfast and then of we went to go to "zip line" over some falls and ravine.  It was a little more of an amusement park ride experience then I expected, but the zip line was awesome and the tandem seat was perfect for an anniversary!  We rode it three times!

 The owner of the zip line told us of a local barbecue place that was yummy so we tried it and, yes, it was delicious!!!  We had such great food and so much of it too!  I don't always like BBQ, but I did this time and I was glad we went.

Finally, we stopped by an outlet mall on the way home.  I have gone there many times since I moved to Texas.  It was always crowded and hard to find a place to park.  Definitely there were over 100 stores that operated there.  But, it has been 5-6 years since I last went.  They are down to three stores that are still open.  It was sad to see it so run down.

Everything today and yesterday was fun with CK.  I enjoy all the time we were able to spend together.  Happy Anniversary to us!!  I am so very happy!

And then there were (well, will be) three....

My heart is a little full this afternoon.  By this time tomorrow, we will be down from six kids to three kids, at least for a time.  I feel it.  My Mommy-Heart aches.  I am not cut out for my kids leaving the nest, of that, I am certain!  If a few days makes my heart ache......

Anyway, A left to go to her other home on Tuesday.  I am so grateful that she has another home where she is loved and where she loves being, but I do still miss her a lot.  In fact, every time I sleep (night or nap), I awaken thinking I need to go find A and do something together, but then I remember the time has come for her to go to her other home.

And, tomorrow K and C leave with XDH to go to Guatemala!!!!  WOO HOO!!!  It should be a great trip and I am so excited for them!  My heart is aching in another way, however.  From the time I was pregnant with K, I dreamed of taking my children to Guatemala, to see where they are from and to experience that land myself.  I even suggested to XDH that we plan to take them around the time they graduate from high school.   So, we tentatively planned that.  Then, we got divorced.  His family has decided to take the kids as a family when they are near graduation (I think this was an independent thought from my earlier one...just great minds think alike!).  This will be trip #2.  The older cousins went a few years ago.  In an odd way, I feel like Guatemala is my country too.  Not like the United States, but Guatemalans taught me Spanish (In fact, some native speakers when they hear me speak Spanish ask if I am Guatemalan because I guess I gained their accent when I learned Spanish from them!) and they also taught me to love their homeland.  My heart aches to be there and visit and learn.

But, I am super duper zuper excited for K and C!  They will have experiences in the next ten days that will last a lifetime.  They will make memories that will stay with them forever.  This is a personal trip as well as a tourist trip, so they will see extended family and they will also visit Tikal and Antigua and other touristy sites.  What an amazing thing to do at 17 and 15!  It will truly be incredible.  I am already excited for all the memories, pictures, and stories that they will return with!

I am also worry a little.  I hope for their safety and I will be praying for them probably hourly.  I feel they will be okay, but I am very grateful for their large group.  They should be just fine.

So, for the next ten days (after I drop off XDH, K, and C at the airport in the morning), J will be the oldest.  I think it will be great.  We will do fun things together.  We will work together.  We will love each other.  I am excited for my time with him.  He is such a great kid that I love.  We won't be in a foreign country, but we will enjoy our time together (and with CK, V, and Little C).  :)

Another Goodbye

Well, really two goodbyes.  I so hate goodbyes.  I have to remember the old quote, "The pain now is part of the happiness then."  Goodbyes would not be difficult if I didn't love people so much. 

In this case, it is my A.  She went back to her other home today, after being with us for almost three weeks.  Honestly, I thought that this goodbye would be easier (not easy, but easi-ER).  Nope.  I think it was even more difficult.  I am so grateful that I get to be one of her moms.  She is an amazing 12-year-old.  She is beautiful.  She is charismatic and makes friends everywhere she goes.  She is quick to think about others (for instance she was my literal shoulder to lean on when the heat made me unbalanced at the baseball game that we attended as a family).  She is obsessed with lip balm of all brands.  She loves to make movies, even product reviews (usually lip balm) and she does a great job.  And, I will miss her so very much!

And, I also had to say goodbye to one of my moms (my mother-in-law).  She was able to come visit us for a few days.  It was absolutely wonderful!  She is a woman that I admire and desire to work to become like her.  She is so loving and unselfish.  She keeps herself strong and healthy.  She loves being with her grandkids and supports them in every way she can.  I will miss her a lot.

We have been very busy the few days that Mom was here.  We crammed a lot into our visit and it was a great time! She was here Thursday - this morning.

Thursday:  We had a family party where we teamed up to fill a backpack for needy school children, visited Buccees, went to Cabellas, and finally ate dinner at Pie 5.

Friday:  We had family pictures together and went out to dinner at Mooyah's.

Saturday:  The three older children went to do baptisms at the temple.  CK and I and mom were able to go with them.

Sunday:  Church.  :)

Monday:  We went to Main Event.  It was soooooooooooo fun!  I expected the kids to have fun, but I was surprised with how much fun I had!  I discovered that I love laser tag!  We just all had a blast.

I love my life.  I have such a great life.  I hate these goodbyes, but I do have a great life.  I cannot complain.  Or, at least I shouldn't complain.  Sometimes I catch myself complaining, but I really shouldn't.  My health is relatively good, I have an awesome family, I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I have a home, I always have food to eat, I have a car to drive, I live in a free country (although the whole election thing really scares me), and I just have a wonderful life.

Speaking of a wonderful life, I have officially planned CK and I's anniversary date this weekend.  I think I have it perfectly planned and I am soooooooooooooo excited.  5 years and I am more in love with him still every day.  :)

It's about time!

So, a couple of days ago I was feeling a little down and a tad overwhelmed.  I remembered that earlier this year there was an article that was life-changing for me at the time and I remembered that I had blogged about it.  So, I went back and looked it up (from January) and, as I read, I could hear the real me in the posts.  I realized yet again that I need to keep up this blog.

So, today, I am "locked" out of my downstairs level.  Not really locked out, but I had the carpets cleaned today.  They look absolutely amazing and it was supposed to be a quick dry, 2-4 hours, but it has been five and they are still quite wet.  I don't want to tarnish the wonderful carpet, so I am choosing to keep the kids and I off of it until dry...so probably until tomorrow morning.  Luckily, we have a very big home (over 3500 sf), so being upstairs isn't a big deal.  The only thing missing is a kitchen.  All the kids' rooms and a bathroom are upstairs.  We also have a media room and a loft upstairs, so plenty of space to play.  It's all good.

A fun blessing with having the downstairs "closed" is that we all went out earlier.  We also picked up C from his band thing at the high school and then off we went to Cici's.  This is NOT my first choice of a place to eat, but all six kids like it or love it.  So, not one complained, which is an amazing feat in and of itself!  And, it was better than I remember it.  So, it was definitely a $35 win.  :)  It really seems that one of the children is frustrated with me or mad at me at every given moment.  So, this was a huge blessing and big win!

This is an incredibly busy week.  Most are, actually, but there are a few that aren't.  And, there are some that rack up the busy points.  This is one of those weeks.  I can make it through.  The interesting thing is that in Sacrament Meeting at church yesterday, I was inspired to reread the Mary and Martha account from the New Testament and remember to "choose that good part."  With this very busy week, I can easily be caught in the thick of thin things.  So, I am really working on letting the less-important things go while I focus on the most important things.  I hope I can do a good job!

I was thinking about all that I need to say to catch up on this blog.  Hmmmmm....no way to put months of dozens, no, hundreds, of activities on here!

But, it is good to be back, at least for a moment.  I am blessed.  I hope I never forget just how blessed I am....such as I brought diapers and wipes upstairs with me....stinky diaper, here I come!!!!