I have a good life

A time! :)

2012-01-22T21:28:00.001-06:00

So, I don't know exactly what is going on, but I am struggling with being able to type and arrange my pictures as I want. I wasn't able to get it as I wanted, but I will just type starting here (For some reason, I couldn't above).

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to go visit A. We are so blessed to see her every month. I am so grateful that we have sufficient for our needs, including taking care of our family. We got in early Saturday morning. We went straight to pick her up and go grocery shopping. She got to open a present from my parents for Christmas (see above). She loved it. We also went and watched a movie and we went swimming. We had a nice hotel suite and so we had plenty of space to play games and hang out together. A loves to pretend store and she loved pulling around the ottoman and selling us her wares.

Sunday, we went to church, hung out, and enjoyed a quiet day together.

Since Monday was a holiday, we also got to spend time with A. We went and rode a couple of ferries across the Mississippi river. It is bald eagle season there and we saw a few above us as we drove to the ferry.

This was the bridge we took to get back home instead of the ferries. We had such a great time. We ate pizza for lunch and played apples to apples in the car as we drove back. Always such a great bonding time. We are lucky indeed.

Reflections 2012

2012-01-17T19:54:00.001-06:00

C has participated in the PTA Reflections contest every year throughout his elementary career. This year, he is a 5th grader and it is his last chance to participate. He won an award at the district level and is now going to state. I am so proud of all he has accomplished.

He had to miss scouts, but it was so worth it to be able to be there at this award ceremony together. Congrats, C!

Portland, OR

2012-01-11T13:47:00.000-06:00

It was fun to be back "home" in Portland. I wished two things: A)We had more time to visit places that were important to me or just that were really cool, and B) that it wasn't raining the entire time as so much that I loved about living in Portland was all the outdoor opportunities. It truly is a little peace of heaven on earth. You just pay for it in the few months of non-stop rain to get there.

After the wedding luncheon, we were close to the school that I taught at so many years before, so we had to drive by. It, of course, was raining, but we took a quick couple of pictures. I taught here only one year: '98-'99 until K was born. It brought back a ton of memories being there.

This is the home where we stayed. AWESOME! My mom was smart and rented a house for us to all stay in while we were there for the wedding. It was nice to have a home to come home to, nice to all be in the same place, nice to have a kitchen, etc.. It was a beautiful home that was decorated very well. It is situated right on the Tualatin River.

A view of the family from the deck above.

I love him!

Just look how close the house is to the water! While we were there, the water rose significantly with all the rain. Good thing the dock is a floating dock!

After much debate about what I most wanted to show CK considering we only had 2-3 hours to site see, I chose to go to Multnomah Falls. It is beautiful (even in the pouring rain).

This is me with my brother, S. I am glad that he got to come along with us. Two of A's friends (that also stayed at the house with us) also came along.

This is the apartment I lived in for 3 out of my 4 years in Portland. It is a little more run-down and a little dreary-looking with all the rain, but it was a good home and here is where I brought both K and C home to after they were born.

This picture is of my very best Portland friend, D. She was always there for me and we loved being together. We talked on the phone for hours daily and we both went through withdrawal when I moved to Texas. It was so wonderful to see her and her hubby again. I am grateful for their support of all that I have been through. CK was awesome and came with me to visit them even though he had never met them before.

When we moved, the two older girls (twins) were the only children they had. It was fun to meet these other three.

Finally, the trip home. We first had to fly to Seattle and connect there. I am not used to flying in these little propeller planes. We didn't even have a jetway and we just walked out to the plane and up some stairs to get inside. It was a new experience for me.

J always asks me to take pictures of the clouds when I fly. So I did. It actually was quite the view. We made it home safely New Year's Eve in time to celebrate the new year together and then to get up for 8:30 church the next morning (where I got to teach Sharing Time!). What a quick trip, but what a blessing that we got to go and that we got to go together. :)

My littlest brother, A, gets married!

2012-01-10T11:59:00.000-06:00

A is my littlest brother. He was born when I was 12 years old. I left for college at the same time that he started Kindergarten. Even with this gap, I have always felt a connection to him. It is hard to believe that he is married. I really like his wife and I look forward to getting to know her better.

With that said, they chose to be married in the Portland, OR temple on December 29th. I lived in Portland for 4 years (I moved away exactly 10 years ago). I loved living there and I loved this temple. CK and I (even though we went to bed about 2 am) got up early and headed to the temple to do a session. It is just an opportunity that we could not pass up (particularly as our goal is to visit all U.S. temples before we die). Here is what the temple looked like as we drove up. It is so beautiful both inside and outside. I miss coming here. Throughout our session, I felt the Spirit so strongly and I love being in the temple. It is so cool to me how being in the temple, ANY temple, feels like coming home.

After we did a session, we ate a quick breakfast in the cafeteria and headed to observe the wedding. I am so grateful that we were there. What a great moment! I think it meant a lot to CK and I to be there and remember our own wedding just 5 months before.

When we came out of the temple, it was raining and before the bride and groom were ready, it was absolutely pouring! This is my dad and sister as we waited. Both looked so great and ready for the day!

My sister took these pictures of CK and I as we waited. I love them. I loved being there with CK. I am also so grateful that I had to buy a new coat earlier in the month...I used that hood a LOT! :)

This picture is of my sister and I with two of our brothers. My other brother, J, could not be there due to work obligations.

My sister, S, and her amazing hubby, P.

And...the temple as we drove away-through the rain.

The reception.....

Isn't my sister absolutely gorgeous?!?

Here are my mom and dad (to the right) with A and A.

I had to take a picture of my sweetheart!

The couple's "First Dance."

A and I danced together at my first wedding when he was only 7 (almost 8). We thought we should recreate it this many years later.

...Until his wife cut in! (I was happy to do it!)

S and I decided that putting stuff on the outside of the car might not be a great idea in the rain. So...we ran to the store, bought some balloons, had lots of help blowing them up and filled up the van with them. :) We intentionally bought their wedding colors.

My family (minus brother J, of course). From L to R: A, S, Dad, Mom, S, and me

I am not sure exactly what I happened to catch in this picture, but my mom is sure being goofy!

It is hard to see, but I love the look on A's face as she tries to keep the balloons from all coming out!

Finally, we all stayed and helped clean up. At the very end, after everyone had gone and the clean up was almost done, I caught this moment. :) I love my sister and her husband. They are so dear to me.

What a wonderful day! I loved it. Loved it. Loved it. I am so grateful for Eternal Families and I am so grateful for the great people that the Lord sent to be my family, both when I was a child and now as a mother. I am so blessed.

Happy Birthday, CK!

2011-12-31T23:59:00.006-06:00

Christmas day is extra special for us because it is also CK's birthday. He LOVES having his birthday on Christmas and I am so glad. After all the presents from Christmas, we ate birthday dinner (stuffed hamburgers) and then we had birthday presents.

Neither CK and I like cake so much. This birthday, CK chose cherry pie for his dessert. It was super yummy!

Happy birthday to the love of my life. I am so grateful that you have come in to my life. I am blessed beyond measure because of you. I am so excited for today, tomorrow, this month, and this year, this decade, this century, and eternity...I get to spend them all with you. Happy birthday to you! I love you, sweetie! :)

Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T23:59:00.005-06:00

I love having Christmas on Sunday. What a great day. Here is the classic kids coming out of the room to see what Santa brought. First, we read scriptures (Luke 2) and had family prayer. What a great way to start our Christmas celebration!

After church, we opened presents. The best is watching the smiles on the faces of the kids as they GAVE their gifts to their siblings. :)

And, my Christmas present, more than anything, was having this man by my side. He is mine forever and ever and ever and I am so blessed! :)

Christmas Eve Morning

2011-12-31T23:59:00.004-06:00

I am the luckiest woman. My sister lives about half an hour away. I cannot count the number of times that that has been such an incredible blessing to me. Since we were both leaving to go out of town shortly after Christmas (they even thought of leaving on Christmas day), and since Christmas was on a Sunday so we had church to attend, we decided to get together Christmas Eve instead.

In order to allow ourselves nuclear family time, we decided on brunch. It was YUMMY! Thanks, Sis! The kids were besides themselves with excitement to open presents. We had such a great time. I wish I would have taken a picture of the beautiful table that S set up or the kids all sitting calmly for a picture (hmmm....did that ever happen?), but, instead I have pictures of these kids and opening their presents. Still super cute!

This year, we each have four kids and so each cousin drew a name of another cousin. It was fun to see them look for the perfect gift for the cousin that they drew. I wish A could have been with us to see C open the present that she chose for her!

Isn't my sister absolutely gorgeous?? I think she is so pretty. She is also smart, kind, funny, and all-around awesome! I am so blessed.

I have no idea what CK is laughing at, but I love the joy in his face in this picture. :) He is a good sport to encourage me to post whatever picture I want. I think it was because he was surprised. In our family name-drawing, S and P did not have him, so he assumed he would be present-less (and more than fine with it!) this day. Wrong! His birthday is Christmas Day and S and P had chosen to get him a present for his birthday. :) Again, aren't they awesome?

Real Christmas Tree

2011-12-31T23:59:00.003-06:00

This year, we decided to get a live Christmas Tree. I have always wanted to, but we never have. We made a trip to our local Lowe's. Not quite cutting it down ourselves, but....it was a live tree nonetheless.

The kids were not certain they wanted a live tree. There was a lot of talk of our fake tree being "tradition" and that they didn't want to change anything.

Not so when we finally got there. They were all excited to get the tree.

The tree was just over 8 feet and somewhat shorter than our 9-ft fake tree, but it fit perfectly in our living room.

Here is K smelling the tree as we untied it and let the branches loose.

And, here is our beautiful tree Christmas morning. I loved everything about it.

This picture was taken Christmas Eve. Aren't these three so handsome/beautiful? I am a proud mama. We missed A this year and we are ready to get on the same holiday schedule with her.

Some unexpected perks to having a live tree: set up was tons easier, clean-up was easier-we did have a lot of needles to pick up, but no taking apart the tree branch by branch, it smelled great, and it looked great. I loved it, loved it, loved it!

Gingerbread House

2011-12-31T23:59:00.002-06:00

I have a dear friend that invited me over to work on making a gingerbread house. I really never have....not to this extent at least. I am not very creative, so it was a little bit of a challenge, but it was so fun. :) I had to copy another friend's roof since I liked hers so much. It was a tough decision to figure out if to go or not since it had been a crazy week and I love to spend time with my family. I am glad that I chose to go. I need that socializing with my dear women friends. It was a great time. Thanks, T, for the invite!

Living Museum

2011-12-31T23:59:00.001-06:00

C is involved in a lot of things at school. One thing that he does is the Gifted and Talented program. They had a living museum day where they talked about all the research they had done on Egypt. J and I went and visited. It was very cool. They had a lot of different demonstrations they had set up from how they made mummies to how they got water, to how they played games and more. It was well done. C was the one that talked of the geography of Egypt. I learned a lot from listening to him. As a 5th grader, I wasn't sure he would be okay with a picture, but he let me take a quick one. I am glad. It is definitely something to be remembered. :)

Christmas with A

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-06:00

Earlier in the month, we went to see A for our December visit with her. One thing we did together was put up this little Christmas tree. The week before we had set up a Christmas tree with K, C, and J. It was a difficult time for CK since he missed putting up a tree with A. So, I bought this little two foot tree and stuck it in my suitcase and took it with me to Missouri, along with some lights and A's ornaments. It was so fun to decorate together. I am glad we did it.

We try to find hotels with indoor pools since A loves swimming so much. This one had one, although it was extremely cold. I was only in there for a couple of minutes. A and CK have fun together and I was happy to be the photographer!

Sunday, after church we opened presents. A was so excited it was difficult for her to wait. We talked of the true meaning of Christmas and then showed our love for each other through our gifts.

It was so much fun.

It was difficult to say good-bye. We love our A. She is such a dear part of our family. We are excited to see her again in January! :)

Side note: CK and I got up at 4 am and left to go on an early-morning flight home. We got on the plane, pushed away from the gate....and then the problems started. First, the power went out, then an engine died. After being on the plane for an hour and a half, they determined the plane was not safe and we all sat in the airport for hours until they could get us another plane. It was a long day. It felt so good when we finally got home.

One Year Ago Today

2011-12-31T22:58:00.002-06:00

A year ago today he asked me to marry him. A year ago today I said yes. This is the best decision I have ever made.

(Picture taken yesterday in Portland, Oregon)

House Hunting

2011-12-31T17:56:00.000-06:00

CK and I are looking at purchasing a new home. It is time. We have seen some houses that we like, others that we don't, and still more that are trashed and in repo. I cannot believe how trashed a home can become. :(

Right now, we are trying to decide on what we want most and where: more space? More fancy? More upgrades? Same ward? Different ward? Same schools? (K would say YES!!!!) But, maybe different schools. We have one that we are leaning towards, but nothing is certain yet. I just know it is time. It is definitely bittersweet for me. I have lived here for over 8 1/2 years. I love my home. I love my neighborhood. I love the ward. I love the schools. Yet, it really feels like time. We definitely need the space. We only have 1600 s.f. and CK works from home. And, we want 2-3 more children. Yep, definitely time. I will have to let you know how it goes!

Thanksgiving, Funeral, and Family

2011-12-15T18:46:00.000-06:00

As I noted before, we came home from Nauvoo and immediately went to Idaho for Grandpa's funeral. A is such a trouper. We did sooooooooooo much traveling and she handled it all with style. Here we are flying towards Utah.

What Thanksgiving would be complete without some friendly family football? They all had a lot of fun. I joined for a bit. It was awesome.

Some of the cousins. When K saw this picture, she was so sad and wishing that she could've been there. A is 2nd from the left.

Cousin A's birthday was during this Thanksgiving/Funeral time. She was so great about sharing her day with everyone. Of course, Grandma made it a special time for A, complete with a chocolate fountain. :)

Saturday was the funeral. It is awesome that Grandpa gets to be buried here where he lived, loved, and worked for his entire life. A small town boy through and through.

All the funeral pictures with CK were so heartbreaking. He loved Grandpa and the sorrow on his face was very well captured on film. I only included a couple: here he is putting his boutonniere on the casket.

Grandma really held out better than can be expected. I am so glad that she had so much family there with her. This is her with CK.

All the K siblings. I love them all. CK is very blessed indeed.

A last picture with Grandma. She always tries to cover her face, but she was willing to let us actually see her face this time. :)

Grandma K was wonderful to us. One thing she did for A was give her this craft to work on. After we drove for 2.5 hours to get to the airport, the flight was then delayed for a couple of hours. A used this time to complete this craft. She loved it! Thank-you, Grandma.

Finally, I added this picture to this blog. I took this picture last Christmas. When I saw these three men sitting on the couch together, I loved the resemblance that they shared. None of the three were thrilled with this picture, but they let me take it. I am so grateful. None of us expected that Grandpa would be gone before the next Christmas. This picture will be forever treasured by our family.

As we did all this travel and spent all this time with family, I was reminded yet again how important family is. There is NOTHING more important. Well, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and God our Father, of course, but they are part of our family, too-Our Eternal Family. I am so blessed to have THREE families that I love with all my heart. :)

Loved Like never Before

2011-12-07T11:34:00.001-06:00

I have the best husband ever. Definitely the best husband for ME. I am so grateful for him. He loves me in a way that I have never known. This week he is on a business trip and we are apart for the whole week. :( It is not fun for either of us, especially for me. Last night I came home and found these beautiful flowers. He just wanted me to know that he was missing me while we were apart. I feel so loved and special. I truly have never been loved like he loves me. And, he has seen the worst sides of me that no one else has ever known. And, he loves me anyway. The way he takes care of me is amazing. I am so blessed.

Thankful Wall

2011-12-06T14:36:00.001-06:00

I have a very dear friend that has a wonderful tradition that my family adopted this year. We rolled out a big piece of paper and tacked it to our hallway. It is a fairly long hall and this is a long piece of paper. Then, each night after scriptures and prayer and before bed we each wrote on the wall something that we were grateful for. We could not duplicate anything already on there. It was a great experience. All four kids loved doing it, even when it took a minute to think of something new and unique. I am grateful for this experience that we had together as a family. I love having it up. I wonder when I will even feel like taking it down. :)

Since it is in my hall, it was difficult to get a straight shot, but most of our items are visible within these two pictures. Last night, we had Family Home Evening and we also talked about gratitude. We followed an exercise suggested in the New Era and the Ensign (church magazines). We listed 100 things we are grateful for, but we did them in groups of ten, i.e., 10 people you are grateful for that are living, 10 modern conveniences you are grateful for, 10 things in nature you are grateful for, etc. It was wonderful. We are truly so blessed. No matter the things that aren't "right" or perfect, there is so much of life that is great and wonderful. We are so blessed.

Holiday Service and "A" Time.

2011-11-29T09:21:00.001-06:00

My Mother-in-law is so cool. I am so blessed to be a member of this K family. They are amazing to me. I have been bragging about my Mother-in-law ever since I returned home from Idaho. She constantly amazes me. One brief example: since we were there for a funeral, there were a lot of relatives there that we hadn't seen in a while. Mom answered the door for one such relative. In the course of their conversation, Mom was asked how many grandchildren she had. She replied, "16, but only 13 of them were able to be here." She was talking about MY three kids. No qualifications or exclusions. She just counts them as her grandkids and she treats them as such. I cannot express how much that means to me. I hope that I can be just like her.

Another cool thing that Mom does is have a service for the grandchildren (and children) to participate in each year. This year, it was making school kits for disadvantaged children throughout the world. Since we were not planning to visit Idaho any time during the holidays, she shipped a box to us. The kids were so excited.

We first organized all the items so that we could then make kits.

It quickly became an assembly line and each child was able to fill the bags with the necessary school supplies.

The next day was our last day to have all four kids together. We went to a yogurt place and hung out at the park. It was a lot of fun. These four are so good together and I am glad that they have each other as they grow up. I am truly blessed. I frequently still mourn for the loss of our baby, but I just have to look at these four smiling faces and remember that I have been truly blessed with children that I love.

After our outing, we had a sibling present exchange. The four won't be together again until March. CK and I will see A much more frequently, but we usually fly to see A when K, C, and J are with their dad. So any gifts to or from A were done November 23rd instead. It was fun.

CK told me that I had to include a picture of me. I guess he is right, there aren't a lot of pictures that have me in them....I usually am the photographer. :)

Nauvoo!

2011-11-25T18:58:00.001-06:00

We were lucky enough to get to go to Nauvoo, IL with our family this last weekend. It is a long drive. We drove Friday for 11 hours and stayed overnight in St. Louis and picked up A Saturday morning. We then drove to Nauvoo (about 3 more hours).

This is what we first saw as we came into the city: the temple. It was so beautiful and the Spirit both within and without was amazing. Right after we got there, CK dropped K and I off to take her in to do baptisms for the dead. What a great experience. My daughter becomes so loving and so amazing when she is in the temple. It is a great evidence of the special spirit that is there. CK took the other three kids.

After the temple, we went on a carriage ride through the surrounding country. The Spirit was strong on this ride, too. It was cold, but we bundled up and loved it.

After the carriage ride, we went back to our condo that we were renting. We prepared dinner and then left K babysitting (I LOVE having a babysitter!) and CK and I went to the temple. This was part of why we chose to go to Nauvoo. My awesome Valentine's Day gift from CK was a picture of the Nauvoo temple with the promise that we would go there together sometime before the next Valentine's Day (which is also A's birthday!). I am so grateful that we got to go there together. It was very special and I can't wait until Valentine's Day so I can find out which temple we will go to in 2012!

After the temple, we gathered our happy kids and went to Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo, a very well done musical. We loved it. The kids loved it and are still singing the songs.

After the musical, we went out for dinner (for those still hungry) and dessert.

The next day was Sunday. After church, we went to the Visitor's Center. I loved having all four kids together, learning about Nauvoo and feeling the Spirit.

After the Visitor's Center, we stopped at the temple. It was sooooooooooooo cold and windy, but we wanted family pictures there together.

We got this next one by setting the camera across the street on self-timer. It was amazing that it worked well. J is just being silly, but always someone is silly.

Dinner at the condo:

Isn't the temple beautiful at night? One of my very favorite moments of this whole trip was this night. As we were driving home, we stopped down the hill from the temple, looking towards the beautiful lights, and sang together, "I Love to See the Temple." All four kids cited this moment as one of their favorites of this trip. It was a very touching opportunity.

Another cool thing about the temple is that J would get so excited EVERY time we saw the temple. We saw it dozens and dozens of times, but he would shout and get excited every time we could see it, far or near. He pointed it out every time. I hope he always has this great love for the temple.

Once we got to the condo, we had a family testimony meeting, then each of us wrote of our thoughts and feelings while being in Nauvoo. Then, we played some family games. It was great! I absolutely love having all four kids together. It is an opportunity that we don't get often and I cherish it when it happens.

The next morning, we rode a wagon through the town. This was a touching point: the Trail of Tears. It is where the pioneers lined up to leave Nauvoo and cross the river. This is where they could see the temple that they worked so hard on and were leaving. What a difficult time.

After Nauvoo, we went to Carthage jail. This is where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred. He fell from this very window after he was shot. I am grateful that we got to go there.

This is a bullet hole in the door that was shot by the mob that came to kill the prophet. And, this is another view of the window where he fell.

After Carthage, we drove 10 hours and stopped for the night and then drove another 5 hours home the next day.

Now, K, C, and J are with their dad and CK, A, and I are in Idaho. CK's grandpa passed away and we are here for the funeral. It is crazy to have had just one short day at home to unpack, do laundry, and repack. Also, we will end up being in 10 states in 8 days. CRAZY!!! This doesn't even include states that we fly over. So worth it, though. I am LOVING being here in Idaho. I love CK's family and I am so grateful for the love they show me and our three kids that aren't with us today.

TOUCHDOWNS!!!!!

2011-11-16T13:01:00.001-06:00

C never liked football. I tried and tried to teach him what was going on. But, no. He didn't like it. I was okay with that. He is his own person. This year, about five months ago, he decided he liked it. He loves watching it. He loves playing it at recess. He loves playing it with CK. He loves it. I decided that the true test of his new-found love of football was to allow him to play flag football this season. Not quite as much pressure. Not quite as much danger. And, we'd see if he really liked it.

He was disappointed when coach put him as running back. He wanted to be a receiver. He is short and fast and running back really was a good call for him. The first game was a disaster. I don't even know if his team even ever made a first down while the other team scored a lot. 30-0 a lot. It was a depressing game for C's first football game ever. He got one great run on the openning play and that was it.

His coach is REALLY great, however, and he rallied these kids and they practiced and they came out ready to play last Saturday. I was impressed with their resilliance.

In the first game, C scored 3 running touchdowns!!!! He was so happy. Many of the pictures are blurry since I am trying to watch and document at the same time. He was on cloud nine. It was great!

I think I actually got a picture of him during all three touchdown runs. Final score 20-0, us. A welcome change. The second game was more even. C did not score a touchdown in that one, but his team did well. They worked together and won that game by a touchdown (thanks to a great block at the end of the game). It was a close one. C did have some great runs and he is good about noticing where the ball is and where it is going and blocking for his teammates.

I am impressed. And, mostly importantly, C loves it! He loved it even with the loss and he loved it even more with the wins. It is great to see the happiness on his face, even after practices. We are blessed.

Staining the fence

2011-11-16T12:48:00.001-06:00

Our good neighbor recently rebuilt the fence between our yards. Although the fence was a little old before, it was still functional (we thought), but our neighbor was excited about this project (we did pay half of the materials, but the did 99% of the work). After the fence was done, CK and I went and bought stain and more brushes. We planned to stain on a Saturday with the kids. It rained. We planned a Family Home Evening with the kids. It rained. After doing this 3-5 times, we finally had a day with no rain in the forecast AND the kids. So...out we went.

The kids really did a great job. There was only a little complaining (far less than we expected) and a LOT of working. I was very impressed with them. It was great to complete this project together as a family. And, I love working outdoors, especially when we finally have some decent weather (still quite chilly that morning, but decent!).

CK is humoring me with these pictures. Can't you tell he just wants to get back to work?

We ran out of stain. I think having the kids stain meant a lot of extra drips on the ground, but we may have run out anyway. It is now done. I wish I had a picture of it finished. I bought more stain last week and CK stained while I helped with a wedding reception on Saturday. He is such a good man. I am so blessed.

J: Firetrucks and drawing

2011-11-16T12:40:00.001-06:00

Every year, our local firestation brings a firetruck and a safety message to storytime at the library. J loves storytime. We have been so busy lately, though, that we haven't gone very often. One week was very busy and I even tried to squeeze in some Primary stuff at the last minute. I had a feeling that we should not skip storytime. We have just missed so many with the baby and doctors appointments as well as other things. We went. We drove up and the firetruck was outside. J was soooooooooooo excited! I am so glad I listened and went. :)

Then, I wanted to take a picture of this. J draws and draws and draws. It is fun and every picture is cute. I went to lunch with my best friend and J came with us. This is what he drew:

Astronauts! He drew them with some planets and it was a fun drawing. I just wanted to remember it (and still get that napkin in the trash!). He is a cute kid. I will miss him when he goes to Kindergarten next year. I am so blessed to have so much time with him.

11-11-11

2011-11-11T11:39:00.001-06:00

In honor of the VERY cool date of 11-11-11, this is what we had for breakfast this morning! Yum. Yum.

CK and A

2011-11-10T15:23:00.001-06:00

CK went to visit A the last weekend in October. They had such a fun time. Looking at these pictures, I am even more saddened that I was not there. I miss her. She is getting so big and her hair gets longer every time we see her. I will get to see her in 9 days, though!!! :) I am excited!

CK and A have some super good friends there that are so much fun to be around. They have instantly become my friends too. They are great people. Part of their greatness involves feeding us Sunday dinners when we are in town. It is the Sabbath and so nice to have to go out somewhere or eat out of a microwave. We are so blessed to have friends like them.

(She also made us the COOLEST image of our temple and our names and wedding date. I LOVE it!)

I wasn't there, but I am guessing that it is coming close to good-bye time in this picture. ALWAYS a difficult moment. We love you, A!!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-09T15:24:00.001-06:00

J is Optimus Prime

K is Batgirl

C is an executioner. (When did my sweet little boy decide he needs to be scary on Halloween?)

This year, we had a great Halloween. We began with the Trunk-or-Treat at the church (those are the pictures where the date on my camera malfunctioned and says 2007, but it was really 10/29/2011). They had a lot of fun and got way too much candy. The kids go with their dad on Mondays and so on Halloween, I dressed them up, did face paint, and sent them trick-or-treating with him. They had fun and I got to answer the door. It has been a long time since I have been able to hand out candy (12 years probably) and it was really fun. I loved seeing all the kids and their excitement or their shyness. I love going trick-or-treating with my kids, but I was very grateful for this opportunity. :)

(Also, CK came home that night! YAHOO! It is funny that after dating our whole courtship almost long-distance and seeing each other about every other week for a couple of days, I missed him so much and we were only apart for 3 days. Crazy. I am so blessed!)

Baking Day!

2011-11-03T15:21:00.004-05:00

So, last week (on Thursday), I was finally feeling better somewhat physically and emotionally and I chose to use some of that energy to make a pie. I enjoy baking, but I don't do it often, usually when I "have" to. When I asked CK what he wanted me to bake last week, I was given an extensive list of options. I decided to make Thursday my baking day-then, I might be able to make it through the list! Also, as I love traditions, I envisioned my children looking forward each week to "baking day" and wondering what mom was going to make.

So far so good. C just got home from school-so excited to see what I made, loving the smell as he walked in and so happy when he saw the pans of cinnamon rolls. :) I am excited to take this time to do something for myself, for my family, and for others. I am excited to be able to share our baking day treats with our neighbors, or those that are lonely, or those that I want to get to know, or with dear friends, "just because." I am never sure how long traditions will last, but I am excited to have this one, at least for a while.

Yum.....so blessed. I am so blessed.

FOOTBALL!!!

2011-11-02T16:14:00.001-05:00

There is one sport that I have always loved: college football. I love it. Love it. Love it.

This last Friday, we were able to go see our favorite college team play in the local NFL stadium. Very cool.

We paid for C to come with us. He is really loving football this year and it was awesome to have him with us! :) I was still dragging emotionally and physically so the experience was tainted a little, but I hope not too much.

My sister and her hubby came with us and their seats were directly behind ours. It was perfect. Poor CK. He was going for the Cardinals in the World Series and I was going for the Rangers. It was also game 7 on Friday. P kept showing him the score. He tried to be disinterested on my behalf (he already had an emotionally distraught wife....he didn't want to make it worse!). Yet, he loved that the Cardinals won. :)

What a huge stadium!

My brother was also there. P took our picture. I am glad we got one. S is sad because our team was losing.

It was such a great experience, even with the struggles I was dealing with Friday. I am so grateful to have a husband that would do anything for me, family that loves me unconditionally, and a life that I really cannot complain about. I am so blessed.

My brother and SIL's visit

2011-11-01T17:45:00.000-05:00

My brother, J, and his wife were in town for a quick visit since his work brought him to town. I am glad that they came. They weren't here for long and we didn't get to spend a ton of time due to differing schedules, but it was really good to have them here.

Thursday (when they flew in), my sister and her family and J and his wife and CK and our family all met for dinner. It was great! K is old enough to take care of the kids' table and so we ate with adults at one table and kids at the other. It was good food, good service, and great company.

Friday afternoon, we met to go sight seeing. My sister and brother were headed out and J and I decided to join them. The above picture is my brother, J, his wife, D, and my niece (S's daughter), C, and J.

There was a little jail where you could take pictures. J loved it. He wanted me to take his picture in there over and over and over.

I think J's reach is longer than J's. Ha! How funny that they have the same initial.

Here are C and J riding a bull.

J wasn't sure about touching the horse, but after I did it, he did. The horse was a great sport, as was his/her rider! :)

All-in-all, I am so glad that J and D came and visited. I am glad that I was able to come out of my physical and emotional depression to spend that time with them. There is just something so special about families. I am so blessed.

Pinewood Derby 2011

2011-10-31T20:15:00.003-05:00

This was C's third pinewood derby. He has had so much fun! We have a very good friend that has helped C last year and they wanted to work together again. They were very excited about this year. They made a transformer car this year-electing for "cool" rather than "fast." He actually blogged about the progress: http://www.jazzlad.com/pinewood-derby.html.

We only had six cars racing this year, which is a huge decrease compared to the last few years. We had a few boys move away and a lot of boys advance and we haven't had any new ones move up.

This is the only race that C won. Check out the working headlights!

Here are the boys and their cars. Very cool. CK is also the cubmaster. He did a great job. Watching him up there, I was just soooooooooooooooooooooooo in love. I am grateful that I have such an amazing husband. What a wonderful man I married!!! I am so blessed.

And...here we go again: Life is HARD!!!

2011-10-29T07:13:00.001-05:00

The last week has been really rough on me physically and emotionally. I have struggled to feel God's love. I have struggled to find joy in life. And, I have even struggled to sleep.

This is one such morning. One where the grief seems to overwhelm me and I know that if I could just sleep, life would be better. But, after going to sleep at 1:30 am (we went to a football game and got home late) and waking up at 4:00 am (CK is going to see A this weekend), I have tried and tried and tried and cannot sleep.

I miss A. I miss CK. I miss our baby. Two weeks ago, we were camping - enjoying the beauties of nature and being together and I thought my life was absolutely perfect. Last week, I was struggling to recover from my surgery to remove my baby that had died. And, today, I am alone. Really alone. All day long, just me and my thoughts. No kids. No husband. Just me. And, I will make it. I always do.

CK, in his great wisdom, thought I should come with him at the last minute. I should have. We had planned on just him going this time since, due to A's schedule, we couldn't go the weekend we usually see her and this weekend was busy with K, C, and J. But, after the tragedy of the baby, I should have gone. It didn't seem possible: K, C, and J needing me, not having a place for them to stay, my brother and his wife being here ONLY this weekend from out of town, Trunk or Treat and other events that would be very sad to my kids to miss, not to mention paying to fly at the last minute. It just didn't seem possible. I was wrong. Less than two weeks since we found out about the baby and I am trying to spend a day alone? Not smart.

I was okay when CK left this morning. I am so excited for A and him to spend this time together. As much as I miss her and wish we were closer, he misses her more, for sure! I am glad that they get a long weekend together this time. I can't wait to see the pictures and hear about all they did together.

After trying to fall asleep for more than two hours, though, I am feeling worse than I have felt in a long time. I have struggled all week with wondering how, after the heartache of divorce, I have been asked to go through another heartache of the baby. I have struggled as I have known many that have miscarried at some point, some who have divorced, yet few, very few, that have to do both. I do. And, I feel unequal to the task.

Yet, I am so blessed. I cannot believe how wonderful CK is to me and how incredible our marriage is. I had no idea that such a marriage was even possible outside of fairy tales. Then, include the four kids that I am a mother to-I have no reason to allow this sorrow to overwhelm me. I am so blessed.

So much love in a time of so much sorrow

2011-10-23T08:58:00.000-05:00

This has been a really rough few days for CK and I, especially me. Of course it has been, we lost our dear baby that we were so excited to have. Physically, I am still dizzy and my pupils have been constantly dilated since the surgery and so I cannot read. That is frustrating. I cramped more yesterday than I did the 24 hours after the surgery and I am not going to be working with the Primary Program today that I have been in charge of for months. Another small loss.

Yet, I am so grateful to have CK. He is the most amazing husband ever. I have felt the prayers of those that love us and know we are hurting and are even hurting with us. Many have chosen to show their support with flowers. Our kids say we now have a garden on our dining table. How blessed we are.

These came from my friend BP and family.

And these from my friend, KF.

Another dear friend (DR) dropped by and brought this beautiful fall arrangement.

These were brought by yet another dear friend, JW.

These were delivered to our door from all of CK's family. We sure wish we lived closer to them. They are amazing and these flowers meant so much.

These beauties were dropped off by my another dear friend, MV.

I truly feel so loved. Thank-you for all your thoughts and prayers, whether you live close by or across the country. I am so grateful that I don't have to go through this (or any other) heartache alone. You are all little angels to help me along this journey we call life. Hopefully, I can do the same for you. I am so blessed.

Sorrow, Grief, Anger, Disappointment, Frustration, Confusion, and inability to sleep

2011-10-20T03:44:00.001-05:00

I went in for a routine checkup of my baby yesterday (yep. pregnant 13.5 weeks). The whole visit went well. Everything was on track and looked great until we did an ultrasound. The baby looks great, but there is no heartbeat. He/she has died. I am surprised at just how difficult this is. This baby was part of the immense joy and happiness that have been mine these last few months, after so many months of sorrow and heartache. The disappointment is very real. All our thoughts, dreams, and plans were focused on preparing for this baby.

We feel a little direction-less right now. Last night, after a very long and emotional day, the bitterness and sorrow was overwhelming. Luckily I was finally able to sleep....a couple of hours. I feel much better now, but I have been awake for two hours and unable to sleep. That, in and of itself, is very frustrating! This, too, shall pass. We, as a family, will heal. The kids are sad and disappointed, too, but we will all heal.

I go in to the doctor again today, surgery Friday morning, and back to the doctor next week for a Rhogam shot since I am RH-. Then, the healing will begin and I will be able to move on. For now, though, the heartache is still very real.

Camping 10/14/11

2011-10-18T14:06:00.000-05:00

We had the opportunity to go camping this last weekend. It doesn't happen very often that it is not too hot, not too cold, and we have the kids on a Friday. It is very rare, in fact. This last weekend, however, everything lined up perfectly. I spent many hours preparing, CK took off from work early and helped and I took the kids out of school a little early and we were off!!! The above picture of C fishing at sunset is my favorite picture.

Sunset on the lake....so beautiful! We really had the best campsite ever! :)

This is K and J out wading in the lake. It was warm and beautiful. After much begging, I even got in with them for a bit. :)

I used two different cameras this trip so the pictures are a little out of order. This is K carrying the ladder ball stuff back to the car from the campsite (it was hike in).

But this one, however, is on our way to finding which campsite is ours.

Of course a couple of setting up the tent. In my adult life, I have never gone camping and not been the one to set up the tent, not once. But....my boys took care of it for me this time.

All of this is part of our campsite. You can see the covered picnic table in the distance and I am standing out a little bit in front of the tent. It was huge!

This was also part of our campsite.....a private access to the lake. Very cool.

This state park also had loner fishing poles and tackle and no permit was needed to fish within the park. Very cool. I have never been, but CK loves it! He didn't know if there would be fishing so he didn't bring his equipment. CK caught many fish and both C and K each caught a fish or two. They really enjoyed it!

My sister and I successfully planned a surprise for the kids. They could not camp with us, but came up and we played around and did dinner together. None of our kids, hers or mine, knew anything about it. The above picture is of her kids running to meet mine when they arrived and found out what they were doing.

The moon on the lake was so pretty. I had also purchased light sticks for all the kids and they loved twirling them and throwing them. This picture (below) turned out pretty cool. :)

Finally, there were a million spiders everywhere with huge webs like this one. I think that all this heat for so many months has left the campground relatively empty and the spiders just took over.

We did have another guest that I don't have a picture of: at least one skunk LOVED to be in our campsite. He wasn't really scared of humans, but we were scared of him. No one wanted to cut our trip short with that horrid smell!!!

It was a great weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better one. I am soooooooooo blessed.

Still Catching Up....Heading Home After the Wedding

2011-10-11T18:10:00.002-05:00

The honeymoon was over, it was time to head home. We picked up A first and spent the night with CK's sister, M. We had a great time and I am so impressed with her family.

The next morning, we headed down from Idaho to Utah, where we picked up K, C, and J and then took A to meet her mom. Here they all are, playing with their cousins one last time.

Then we began the drive to Colorado. It was beautiful. Even thought I drive to Utah from Colorado every summer, I usually take a different route since it is closer to family. It has been about 8 years since I drove this way. WOW! The beauty is amazing. It just goes to show how much God loves us.

We stopped at a rest area right off the river. It was so beautiful.

I love this action shot of J throwing the rock in the river.

Finally....I looked behind me and what did I see? All three of the children doing something electronic to occupy their time. Hmmm....trips for me as a kid? Books. Coloring Books. Sightseeing. That was it. I have to admit, though, that as tired as they were by this point, I was grateful for the distractions.

The next day, we went with my parents and brother to Boulder, Colorado. I grew up near here, but my kids have grown up without mountains and they were just in awe.

We stopped at NCAR, where they have a research center, but they also have interactive science exhibits. It was fun.

There are also many trails right from NCAR through the mountains near Boulder. We had a few minutes, so we hiked a little. It was a hot day, so we didn't stay out long.

That same weekend, the kids played outside in my parents' backyard. I didn't take a picture of it, but it is a LARGE yard, full of grass and trees. The kids love to climb the trees and also find some dirt to play with the trucks in. :)

CK and I had the opportunity to visit with A, my best friend, and her husband, CH. I love them both. We went bowling and out for pie. It was a great evening and we laughed and laughed. The boys ended up bowling extremely well-I think it was the competition factor kicking in. :)

We also went to visit my dear friends, J and N. They moved from here to a home that is minutes away from my parents'. Awesome. At least we get to visit. Here...I am not sure what C is doing, but he looks like he is having fun!

Here are the four kiddos: K, C, Q, and J.

Q loved C and he loved her. I have a half dozen pictures of the two of them just smiling at each other. Maybe she is the reason that C wants a baby sister.

Finally, we got home. And....look what we found as we came in???? One of my dearest friends, J, had contacted our pet sitter and left us a welcome home present. It seriously MADE MY DAY! It was one of the nicest surprises EVER! What a great welcome.

And...Finally...I am getting caught up.....there is still more to come, but at least I am up to August 8, 2011!!!! Just two months behind. LOL.

5K? Or Was it?

2011-10-04T13:05:00.000-05:00

C ran his first 5K on Saturday. It was for a foundation established by the family of a little girl that passed away with a rare type of brain tumor. Our elementary school supports this foundation every year. All the 5th graders were invited to train for the race by practicing with one of the teachers after school. About 8 kids decided to do this. C was one of them. He ran in 100 degree heat at 3 pm every day and he loved it. He trained and trained and trained.

Finally, the big day was here. He was excited and ready. The teachers and students that were around all commented on how C was fast and how he was the one that ran the whole way at practice.

Here he is right before the race. :)

And, they are off!!!

And then, we waited and waited and waited. The first runners came back at about 16 minutes, but there were not very many.

And, then more and more came back.

The girls that trained with C came back, all saying that C was ahead of them, yet no C.

Hmm...odd.

One of the teachers that is a runner came back and said that the course was not well marked and she had run at least an extra .4 of a mile.

Hmm...30 minutes....35 minutes...40 minutes....

The principal that walked/jogged the whole thing came back. No C.

The teachers started to talk about how the male teachers hadn't come back yet and last year they ran it in 26 minutes. Hmm...odd.

People that definitely walked the whole thing came back. Pregnant women pushing strollers came back. No C.

45....50....55 minutes.... No C and no teachers. Hmmmm....

C's dad started to worry that he'd been abducted. Because the teachers weren't back either, I started to worry that C had twisted or broken his ankle and that they were carrying him back.

Finally, at about 58 minutes....he comes running in!!!

We found out that the path was not clearly marked and most of the lead pack went the wrong way. They estimate that they were off course about 2 miles. C said he ran the entire way, stopping only for a few seconds when they realized they were off course and turned around.

He was disappointed, yet I was still proud of him. He ran much further than the race for which he had trained. He kept going even when he knew that his being gone for so long would mean he did not have a super race time. I am one proud Mama.

Now, I hope he finds other physical things to do with his time. This daily raced training he did really helped him to be happy and have a great attitude.

One final note: At school yesterday, they presented him with a medal. I guess that after he left and they did the ceremony that he placed 2nd in his division (0-10 boys), so a teacher got it and brought it to him. I saw many boys cross before him, but perhaps they were 11 or 12. Either that or they realized the race course errors and were able to re-calculate. I don't know, but it is very cool that after all the work and all the frustration and all the heartache that he came away with a medal.

Happy Birthday, J! Five-years! :)

2011-09-29T20:58:00.001-05:00

Today is my little J's 5th birthday! I am so happy to have him in my life. It is shocking that he is really this old, but he really acts like a 5-year-old. He woke up this morning at about 5:30 ready to begin his birthday.

He is our only child to have a birthday on a school day and this means some early present opening so we can all be together. Of course, he chose this big present to open. He loved them all. It was fun to see him open them.

Then, I took him to ride the minature train. He loves it and it really is fun. We took a friend with us, too.

This engineer was super sweet. When he found out it was J's birthday, he went and gave him some Cracker Jacks and then had the whole train sing to him. What a great time! And, it was near 100 degrees today and we went early enough that it was a pleasant ride. :)

On the way home, we stopped at a donut shop. J wanted to go there so much!

Later that afternoon, J wanted to help me make his cake. So, he did and he loved it!

(Including licking the beaters!)

Here he is working with creating Yoshi (one of his presents).

He also requested Yoshi for his cake. Here is what I did:

For some reason, I have no talent as an artist, but I can usually use a can of frosting and some food coloring and create a decent cake. I guess this is my one artistic talent. :)

Happy, Happy birthday, J dear! :) I love you!!!!

Honeymoon

2011-09-20T20:16:00.001-05:00

So...I am trying this new Blogger interface. The old one you had to have the pictures in reverse order to get them in the right order in the post.....I guess this new one you don't. :(

I have had enough trouble posting any pictures....that I am just going to leave it in reverse order.

Thursday, August 4, 2011: Leaving our Honeymoon Cabin. Doesn't it look nice?

Wednesday, August 3, 2011: We went to Yellowstone. It was fun and beautiful.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011: We hiked Mesa Falls and we went on a 5 mile canoe trip down the river:

Monday, August 1, 2011: We went to the city of West Yellowstone and also enjoyed watching the storms roll in from our porch. This double rainbow was so close to us!

We had an amazing honeymoon. It was so much fun, so relaxing, and so wonderful to be together, enjoying our first week of marriage. Oh, yes! We are so blessed.

Busy and Tired

2011-09-20T19:41:00.002-05:00

I really have many, many posts pending....but, I haven't done them. :( I have found myself extra busy this year with my calling, a 7th grader, a 5th grader, a pre-schooler, piano, scouts, young women, etc. It seems like there are never quite enough hours in the day to do it all.

I also have been extra tired and exhausted....probably due to the above reasons.

So, I am alive. I am happy. I have more blessings than I can count. Life is good. Like the title of my blog, I truly "Have a Good Life."

First Day of School, 2011-2012

2011-08-22T20:22:00.004-05:00

Today was the first day of school. C is in 5th grade, K in 7th. J missed the cut-off to start Kindergarten by less than a month. Oh well. He is in Mom Preschool and loving it. :)

C was in Kindergarten when our elementary opened its doors. Now, he and his classmates are the first class to make it all the way through the school. Pretty cool.

The bus stops were changed this year....further away and I cannot see the stops. Makes my Mommy-Heart a little nervous, but they are big kids.

This picture is C before he left for the bus stop (he did NOT want me walking him to the bus stop!

My two kiddos:
K before going to her bus stop almost an hour later....and, wow!, she looks so old to me today!
I have to say that this is the first year in quite a few that S has not gone to school with us on the first day. I know she is definitely old enough not to, but we did miss her.

A tradition continued.....first day of school cookies. YUM!
Another tradition (as of last year at least)....Yogurtland. We did this for our Family Home Evening tonight. It was fun.

C and K, I hope you have a wonderful year! Do your best, be nice to everyone, smile even when you aren't enjoying life, and always remember that your Mom loves you!!!

Getting Ready: Night Before and Morning of the Wedding!

2011-08-15T08:50:00.010-05:00

These posts are definitely not in order. I am going back to the night before the wedding as well as the morning of the wedding preparations. I am so glad I documented this time via pictures. It has only been a couple of weeks, but it brings it all back to see the pictures.

The kids and I left the K Family reunion after K's birthday cake. I am so glad that I stayed in a hotel with my kids that night. My friends and my sister also chose to stay in the same hotel. How fun!!! :) It was the relaxation I needed before the wedding day.

Friday night, we all went to Olive Garden for dinner. There was one on the same property as the hotel, so it was an easy walk over.

These are two of my favoritest friends ever: J and A.

My sister and her family were able to join us there for dinner after a LONG drive. Their kids were awesome and I have missed them so much.
T is my niece. She and I had a lot of fun together. :)

After we got done eating, our dear friends that used to live in Texas, S and Q) came to visit. They brought C (who is my C's age) and B (who is K's age) to visit.

We tried unsuccessfully to steam the wrinkles out of my dress. We were told it would be easy. Hmmmm....Nope. Not so much. Oh well. It was too late to worry, right?
S and I.
Then, we decided we needed to practice getting this monster on. It was a chore. Q took the kids down to the pool and three ladies working on getting my dress on took almost an hour. :) It was a chore. I just stood there while they worked.
After we were all done, I started to worry about if it would be possible to go to the bathroom with the dress on. Hmmm....what a challenge! I love this picture! The toilet is closed...I am not using it, but just sitting there created a fun picture.
J at the pool.
Friends forever. I am so blessed.
J was pretty cranky all day, especially at the end. Finally, his whining ended and he was asleep on my lap. I love that you can see the dress hanging there waiting for the big day.
Wedding morning!!!!

I slept off and on all night...not nervous, but definitely excited. I also wanted to be sure that I had enough time to get ready without stress. Here I am after my early shower.
We all ate breakfast together. How we love our cousins!
I loved this shot of all of our shoes lined up and ready for the big day.
Make-up...of course!
Kids just bored and waiting for their time to get ready.
My dear friend, A, came to do my hair.
In this picture, you can see the dress and me with my hair half done in the same shot. Classic!
Good thing I have friends that can help do K's hair before the wedding!

And....within a few minutes, CK will come pick me up and off to the temple we will go. So blessed. So blessed. Life just doesn't get better than mine right now.

K Family Reunion

2011-08-12T14:24:00.008-05:00

CK's Family has an annual reunion, usually in Idaho. This year, we had the reunion in conjunction with the wedding. It was very fun and it was especially nice to have my children get to know their new cousins. I am so impressed with how the K family has welcomed all four of us with loving arms. We have been included as dear family and I am so grateful.

We got in very late Wednesday night (by the time we got there, it was actually Thursday morning)...about 1:30 am.

Thursday morning, Grandma made the four kids breakfast. She is awesome.
Then, that afternoon CK and I went and got our marriage license from the courthouse and met the rest of the family for a fun afternoon at the waterpark with a picnic after.

The big kids loved this slide:
Eating the picnic:

Talking and laughing. This is my new sister, M. I really like her. :) I love the whole family. They are great. CK is so lucky.
Grandma then had the big girls all to her house for a sleepover. They had a lot of fun and it was really good for K. (If you look closely at the sleeping bags, there are girls hiding from me in them!)
Friday morning, we packed up and started a new K family tradition. This year, there are 3 cousins old enough to perform baptisms for the dead in the temple. We decided that this would be a fun tradition to add to the family reunion. I am really excited about it.
We went to the Idaho Falls, ID temple (Where CK and I were married the next day).

Here they are: B, K, and T, after the baptisms.
Then...D had us meet and go bowling. The cool thing was...there are 24 of us, so he divided us into 4 groups, mixing ages and families. We were teams. It was so fun and a great way to bond with each other. I thought it was a great idea!
It was K's birthday and she was just such a great sport. She brought extra socks for me...in case I didn't want to dig them out of my suitcase (I did not). We had fun wearing the crazy socks together.

We finished the day at D and K's house for a presentation of the team bowling trophy and for K's birthday cake.

What a great reunion!!! I am so blessed to be part of this family. Again, the blessings are overwhelming. I feel so happy. :)

My kids and I then left to spend the night in a hotel to get ready for the wedding (at this point less than a day away!)

Our Wedding

2011-08-09T22:17:00.010-05:00

Our wedding was amazing. Truly. Nothing went wrong. Everything was very, very right. It was a beautiful day. I felt like a princess. I hope that I have many memories to cherish forever.

I don't have our professional pictures back and I don't even have the pictures that others took with their cameras, but I did send my two cameras around (mostly with C and my brother, S). Here are some of the ones I loved (in random order) to help document this best day of my life:

This is my cousin, B, and me. He is the cousin closest in age to me and we have always been close (just not in height!):
These next pictures are of my family outside the temple. This first one I included because it is the only one where you can see the six of us and the temple in the background.

This is my family...My brother J, my brother A, my Mom, ME, my Dad, My sister S, and my brother S. Because of missions and other events, we haven't all been together in years. Although it was brief, it was awesome!
My sister is one of my best friends. She is amazing in every way. I may be older, but I look up to her a lot!
I have a couple of the kids playing games, I guess while we were having our pictures taken. Loved them. :)
These are my Texas friends...A, M, T, CK, ME, S, Q, J, and A. I am so grateful for the sacrifices they made to be there. Some have since moved from Texas, but they still have Texas running through their blood. :)
As we got ready for the parents' picture, someone snapped this shot. I loved the look on our faces. There is love (and a little humor) there.
Wow! Isn't J handsome?!?
This picture brings tears to my eyes every time I see it. It was the first time I saw K after the wedding. You can just see the love we have for each other. Also...note the CAT machine and torn up dirt in the background. The temple grounds were being torn up. Didn't matter. What mattered is the ceremony inside.
Again...I kept this in to document the dirt. Part of our story. :)
Loved the temple in the background, just over my hair.
Whatever it was....we found it funny!

The Happy Couple.....and we are soooooooooooooooo happy!

This is my dear friend, S (Another one from Texas, but no longer in Texas). She couldn't make it to the ceremony, but we got to see her just as we were leaving. I am so glad. I love her.
So...There you have it. A beautiful day. Again, so blessed. I am happier than I probably have ever been. So blessed. Truly, after the tears comes the joy. Happiness follows sorrow. I can testify to that. :)

Back to Reality

2011-08-04T23:07:00.002-05:00

So...the honeymoon is over. We are started home!

I am not at my computer yet...so I haven't downloaded pictures, but I did want to post quickly.

Our wedding day was incredible. It was absolutely perfect. :) I could not have asked for a better day. Nothing went wrong. Everything was perfect. It was the best day of my life. I have never felt more beautiful. I have never been happier. :)

Then, we left for our honeymoon. We went to Yellowstone. Amazing. The cabin was awesome, the weather perfect, and the scenery incredible. From hiking the falls, to canoeing down the river, to watching Old Faithful erupt, it was perfect. Loved it!!!!!!

Tomorrow, I get to pick up the rest of my kids. I have missed them so much. I cannot wait to see them. We got to see A today. I have missed her too. She has started calling me "Mom" and that is so fun.

How blessed I am!

A Lot Can Happen In a Week!

2011-07-27T21:47:00.008-05:00

A lot can happen in a week! Last Wednesday, we were driving to Colorado. Next Wednesday, I will be on my honeymoon with CK. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.

So....this is the documentation of this last week.

Wednesday's (7/20) drive (14 hours):

Thursday's (7/21/11) visit with old friends that I love sooooooooooooo much!

Friday's (7/22/11) drive to Utah:

Sunday's (7/24/11) Family Get Together:

Monday's (7/25/11) Pioneer Festival and Temple Square:

Tuesday's (7/26/11) Manis and Pedis with my dear sisters:

And...fun with family:
Today's (7/27/11) very exhausted J....it has been a long week. C and I went everywhere looking for him....even thinking that he must have fallen asleep. Finally, we found him. Yep. Asleep.

I am so blessed. I truly am happier than I ever imagined I could be. I am so blessed to be so close with my former in-laws. We may not have the marriage to bind us, but we have a love that spans Eternity binding us together. I cannot express how much I love them.

CK and A's flight was delayed THREE hours. (That is why I have time to post this) Poor CK. He left home at 7 am (Central Time) and we will not get to his parents until between 1-2 am Mountain time.....17+ hours of travel today. YIKES!

But...3 days from now....we will be married. I am so excited. I cannot wait. At the same time, it seems surreal that it is really here. :)

So blessed. So blessed. So blessed.

Almost Here! 6 days until our wedding!

2011-07-24T17:28:00.001-05:00

Even later.....K's birthday party (July 1, 2011)

2011-07-18T15:26:00.001-05:00

K had her 12th birthday party on Friday, July 1st. CK took the boys and they went out to dinner and then went to watch a movie at his apartment. It was fun for me to be here just with the girls. I tried to be around if they needed me, but not obtrusive. K said I did a good job. Phew! I have never done this mom-of-a-preteen thing before.

These are the girls that could come (some of her best friends were out-of-town (darn summer birthday!):
They loved playing Lego Rockband together. They did a great job at taking turns. I loved this picture because look at Super Girl...she was jumping and her feet were off the ground. Cool.
They ate when they wanted to eat, did nails, opened presents, and began a movie. There was a lot of laughter. I was impressed the great caliber of girls that K has chosen to be her friends. I know that they are good girls and that they will help each other make good decisions. I am so grateful.

4th of July (Just a tad late)

2011-07-18T15:02:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July. A got to be back again with us. She is so much fun.

The 4th of July is my very favorite holiday. I love it. I love the people. I love the fun. I love the fireworks and I love the low-stress. I love it. My kids love it, too.

For years, we have done the 4th of July with our good friends, the W's. They are awesome. This year, we celebrated together again. We had a BBQ/dinner together so we could stay in the air conditioning. ;)

Then, we left to go a nearby city's fireworks. We love them. There might be ones closer, but this is always worth the drive. We park at a nearby mall and then take a free bus shuttle to the park.

While at the park, we listen to live music and the adults talk and the kids play. They are playing leap frog here. It was very cute to watch.
Some other friends that we hadn't seen in a while showed up and all the kids enjoyed some together time. :)
A and E are only a couple of months apart. They have become great friends. I know they both wish that we were all together more often.
It was a great 4th of July! I am so blessed to live in this country. I am so blessed to have a great family and great friends. :)

12 days!!!!!

2011-07-18T14:58:00.000-05:00

I am in awe. CK and I will be married in 12 days! I feel more and more blessed every day that I have been led to such an amazing man. That I am the lucky one that gets to be his wife is absolutely amazing to me.

We have had such an interesting road. Our story is complicated, yet fun. The interesting thing is how clear things are with hind sight. I see the Lord's hand in all the conflicting answers, in all the strange timing, even in my time with M. It is a beautiful tapestry, woven to bring us together at the right time and the right place. All that had to happen before we could get married has and we are so blessed. :)

C is 10!!!!!

2011-07-12T16:49:00.004-05:00

This post is slightly overdue.

C turned 10 on Sunday. Wow!! I cannot believe he is that old. He is such a joy to me. He has so many interests and so many talents. He loves cartooning, computer animating, anything Nerf (especially Nerf guns!), tennis, football, swimming, building and planning. He is just amazing.

It was his weekend with Dad and so I did not get to see him much. When we were together, though, we made sure that he felt special and loved.

Friday, he woke up to streamers on his door (since he wouldn't wake up at home on his actual birthday). We ate what he wanted for breakfast (crepes) and lunch (BLTs). We also went to a waterpark...partly for this fake-birthday and partly because it was A's last day with us.

Here is C with the present that A got him:
Then, Sunday night, we opened the rest of his presents:

and ate cake (Lemonade cake, of course!!!): (BTW..I hate this picture of me, but I love the smile on C's face so much...that I had to post it!)
One of C's big presents from CK and I was a Nerf Tag set. It is very fun. We have been playing that a lot at our house.

I love you, C. I am so glad that you are my son. I am so glad that I get to be your Mama and love you and treasure you forever and ever! :)

C4K 2011

2011-07-05T08:29:00.006-05:00

This year is our third year in a row participating in College for Kids. I love this program. It is very reasonably priced and the kids spend 4 hours a day on a college campus taking classes. It gives them valuable life lessons, fun, and opportunities to learn things that they wouldn't normally have a chance to learn.

First, though, as I was going through the C4K pictures, I found a few of our last pack meeting that I wanted to post.

First, CK is our new CubMaster. He was thrown right into the fire because we had pack meeting soon after his call. He did a great job!!!

We did archery and only two boys could go out a time. So, we did water balloon catch. It was so fun and all got involved, from little ones to adults.
This is the picture that really captured my attention. Look at the arrow! You can see it flying through the air. Very cool.
I had the chance to attend a few classes with C on his last day of C4K. (K did not want me to attend hers.) The first class he had was chess. He loved it and even won first prize from his teacher. :)
His next class was computer animation. He LOVED this class so much. For his birthday, he wants an animating program. :)
His other classes were Tennis and Lego Robotics. K took weird science, Lego Robotics, creative photography, and acting. Her favorite was the photography class.

On the last day of class, the acting class performed. For some reason (probably because J was wiggling around on my lap), the ones with her in them are more blurry. :(

She did a great job. She loves being on stage. She is so much like her dad, but this is one of the few things that assures me she did get a few of my genes, too. :)

I am so glad that both K and C had the opportunity to attend this program. I am grateful it is over because I am ready to stop having a rigid schedule and driving them, but it is sooooooooooooo worth it.

Blessed. Oh, so blessed.

2011-07-01T19:20:00.002-05:00

I have been extra busy lately. Lots to do during the day. Lots to do in the evenings. It has been very busy.

Yesterday, I had a post planned in my head. It was to go something like this (with the list of things to do for the wedding) Wedding Dress: Check, Boys' outfits for the wedding: Check, etc. I planned to end with Temple Clearances: Not Yet.

BUT....as I was leaving this afternoon to go to CK's apartment to eat lunch with him, I checked my mail. There they were: two letters from the First Presidency. I was sooooo nervous.

One thing I knew for certain is that their decision would come back EXACTLY as it should. I mean, who better to receive direct revelation from the Lord than His Prophet? Nobody. If the answer had come back that we had to wait or "No" on being married and sealed in the temple, we would have gone from there and prayerfully made other plans.

BUT.....We don't have to worry about it. We were granted our temple clearances and we will be married and sealed at the same time in the Idaho Falls, Idaho temple on July 30th. :)

Yahoo! It is a bittersweet moment for me, for sure, though. I was surprised that the finality of it did hit me a little. That is how it is supposed to be. Marriage and sealings should not be taken lightly. I did not. Now, however, I am looking at 29 days and I will be sealed to my best friend. Life wasn't what I expected, nor wanted, but a loving God has taken care of me through every step, every tear, and every heartache. He has blessed me with a man that loves me and cherishes me in a way that I could never have imagined.

I am blessed. Oh, so blessed.

K is 12!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2011-06-28T14:13:00.009-05:00

K turned 12 today. WOW!! I cannot believe that my oldest is so old!

Sunday was her last day in Primary. I had the opportunity to spotlight her. I love this girl so much. I feel so blessed to be her Mama.

These are some things about her:

She loves gum
She loves singing
She finished the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price
She is very responsible
She has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ
She cares about people individually, not their popularity
She is smart and dedicated: A-Honor Roll
She is funny and has a great sense of humor
She loves to text
She loves to bake
She loves her family

Oh my! There is more, but that gives an accurate snapshot. I am so impressed with her. I cannot believe that the baby that I held in my arms 12 years ago has grown and matured so much. She has been through some major trials and has come out stronger and more confident on the other side. We have had a great day so far!

I love birthdays and I love to make them special for other people. This has become a tradition that my kids look forward to. They love the streamers on their door (one streamer for every year old that they are).
For K's breakfast choice, she chose donuts from a local donut shop. Then, she wanted to go to the park to eat them. It is her birthday, so we did.

We opened presents at lunch time since it was the only time that we'd all be together this evening. I think her favorite present was....A BRAND NEW CELL PHONE!! You should have heard the screaming! With all the texting that she enjoys, I thought it was time to get her a QWERTY keyboard.

My daughter!!
Isn't she beautiful????

Happy Birthday, K! I love you!

A was here

2011-06-27T16:48:00.008-05:00

This is another post that is way overdue.

A was here with us, visiting for two weeks. It was really awesome to have her here. I am so impressed with how she treats our family as her family and I was also impressed with how accepting my children were of having a new "sister." K and A share a room and that is a new experience for both of them. I was very thrilled with how well they did together.

The funny thing is, I am finally posting this, but A will be back again in just 5 days to spend another week with us. :)

On the day before she left, we all went to dinner. The kids got a booth by themselves with CK and I across the way.
Then, we went swimming at some dear friends' pool.
The next morning, I flew with A back home. She loved this picture. She tried so hard to get it in focus just as she wanted it. When she did it, she was so excited to show her mom. She wanted to show it to her as soon as we got off the plane. :)
Here we are on the plane.
Isn't she gorgeous?
And...a long flight can turn us into silly girls (it really isn't that long...just 1.5 hours). I love this picture, even if it is crazy!

Piano Recital

2011-06-24T15:09:00.005-05:00

I have been behind on posts. :(

Last Monday, K and C performed in their summer piano recital. It is very cool to see how much they have learned in the last 6-7 months. They both enjoy piano and I am grateful that I had the clear impression to buy a piano. It has truly enhanced our quality of life.

K played Sunburst Waltz and Horse Drawn Carriage. She did an amazing job!

C played Hedwig's Theme and Dance of the Irish. He also was amazing! What talent these two have. :)

Here are all the students of their wonderful teacher.
Great job everyone!!!

No Pain

2011-06-24T14:56:00.001-05:00

Lately I have been pondering on something that is a little bit strange to me.

I now have no pain. Sure, there are moments of sorrow for what should have been, but there is no pain. That doesn't surprise me.

What does surprise me is my inability to remember the pain. I remember sobbing out prayers to my Heavenly Father when the heartache I felt was overwhelming. In my memory, I can see myself kneeling at my couch as tears flowed and flowed. I can see myself crying in my Bishop's office when I felt that I didn't have strength to go on. I can see myself sobbing as I spoke to friends in person or on the phone. I can see my sister coming to spend a Saturday with me when I could not stop crying the whole day and I needed help. I see myself clasping our family picture to my chest and crying great tears of bewilderment and sorrow. I remember them all.

The strange thing to me is that I cannot remember the pain. I feel that this has been a blessing that I did not anticipate. The memory of that heartache has been taken from me. I know I felt pain. I know that it was difficult to function and even to desire to live, but the actual memory of the depth of the pain is gone. What a strange, yet beautiful blessing. How grateful I am for the support of a loving Heavenly Father, my Savior, Jesus Christ, and their angels that attended me daily, even hourly, as I struggled to make it through this unexpected trial and tragedy.

Casualty of the storms: fence down!

2011-06-22T13:04:00.002-05:00

We have had some major winds around here lately. I knew this fence was coming down, other storms earlier this year weakened it. This week, we had heavy winds from the south and this is what we woke up to Sunday morning:
After church, we braced it up and Monday, as soon as CK got off work, the project began.

The most difficult part was digging out the old post and continuing to dig to get the hole deep enough to put the new post in. Texas soil is very shallow with rocks....big huge slabs of rock right underneath. It was a lot of work. CK did 99%. I tried to help, but I couldn't do much.

Last night, CK (with a little help from J and from me) got the panel back up and screwed into the posts. We still have some slats to replace, but it is pretty much done. Thanks, CK! I love having him willing and wanting to work. I am so grateful that he is willing to take care of me in a way that I have never experienced. I truly feel treated as a queen. I am so blessed. :)

Father's Day (Early)

2011-06-17T14:35:00.001-05:00

Sunday was Father's Day. No, not really, but it was at our house. A was with us for two weeks and this was the Sunday that she'd be here....so we took advantage of it.

My three were with their dad, so A and I got up and made CK breakfast. We LOVED working together and it was comical to watch CK itching to get up from the couch and come help. He doesn't allow himself to be "served" very well. :)When the other kids returned home, they were soooooooooooooooo excited to give CK his gifts. I had read somewhere an idea that I thought would be very fitting for Father's Day: each kid choosing a gift of something to DO with Dad. Kind of a one-on-one "date." They loved the idea and all four kids chose different and unique things. K is getting ice cream with him, C is going to play tennis with him, A is going to the movies with CK, and J is going with him to mini-golf. It is a great way to honor a father.

After gifts, we had a yummy dinner of roast and potatoes (and...I lost the battle...I couldn't keep CK out of the kitchen...he had to help with the potatoes!).

Happy Father's Day, CK! :)

Cub Scout Day Camp 2011

2011-06-10T20:37:00.005-05:00

This week, C has been going to Cub Scout Day Camp. It really is twilight camp. The camp is about an hour away, so the boys (including travel) are gone from 1 pm - 9:15 pm. It is hot....around 100 degrees every day, but they LOVE it!
This year's theme has been space. The hours that volunteers have put in to make this run is amazing. It is very creative, as well.

I was lucky to be able to go as a chaperone on the first day of camp. It was hectic, but still very fun. I also was with one of my best friends and that was great!

Our boys:
Our flag that our group made. They all worked so well together. Every boy contributed, both in ideas, and in actual drawing. I was impressed with their talents. I could not have drawn that well. :)

The favorite activities of the day were the water gun fights and they made rockets out of newspaper that they then launched. It was very cool and they loved it.

C said that some of the other days were more fun, but he also said he wished I could be there with him EVERY day! How sweet! I would have loved to. Braving the heat is well worth it. If A wasn't here visiting, I am sure I would have gone more. :)

Picnic Flash

2011-06-09T10:11:00.002-05:00

Saturday was a special day. It was one of very few Saturdays a year that we have all four kids together. Usually, either A is with her mom or my three are with their dad. Stinks having a split family!

So, Saturday we began the day by going to the park (early...since it was going to be so hot). We played ladder ball, played on the playground, and threw around a football. It was fun. Then, we came back and worked. That was okay, too. We all worked together. Some outside. Some inside.

Around lunchtime, everyone was kind of cranky. :( I wanted to make lunch fun, so I came up with the idea of using our UNO Flash game board and assigning different parts of the meal to each light. The kids LOVED it! I was surprised what a hit it was. Even after some of the items were gone and I was ready to just eat the rest, they wanted to keep playing. This is how we did it: if it hit "sandwich," we would all eat a quarter sandwich, if it hit "yogurt," we would all eat three bites of yogurt, etc.

What a blast!

Then, we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 and enjoyed our evening together, loving every minute! :)

4th Annual Last Day of School Water Fight

2011-06-08T18:46:00.002-05:00

The last day of school was Thursday, June 2nd.

For the 4th year in a row, we had our traditional Last Day of School Water Fight! It is so much fun. We have tons of pizza, tons of friends, and tons of water. It is cool to me how much this has become a tradition for other families also: I had many call or come ask if we were doing the water fight this year. :)

I love it. It was really fun, really hot, and a really great way to start summer 2011!

17 Years ago today

2011-06-04T07:14:00.004-05:00

17 years ago today...it was also a Saturday: June 4, 1994. It was my high school graduation. The crazy thing is I was 17. I am now 34. I have reached half way. Half of my life at "home," as a kid and half of my life out and on my own. It goes so fast.

Things about me at that time:

I was excited to go to BYU in the fall to study Math Education with a Theater Education minor.
I had a boyfriend that I absolutely adored.
I had a best friend that was better than any best friend. We were heartbroken knowing we were going to different colleges in the fall. (We are still best friends)
I had my life's plans and goals in front of me: finish college (did that), go on a mission (did not), marry in the temple (did that).
My siblings were 15, 11, 7, and 4. Leaving them seemed impossible. At the same time, I was ready.
I had super long blond hair.
Life was good. Life was easy. I was so innocent.

I am so grateful that now, as I look back on the last 17 years since then, that I can see that I have been blessed at every turn by a loving Heavenly Father. There have been amazing ups and devastating downs, but He has ALWAYS been there. I am amazed at the multitude of blessings that he has sent me. My life is amazing and I cry tears of joy nearly daily right now. It reminds me of Elder Wirthlin's talk a few years ago where he talked about the Principle of Compensation and mentioned that every tear we cry in sorrow now will be returned to us 100-fold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude. I have a lot of tears coming.

So...this is my life 17 years later: I have a degree in Math Education. I taught middle school for two years (in two different states!). I have three kids and one soon-to-be step daughter, ages almost 12, almost 10, 7, and 4. I serve in the Primary Presidency in my ward. I am divorced. I own a house. I am a stay-at-home mom. I am engaged to be married in (hopefully) 56 days. I have friends scattered throughout the country: people I love that either have moved away from me or I from them. I have lived in Utah, Oregon, and Texas.

Life was good 17 years ago. Life is good now. I am so blessed. :)

Awards and Field Day

2011-05-31T14:46:00.004-05:00

Friday was a busy, busy day for our family. I didn't do anything but run from one school to the other all day long. First, it was 6th grade awards. K got quite a few of them. I was proud of her. Most pictures that I took showed her name, so I tried to find ones that did not.

I was proud of her for all of them, but especially A Honor Roll. I didn't realize it would be such an honor. There were only a few kids that maintained A's the entire year. I think she worked so hard this year and it was great for her to be recognized at this ceremony!

After changing our clothes quickly, J and I headed to C's school for their field day. It used to be more races and such, but the last few years it has been a bunch of games. I love it. The kids have fun and just enjoy themselves.

I loved watching C on the climbing wall. They start at one end, climb up the wall and then go clear to the other end (if they can) and then they run to the beginning and keep going. Most kids dropped down before they got to the end. A few ran to the beginning. C did. He got about half way through on his second time. It was great to watch. :)

J and I were getting tired after many hours and I was about to head home when C requested that I stay for the tug-of-war. We did. It was fun to watch. The boys got beat by the girls in their class a couple of times. I think their pride was a little wounded and they quickly made up the difference with some very definite wins.

The school year is almost over and the awards ceremony and field day proves it! What a great life we lead! :) So blessed. So blessed.

Family Anniversary = 14 years

2011-05-24T07:41:00.000-05:00

Today my family began, 14 years ago. I am so grateful that my children are sealed to me and that we are a family. Life has not gone as planned, not even close, but, it is with gratitude that I celebrate the day my family began.

I look forward to two months from now when I will again be sealed. I am so blessed. I love CK and I can't wait to have a new anniversary with him. I wasn't sure how having him move here would be. We had not had the chance to experience daily life together. I thought there would be some adjustments and that it would take some time to get used to. Nope. It is awesome! I love seeing him every day. Now, not seeing him all day until after work seems like forever. How blessed I am!!!! :)

High School Musical

2011-05-20T15:08:00.004-05:00

K has been in choir this year and loved it. As an end of the year finale, all the 6th grade choirs combined to perform High School Musical. There were three different casts of all the major parts. K was Kelsi Nielson for in one of the casts. She was part of the chorus for the other two. This is her during last night's performance (in the chorus).
There is some amazing talent in this group. The music overpowered the kids, though, and it was very difficult to hear and understand what was going on.

Here she is ready for her performance:
This cast, in many ways, performed better than the night before. I am sure a lot of it was the first performance for everyone last night.
The funny thing is...unlike the night before when the music was overpowering, the music stopped working mid-performance. K was sitting at the piano, pretending to play with no music being played. She said it felt odd.
K did a very good job. Her cast all did a very good job. I was also quite impressed with how they handled the music cutting out. They sang all the songs acapella. They just picked up with a "show must go on" attitude. Being a theatre person, I could tell on occasion that it was difficult to find cues without the music cluing them in to what to do next, but for a group of 11-12 year-olds, they were amazing in face of the unexpected!

WAY TO GO, K!!!

Train!

2011-05-19T14:09:00.002-05:00

This year, preschool has been different. The way it worked out, J and only one other friend, I, did preschool. It was so perfect for us this year. If either mom needed to rearrange, it was so simple to do it: only two kids in preschool! I know that J will thrive with more structure next year as he will be so old (misses the cut off to begin Kindergarten by just a little less than a month), but this year, it was perfect for him and for me.

Today was the last day of preschool, so we went on a preschool field trip. I took J and I to the train. They loved it! They had so much fun. I loved listening to their conversations and just enjoying the ride. The day could not have been better: overcast but no rain, 75-ish degrees, slight breeze. It was perfect!

Waiting for the train to come:
Here it is!

I absolutely love the greenery of the park that we go through. It is beautiful.

We stopped and bought popcorn at the depot in the middle.

Afterwards, we were hungry and still celebrating a great year of preschool. Where did the boys want to go? McDonald's, of course! :)

Moving

2011-05-18T14:22:00.001-05:00

CK moved here this last weekend. Thursday night, before the kids went to XDH and I went to St. Louis, we celebrated a last night together by eating ice cream. (My grandma would love it!)

CK and I traveled to Oklahoma City, not arriving there until 2 am. The next morning, we headed early to the temple. It was so nice to be there in the house of the Lord. I love attending new temples and I love that CK and I are trying to visit them all (in the U.S.). What a fun goal!
Here we are, 700 miles done. CK's car did an amazing job pulling this little trailer.
Both he and I are planners, so we had the entire thing planned out...CK's new apartment and everything. We had reserved it in advance and paid for it Saturday night. I am so grateful that the Spirit bore witness to us that this was not a good place for CK to be and now he has a new place. Frustrating, though, when things don't go as planned!!!!

While we are adjusting to having him around every day (I think he has a lot more adjusting to do than we do....we can be LOUD!), we love it. I love it. The kids are happy. I feel so blessed. At times, the future seems scary-if I give my heart to someone, they can hurt me just like I have been hurt before. But, I am so happy and I look at the man that I am so blessed to marry this summer and I am in awe that I, of all people, am sooooo lucky!

Pondering on Pain

2011-05-12T10:30:00.000-05:00

This morning, I was listening, yet again, to a Conference talk from the last General Conference. It is by Elder Richards on pain and the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Here is the link if you would like to listen to it / read it.

So, I pondered a lot on pain. We all have it. Both physical and emotional pain is excruciating. I have been through the latter and I thought it would never end. But, it was my Savior that healed me. It was He that understood where I had been, the number of dreams that lay shattered at my feet. It was He that understood when I did not think I could face another day or cry another tear. It is He that has healed me enough to allow me to trust again, love again, risk again.

In light of all this, I concurred with Elder Richards as he spoke of the growth that comes through pain. I am a different woman. I have grown in ways that would have been impossible with a smooth, easy life.

Now, I have been pondering on the pain that some that are very dear to me are feeling. Oh, how I wish I could take away that pain. In certain circumstances I am very aware of the heartache, for I have felt it too. But, I have been wondering....if I was given the opportunity to take away their pain, would I be doing them a disservice? Would I be taking away their opportunities for growth? I think so.

It gives me a new perspective on the Savior. He is with us with every step. He dries our tears. He carries us when we cannot walk, but He does not take it away. I can learn from Him. My role is to support, lift, and sustain, but not to take away.

Hmmm...random thoughts on a Thursday morning when J is gone on a preschool field trip.

Friday

2011-05-10T11:01:00.004-05:00

So...I get very few Fridays with my children. They are usually with their dad. The last few that I have had, we have been traveling, so not having a normal night. This last Friday, for the first time in months, we had a Friday evening together. Being the planner that I am, I planned. We were going to go bowling, look at some dresses for K for the wedding at the mall, and get some ice cream.

It started out great-we ate dinner at 4:30 and were on our way. We got to the bowling alley and hit our first snag. The bowling alley tries never to schedule a tournament on Friday...leaving it free for open bowling...EXCEPT one weekend a year....and, you guessed it, it was this weekend. The kids were grumpy, but we headed out.

The next snag: the mall close to the ice cream shop didn't have the store we were looking for: a big chain in all malls....except this one, I guess. A little frustrating.

So, we went and ate ice cream....thanks to a gift certificate from Grandma and Grandpa K for Easter! There is only one store in our city and it is kind of far, but, oh so worth it! It was yummy. We loved it. Thank-you, Grandma and Grandpa!

We came home, played some WII bowling...since we didn't get to bowl. That was fun. :) I am glad that we came up with a Plan B.

But, there was another snag: The kids wanted to buy more stuff for the WII with some gift certificates we had for Game Stop and WalMart. We went to both places. NO ONE COULD AGREE! There is definitely something to be said for having only one child. It was a lot of fighting and complaining. -sigh- So much for my perfect evening, eh?

So, we came home, all frustrated. But, it was a perfect evening. The weather was awesome. So, I forced the kids on a walk around our neighborhood. It was amazing. The boys ran and played races. K and I talked. It was wonderful. We got home, the boys still raced and K and I still talked. Soon, there were neighbor boys joining us and the big water gun came out. Soon, we had a lot of very wet boys. :) It was perfect. I would not have traded these moments for anything.

Lesson learned: I try too hard to plan our limited fun time together. This creates expectations, which create disappointments. We just need to be when we are together. The fun times will come. :)

P.S. Saturday was great, too! K went to a water park with her choir. The boys and I worked on the garage, went out to lunch and finally went bowling. It was very fun! After K got home, we went out to my new favorite restaurant in celebration of Mother's Day. All four of us loved the plantains, pupusas, and beans. And...we topped it off with very small servings from Yogurtland. It was a wonderful night! :)

P.P.S. CK moves here in 3 days! I feel so blessed. Looking back to two years ago and what I was posting then, I see that the promises have been fulfilled. I knew I would be okay, but I couldn't see how-the sorrow was so overwhelming. I am here. I am happier than I knew possible. Thank-you, Heavenly Father!

Seven - Eleven

2011-05-06T13:41:00.006-05:00

SEVEN!

First, there are 7 days until I see CK again! It has been approximately three weeks since we have been together and it has been torture. The really cool thing about what happens in 7 days: CK is moving here! We will see each other almost every day for the rest of our lives. I am so excited about this. I am so lucky to have him in my life. He even took his place on the Chore Chart. :) I am so grateful for all he is willing to do for me. I cannot believe how blessed I am. For the many hours of grief-filled sorrow that I have experienced, where I thought my heart would never heal - here I am...soooo happy, soooo blessed, soooo in awe of the love of my Father in Heaven and the ways that He has taken care of me.

ELEVEN!

Next, it has been approximately 11 months since I first met CK in person. What a wonderful adventure we have been on, and the best is yet to be.... :) Here are the last 11 months in pictures:

June 2010: We met for the first time. We had fallen in-love over the phone, but this was the first time we had been in the same place:

July 2010: CK came to support me while attending the funeral of my grandmother. It was a time when I needed the support and he didn't hesitate, but, unasked, was just there. Thank-you!

August 2010: We didn't see each other this month. For a time, we were not to be together. We struggled with this, but both really listened to the Lord and followed His timing. Here is where I sought answers and solace:

September 2010: When I finally let go completely and left everything in the Lord's hands, He quickly returned to me the answer that I'd been looking for....move forward with CK. The "no" answers were gone and we were excited to pursue a future together. CK let me know he was excited, too:

October 2010: We got to see each other twice this month. It was amazing to reunite and be together again:

November 2010: We also got to be together twice this month, including our first Thanksgiving together:
December 2010: We had a while we had to wait between Thanksgiving and Christmas....but when the time did come, we were together for a long time, including Christmas and CK's birthday. This month ended with a ring on my finger....and an official engagement!
January 2011: Twice again this month! Yippee! We took all the kids and did some sightseeing in St. Louis. So fun!

February 2011: Again...once here and once there. We were so blessed to see each other every other weekend. I am so glad that CK and A got to be here this month for my birthday! This picture was Valentine's Day:

March 2011:
April 2011: This is the last time that CK and I were together. The kids made up a carnival for us...and these suckers were part of our prizes. It was great fun. :)

May 2011: We haven't been together yet...but that takes us full circle....7 days!!!! :)

Time Out

2011-05-02T14:30:00.006-05:00

This last weekend, K, my sister, and I went to Time Out for Women and Girls in San Antonio. It was amazing. I am so glad we went. I am grateful to XDH for allowing K and I that time to bond.

There were some major accidents along the freeway to get there. It took us nearly 2.5 hours longer than usual. That was stressful. My sister is incredible, though, and she drove the whole way. I love her.

Once we got there, the conference had begun. The girls were with the women on Friday night and, as we listened to Sherri Dew, I thought for sure it would bore K. Nope. She said after, "That was sooooooo good!" The best part, however, was that K just leaned against me and hugged me and hugged me and it was awesome to be there...and give her that individual time as her brothers were with their dad.

After the session ended Friday, it was about 10:00....so we decided to go ahead and go up the Tower of Americas. It was awesome.

It was so windy...Just look at all the pictures. The one below is my favorite. K looked like a Troll Doll from years past.
And, I don't know how this panda came to be sleeping in our hotel room!
The next day was not only our conference, but also Race for the Cure. We were warned that it would be crazy traffic and to be there before 7 am. YIKES! We looked it up that night, and after calling the non-emergency police number to see when the roads might be closed to pedestrians, we decided to walk instead of drive. It was about 1.3 miles. Not bad, but with uncomfortable shoes.....still not too bad.

Here are some of the women from my ward that went:
Here we are: My sister, S (who is stunningly gorgeous!), K, and me:
When the Saturday conference ended, we decided to walk the Riverwalk. It was 90+ degrees and "incredibly humid" (as the weather guy said that night). We were also tired, especially our feet. Even in the shade it was uncomfortable, so we walked a little around the river, then chose to go back to the hotel.

We decided to take the streetcar back to near the hotel. AHHHHHH!!!! Air conditioning! Sitting down! Relief! It was awesome!
Then, we rested at the hotel a bit and walked over to Pizza Hut, across the street from the hotel. We laughed and laughed and laughed. The three of us had a so much fun together. It will be an experience that we will all remember for a long time.
Sunday, we went to church in a little ward in San Antonio. It was very cool. The Spirit was very strong. I am grateful to have the Gospel in my life. I love being able to go to church anywhere in the world and be surrounded by Brothers and Sisters with my same beliefs. What great love I feel for our Savior and our Heavenly Father.

I love my sister, she is amazing. I might be older, but I look up to her so much. She is so loving. She is so smart. She is so put together and stylish. She is a great mom. I want to be like her when I grow up.

I love K. I cannot believe she is almost 12. She is so confident and self-assured. She is very capable of making decisions. She is smart and funny. She is loving. I am so lucky to be her mom.

Finally Normal

2011-04-19T13:40:00.000-05:00

Two years ago, the kids and I were crying almost daily as XDH had just left and our separation had begun. Everything was so new and scary.

One year ago, the divorce had been final for a few months. The kids still hated the change in their routine. They found it difficult to leave Mom. It was a challenge for me as well. I missed having them on Saturdays so I could do "fun stuff" with them. I felt like I only got "Business Hours"- homework, chores, baths, bedtime, etc..

Now, finally....life is pretty much normal. The kids are used to their times with XDH and most of the time don't mind going. He is doing an outstanding job with them, especially lately, and I am so glad. At the same time, they are also excited for CK to move here. I had one child pray in family prayer last night that they were so grateful that CK and I were getting married, I had another child ask if they could spend an extra night with XDH this week, and the third one was not afraid to ask him for time when they had an event at school during his time. -sigh (of relief)- Much better. I am so grateful that while we don't have the ideal family situation, we are making it work. The kids are much happier. I am much happier. Life is so different, but now is normal in its own way. We are blessed.

Honoring a great man

2011-04-13T10:18:00.002-05:00

This morning, my uncle passed into the next life. He was a great man. He will be missed. He is rejoicing with being with his mom and dad and brother and others he loved that have passed on.
The last time I saw him was last summer at my grandma's (his mom's) funeral.

He was a great uncle and a great man. Just a few of the things I will remember or cherish about him:

He was a giant kid. He had all these new toys he'd bought for when his grand-nieces and grand-nephews visited. He would annoy my aunt with his need to bring out so many to entertain my kids. He didn't fool anybody. It was really for him that he brought them out.
He loved to play games. My earliest memories include playing "Oh Heck!" at his house until wee hours of the morning on New Year's Eve.
He served. He served where ever and whenever he was needed. He has been a temple worker for years and years and years.
He loved family. There were times that I didn't have much time to visit my grandma, let alone make a trip across town to visit him, too. ALWAYS if I was in town, he and his wife came to be there and spend time with me and my family. A visit from us was a time to put everything else on hold. I appreciated that.
He loved to travel. The yearly, and sometimes more frequent trips, were almost legend. They drove across the country stopping whenever they felt the urge. I am grateful that one of those urges took them to my town. We got to spend K's birthday sightseeing with them. It was awesome. They flew. He had conferences and seminars in Europe and they would go and make a vacation out of it. Since he was quite young when he died, I am so grateful that he took these opportunities to travel with his wife.

The death of a loved one is always difficult. I am grateful for some text conversations with my cousin this morning. He said his dad looked so peaceful and that that, in turn, brought him peace. We chatted about how grateful we are that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ, we know families are forever, and we know we will see our loved ones again. I am so grateful for this knowledge. It makes me even more long for the day of being sealed to CK. I want to be sure I am worthy to live with this wonderful man forever. It can't happen soon enough.

Happy

2011-04-11T22:41:00.002-05:00

I think my last post was too down. I was sad and blue then, but I also need to document that now I am okay, happy, in fact! :)

Some things that helped me chase away the blues:

Just blogging about my blues helped tremendously. I needed to get it out and see it in print. Once I realized that I really did have reasons to be sad and that I wasn't just being irrational, I truly felt better-ready to conquer the world!
Putting up our new family pictures with CK and A. This helped in two ways: I got something I'd been meaning to do accomplished and I got to rejoice in how blessed I am to have CK and I combining our families.
Booking my flight for the next time I go to St. Louis. Open-ended stuff is more difficult for me. Now that I know that in 32 days I will see CK (and even BEFORE then...this weekend), it makes it much better.
Having 7-8 kids here is really fun. It is chaotic and I was ready for them to all go to bed, but I love having younger kids around. J is 4 1/2 and I miss out on some of the younger ages. FHE tonight was great fun. :)
Having C get soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to see me when he got home from school. He went with his dad Friday night and then his dad dropped him off at school today so I didn't see him until he got off the bus this afternoon. It melted my heart how excited he was.
Getting a short nap and then reading and studying my scriptures while all five children that were at home took a nap this afternoon.
CK took care of some of the details of our wedding this afternoon. :) :)
I talked to a dear friend that was worried about me and took action to show she cared.
It was a beautiful day outside. I wasn't out much, but when I was.....I loved it!!!
And....a bittersweet moment: I sorrow so much as I have been informed that they did make the decision to take my uncle off of life support. But, it also allows the whole family to no longer be in limbo. There is relief in the decision being made. I am grateful that my mom, aunt, and sister got to attend the temple together this morning. I am so grateful for the peace and direction that is found there. How lucky we are!

I wasn't blue for long. I am truly so blessed. There is not much I can complain about. Life is good. Very good. I am happy. :) (Of course, I am extra giddy right now-I just got done with my nightly Skyping with CK! Another blessing. We live 700 miles apart and yet we see and hear each other daily.)

The Blues

2011-04-11T09:43:00.001-05:00

I have the blues. Not sure why. I just feel kind of down.

Some possible reasons:

My uncle is in a coma following a couple of massive strokes. The doctors believe he will be a vegetable even if he does awaken. My aunt (also sick herself-recently diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's) has the very difficult decision to make regarding when to take him off life support.
My cousin (son of said aunt and uncle) is my age. No siblings. Never married. No kids. With both parents so ill, my heart aches for him in a huge way.
I just got back from visiting CK. It is irrational, but I miss him like crazy. I will see him this weekend, but then we have a 4-5 week break. I am really struggling with the thought of not being with him for that long. If I struggle with 4 days, how can I do 4 weeks?
Planning a wedding. AND being a mom. AND having the wedding in a different state and planning long-distance. -sigh- As excited as I am, there is some stress related to this event.
I am really missing my friends. So many dear friends have moved. I miss them. I was reading TXMommy's blog and I miss her a lot. I also miss my friends that live 15 minutes from me. My life has gotten so busy with CK, kids in middle school, elementary, and pre-school, my calling, my home, etc.- so I just don't see them like I'd like to.
Or, maybe it is that I got home after midnight last night and the pure and simple reason is this: I haven't had enough sleep.

Anyway: our family challenge is to serve others every day. I know as I find ways that I can serve....I will be happy and the blues will disappear. (A nap might help, too....but, I have 5 children here: my nieces, nephew, and J...ages 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6. My sister went to visit our uncle and her hubby had to travel out-of-town today. I love them and I am excited to have them here! They are so much fun!)