Cute and Easy

No, I'm not trying to be Martha but I thought these were really cute so I wanted to share with everyone. I found these white picture frames at Target 3/$2.50 and the hearts are just cards from Walmart, 8 /$4, I think with 4 different designs. Anyways, they make a cute little wall decoration and it only takes a few seconds to make it.

Another Beautiful Day

Today is beautiful. High of 50, just a little breeze. We are loving it. I took the three younger kids to the zoo here in Sioux Falls. We had never been to it before, but we get in free with our Watertown zoo pass. It was fun. It will have more animals in the summer but we saw a dear, tiger, rhino, wolves, coyotes, buffalo, and many more things. They also have a big animal museum display inside that the boys loved. After that we went to walmart for some lunchables and came home. Now they want to take the older kids to the zoo and Dillon is already making plans for the spring, summer and fall. Our basement is coming along. I think most of the sheet rock is hung. I can't wait to have that space. They also took the golf cart limo (it's huge) out of our garage so now we can start parking in it. That will be nice too. All in all, it's a great day and I feel good about life. It has been a long time since I have felt this way. Part of it is because of the weather and part of it is because of the many blessings I feel the Lord has given me personally and my whole family. It is amazing to see His work in our lives when we look back. Often He has been there helping us when we didn't even realize it. It's not until looking back that we see all that He did. I am so grateful for all of it - from the things as big as Michael's new job to the things as small as blueberry handprints on the bathroom sink.

Today has been a fun day. The weather was beautiful, in the 40's, and the boys played outside all afternoon. They came in for a short time to eat frozen blueberries and greet the older kids when they come home from school. Then they all went back outside and played until supper. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice too. We certainly love the nice weather and the opportunity to be outside.

How come I can't hear anything?

Olivia loves being a big kid and doing what they are doing. She just doesn't have it all exactly right sometimes. She has, however, perfected the one thing that all kids seem to perfect. Can you guess what it is?

A Change of Plans

Yesterday, after several conversations with several of my brothers and Michael and my parents, we worked out a trip. I found a flight to Nashville that left early Saturday morning and gets back late Monday night. Michael has Monday off work and as long as the weather cooperates I can be back before the kids go to school Tuesday morning. Michael agreed to take on the role of single parent to five children for a wekend and I will take Olivia with me on a little adventure. All six of us siblings will be able to be together with my parents and grandpa next weekend. I am so glad I get to go. It was a very hard decision and I wasn't sure I should do it. I have issues with doing the wrong thing or doing something that may be hard on my children. Last night Makenna was already starting to pout because she didn't get to go with me. She didn't know where I was going or when but she was going to be upset if she didn't get to go. My brother told me it was alright to be selfish on occasion and do something for myself (not that I don't ever do anything for myself). I still feel a little bad about leaving and I'm not too excited about the early morning and late night, but I am so glad I get to go. As I said in an earlier blog, I love this grandpa a lot and it means a lot to me to be able to go see him. Plus it will be the first time in 3 years since all of us siblings have been together so that will be fun too. Hopefully all goes well with the flight and the travels to and from!

Shopping

Can I just say how much easier it is to do shopping now? I still dislike having to load up the kids and unload them at every store, especially Olivia because she hates carseats and screams bloody murder everytime I put her in one. But, I can go to town and back and not have it take the while morning. When we lived in Astoria, I had to leave first thing in the morning, drive for 30 minutes minimum, go to whatever stores I needed to go to, and drive back home. If I forgot something, too bad. There wouldn't be another trip to town that week. We would go through a lot of gas during the month between shopping trips and church, which was 50 minutes away. Now I get in, drive for 10 minutes max and I'm there - AND I have more than just Walmart to choose from. But if it is Walmart I want, I can go to a different one each time and still not be more than 10 miles from home. I can go and be back in an hour or two and still have time to get things done before lunch. If I forget something, it;s not such a huge deal to go back later and get it. I know it doesn't sound too exciting for some of you who might be used to this convenience, but for me it is very exciting. I have so many places I can explore. Too bad the kids don't have the same enthusiasm. When we go they need to know how many stores we are going to. If I say more than 2 the meltdown begins before we leave the driveway. Then we do a countdown and they let me know if I am trying to sneak in an extra stop. One of these days, I'll get to go out on the thown by myself and go to as many stores as I would like. I won't have to stop at the bathroom in each store and I won't have to go down all the toy isles and push the buttons on all the noisy toys! I can even carry a purse without diapers, bottles and snacks in it (although the snacks do come in handy, even for the mom). Anyways, if anyone over the age of 20 wants to come and enjoy a day of exploring with me, let me know and we'll make a date!

Dressed for a day out on the town

I know I put a lot of pictures of Princess Lala on her, but she just provides so many opportunites. So here's another one of her. At one point during the day I did have her in clothes that matched but she has a mind of her own and decided she didn't like what I had put on her. She put on Susie's pajama pants, Zeke's boots, and her yellow vest. Then she wanted to go outside and find Daddy. We took her picture instead. At least she picked stripes that went the same way!

Basketball clinic

Here are a few pictures from the basketball clinic this last weekend. They had a lot of fun and Zane has switched his favorite sport from football to basketball. He looked so little out there with everyone else but he had a great time.

Blessings through duty

Before I start I want all who read this to understand that I love being a mother more than anything in the world. That being sadi, being a mother is also one of the hardest things in the world. With motherhood comes responsibilties that you can't just walk away from. Sometimes things come up in life and because you are a mother, you have to let the opportunities pass by. Just recently (like 2 days ago), I found out that my grandpa's cancer has spread through his body and it's not looking like he will have much longer to live. He will be turning 90 years old this month and he is all right with the thought of leaving this earth. He has lived a good, long life and has fulfilled his responsibilities. Now this grandpa is very important to me. Through all the changes that have happened in my life, he was one of the constants. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I moved a lot growing up and no matter where we were or how old I was, he and my granny always came to visit. It was something we counted on almost every summer. He was one of the males in my life that had a huge impact. I was always shy and felt out of place. My grandpa always made me feel loved and accepted, no matter what I looked like, how good I was at sports, how popular I was or anything else. Anyways, Saturday I found out the news and also found out that my siblings and parents were going to all try to meet in Nashville one last time and visit him. Unfortunately, we just moved (which is actually a good thing, just bad timing) and Michael just started a new job (another good thing). Because of that, we don't have time off, extra money or babysitters for the kids. My heart sinks at the thought of not being able to do this. I would give anything to see him one more time, especially while he still has a little energy. Being a mother makes it a little harder to pull off a trip like this. I have to worry about my children and their well being. They have been through a lot of change lately that has been hard for them and I feel that I need to be with them and not elsewhere. As I was going through all this in my mind this morning, still trying to figure out how to make it work, I had a small voice come to my mind that told me to stay home and I would be blessed. I know that is just what I need to do. I still want to go and be a part of my family next weekend, but I know I need to be here. I have responsibility to my own family first, everything else comes second. I hope my grandpa knows how much I love him and my thoughts will definitely be in Nashville as I stay home to fulfill my duties.

I am connected!

Yes, I now have access to the outside world again! It has been a crazy week filled with emotional times and fun times. Friday the 23rd, the girls got to have a sleepover at the Johnsons. I guess they had a great time, but I'm not sure Makenna got much more than a couple hours of sleep. I guess she spent the night wandering from room to room until around 5am. When she gets worked up about things she get full of energy and doesn't know what to do with all she is feeling. Saturday morning, Pam came and got the other kids and they spent the day with friends at both the Olsens and the Johnsons. With help from others, Michael and I got the truck loaded and unloaded and our old house cleaned. When we went back to Hendricks to get the kids there were lots of tears (luckily it was dark and no one really saw me cry), Makenna especially. She cried herself to sleep. We got home and let them explore a little and then put them to bed. Church didn't start until 11:30 so we had time in the morning to relax and get a little bit done. The kids (except Olivia) all liked church. It is much bigger than Watertown. There was a potluck afterwards so the kids were really excited about that. Sunday night Michael gave them all a father's blessing. We talked about any questions they may have and then they went to bed. The backpack fairy came during the night and left them a little poem and a basket of treats and a new shirt to wear on their first day of school. That helped to start the day off on a good note. I took them to school and dropped them off after they met their new teachers. All the teachers seemed really nice. When the kids got home they were very happy and excited. They had all met a new friend and really liked school. It is much different than Hendricks but they are getting used to it. There were a few issues on the bus but Maddi told her teacher and the bus driver and it seems to be taken care of. This last weekend we went to Brookings adn spent the night in a hotel with the Olsens. The kids were so excited. It was a really fun time. The hotel had a pool and a water slide. We spent about 3 hours Friday night swimming. Saturday morning we got up and the older kids had a basketball clinic at SDSU. Michael took Olivia home in the van and the rest stayed with me. There were several kids from Hendricks at the clinic. It was fun getting to see them all. After the clinic we went back to the hotel and swam for another hour or so. Then we had to say our goodbyes and off we went. Sunday morning we got halfway through bath time and ran out of hot water. We also didn't have heat. I took the 5 oldest to church while Michael stayed home and waited for someone to come help fix it. He got there after sacrament. After church we talked to the bishop. We both got new callings. Michael is the Young Men's president and I am in the nursery. I'm not too sure about that because I know that Olivia will spend the time crying and wanting me to hold her. It will be a long 2 hours. We'll see how it goes though. Today starts another week. Hopefully it will go as good as last week. We are still getting used to the changes. I am loving being 10 minutes from any store I want. I do miss the social interaction I had in Hendricks but at least we have our phone working now and our internet. Now we just have to wait and see what adventures come our way here in Sioux Falls!