My Life With Boys

Power of Moms

2011-05-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Dagnabbit! I had a post all written and just as I was finishing it up, it disappeared in to cyberspace. I know, I know you are all amazed to see me on here. I will try sometime to rewrite what has gone on but I just can't get myself to do it tonight.

I do want to say that as I have been thinking about life and its/my purpose I have been doing a lot of reading on the power of moms website. My greatest happiness in life comes from my family and my children. While my boys are such great kids, parenting can be hard. Especially with Finn. Sometimes I just hope and pray that I am not screwing up my kids. It was such a rough year last year with all of our medical problems that I feel like we are just pulling out of it. Anyway, for all of you moms or anyone trying to find ideas/helps on parenting and motherhood check out powerofmoms.com. I am amazed at all of the wonderful ideas the Eyres (some of you may have heard of them-they started Joy school and have written many books) have and wish I could follow them around the world as they give talks and speeches to moms all over the world. Don't ya love reading about people thoughts and feelings on blogs and websites. I remember as a kid wishing I could read peoples minds and know what they were thinking, nowdays with technology you almost can. One of my favorite blogs is 71toes.blogspot.com.

As I graduated from high school, I felt like I had the world at my hands, that I could do anything. I majored in criminal justice and dreamed of a life as a defense attorney. While I am still fascinated with the law and love watching The Good Wife, I cannot imagine loving doing anything more than being a mom. Sometimes, it can get easy though to get into a rut of making dinner, cleaning, running errands and helping with homework. I don't know if I am just hitting my mid-life crisis a little early or what but I know that I have a higher purpose. I have found such power in this website and in helping others. I think to find yourself you have to get outside of yourself. As I was reminded at Wood Badge we are all going through hard things. Life is hard. Together we can help each other and that is what life is about.

Just for Dave

2009-10-09T22:00:00.001-07:00

I'll have you know that I tried to blog the other day but, well, since it had been so long I had forgotten my password. After figuring it out about a minute ago here I am. :) Where to start when it has been so long. Hmmm...here's what we have been doing since I last blogged.

Iron Girl Las Vegas, cousins out from Texas, Kennecott Copper, Temple Open House, Camping, Forth of July parties, go carts, swimming, game nights, food, trip to Texas, driving through, WY, CO, KS, stuck in traffic in OK, water parks, Gatty Town, kids write and put on a play, more games, Erin and Esplan, Alex's Birthday, Pioneer Primary activity, summer craft club, the smoker, Little Rock, Arkansas, walking along the waterway, the visitor center with the rocking chairs, Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland, Central BBQ, St. Louis, MO, the Arch, soda pop, Nauvoo pageant, Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain Riverboat, Caves, Nauvoo, Illinois, Bakery, making a rope, Browning store, wagon ride, Just Plain Anna Amanda, BYU Vocal Point, Trenton, MO-Grandma and Grandpa Smith's old house, Jamesport-Amish town, Carthage, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Platte City, MO, Grandma Smith, dominoes-of course, bbq, Primary activity at the gym, Steak and Shake, Back to School, Kindergarten, Maple Grove and Rochester, MN, Mayo Clinic, lots of neurologists, playing with MN cousins, Ryan's 16th birthday, Josh's first day of school (alone) and bus ride, poor sick Thomas, birds, Miller's getting ready for adoption, going to Feed My Starving children, home again, soccer....

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can elaborate on some of these and add the things forgotten, all in all it has been a pretty good year.

Please Vote for Me...

2009-05-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

If you guys have a chance to take a look at this website, I would love your vote. I entered a cheese recipe contest with our famous (well, it was on Dave's blog, that counts right?I hope you don't mind Dave that we stole the photo, but here is the recipe for ya!) recipe Berry Brie Stuffed French Toast. I would really like your vote.

You can find the recipe here at http://iledefrancecheese.com/blog/ and I think I am the third one down. You can rate it from 1-5 stars.

Thanks!

Michael's Baptism

2009-04-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of Michael. He chose to be baptized on April 11, 2009. He is such a good example to his younger brothers and we are so glad to have him in our family. I'm not sure who was more nervous, him, dad, or mom (who gave a talk on baptism) but everything went great. He was able to go up the next day on Easter Sunday and the bishop congratulated him as the newest member of our ward, a title that he will hold for a few months (he is pretty happy about that).

Eight is great!

2009-04-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Michael is awesome! We love having him in our family. He recently turned eight and it was such an exciting day. For his friend party he decided to play Deal or No Deal like we did at pack meeting. The kids loved getting the prizes (except maybe when they got stuck with smarties). Then it was on to other games like--Who wants to be a Go-gillianaire (apparently a Millionaire is just not enough anymore). Afterward, Michael got to play Warcraft. He had been waiting a long time for this. Dave came up and we set up a table with lots of computers and played for hours. Then we had grandma's and grandpa's, aunts and uncle's and cousins over for BYU mint brownies. Yum! I think all in all it was a great day! Michael we love you.

Share the love...

2009-02-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

Kim just posted a little share the love post and it sounded like a lot of fun, so here goes....Here are the rules: The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a share the love post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Have a Happy Day :)

Scared to death...

2009-01-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

I have now found that is possible to be scared to death and excited about something at the same time. Two months ago I would have told you that you were crazy if you even thought about me doing a triathalon. Wanda, I still think you are crazy for doing marathons:). I honestly can't believe I am doing it yet I am pretty excited. Last night was our first training for the swim and we did just over 1/4 mile. Granted this was stopping to take breaths each length of the pool. We found out we need to do 22 lengths and we did 12. I don't know if that makes me feel better or not. We swam pretty far but we have so much more to go. Brandy and Reiko are training with me and hopefully we can get a few more to join us to keep up the momentum. So if any of you are interested in joining we are doing Iron Girl Las Vegas in May. It is a .5 mile swim, 10 mile bike and 5K. If any of you have great swimming tips they would be appreciated. I am not too worried about the biking or running. If only Don and Linda's pool were open.

I've been tagged

2009-01-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

Mindi, sorry it has taken me so long to do this. I've found myself spending less and less time on the computer the past couple of weeks. Christmas flew by way too fast! Anyway here goes.

RULES
1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I love to cook. But, I only like cooking new things. Almost every night that I cook it is making a new recipe and I don't like making up recipes.

2. I love Diet Dr. Pepper but I don't drink the "dregs". Which equates to about the last half of the can. Nate loves this though cause he gets to finish off my can.

3. Nate works from home and I love it. My friends all think I am crazy and think they couldn't put up with it for a week but I love that he is home all of the time.

4.I love to read. I want to spend more time reading good books this year. The problem is I can only read after everyone's in bed so I lose precious sleep. Oh well.

5. I am a great pile maker. Newspaper, mail, school work you name it, just ask Nate.

6. I hate snow (why again do we live here?)

7. I am training for a triathalon!

I tag Melanie, Brandy, Candice, Krista, Hannah, David and Jeni.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season came and went and I hardly noticed. Seriously, I think I blinked and missed most of it. I can't believe Christmas is over for the year. It was really fun though and we got to see a lot of family and friends. For those we missed we hope you had a merry one.

New Year's Eve was a blast as Amber came out from Texas and we had our annual party. My boys (Christian and Michael) were in heaven as they got to play Warcraft while the adults played a new game called Citadel and then Carcasonne. Last but not least was the yummy food and playing MarioKart way too long.

I am excited for what the year brings. We can't wait to see all of you again!

p.s. Dave has now set me up on Facebook for any of you that want another friend.

Secret Santa

2008-12-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

The other night we came home to a nice surprise on our front doorstep. Thank you to whoever left the yummy treats and fun stuff. It really made our night. The peanut brittle is seriously the best. Thanks for such a fun surprise!!!

Just an update on Finn. He went in today for another EEG to see how the Prednisone is helping. It turns out it has maybe helped about 10%. The doctor was a little disappointed and was hoping for a miracle. We are not really sure what to think. He wants us to come in and meet with him on the 23rd. We are grateful for all of your prayers.

2008-12-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry again to take a little blogging break. The last month has flown by. We are excited the Christmas season is upon us and even went to the Nutcracker for the second time this year last night. We really enjoy the version at the Capitol Theatre, the scenery is amazing as well as the dancers. Turns out Jeni was even in the Nutcracker a few years back.

The past couple weeks have been hard as we have seen Finn start to develop some cognitive problems. As we talked to his doctor Wed night he wanted Finn to go in for an EEG yesterday to see if this was a result of his medicine (which can cloud his cognitive abilities) or because of the constant seizure activity. Thankfully, he was able to fall asleep really fast so we were only there about 2 1/2 hours. Late last night after the Nutcracker Dr. Thompson called with discouraging news. It looks like after all this time on these heavy meds he is still having constant seizure activity. Our next step is to start high doses of steriods and repeat the EEG next week. Unfortunately, he can't be around sick people and most of our family is sick at this point. So instead of starting today we have to wait until Monday and hope we are all better. Today we will go in and Finn will be tested by the Occupational Therapist to see if he can get help through the school.

On Sunday, for those that are willing we are going to be doing a fast for Finn. The longer this goes on the more brain damage he is incurring and we don't want to lose our sweet Finn. We have already seen some personality changes which is very tough. He is such a sweet boy.

On a postive note this is Nate's last day of work until January 2. Yeah!!!

RockStar

2008-10-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long. I had a post started the other day and then my kids deleted it so they could go look at some Pokemon site. Anyway, my blog was getting a little serious so I thought I would add something fun about me. So here goes.

I have always wanted to be a rock star! Bet ya didn't know that. Unfortunately, I can't sing as some of you may know. In fact I'm pretty sure the only reason Nikki and Casey invited us over to their Playstation party was so they could feel better about themselves. I know it would probably get old very soon but traveling the world, having a tour bus, lots of fans, and being a great singer would be kind of fun-right?? All right, I guess I love to just sit home with my boys and watch American Idol.

Finn is still so into it after we went down to Gateway last spring and saw David Archuletta. We were about a foot away from him and now Finn is convinced that one of the boys in our ward (for those of you who know him-Ashton Edwards) is Archie. So much so that each week during the sacrament as Ashton is sitting up in front he lets everyone know "Mom look there is David Archuletta and he is wearing a green shirt this week." Good thing we always sit next to our good friends the Rose's. They are so patient with us and like us enough to save us a seat by them.

Go David Archuletta!

Lucky

2008-10-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight as I have been sitting here listening to lonely night music (you know that kind that makes you really think about life, that you can only listen to on a quiet night) I have pondered on the past couple of months. My emotions are close as I think about Finn and all we have gone through and Joan. I think of all of the people we are blessed to have in our lives. I think of my sweet boys and how lucky I am to have such great boys. Nate, Christian, Michael, Finn and Espy I love you guys more than you will ever know. I am so glad to go through this journey with you.

Life

2008-10-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Life is fragile. What is there one minute can be gone in an instant. Things of monetary value are thrown to the wayside as we yearn for things of eternal importance. Early Tuesday I was able to be with Joan as she passed from this side to the next. She was such a great Aunt/Sister/Mother/Friend. She was one of those people who were always willing to help out and help out she did. Everyone around her has benifited from her exceptional sewing skills-wedding dresses, blessing dresses, quiet books and embroidering everything under the sun. She was always one of the first to call to make sure things were okay. Many times she would bring something home for someone that she found while she was out shopping. She was always ready to go the extra mile. Joan we will miss you.

Tennis anyone?

2008-10-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

Friday night Dave and Jeni came up so we decided do a little barbequeing since winter is almost here. Grandma and Grandpa Mac and Kiki came over and we had a little game of tennis going. I think Esplan won. He pretty much loves all sports-basketball, football, soccer, tennis-you name it, he loves it. Christian and Michael were in heaven because after everyone else went home we had a late night Warcraft game with Dave and Jeni.

Also a little update on Finn. We finally got a hold of his Neurologist and it looks like there is still a significant amount of seizure activity going on. Not as constant as before though. We will keep him on the Vallium for a while longer. I'm not too happy about that, but what can you do? Thanks to everyone for keeping him in your prayers.

2008-10-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

This was yesterday.

This was today.

I think Utah is bi-polar.

2008-10-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

15 minutes. One boy. One cup. Water. Wood Floor.

So Nate and I were up in the library figuring out what books he needs to complete his Easton Press collection. When we came down the stairs we were surprised to find a lake in our kitchen. Seriously. We had an inch of water covering our kitchen floor. Four hundred towels later, after pulling out our fridge and cleaning up the whole floor we are left with warped boards. Then as Nate went to go back downstairs to work he realized our basement was flooding. Off to grab more towels and wipe everything up. We had to poke holes in the plastic to get out the water so our insulation could dry out. This will be funny someday, right???

Peter and Tink

2008-10-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

I just came across this picture of Christian and Sydney (Rockwood) from Halloween 2004. We thought that Tinkerbell should get a picture with Peter. Too cute! This is at our Ward Halloween party. Nate and I had just got the calling to be over the ward activities. This was our first activity and it was so much fun. We had over 400 people. Some people even came in off of the streets seeing that there was a party.

In other news: We finally got our family pics taken. Thank goodness. Seriously, I have been stressing over this for months now. I think they will turn out really well. Gary is so much easier to work with than Kiddie Kandids. We go in to check them out in two weeks. I can't wait.

p.s. Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Bunko!

2008-10-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Who's excited for Halloween? Tonight at Bunko we all came in costume. Krista won the costume contest as Medusa, Hannah beat me out with four Bunko's and McKenzie-well let's just say none of us knew what she was drinking...

Anyway, I love this time of year except for the thought of what comes next-all of you in Arizona and Texas are sure lucky-what where we thinking moving back to snow??? Thoughts of colorful leaves, hot chocolate, fall candles and pumpkins will tide me over for a few months. I'm good until Christmas, if only we could have kept our house in Phx. Maybe someday we will be snowbirds and spend the winter months in Sun City with all the other people looking to take a break from the snow.

Just a little update on Finn for those of you who were wondering. He got home from the hosptital this afternoon from his overnight EEG. His neurologist called this evening and said he hopes to have the results by Friday. I was a little disappointed because usually we get them the same day but this time it was not as critical. So he will be on the vallium for a little while longer. On a positive note though, he was able to handle about 1 1/2 hours at preschool by himself. Yeah!

Not So Great Clips

2008-10-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Just a little PSA for all of you. Great Clips does not live up to it's name. Nate had been calling Great Clips NSGC (Not So Great Clips) for awhile now and Wednesday they really lived up to that name. I am not the most organized person I will admit (although I do love to buy books on organizing :) ). So anyway, last Monday rolled around and I realized pictures were going to be on Thursday. Well, living in such a small town you really have to schedule haircuts in advance. I called around and everyone was full. So I decided that I would take them to Ogden Wednesday night and also run a few errands. The boys begged and begged for me to just cut their hair but I told them that since it was for pictures I wanted a nice haircut. When we got there Finn went first and fell in love with his hairstylest Shauntel. I didn't really fall in love with the haircut. Finn's hair is about 1/4 inch long, seriously. Poor Michael got the same hairstylist. Unfortunately, a lot of people think I cut it. We're getting family pics Wednesday-it doesn't look that bad, right??

Wires, Wires, and More Wires

2008-10-05T00:37:00.001-07:00

As you can see we have been spending quite a bit of time at hospitals lately. Finn was not too happy to have the first EEG done but by the second one later that day he was an old pro. The second one they glued the wires to his head and had a little tube that would blow air on the glue to help it dry. In between each wire they would let him put the tube in his armpit and make "moosing" sounds. Good thing he liked it cause it took about an hour just to get all the wires on.

Michael had to go in for an echo to see why he is tired all of the time. Fortunately, his heart checked out so he doesn't need to see the cardiologist for two more years.

For those of you who have wondered. Finn is mostly doing okay right now. Since his last EEG he has been on high doses of Vallium and is very naughty. We have had a month of craziness but luckily he goes in on Monday for an overnight EEG and we will see if it helped any. Then we can slowly take him off the medicine. I am looking forward to not getting nasty looks in the store when he is out of control, not going to preschool anymore (although he has a great teacher), not having my house trashed, not having to protect the tv because Finn is intent on breaking it, not having Esplan, Michael or Christian cry because Finn chucked something at them, not being able to do anything besides be glued to his side so he doesn't break something or hurt someone. Can you tell it has been rough?

We do have a wonderful ward though in that a lot of people have been praying and fasting for him. Our Bishop even said a special prayer for him in the temple. And then there are the wonderful people who do so much for us. I wish I could be as thoughtful as them. They just do things. You know how most people offer to help but you never really call them? Well there are some awesome people out there. Like my friend Candace who comes over when we call 911 even if she is not on duty. Or how last time when she was on duty came home after she got back with the ambulance and shampooed our carpet since Finn threw up all over it. Or my aunt Jeanne who baked us an apple pie on a particulary hard day when Nate was out of town. Or Finn's teacher Melanie who has done so much for us I can hardly even count it all. Wednesday, she even took him all day to give us a break and then brought us dinner. Not only that, she is a great teacher and is so patient and nice to even let me bring Finn to school.

I think I have learned a lot from all of this and it definately makes me want to be a better person. I want to be the one that goes out of my way to help someone. There are so many great people out there, so thanks to everyone and hopefully I can find someone each day to help out even in a small way.

This is my life

2008-10-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

Being a mother of four crazy boys I see a lot of mud, bugs, mud, rocks... did I mention mud??? Each month me and my sisters, cousins, aunts and mom have a craft club. We like to try all kinds of things we have never done before. We have made birdbaths out of cement, done fabric origami, learned to knit, modge podged, done needlework, quilted, painted plates and more. I am so glad this group was started cause we not only work on developing talents, we enjoy lunch together and just get to talk. Since my grandma died I don't see a lot of my aunts so it helps bring us back together. This time we were at the park working on a quilt while Esplan was "playing" in the playground. He loved it for all of one minute and then wanted the mud off of his head.

Birthdays

2008-10-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

Esplan and I celebrated our birthdays with a water party in our backyard. I can't believe my baby is two, the time has gone so quickly. Nate got me the Bosch I have been begging for for about 7 years. Now, I think I am indebted to making about 4 loaves of bread a week for the next 50 years. My only problem is I have no idea how to bake. So far my bread is either doughy or sunken, so if you have any tips please advise.

First Day of School

2008-10-05T00:09:00.000-07:00

Since we aren't very good at sending pictures out here's a few of the kids back to school pics. Christian is in the fourth grade now, Michael is in second and Finn goes to preschool.

Fun at the State Fair

2008-10-04T23:43:00.000-07:00

I am now a blogger!!! Since Christian created a blog I decided I better get with the times and get one of my own. So with Dave's help, here I go.

A couple of weeks ago we ventured out to the State Fair. The boys were excited to see the animals. As you can see Esplan was very excited (and no his head is not photoshopped). Luckily, at this point we still have Esplan. You see, just minutes before, as we were sitting down to eat, we realized Esplan was gone. Nate, Michael, and Finn had gone to get food while Katie, my mom, dad and I were sitting down with the other kids. As soon as we realized he was gone we were all running in every direction. About five minutes later my mom found him quite far away. He was just talking to some people not scared at all. Crazy boy loves to talk!

I love the fair! It brings back so many fun memories of working there. It's kind of white trashish but oh so fun. I loved meeting all the people and the late nights. One of my favorite memories is one night after we were done working we all went out for pie. The waitress came while my mom was in the bathroom so we talked her into going into the bathroom to take my moms order. Can you imagine her surprise when the waitress knocked on the stall to take her order? It's even funnier in the middle of the night.