Great Benisms

This one was great! I had helped Sarah get her clothes off so she could go take a shower with her Dad. Ben came in the room (kitchen) and said, "What happened to Sarah?" Now, I was a little confused for a second, he knew where she was. But, I turned around and started laughing. He was looking at this. . . . . . . .

. . . . . Sarah's pile of dirty clothes. It just was so funny that he would have even thought to turn that into a joke!

You know your kids watch too much tv when this is their conversation.

Ben: that's Spanish (little Einsteins song in spanish).

Me: uh, huh.

Ben: We should learn a language. And when we do I think we should get Rosetta Stone.

Me: !!!!!

* Yesterday I took the kids with me to the grocery store at 12:20 pm. We hadn't had lunch yet, and they don't always like to go to the store - often acting out while there. I told them we had to go (I had to get basic stuff to make cinnamon rolls, we didn't even have anything to make lunch with.) and promised them Lunchables. That worked. Then I ended up having to meet my brother at the storage shed. It was almost 2:00 when we headed home, and Sarah fell asleep. (We only had to drive about 5 minutes!) I told Ben that I had really goofed, by not getting us to the store sooner. Now Sarah was asleep and hadn't even eaten lunch yet. He said, "That's okay. We still love you." Aren't our kids great!? Why do we need them to console us almost as much as they need us?

Creepy Guy #2

So, I thought I had this exercise thing all figured out. I drove around the blocks by our house (small blue square) - and it was 1 mile for me to walk around each block. This way I could pass the house every 5 minutes or so and keep an eye on the kids. It was going well. The kids were watching Dora and I had made it around 2 blocks. As I came past the house again, Ben was on the porch (which is enclosed). He said hi and told me Sarah kept unlocking the door - I didn't know she could do that. At the same time a guy (red star) was walking past the house. I (purple star) was on the other side of the street.

Creepy guy #2 - Good morning.

Me - Hi!

CG #2 - I wish I was high, but I have to go to work.

Me - That's probably a good thing.

CG #2 - Do you walk on the streets so you can keep an eye on your kids?

Me - (AAAHHH!!) Yeah. (as I come to a stop)

Then, to Ben

CG #2 - I know, I just met her. You've got a good mom.

At this point I'm getting pretty nervous. So, I take a few more steps and wait to see that he's gone, before I leave sight of my kids again.

He crosses the street, not walking fast, and me just wondering if he's going to do something weird. Then he stops, turns around, and it looks like he's just watching me. So, I went home. I went in the back door and deadbolted it. Through the house to the front door, got the kids in off the porch (he's still out there!) and deadbolted the door!

Are you wondering why he's creepy guy #2? Well, about 2 years ago I decided I was going to go walking at 4:30 am - before Kannon left for work. Some guy crossed the street and followed me for awhile before going to the other side again. It just didn't feel safe and so I didn't do that again. Now, I can't even walk around the block!?

Normal?

Okay, so I almost always have an afternoon food fest. That is my touchy time of day as far as food goes. It's when I've got the kids napping/resting and I guess I use food to relax. Yesterday I was doing okay and then had a sugar need. I found the bag of frosted animal cookies. Even while opening it, my mind was saying "NO!" Did I listen? Of course not. (How do I expect to have obedient children when I'm not so obedient myself?) I ate a few - don't even know how many - then Ben came in from outside. "What are you eating?"

Me: Something I shouldn't be.

Ben: Why?

Me: Because they aren't good for me. (giving him 2 cookies and saving 2 for Sarah) I'll go put these away right now.

And I did.

Sarah mostly just carried hers around for awhile, eventually leaving them at the computer where I was sitting. About 1/2 an hour later I caught myself picking them up, looking them over (you know, for lint and stuff!) and popping them in my mouth where they sat for a few seconds. Then I spit them out. I'm slowly learning to control. What a tedious process, but worth it in the end. I know my husband just thinks "so don't eat it." And there are probably others with the same mentality. I'm here to tell you, it's not that easy. It IS an addiction. Which does make it an evil, and I am conquering!
Tuesday was a really long day for me. We left the house at 8am to go to Elko. I stopped in Winnemucca to drop the kids off for a day with their cousins. It took a lot longer to get to Sasha's house and back to the freeway than I thought it would. I got to Elko around 1 and went straight to pick up the fruit I had ordered. I was picking up 3 boxes tomatoes, 1 box apples, 1 box asian pears, 1 box mixed fruit. This was for me and my mom. The lady didn't get as many tomatoes as were ordered so I ended up with only 2 boxes. I also picked up the stuff for everyone in Winnemucca. Sasha was going to get it, and mine, but her truck was having problems, so I volunteered. I ended up with a pretty full load. I met M-i-L and Risha for a break and a treat, then headed on my way. Now, I don't drive so well. That is to say, I get really sleepy when I drive. On the way with the kids they watched "A Bug's Life" and I ate every one of my snacks I'd brought. On the way to Elko, by myself, I kind of watched "The Princess Bride". It was a listen and glance type of thing. On the way back to Winnemucca it was "Newsies" and the kids watched "The Little Mermaid" on the way back to our house. They sure had a good time with the cousins. Ben fell asleep on the way home, but Sarah was awake. I annoyed her with my sing-along! Poor girl ended up on the sunny side both ways, so there was some fussing going on. I really wanted to get back in time for our enrichment meeting. We made it home by 7 (meeting started at 6:30) and I got the kids inside and left! It was a great meeting. Much needed. And they were still eating when I got there, so I got supper, too.
Wednesday was a pretty normal day. But, the last few bedtime/naptimes have been off. Ben doesn't always take a nap and I don't always make him lay down. Sometimes that makes it hard for Sarah. Sometimes she takes early naps, too. Yesterday, she was just giggly and playing with Ben. Finally I just figured there wouldn't be naps - it was getting late for naps. They were watching tv when I found Sarah. This has been happening every once in awhile, too. Oh! And those cute pants are her pajamas. We got them at a yard sale and it took a little convincing to get her to wear them the first time. Now she wants to wear them all the time! She wouldn't take them off until I told her she could wear them at bed time. Well, at nap time she got them out and wanted them on. She ended up putting them on over her pants. She didn't want to get dressed this morning either!

We are also doing a little more on the potty training side. I never planned on pushing her. I've kind of let her do it on her own. Sometimes she does do it on her own. Kannon found her Sunday morning half naked. He put on his glasses and discovered she had done some pottying. There was some cleaning up to do with that one, glad it was him and not me. She wears her undies about 1/2 of each day. We're getting in the habit of going first thing in the morning, because I make her go before she can "watch a show". (That's in quotes because that's what she says all the time - add a question mark to the end!) Today she came over to me and said she spilled, while picking up her feet and waddling! I asked her where, she showed me and asked for paper towels. She knows that she has to clean it up. She does the dry towels and I follow with the wet. So far we've not had a poop mess like that. I'm sure the day is coming!
And fall doesn't officially start until this weekend, but this little village is one of my September decorations. I just got them out this week. I love this time of year. I am such a 70 degree type of girl! I love needing to cover up more at night and being able to have the front door open to the porch. My rocking chair out there has been calling to me!

Mood swings!

I've had some seriously "psycho" days. Well, not the days, but ME! Ask my family, I've been bad. It kind of started Saturday night. I was just feeling underappreciated. I had spent a lot of time taking care of the family - dinner, baths, preparing for Sundays crockpot, etc. I also needed to prepare my lesson. I made breakfast on Sunday morning (careful not to feed Sarah yeast or Ben eggs, as those were the allergies we were clearing). Then on to finishing up the crockpot preparations. I kept getting interrupted by the kids or the phone and was getting a little ticked (still not sure WHY). Kannon was relaxing in bed, reading. That's how most Sunday mornings go. I work and he sleeps (takes at least one nap each sun. am.) I finally told him how I felt. So, he was kind enough to get the kids dressed for church (2 1/2 hours earlier than we had to be there!) I ended up having to take Sarah's dress off and put on again for lunch. Our meetings actually went really good and I was feeling good. I put a lot of effort into listening to the speakers and teachers and felt that my lesson went well. I stayed for choir and Kannon took the kids home. (He held onto Sarah while I found Ben. Then I took them out to the car -keep in mind it was 95 degrees then! - he said he'd be right out - I even double-asked him! At least 7-10 minutes later he came out. I was late for choir and feeling annoyed, but let it go) When I got home I quickly got dinner on the table and called everyone in. Nobody was really eating, picking and complaining, and that sure added to my feelings of being unappreciated. Kannon told me they had eaten some snacks when they got home from church. Now, I don't want anyone going hungry, but I wish they'd eaten the dinner instead of the snacks and not worried about waiting for me. So, I moped and complained and was basically eating alone. My emotional eating was setting in, too, and I was going to eat everything on the table! Not really but I felt like it! Ben said he'd stay with me til I was done, but I was too cranky to want him around. Then, because of the whole emotional thing, I cooked up a batch of brownies, and after they were done and the home teachers left, I ate them. Well, not all of them, but at least 3 or 4. I was sure being pouty. All evening! Monday day was fine - but when Kannon came home and didn't want to take Ben to soccer, and I had to again, even though I've been doing it all season - I got mad again. I was mad all night. Yesterday went a little better, but I was still a little stand-offish with everyone. I did get to go to our enrichment night, it was sorely needed. We had a great reminder of the Proclamation to the World http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=e1fa5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=1aba862384d20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1&contentLocale=0

and I've really been trying to get the spirit back in my life, so a lot of things were just what I needed to hear. Plus, we had a great sister, one that I've always admired, talk to the younger mothers about . . . . well, life. That it's not easy. Her youngest is on his mission and she says she wouldn't want to live any of that again. She shared some of her journal entries from the young motherhood days and they sounded so much like my days. You have the good and the bad. She reminded us to always turn to the Lord. This is her advice:
1-Believe in what you're doing. Basically know that being a mother is the most important thing you could be doing.
2- Take care of yourself.
- Spiritually
- Physical
- Take time for yourself - she said find that one thing that you just love to do, that you lose track of time doing. I don't have that yet.
- Female friends
- Serve
- Relief Society
3- Don't be so hard on yourself.
4- Ask for Heavenly Father's help.
5- Don't overschedule.
6 - Joy comes in moments.

I felt buoyed up and didn't even get mad when the kids were still up and fussing about going to bed. Today's been okay, but unproductive. I did read my scriptures this morning. I've done that all week. Brother Hyde said that when he had young children, the impression came to him one day when they had not read scriptures "it doesn't matter how successful you are at work today because you've failed to read the scriptures with your family". And the next day after reading them with his family "it doesn't matter what failures you have today, because you have succeeded in having scripture study". I rededicate myself to choosing the right. To doing all of those little things that will bring the spirit into my home and my life. One thing I read while preparing my lesson said that our lives are really about showing how self-disciplined we are. Everything we do or don't do comes down to how willing we were to Do it! I know there are some situations and even illnesses where that might not apply. But, it does apply in my life. And I choose to be disciplined.

As a side-note, some of the mood swing feelings could be from the progesterone cream I'm using. I'd been getting headaches that I felt were related to my use. My friend Julie did some testing for me and said I wasn't using enough, thus the headaches. So, I've been using more of it and I know that the body kind of goes through a detox kind of thing, other ladies I know have had similar results. They will go away! But, I sure feel sorry for my family in the meantime!

Reader Beware!

Just a note - some of the pictures in the posts I just did, are crappy! I had some camera issues, which you can read about in the post "Funeral Weekend".

The last Week

On Monday, Memorial Day, Ben and I headed off for the parade. Any of the AYSO soccer teams that want to, can be in the parade. So, Ben's team - the Alien Rattlers - chose to do it. We dug out some candy bags from the food storage. (Kannon says if we have candy when everyone is living off food storage, we can barter it for other things! So, we have a lot.) I was the "soccer mom" that made the flag. I took pics of the boys and stretched and bulged them until they looked like aliens with long forked tongues! Maybe I can get a picture of it later. When we got there they told me I had to ride the float with him. I was so unprepared for being in the public! I thought I was going to go home and get cleaned up before going to the parade. Oh well. He and I are over the tires on this picture. The boys had a lot of fun throwing candy. There were 2 buckets FULL, and we were more than half out before we got halfway through!
When we got back we had the chance to visit and play with Kannon's sister Sasha and her family. The cousins played in the backyard while Clint and Kannon loaded the woodstove and Sasha and I ran to the store. We barbecued and had a great lunch before they headed back and we took Kannon to the drop off point. Because he had Monday off, they worked Tuesday-Friday. With only 2 days off instead of 3, this last weekend, he decided he'd stay up there (in Elko). So, we decided to go up for the weekend, too.
I left Friday morning and we had an uneventful (thank goodness!) trip up there. We stopped at Grandma's work and said hi. Then hung around the house until JJ got home. I left the kids and took JJ to Wendover. He was meeting his wife (who has been working in SLC and him working in Elko) for a weekend in Wendover. And I was picking up Kannon. We had dinner together at the Peppermill. I had started getting a headache around 4 that afternoon. Normally my headaches don't grow too much and eventually they go away. This one was a grower. On the way to Wendover I kept squeezing my head and slow blinking. It was pretty bad by dinner. Before we headed back to Elko we stopped at a convenience store and I got some Aleve. But half an hour later I was pretty sick. My migraine made me physically ill. Never had that happen before. Not pleasant. Luckily the last thing I'd packed in the car that morning was a couple plastic bags - just in case. I felt better after that and by morning (and after a crappy night) I was well again.
Kannon went to yard sales with his dad and Ben. I left later with my M-i-L and Sarah, and we did our own yard saling! It was pretty enjoyable. Back home for lunch and Sarah's nap and in town again for Brock's soccer game. I left the kids there with Kannon, and MiL and I went to Fashion Bug! I love that store for Plus size sales. I ended up getting $254 worth of clothes for $70 (sales plus instore discount!) I bought some things for now and some that I'm using as inspiration to lose the weight. I took a nap after we got back and after dinner Kannon, Brock, Ben and I went to town for the demolition derby. JJ had won tickets over the radio and gave them to us to go. We had gone to the DD last year at the state fair and really enjoyed it. This one was so disappointing! There were a total of 6 cars involved and tons of waiting!

We went an hour early so we could get good seats. This is Brock and Ben thumb wrestling while we waited. I did a lot of people watching. I started taking pictures of some of the more interesting people until the guy behind me said "she's cute". Then I started to wonder if people would think I was some kind of psycho for taking pics of people I don't know and gave that up. It was interesting to see the 11-year old girls dressed like 16-year olds. Or the guy in front of us who had finished 2 beers before the show and was working on his 4th when we left (early). There was a lady who fed her infant soda from the can. And countless folks texting throughout! Brock took Ben to visit some of his friends and Kannon and I just sat.

We were pretty excited when it started until we noticed the few cars. The first round was 3 cars! Ben liked "Goldie" and I was rooting for "00". My car won. Then we waited about 20 minutes while they towed out the cars and the next 3 came in. Those 3 got stuck together within a minute and they brought in the tow trucks again. That's when we all agreed to leave. We stopped at Maverick and got ice cream - well frozen yogurt. Kannon takes me there almost every visit to Elko, I love their frozen yogurt. We had root beer float flavor - and Ben picked a fountain soda!

Sunday was nice and relaxing. Church went okay. They have sacrament last and by then the kids were out of sorts. MiL and I took Kannon back to Wendover that night. I left Monday morning to come home (the perks of homeschooling!) Our drive home took a long time. I got gas before leaving Elko, we stopped for lunch in Winnemucca (and more gas - I was in the Geo, not sure how far it could go), and then had to stop for about 1/2 an hour for road construction just 30 minutes away from home!

Sarah and Ben watching a movie. It took me awhile to figure out how to work it all - the charger only works when the car is ON! Notice Sarah's fingers in her mouth? We get this a lot lately and it was this weekend when I finally thought, "is it her teeth?" Sure enough, Sarah's 2-year molars are coming in -that totally explains her whiny, cranky moods lately!

This is me, driving, stylin' in my shades! I didn't want to wear my contacts that morning and it was too bright without the sunglasses. So cute, huh?! And aren't I talented to take these photos while driving?!
This is the passenger seat. We had gotten so much extra stuff from the yard sales, Fashion Bug, the bucket of apples from MiL, plus all that we had brought for the weekend. We were totally loaded!
And this is Sarah when we got home. She was so cranky. I don't remember why she was mad, but she just lay down on the sidewalk and pouted. I think I had to go get her, she wouldn't get up by herself. I was glad to be home and it was time to get back to work. I feel like I've been getting organized for the past 3 days. And my house is still a mess. I have the rest of today to finish it, since Kannon comes home tonight. Last Friday, his old boss called him and said we want you back. So this was his last week away! Hurray! I'll be glad to have him home. More time with him, more time he can spend with the kids, and more time I can spend away from them! Not that I do that a lot, but every once in awhile is nice - even if it's just to the store for an hour. I haven't been able to do anything alone for the weeks he's been gone. Plus, he'll be able to help me get to bed earlier and I know I won't eat so much at night with him home. Second of all, (shout out to Kim!) I just love him.

Funeral weekend

The 2 Johnny's - Nancy and baby Colby

Rock Band -

I'm having a really hard time getting pictures on for this entry. Last week I took my SD card in to have the latest pictures developed. The next day, when I wanted to take a picture, I couldn't find it. I looked everywhere, but I'm pretty sure it got thrown away at Walmart - it was in an envelope - and I'm sure no one bothered to look inside. So, I tried taking pictures of the pictures, they were pretty blurry. I tried scanning them, but our scanner is crappy. I tried turning the pictures so they wouldn't be crooked, but that process didn't really work out. So, "you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit!"

So, August 30, Saturday, was Grandma Young's funeral. I still wasn't very sad - I've just felt so glad that she can be freed from her physical pain and be reunited with her other family members. It was a very nice funeral, love the music and the stories, some I had never heard before. I also enjoyed visiting with my cousins. We had all but 3 of us there. There was a nice dinner afterward and we got to meet and grandma's house after that. I'm excited to have a few more things of Grandma's that I can enjoy and remember her. I love her everyday silverware, always have and now we can use it everyday!

We spent a lot of time at my mom and dad's house over that weekend. We played a lot of games - mostly Rock Band on the wii. I really enjoyed the drums the most. We went to my parents ward on that sunday so we could spend more time with everyone. We ALL got good naps that afternoon.

The river #2

Okay, so I'm a little behind (with a big behind, haha!) On August 29, a friday, we floated down the river again. This time with my sister Nancy, her hub Dave and son Tyler, and my mom and brother John. It was really nice, very relaxing. I took a disposable water proof camera. It was so hard to remember to hold it still. I'm so used to my digital, that corrects so many problems. So, sorry about the blurry. Sarah hadn't had her nap yet and fell asleep about half way down.

This is Nancy and Tyler. She wasn't sure he'd want to go, but was really excited when we got to the water.

And here is the big brother, John, helping de-air the tubes before heading home.