Journal

As usual, life is busy and crazy and full of excitement around here.  These cute kids keep us laughing most of the time (or frustrated depending on the moment). This job is not easy, but man it is so awesome!  When I look at their faces, or hold them, or talk with them I just feel so blissful inside.  The amazement of it all never goes away.

 I was driving the other day and thinking about each of our children and reflecting on this journey in life.  I was thinking that now that we have 6 amazing children, how rewarding it is to see.  Then I thought of a scriptural parallel of the Lord’s 6 creative periods and then resting on the 7^th day and saying, “It is Good.” I laughed at myself for thinking of that but I really do feel sorta like that. 

Now that Luke is 4 months old, I am starting to see glimpses of feeling like myself again.  He is such a sweet baby.  I could just squeeze him all day long.  He is content to just be held and cuddled.  His eyes are still a grayish blue, but his right eye has one brown dot in it that is more noticeable all the time.  This is just an easy age.  He sleeps through the night, feeding is easy and quick, he still naps a lot, is easily entertained, and is not mobile.  His main project lately is learning how to work those amazing things we call hands. His favorite things to practice with are crinkly pieces of plastic and dollar store Mardi Gras beads (supervised of course).

My migraines have subsided for the most part and I felt that the medication that I was taking to help prevent them had served its purpose.  I was feeling really tired all the time from it. This would explain why I haven’t blogged much lately.  It has just seemed like a lot of effort to find a moment to go out to do it. As soon as I stopped taking the medication, I was amazed at how much more alert I was.  I started taking vitamin B12 as well and between those two things, I have energy again!  I even began exercising this week finally and haven’t missed a day yet.  Zumba at the Stake Center on Monday was a blast and now I remember why it is so easy to get hooked on it.  The other days I have been doing Jillian Michael’s 30 day Shred at home with a friend.  Welcome back 5 am workouts.  There is just no other way to be consistent so I have accepted it.

Things are slowing returning back to normal around here as I continue to bounce back from the last year.  I am organizing things a little more all the time to help make things run more smoothly.  I probably should get it by now, but I am still amazed at how consuming pregnancy and having a new baby is. I had let so much go and was in survival mode, but now I am having fun putting all the pieces back together again.   Last week I reorganized our laundry system and really improved and simplified things.  I am back to rolling complete outfits together which helps our mornings go significantly better. 

Then on Sunday we revised our game plan for getting through church with the littles.  New charts and new motivational system. Aside from the same old Sacrament Meeting struggles, little Carter is needing some extra help adjusting to primary.  We tweaked our scripture and family time a bit as well.  We do pretty well with our morning devotional because we eat breakfast at the table.  We added a new element though(in addition to illustrated scripture stories and Friend magazine stories).  I bought some Articles of Faith flashcards and we started working as a family to memorize them.  I put the kid’s initials on the back of each card and when they pass it off, everyone cheers for them and they get a sparkly sticker under their initial. It’s a simple and easy program.  The older kids already know some of them so it is fun to see how much they have learned from Primary.    The morning study is more geared toward the smallest children, although they all get a lot out of it. 

We are changing our nightly study and I am very excited.  We have not been  as consistent with it because it is so difficult to get them all to sit on the couches and listen and follow along.  Nearly impossible would be a better way to put it.  It seemed a bit ironic to get to the point of yelling one moment and then read the words of the scriptures the next.  Not good.  So we decided that instead of reading at the same time as family prayer that we will do it when we gather for dinner around the table.  I won’t bring the food out until we have read. This will hopefully give everyone motivation to sit still because we won’t eat until we have been “spiritually fed” first.  I don’t know why in the world we didn’t do this before because it works so well around the breakfast table. 

The evening study is reading directly out of the scriptures to become familiar with them.  We have been using those cute scripture stickers as a study tool to make it more interesting for the kids, but we have a new system for evening study now too. We are going to make it into a lesson using the book Scripture Study for Latter-Day Saint Families book(Book of Mormon edition).  It breaks lessons down into a few verses and then incorporates activities, insights, object lessons, quotations, stories and writing activities.  This will be mostly geared toward Dallin and Eden, but everyone is expected to participate and learn how to sit and listen.  I am excited that our kids are getting old enough to do this, I have had the book since Dallin was a baby.  I hope that it will be fun and interesting for all of us and that it will help instill a love for the scriptures. It’s kind of like our own mini Seminary.  I am sure we will still have a lot of frustration, but we will just keep moving forward.

Those are a few tweaks we have made among many to our schedules as we try to get a grip on life.  Routines and schedules are not either of our strong suit, but it becomes more of a need all the time. We are more of a laid back, lets make everything fun and fly by the seat of our pants kind of couple by nature so it is not easy for us. We keep on trying anyway.

Moving on, Peter just makes me laugh.  Last week he was babysitting while I was out and when I got home I went to change Lily and her diaper was DUCT TAPED on!!!  He said she would not stop stripping and he was feeling pretty proud of his solution.  So proud, in fact, that he now keeps a roll in the “Bottom Drawer” with the diapers along with a pair of scissors for easy removal.  I can’t say it didn’t work, ha ha!  There really are a million uses for that stuff. I haven’t tried it yet, but I just might after yet another horrible poop experience that will haunt my dreams yesterday.

Then Peter was being such a nice daddy and dropped something off at the school for Dallin.  One of Dallin’s classmates got totally pumped and exclaimed “ Your Dallin’s dad?  Wow, you look exactly like Captain America!”  Of course Peter and Dallin felt pretty great about that when the kid added “ Yeah, you know BEFORE he was Captain America!” I think the kid and Dallin were still thinking that was cool, but Peter came home and told me he was going to the gym.  I could not stop laughing at him.  Although I totally loved that movie and Captain America is like the best guy/superhero ever to me so I thought it was cool too.  Peter, you would make a great Captain America.

We had tons of fun with Eden’s birthday this year. I will save all the little details to go with the pictures, but I spent a lot of time planning and making things extra special for her.  I think she will always remember it. 

Now it is crunch time for our Disney trip.  I have reserved a minivan, hotel, and bought all our theme park tickets now.  I found a double room suite with 4 large beds to stay in that is a 5 minute walk to the Disney gates.  I love that we won’t have to load and unload kids and strollers constantly.  We stayed there before and it is not fancy, but the price is right.

Our luggage consists of one extra large suitcase with a broken zipper so that was a problem.  Our airline charges $20 each to check bags so we needed to get some carry ons.  I couldn’t believe how expensive it was to buy luggage new (it would have been hundreds)  so I wasn’t sure what we were going to do.  Then I happened to see that Salvation Army was having a half price day and ended up buying 5 good looking, excellent condition rolling carry ons, a backpack and a small purse with an over the shoulder strap for less than $20! I think the airport and flying will all be part of the experience so the kids will have fun feeling so big wheeling their very own bag through(note to self- allot extra time for getting through the airport).  

Our video camera died so I got a new one and a small point and shoot camera so that I don’t have to lug my big one around.  I know the pictures won’t be as good, but I just can’t see carrying my big one around all week.  I have given up on getting nice pictures all the time anyway.  It is just not practical in my situation and it is more important to be able to get all those priceless moments than to get things just right all the time.  I still have much preparing and packing to do to make it all come together (I love planning all the little details) but I can’t wait!  Did I mention that we got Lucy to come with us and help?!!! That gives us one grown up hand per child! Love that girl.  And finally just a fun fact: Luke will be the exact same age that Carter was the last time we went to Disneyland.

Journaling

Well now that the holidays are over, I can take one quick breath and get ready for more.  Eden's birthday is in a couple of weeks and we are planning a tea party birthday for her.  I also need to start thinking about our upcoming trip.  We bought tickets for a great price, but thats all.  We have a date and tickets.  I need to get cracking on all the other details.  I want this trip to be epic so I will be putting a lot of thought into the plans. 

On the subject of reading, I usually give the kids new books for Christmas and this year I got them the  Fablehaven  and Levan Thumps series in hardback that I got for a crazy steal of a deal.  Unfortunately they were not too excited.  Hopefully it will be the gift that keeps on giving as we get read them this year.

I really want these guys to love reading, but we haven't quite gotten there yet.   Lately they like to listen to Junie B. and Magic Treehouse at bed time.  Dallin read his first chapter book (a Magic Treehouse) all by himself recently, but it broke my heart when I listened as he read aloud. He was reading every word, but only really getting about half of them right.  He rushes and guesses a lot even though he has the ability to read well.  Because of this, his comprehension is really low.  He was just reading it with a goal in mind to read his first chapter book.  I spent a lot of time helping him slow down so he would enjoy it, but he just isn't quite there yet.  I can't wait for that light bulb to turn on for him.

On the upside, I found a Captain Underpants book at the library and Dallin and Eden think it is hilarious.  Dallin actually begged for me to keep reading and was so bummed out when it was over.  I am glad that we have found a series that he is really excited about now.  Maybe that will get him going.  There are 10 books so I told him he gets to be the reader when we get the next one.
We hosted our first New Years Eve party this year.  It was super fun.  We had a good turn out of friends and family and played games, rock band, pool and ate lots of food.  At midnight we went outside and banged pots with the kids.  Except for Luke, they all made it to midnight!  I think we will be doing this again.

We started 9:00 church the next morning, but only 2 kids were even well enough to go.  3 of them got ear infections after being sick so much and with lingering coughs there was just no way.  So Peter took Dallin and Eden and I stayed home yet again.  I sure miss being there the last 3 weeks!  I just want to all be healthy again.  It seems like we have been sick more than not since September. 

One thing about hosting a party was that we were pretty quick to get the post-Christmas clutter under control.  We had all the new toys organized and put away, decorations all down, and a pretty thorough de-junking under way.  We still have a ways to go in some areas (cough, garage, cough), but things are shaping up quite a bit. 

I haven't really put a lot of thought into a new years resolution.  I am always working on goals so I feel like I should just keep doing that.  I am still recovering from the last year of pregnancy and baby.  It is amazing how much that takes out of you.  I guess my main goal is to get things back to normal.  Normal eating, normal weight, normal housekeeping, normal routines etc.  I was slowly but steadily losing baby weight, but then the holidays started and I have gained about 5 lbs back so I definitely need to get my bootie in gear now.

Life is so good with less distraction in my life.  I do miss internet still and hate having to leave home to use it, but I must say life is much much more simple.  I am enjoying my mother role more and am  more focused on it.  I don't even miss T.V.  We have a digital converter on our TV so we could watch some, but other than PBS Kids we don't even bother. I read the scriptures more, get more sleep and spend more time doing things that really matter like enjoying my kids.   Life feels more meaningful.  It can be depressing to be checked out in front of a screen.  My carnal side is still mourning, but I am pretty sure we are going to stick with this for a while yet.  I just keep a list of things I need to do and blog about and do it when I can. 

Luke is just the sweetest little baby.  He is so good natured and smiles a lot now.  I love just holding him and talking to him as we lock eyes.  He is pretty attached to his mommy and I don't mind.  I don't know if it is because I have had many babies and don't mind the hard parts as much or if I am just older and appreciate things more, but having a baby has never been so wonderful.  I honestly don't think I enjoyed it this much in my earlier years of it.  I am starting to realize that I don't want to be done with this phase of life.  Just a feeling, nothing more.  Our family definitely needs a breather for a while now.

A couple of funny things:

We got an armoire from Peter's brother that we put in our entry and we're so grateful for the extra storage.  It has two drawers, so we use one for diapers and one for the kids socks.  Peter insisted that we put the diapers in the "bottom" drawer.  Get it? diapers... bottom?  He kept asking me where the diapers were for about a week so that I would tell him they were in the "bottom" drawer.  There is no shortage of humor at our house.

We were eating lunch one day and Tanner randomly exclaimed that when he was sleeping at Great Wolf Lodge, he felt like he was still in the wave pool.  I have experienced things like that before too, but it is funny coming from a 5 year old, two months later. 

Well, Christmas break is officially over and the kids head back to school.  I am looking forward to getting back to the routine. 

Christmas 2011

This was our first Christmas as a family of 8!  We got home late on Christmas Eve from partying with my family.  When we got home we told the kids they could open a couple of presents.  They all got new jammies and a pillow pet.  We are a little late getting on the pillow pet bandwagon, but it paid off because I got them for cheap.  They loved them.  I also found some cheap character throw blankets that came with a stuffed animal and couldn't resist so we added that and they got totally spoiled. After some screaming and jumping up and down, they happily went to bed with all their goodies.  

We slept in until about 8:00 and did our on the stairs picture before it all began.  We were terribly sick for most of December and so you can tell that some of these guys were not doing so good here.

Lily was too sick to get excited and opened a couple of things while laying down. 

Dallin got Legos.

Tanner got the Woody doll he wanted to replace the one that he loved to death(literally, the head came off) from last year and a paper airplane kit.


Lily got a cute little girly play kitchen and healthy play food.
Tanner also got a Spiderman tent hand me down that our neighbors gave us.

Smart Globe combined gift.

Eden got Target's American Girl doll knock off and accessories.

Tanner's favorite(besides Woody) was markers and a sketchbook.  He loves to draw.

Lily fell asleep half way through, Tanner kept running for bathroom breaks and Carter was throwing up every few minutes.

It was quite a morning. Poor little darlings.  The big kids opened most of their gifts for them as they watched.  It did make for an unusually calm morning.  I must say that part of it was kind of nice, not that they were sick though.

We were really strict about opening presents in order one at a time so that everyone could be happy for each other and so that the fun would last a while.  After opening Santa gifts, we had Cinnamon rolls for breakfast and played with the new loot.  Then we started in on the gifts to each other.  This year I did not want all the dollar store stuff, so I  bought some nice things for each kid and set up a "store" in the basement for them to shop for each other.   They picked out and wrapped the gifts and were very excited for the giving part.  I was happy to see that.  As we opened the gifts they were so grateful to one another and hugged and talked about each thing. That was fun. I gave Peter a new drill (that he picked out), a computer game(that he picked out), and a couple of chess books.  The kids gave him a metal fire pit thing, fire wood, marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.  They loved watching him piece it together as he opened each part of the gift. Peter gave me a large roaster crock pot sort of thing.  I have eyed those for years with our big family dinners in mind.  I can't wait to try it out.  I should be able to put a roast with veggies for 20 in there no problem.  He also gave me the CUTEST apron.  He went to several different stores looking for one he thought I would like and consulted his mom on the matter.  I love thoughtful gifts.  He knows I am crazy about aprons.  I love putting it on and remembering how much he loves me. 
After going through stockings, the elf directed them to look out the front door.  They found a poster board with a large glittery poem that told them that we are going to Disneyland on an airplane! It went over well and Eden was so excited about the airplane part because she has never flown before.  We have been planning and saving for a trip for a while now, but this made it official since we bought the tickets. We are going to be in California for 8 days! I wonder what it will be like for us to all fly together....

It seems like I learn a little bit each year about how we like to do things around here as far as gifts go.  This year I learned that less is more.  We did too much of the more this year.  I am a bargain shopper, a lot of things were thrifted or bought on sale, but they would have been happy with much less than we ended up doing.  But overall it was a wonderful Christmas and we made some great memories.

Christmas Count Down

December was awesome this year.  We played hard and did so many fun activities together.  I LOVED not being pregnant at Christmas.  Some things were traditions that we have kept up, some were just activity fillers and others were fun unique things that made this a year to remember. Here are a few pictures:

One night we made a package to send to my Mom and Dad since we would not be together for Christmas.

Ward Christmas party with a visit from Santa.  I was really sick so I stayed home with Lily and Carter and missed it.  We were sick with one thing after another the whole month! 
We had a family dinner at our house one night and asked Grandma to read us our Christmas story for that night.  She read the favorite "Best Loved Bear", which she had given to us a couple years ago.
They sure love her.
Peter is doing a job conveniently next door to Krispie Cream and so he surprised us with snowman donuts one night.  It was a big hit!

Lily had just woken up and she was still half dazed, but when she saw the donut she snapped right out of it and bit its head off.
We combined 2 activities one night and rode the Maxx train to the zoo for the Zoo Lights.  Lucy came with us which was a big help.  I don't think we could have pulled off that trip without her.  It was crazy and scary trying to move our crowd from one place to another and not lose anyone keep up with them. Lucy is awesome. We walked around but mostly just rode the zoo train and left because it was so cold and crowded.  The lights were great.

The kids thought it was great that we got off inside an underground tunnel and rode an elevator to the zoo.  They said we went on a subway.  Here we are waiting to go back home.  Everyone was freezing by then.


One morning Peter's brother Jimmy somehow set up a phone call recording from Santa to call for Tanner.  Tanner was in awe and thought it was so funny because Santa said he was going to bring him underwear and that he wanted Tanner to leave him some macaroni and cheese. 

Making paper snowflakes.









Peter did a job for a lady on Bull Mountain one day and she happened to be filling up her car with Christmas lights to take to Goodwill.She was bored with them and starting fresh.  Peter generously offered to take them off her hands for her.  She called him the next day and offered a TON more so he and the kids went and got a rediculous amount of lights, lighted figures and even tubs of extension cords. This isn't even all of it.  Dallin pretty much died and went to Christmas light heaven.  He was heavily involved in the set up.  After spending much of a Saturday setting things up, they continued to set up a little more each day.  Dallin would come home from school and work on whatever he thought would look good.  Our front yard began to look like a lit up yard sale.  It was very fun, but next year I think we will try to put a little more thought into how it looks and not let the 8 year old have all the say. 


Making and decorating sugar cookies. 


This is one of my favorite displays that we drive by each year.  It is at a house that we drive by to get to Peter's parents and we always stop to look at it.  It's just so peaceful and beautiful.


We threw Heidi a baby shower since we won't see her again until she is a mommy!

And from the Ipod: Gingerbread houses at Larry and Michelle's.



Christmas Eve we had a bash with my family.  It was a little sorrowful to not have my parents there but we Skyped so that helped a lot.  They watched all the grandkids open Grandma's handmade gifts.

Santa showed up for the annual gift exchange after my BIL mysteriously disappeared.  We draw names so everyone gives and receives a gift. 

 Tanner really liked seeing Santa.

Memorable things not pictures:

• Watching Christmas movie and eating caramel popcorn.
• Making red and green snowman pancakes for breakfast.
• Caroling to all the neighbors on our street.  That was a first for us.  The kids loved giving out cookie plates and cards.  We even had neighbor kids join us.  I loved doing this since there are some people on our street that we don't know very well and want to have a friendly relationship with.
• Going to Krispie Cream with Lucy and watching them make donuts.
• Having a sleepover in the tree house.  We put Eden's little tree out there and the kids watched a Christmas movie.  Peter installed a heater out there so they were nice and warm!
• My Relatives have an annual Christmas sing-a-long party.  It is so nice to see aunts, uncles and cousins.  Lily threw up shortly after arriving and Tanner was acting miserably sick so Peter took the all the little kids home and I stayed with Dallin and Eden.  We brought Lucy and a friend and they were the official babysitters at the party.
• We had a party with Peter's relatives as well and it was great to visit with everyone. It was especially nice to see Grandpa H. walking around and back to himself after a bad fall a couple months ago.