Track Star

This was Erika's first year doing track and she is freakin' awesome!

First, she is blazin' fast!

Second, she flies over hurdles!

Third, she looks hot, even in those disgustingly short track shorts!

She did great at conference. She improved on her times for all 4 events (hurdles, 100, 200 and 400 relay). Madison took home the trophy as champs this year. Way to go!

High school track will be awesome - here she come State Track!

11:34 and Chocolate Milk

Levi is just funny. In a cool, 'sup dude kind of way.

On the way to Idaho Falls Saturday, he said in a scary voice, "11:34". I looked at him with a 'so what' stare and he gave a disgusted sigh.

"Mom, I've explained this a hundred times". From me, a 'huh' with raised eyebrow.

"Look at what is spells if it is backwards and flipped." Uh-hea-hea. Ok I get it.

He then shared this experience so that I will never forget the importance (or silliness) of 11:34.

He was reading his Steven King book late one night and looked over at his alarm clock to see what time it was. What he saw was blood red letters on his fishtank spelling "hell". He told me that he jumped and was freaked for a minute then laughed outloud at himself for 5 minutes once he realized it was really just the reflection of his alarm clock reading "11:34". Ever since then he seems to always look at the clock at 11:34. It hasn't stopped him from reading Steven King books.

Levi also seems to think that if he 'hides' and pretend I can't see him that I can't. Perfect example: he is snitching chocolate milk. The pictures say it all.

Diaper Change Smiles

My mornings now begin with big smiles from Hyrum. By the time I grabbed the camera he'd already given his biggest smiles but I still caught a few grins.

What a great way to start the day!

The Angel

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?'

God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.

'The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.'

God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?'

God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'

'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?'

God said, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.

''Who will protect me?'

God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking her life.

''But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.'

God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.'

God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.

May 8

Thursday started great though I feel a little bad about that.

Hyrum screamed (not just cried) for about 1 1/2 hours Wednesday night. Finally, he let out a huge belch (which the kids heard in the other room) and then he settled against my chest and went to sleep. After about 1/2 hour making sure that he was really asleep and his breathing had calmed down, I laid him in his bed and walla . . . 6 hours later we were both well rested. I really wonder if it helped to have him on his stomach. His longer naps are on his stomach and he is about the same age as all the other kids when they started sleeping on their stomachs.

So anyway, it was great to sleep for 5 consecutive hours but I felt bad that it came after so much screaming from Hyrum. He probably just completely wore himself out.

I made cookies for the other kids. (Justin and Levi grated 3 cups of carrots last night as their contribution to making the cookies) Nathan tried to help with the spices which helped me decide it was his nap time. He is so great to still go down easily for naps. Hyrum cooperated and went down for a nap shortly after Nathan and I was able to work in the office. I got quite a bit done. Nothing visible for LeRoy to see but the office is so much more than printed invoices and he really doesn't realize that. After 3 hours my eyes were hurting from looking at the computer so I went and ate a cookie, just in time to have Nathan join me for a 2nd one.

Justin finally did it!! He told his dad that he really doesn't want to play baseball. LeRoy snapped at him (in all his tactful glory) that "that would have been nice to know 3 weeks ago when you were making a fuss to get to play". Hmmm. . . I think that was LeRoy making the fuss, not Justin. Now his focus is on Derek and Derek isn't sure he wants to play either. We'll see how much longer it lasts with me on strike.

I had 2 meetings for Erika tonight. One for girls camp and one for dance. I took Hyrum because Levi was complaining that Hyrum always screams when I leave and then calms down just before I get home. I was just glad he was keeping Nathan. Erika went with me to the camp meeting and then insisted that she needed to work with Allie on her homework assignment. I wanted her to keep Hyrum instead but I didn't want to deal with the whining from her so I took him to the dance meeting. He fussed, cried, squealed and pretty much made it impossible for me (or anyone else) to hear so I took him out to the Yukon and missed most of the meeting. By the time I got home I was frustrated and just ready for bed again.

I got home to hear that our apprentice wanted me to call him as soon as I sent the fax that he asked for. He had come into the house AFTER work while I was making dinner and insisted that he had to have it faxed by 9. I told him I would get to it if I had time. Then I finished dinner, fed the baby, ran to Erika's meetings and didn't get home until just before 9. He called and complained to LeRoy that I didn't have it done. Just to get it out of the way I did it so that I wouldn't have to worry about it the next morning but I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. What a selfish, inconsiderate jerk. He acts like I have nothing better to do that meet his needs and he isn't even family. I hate it when the guys act like I am here for them 24/7 and if it were any other office the doors would have been locked by the time he was giving me orders to fax his stuff.

Now I'm just getting even more upset typing it so I'll change the subject.

If I have one more kid ask me to take them somewhere, if they can have something to eat, if they can go to a friends house or if they can get on the computer . . . I'll probably scream.

I hate the daily question, "Mom, what do you want for mother's day". My voiced answer is "a tree". The answer than sarcastically rings in my head: "to not be the mom for a day".

Hmmm . . . that subject isn't helping me to calm down either.

I guess it's time to go take all my "happy" pills and go to bed. (Is there such thing as a 'thoughtful' pill or an 'understanding' pill? I'd invest in that for this family!)

I was up with Hyrum every 2 hours last night. Don't know if it's a growth spurt or just an off night. He has been a little stuffy so I gave him his first taste of Elderberry today and he took it really well.

Nathan was awake at 6:50.

Levi didn't have to be to school until 10:15. Before we were even in town Nathan was asleep so I just headed to Idaho Falls for lunch with mom.

We ate lunch at the Olive Garden. It was just the break I needed. However, going on such little sleep and walking around Sam's Club with mom made the trip home really hard with 2 sleeping boys and me fighting sleep.

After we got home I quickly made dinner and then tried taking a nap when all the kids got home from school but Hyrum decided it was time to play. I should go for a walk instead but my body is a little shaky and I feel like I'm falling asleep as I walk around. I decided to lay on the bed and just talk with Hyrum instead. His smiles and cooing make it really hard to be frustrated with him.

We have had a huge rain storm that knocked out some of the power. I love it! I love the sound of pounding rain and the grey sky that is pushed out by the sun. I love the smell after rain. I only wish I had grass to run through during the storm. I feel like being sporatic that way.

It's probably a side effect of very little sleep.

A week flying by

I can't believe it is already Thursday (and now it is Friday)! It seems like my life is just a circle of busy morning, calm morning, naptime, afternoon of run, run, run, loose my temper, deny myself the privelegde of screaming or crying, evening of fussy baby, calm baby, bedtime, restless and interrupted nighttime and start again with morning. Maybe I'll draw that out and see what I can do to simplify the chaotic times of the day and really enjoy the calm moments.

Here is a picture of the list for the week. This only shows the activities for the 4 older kids. It does not mention feeding & caring for a newborn, keeping up with a 2 year old, house stuff, the office, or meals. No wonder I am going crazy!!

Silly Shower Song

I've never been one to sing in the shower and I don't know why I started this silly little song but it kind of took over and let me vent about my body - in a healthy way??

Use the song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" for the tune. Here we go:

My arms are so fat that I hide them,
My belly is squishy and gross
My butt has unspeakable ‘dimples’
I can’t decide what I hate most.

The morning brings breasts plump like melons
By evening their drained, saggy, flat.
My eyes hide in bags colored purple
Oh what is the meaning of that?

Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my body to me, to me
Bring back, bring back, the body that’s pleasing to see!

My ankles, I finally see them,
My toes painted pink cheer me up
My jawbone reveals that I’m thinning
But the process, it really does suck.

My hair needs a cut, yea I’ll do that
Exercise . . might do that too
It really would help if I’d eat less
But together it's too much to do.

Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my body to me, to me
Bring back, bring back, the body that’s pleasing to ME!

Delightful, I know. I was going to do a verse about not wanting to get dressed but Hyrum was ready to eat by then. Maybe another day!

Just Another Manic Monday

Monday came way too fast. The night was very interrupted by 2 little boys so 6:30 seemed to come before I was ready.

We found out that our apprentices wife had been in a car accident so he was not coming in to work. She was actually bringing 2 brothers up to work with us for the week because we are so busy. As much as we felt for them, it is hard to be on the employer side really needing that employee to come to work. LeRoy had to rearrange things for the guys, was a little stressed and it really wasn't the best start to our week. However, I did get kids off to school, managed to shower early, get kids where they needed to be after school, realized once again that I hate baseball, made dinner for us (lasagna and bread) and extra to send home with the apprentice.


We were invited to FHE tonight by one of our new neighbors. By the time 6:30 rolled around I was a little frazzled, really just wanted to go to bed and was once again on my way into town to pick up a kid. Hyrum needed fed, Erika still needed to do online school registration which started at 7 and she needed to do it right at 7 so she could get the teachers she wanted. LeRoy was being a little onry and insisted that we all go over together, and that we drive. HELLO! We can see their house from ours and I STILL needed to feed the baby, and we were already 10 minutes late. He kept following me around (as if that helps) asking what he could do to help and I just stated matter-of-factly that if he wanted to help then just take the other boys and go! Erika and I got there only 5 minutes after he did and the evening was fine but the kids and I were all a little irritated with LeRoy.

Then LeRoy proceeded throughout the night to bug their 15 year old about getting his eagle and to let skeletons out of his closet which was hard not to roll our eyes at and when he started to cry (telling about his parents) I opted to go downstairs and see what the boys were doing. Oh well, let's just get it out there and then people know what we are really like (or rather what LeRoy is really like). Wow - reading that I can see that I was a little more bothered by LeRoy tonight than I initially thought.

The family that we met with (the Anderson's) really is a fun family - 5 boys, 1 on a mission. Their boys are the ones who came over to get Derek and Justin on Saturday and they all ride the bus together so the kids already knew each other. I really enjoyed the mom and can see being good friends with her. She took Hyrum for about 45 minutes and as he slept she would play with his cheeks and chin and it would make him grin. The 2 boys that were sitting by her really got a kick out of that.

During all the run-a-round of the afternoon we also had a visit from Erika's YW group. They came while she was gone so that they could decorate her bedroom door to welcome her to YW (officially, since she has been going to YW with them since January). Erika was really cute about re-enacting her reaction for a picture. Actually, her re-enactment was a little more posed than her real reaction but it was fun for a picture. They left her a bag of edible MnM's and each of the MnM's taped to the door had a written note from the girls in the ward.

Weekend Satisfaction

It has been a great weekend!

It started a little hectic with LeRoy going to Teton, Erika to dance practice, Justin to baseball practice and Me at the center of all the coming and going. And that was all before 10am.

The kids quickly got their chores finished because they were all wanting to have friends over or go somewhere. Then they found that all of their in-town friends were already busy and the disappointment set in. Our new neighbors quickly remedied that! Five boys between the ages of 7-10 showed up at our door wanting Derek and Justin to join them for outdoor games: tennis, bikes, basketball, races, etc. Boy heaven!

Erika joined her best friend Allie, they joined the boys and suddenly there were 16 kids ages 7-15 going around the subdivision. I love the view from my office because I can see the whole subdivision from here and could pretty much spot my kids during the whole day. Our neighborhood does a big loop which is great for bike races and other games but also great for keeping an eye on things.

Then several of them ended up at our house. LeRoy has inherited (long story) a foosball table, shuffle board table and an air hockey table. Add that to the pool table that we already have and who needs video games. It was a little noisy for a while (with foosball and pool downstairs and air hockey, shuffle board in the garage) but it was fun to see all the kids gather here for a while and then move on to the next activity (which was setting things on the fence posts and seeing who had the best aim and could knock them off). I love seeing all of them play together and use their imaginations. As much outdoor active time that they have had, they should all sleep well tonight!

I was able to work in the office for a while and much to my satisfaction it is completely caught up. Quarterly taxes are finished, invoices caught up, problem invoices worked over and my desk cleaned off. I really do enjoy what I do once I get to it. It is just hard getting to it with 7 others pulling at my time (and leg and breast - quit giggling, I mean Nathan and Hyrum, not LeRoy!)

Saturday night LeRoy and I went to Idaho Falls. We stopped to look at a job which turned out to be a remodel on an extremely old farm house. It reminded me of Grandpa and Grandma Fullmer's old house (not the trailer) and kind of the Morey's house. Old out buildings, old house, old house smell - all of it in need of tons of work. It made me even more grateful for my own home and not needing to fix it up - just live in it.

Then we went to dinner at Garcia's. I ate probably twice as much as LeRoy did which made me feel a little like a pig but I was hungry and hadn't eaten very well throughout the day. He also claims that he is just getting old so doesn't eat as much.

Saturday night my mind began trying to get me out of going to church. We were having stake conference which was a broadcast from SLC and I knew that trying to keep Nathan quiet would be a chore, the time wasn't going to work well with Hyrum's schedule and really I just didn't have the mental energy for it.

We found out that there would be a re-broadcast of the conference so we split the family a little and I went to the 10:00 session with just Erika and we had a wonderful time. I wasn't overly inspired by the speakers though a couple of personal improvement thoughts popped into my head, but it was really great to have some time alone with Erika. We went to the 'old' stake center knowing that it would be the same broadcast and wanting to see some of the people that we love in the 'old' stake. It was so great to visit with some friends, not have LeRoy at the center of it all and not having babies in tow.

LeRoy and the boys all went to the re-broadcast at 1:00 which once again was great for me. I put both little boys down for naps, Erika went to read on the trampoline at Allie's house and I took a relaxing bath in my big tub.

During the afternoon I went on a walk with Derek and Nathan and realized even again that our neighborhood is so nice! Many people were out on bikes or walking and were friendly but without this feeling that I had to stop and really visit with anyone or that I was in their walking space. The little sinner side of me also enjoyed seeing a neighbor plow up his field (he just took the cows out to pasture for the summer) on Sunday. I felt like I live in a place that has a 'live and let live' motto rather than the subtle, judgemental neighborhood that I came from: everyone trying to outdo the other on the righteous scale. Our family just doesn't follow the same 'keep the sabbath day holy' rules that many Rexburg people appear to.

I have discovered some simple pleasures:

Convection oven . . . love it! I can bake 3 pans of cookies at once and be done in 10 minutes bake time. I never have liked making cookies because they take forever. This is the way to do it!

Sandwich maker . . . time saver! Derek is still in the omelet mood and we found that doing them in the sandwich maker saves so much time while also making very fluffy.

Jetted tub . . . previous to today, the only times that I had been in the new tub was when I was in terrible pain and crying. Today I got to take a bath just because I wanted a bath. I have been a little sore in my back but it isn't anything slowing me down or bringing me to tears. It was great to do something that I wanted to do: relax and read and get ready for another week.