Streeeetch!

Just after we decided that Tyler would do three classes this semester, we had a talk about "circling the wagons" and keeping our little bit of family time sacred. We've never been busier and, while it's mostly gone smoothly, sometimes it is really draining. Ty gets pretty down when he doesn't see the kids for three days straight. I can get overwhelmed when I am the sole question-answerer, food-provider, put-to-bedder, entertainer for three days straight.

Tyler was saying the other day that we're lucky we had such a huge emotional bank account to start off with since we've only been able to make withdrawals for the past few months. But the account is depleting and we both feel it. And there just isn't time to make the kind of deposits we're used to. Thank goodness for his 9/80 schedule...those three day weekends are lifesavers...or emotional bank account savers.

*Side story: I love Tyler's analogies. I remember the first time I heard him teach. We met online, remember, and he came to Vegas to meet me on a (very magical) Wednesday. That Friday I drove to Provo to see him again and to meet his parents, brother, and sister. I went to Church with him and he was a Sunday School teacher. I LOVED his lesson. I loved how he taught things in a way that was easy to understand. He is a big user of parables and analogies. I was already smitten, but that Sunday School lesson took it to another level.*

Well, I think that the Lord takes opportunities like this to stretch and teach us. In many ways. One was in the form of a new calling for Ty this weekend. He's been called to be the Young Men's President. The Bishop was aware of our situation, so before he 'officially' extended the call, he came and talked to us about it. While it is going to be a stretch (he can't even attend the weekly activities until January because of classes and then a trip to Vegas we have planned) with good men serving with him, I know that he is going to be able to pull it off and do very well. In Tyler's setting apart he was told that he likely was given this calling at this particular time so that he would learn to delegate, as that will be important in future callings he will have. He was given some other wonderful promises as well.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33) I have seen that in my life over and over again; God takes care of us and makes our load lighter when we put Him first. I think that we are going to be surprised at how well things fall into place and the time that we have together will not seem so depleted. I am so thankful for opportunities to grow and to serve - because we all know this isn't a calling just for my sweet husby; for him to serve well I've got to serve well here at home. I'm getting pretty good at it. :)

Baby Steps...

Everett D was a little early to the crawling game compared to my other kids; he was a full-fledged crawler just shy of 7 months. So it shouldn't have surprised me that he took some steps today...but it did! Ty steadied him a few feet away from me and he took 3 somewhat clumsy steps into my arms. I absolutely love those parenting moments!
Lately when we try to sit Everett on his bottom, he'll stiffen his legs because the boy wants to either stand or walk while holding our fingers. A few weeks ago I was reading stories before bed to the kids and Ev was playing by my legs. At one point I glanced over and he was standing there, unassisted. It was one of those double-take moments where it seemed normal at first until I realized that he'd never done that before and by the time I got excited about it and wanted to celebrate with him, he'd fallen down and was moving on to another equally important activity (i.e. shoving a toy into his mouth.)

I don't think this means that full-fledged walking is right around the corner - he's still pretty unstable - but what do I know?! I also didn't think when I woke up this morning that my boy would WALK into my arms. I just take things as they come around here. I'm totally smitten with this little man.

Oh! And he also successfully took his first bottle tonight! From ME, no less. Hooray for that. I might be able to go to the temple before long. (It's a 6-hour gig from where we live...not just the drive, but the whole sha-bang)

Bizzaro

So yesterday we went grocery shopping. Ty and I split up to get it done quicker - he had Max and Kelly and I had Everett. I was filling up our cart with yogurt (Tillamook yogurt to be precise because I'm a big Tillamook fan.) I had just grabbed a few and turned to put them in my cart when a young couple walks past. Both of them are looking at me funny and the girl is kind of snickering. I got a few more yogurts, glanced up and saw her snickering at me again. Ummm...do I have something on my booty? Chances of sitting in something the kids left on the seat of the car are pretty good, so maybe. (Please note that I didn't care enough about that thought to actually check, just had the thought and went about my business.)

I saw them a few more times in the store and got the same looks and snickers from the girl. Weird. Tyler and I ended up switching carts at one point and checking out separately...it was all about the speed.

Well, we got home, did Family Home Evening and put the kids to bed. We came down and started putting groceries away. Amongst the groceries was a lone Yoplait yogurt. I asked Ty if he'd picked it up and he said, "No. I was wondering about that when I was checking out." So odd. Everett was with me getting the yogurt, so I knew it wasn't the "help" of little hands. I stood there for a second, wondering how it had landed in my cart.

Suddenly it came together...the young couple snickering at me while I was getting yogurt...a single yogurt I hadn't even touched in the store making its way into my cart and home...they put a yogurt in my cart! I don't have any proof, but I'm totally convinced that's what happened. Bizzaro, right?! Who does that? Good thing it only put me back 59 cents. Bizzare. And kind of funny.

A blast I tell ya...

Halloween was a blast.

Before the big day, we decided to do something different with our pumpkins (got the idea from Adri). We let the kids paint them since carving is a little above their ability right now. And paint they did! These pictures don't show how MUCH paint is on these babies. It took a few days to dry. We did carve the Mom and Dad pumpkins with the kids on Saturday - Kelly wanted ours to be silly and Max wanted Ty to do a wolverine jack-o-lantern.

This picture doesn't do Ty's Wolverine justice...it was awesome

I don't really know why I think I can do these things that I've never attempted before, but I decided to make the kid's costumes this year. Well, I made them last year, but those didn't take a whole lot of skill or time to make. This year's costumes brought on a whole new world of sewing for me. (I called my mom on the video phone several times and she cut out pieces of paper to show me how the fabric should look when I cut out the sleeves and each leg of the pants, plus other helpful tips. Thanks, Momma!)

I love this picture - pure happiness on those little faces

Max to the Max decided (after MUCH deliberation for SEVERAL months) that he was going to be a soldier. *Oh, and I just have to add that when he put his costume on for the first time, he kept walking slowly past me all over the house and then would ask, "Did you just see me?" Get it? 'Cause he's camouflaged. :) I told him he'd have to get where he could blend in for that to happen...so there was a lot of laying close to the green couch and green bean bag with shouts of "Can you even see me?!" this weekend.*

I wish you could see the U.S. ARMY letters I painstakingly cut out and sewed onto the pockets on his chest. But do note the knife pocket by his ankle, and there is a pocket on his other leg, about halfway down, for a pistol - those were the two things Max insisted (after examining several of his little army men) that he have on his costume.

This boy means business. And, oh my gosh, I wish you could have seen his excitement when I did his face paint. The boy was OVERjoyed.

You definitely should not smile when you're giving your best army man pose

Kell Bo Bell had a hard time deciding between Jesse from Toy Story and Tinkerbell, but we watched a Tinkerbell movie just as it was decision time, so Tink won out.

A WINK from TINK...she busted her best wink out without being asked. Girl's got some personality.

I took the material off of some pink wings we'd had forever from the dollar store, bent the wire how I wanted it, put some white knee-highs I'd never worn over the wings, and added some glitter glue.

I could never get the perfect picture of her lashes; I put mascara on them for the first time...I'd been wanting to do that since she was 6 months old. Totally worth the wait :) they are amazing lashes.

I know, another one of Kelly. I like all of these pictures of her. It's a mom/daughter thing.

Everett D got to wear the lion costume Max wore when he was a babe (didn't make this one).

Oh my goodness, he's delicious. Putting make-up on a 9-month-old is a bit of a (smeared) trick.

All of those hours of sewing and they only got to wear the costumes for a little while. :) Actually, my kids are dress-up fanatics, so these will go in the dress-up box and will be loved and worn for a long time to come.

We went to the Trunk or Treat at Church last night and weren't going to go out tonight (partly because it's Sunday, partly because I was feeling lazy, partly because they didn't even go to all of the cars last night before they were done getting candy and just wanted to pass it out). But at 7:50, Max turns to me with a sad/panicked look after we answered the door for more trick-or-treaters and said, "When are WE going to go trick-or-treating?" So we threw on costumes and went to a few houses in the neighborhood. A few of our sweet neighbors said, "We've been waiting for you to come!" Max and Kelly are very friendly with the neighbors, so I was glad that we went.

Hanging in the car while Dad passed out the rest of the candy...

I am so not scared of you, little lion...but I DO want to kiss your face lots

Ty's super sweet stand-by "costume" for the past 8 years or so - a weird hat with weird red hair

After Trunk or Treat, we came home to have the traditional hot chocolate and donuts (we added sitting by the fire this year) and talk about how much fun we had.
I love Halloween with my kids! I just might sew costumes again next year? It's kind of like childbirth, the memory of the pain fades when you have the happy end result and times passes.

Punkin Patch

We gave Minder Farms another shot this year. If you'll recall, last year we trudged through a field of mostly rotted pumpkins before picking some out of a bin grocery-store-style. This year we himmed and hawed and even sat in the parking lot with our fancy-pants iphones, looking up other pumpkin patches in other towns, trying to decide if we should venture further to a sweeter patch. But it was close to Ev's nap time, we weren't sure if the weather was going to hold out, or if it would be worth the drive...so Minder Farms won our business for another year.

This year they didn't even keep up pretenses of letting us walk through a field of rotted pumpkins - the bins were it. Rats. Like the kids care, though. They were pleased as punch to sort through and find their perfect pumpkin. Heck, they would have been thrilled with getting one from Wal-Mart. We loaded our "pumpkin family" (as Kelly refers to them) on the wagon provided by Mr. Minder for transport to the car (try finding THAT at the grocery store...oh wait, it's called a cart...hmmmm).

We took a few photos with the farm in the background which, for some reason, makes my heart happy, added 6 ears of corn picked an hour before from their corn field to our purchases (ha! now there's something you couldn't get at the grocery store), and wheeled the kids on out of there. Success!

If you look closely, you can see Kelly's hand on the side of Everett's head, turning him to look at the camera :)

Dandelion compliments of my firstborn. That boy LOVES to pick flowers for his momma.

But next year we're trekking to a sweeter pumpkin patch with a hay ride no matter what...or maybe we'll just go to Wal-Mart.

Ev to the Ev

The happiest part of my day so far was downloading pictures and finding these, presumably taken by the older sis:

Cute, right? That gummy smile gets me every time. But these next two pictures I really LoVe...

These last few pictures were taken by yours truly on an idyllic fall afternoon in the backyard with my peeps. Man, this little face! Lights up my life fo' sho'. I love that big noggin.

I am SO going to miss this

The other day I was cleaning up after dinner, listening to my kids playing in the family room. I don't remember what they were saying, but it was really cute and I was smiling. Then I looked down at the floor and saw the mess they'd made of their dinner and that I was going to have to sweep. I sighed contentedly, though, because I know that there will be a day that I will miss THIS. I will miss this stage of my life even though it's one of the most demanding things I've ever done.

It got me thinking about how the same phrase can communicate a whole range of emotions from me on different days:

*sigh* "I'm going to miss this." Moments like the one mentioned above, or when my kids randomly tell me they love me and throw their little arms around my neck, or when they say something hilarious, or when we are all snuggled in my bed in the morning following the conversation wherever their little 2 and 4-year-old little minds take us

"I'm going to miss this." Simple fact, usually when I realize I need to store a memory for the future

"I'm going to miss this...right?" After I've taken three kids who are still in car seats to three or four different stores - buckling, unbuckling, keeping them from touching everything, putting them in and out of the cart 10 times because they want to walk - wait, not anymore - wait, they want to walk again, now Kelly's throwing a fit because Max won't stop looking at her...and then noticing an older couple smile fondly at my chaos (at least that's what I tell myself they're doing...they aren't laughing inside, are they?)

"I'm going to miss THIS?!" Cleaning up the hundreds of army men for the 5th time that day, listening to the kids yell and make each other cry, laundry, spilled milk on freshly mopped floors, not more than 2 minutes going by without being asked a question

No matter which kind of day it's been - *sigh* . ? !? - I am so glad to be a mom. This is what I've always wanted to be. Sure, I'm doing school right now so that I can have a degree and some kind of profession after my kids are raised. But THIS is what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm not perfect at it, but gosh darn it...I love it!

My Bo-Bell

I feel privileged to be this little lady's mom. I don't know what it is, but I feel like I am falling even more in love with her these days.I do have some news to share on the Kelly front: sister is potty-trained! We'd been talking about potty-training for a few months and had even bought some underwear, but she didn't seem anxious and so I wasn't either! Like I don't have enough going on...potty training seemed like too much. Two weeks ago, on a Sunday evening, we put the last pull-up on her - as in, it was the last one in the bag. I thought about going first thing in the morning to get more and then decided to give underwear a shot.

Up went the balloons (again, thanks for the idea, Carrie!) and underwear, up went the potty charts, out came some stickers. I told Ty as we were going to bed, "I feel like Kelly is a total wild card. Either she's going to do really well or she's going to dig her heels in and it's not going to happen." Even though we only had one accident the first day and one or two the second day, I still wasn't sure which it was going to be. Half of the time it was exciting, the other half was drama. BUT the very first night she insisted on sleeping in underwear and stayed dry all night! The second night she wet the bed...but hasn't since. Two days in she started telling me when she needed to go. Girl ROCKED the potty training. As in, she's totally potty trained. Yep, you read that right. She's done. I have a full-fledged underwear-wearin' little woman in my house!

In fact, that weekend (5 days in) was our half marathon. I decided to go underwear all the way - the 3-hour car ride there and back, the time with a babysitter who would have two other kids to look after...what can I say, I was feeling brave. BUT she had been doing really well, so I felt confident. Right before the race started I took her to the PORT-A-POTTY, not knowing how that was going to go down at all. We stood in the long line, went in, Kelly asked why people threw garbage in the potty, told her not to look, sat her down, she went and we were out of there! What?! I was so surprised. Then found out that during the race she braved the port-a-potty a second time with our babysitter.

Man, I should have tried this months ago! My mom told me I was her easiest, too. I guess that's one of the great aspects of a determined personality!

What the picture below doesn't show is how meticulous she was in getting the stickers on just right. If it was twisted or off to the side, she'd pull it off and reapply until it was right where she wanted it. Oh my. Like mother, like daughter all right. This chart is all filled up and last week she was able to get a princess castle (her prize of choice). Gotta love ROSS for toys. It came with a prince and a princess...she and Max have spent many hours with that castle. I'm sure glad my boy can put down his guns, swords, and wolverine claws long enough to enjoy a purple and pink princess castle with his little sister!

Way to go, Kell Bo Bell!

AND I have to add a few pictures from her final "swimming lesson". I say "swimming lesson" because she never let the teacher touch her. She stayed on the steps the whole time, every time. That part of her personality comes from her dad. She's much more introverted than her momma. And I rather like it. Maybe that means she'll be a home body and never leave me. :) She's already said that she doesn't want to get older and be a mom because she knows I want her to stay little forever.

She kept climbing out and doing this...made me laugh

Just thinkin'...

I've had some thoughts floating around in this head of mine for the past few weeks and I want to write them down.

A few weeks ago we had Stake Conference. I was attending Saturday night's adult session with Ty and Everett. Ev had had a weird day and I knew it wouldn't be too pleasant for the babysitter if I left him. He's a roamer these days, so I spent a lot of time toward the back of the gym. At one point I looked at the sea of hair (remember, I was in the back of the room) and I was overcome with love and emotion for all of the people under that hair. I looked at them, looking at the speaker, listening to the words being said...they came because they are trying to do what is right and want to have the Spirit and want to know how to improve. We are all just trying to make it in this world, doing the very best that we can to be good people, be kind, and return to live with Heavenly Father. There is never a need for me to judge someone based on decisions that they make. Even the wrong decisions are generally not made because we think, "I think I will ruin my life and the lives of those that I love today" or "I think that I want to hurt her feelings". We are all just trying to make it in this world, folks. Lets lift and love and support one another, no matter how different our approach may be. Well, that's the message I got...a message for me packed with a whole lotta love for everyone I see.

I can't explain why that thought was suddenly so powerful for me, or how many other thoughts and ideas it evoked, but it was followed-up by a Prophet of God at the Relief Society General Broadcast. I think God is trying to tell me something and I have loved the message. Please do yourself a favor if you weren't able to attend and read this talk here. It is life-changing and wonderful! I just got teary-eyed skimming over it when I was posting the link.

I bore my testimony during fast and testimony meeting (click to the left to read more about testimony meeting) at Church this month. I've been bothered by something I said ever since. I said something that I have really worried sounded self-righteous. I NEVER want to come across as self-righteous, especially when I'm sharing my heart in a testimony to a group of people who know me on different levels and may have taken it wrong. Should I get up and apologize? I don't think that's appropriate. I kind of want to call every member of my ward and tell them that I don't think I'm all that great or that I have life more figured out than the next guy. In fact, I am just trying my best which isn't all that wonderful most days.

I was able to renew my temple recommend (click to the left to read more about temples) this month. Man, I love that. I love answering those questions. I love searching my heart, finding that I come up short, but realizing that I am striving and that the Savior will make up the difference. I love that my best feels good enough. I love proclaiming my testimony of the Savior and His gospel with a simple word. I love the temple and can't wait for Everett to go without me long enough so that I can attend again. (Ev, if you're reading this, I'm sorry if you're feeling rushed. It's not that I don't love you, brother. It's just that I wish you'd love a bottle once a month or more.)

I need more sleep. That's another thought that's been swimming around. I stay up late doing school work and get up way too early to do some more. It's good, albeit a little rough. I really like the classes I'm taking. And now my head is swimming because it's 11:45 p.m. and I should have been in bed an hour ago. I needed to get this out of my head and onto my blog before checking out tonight. Thanks for listening, friends...or blog...or future generations...whoever spends enough time to get through all of this. :)

two halves make a whole, right?

I'm not sure that I'll do another marathon, but I did two half marathons 3 1/2 months apart, so that sorta counts, wouldn't you say?

Tyler and I ran in the Leavenworth Half Marathon this weekend! It was Tyler's first half and I think in a few days (weeks? months?) he'll say that he enjoyed it. At the finish line he told Max, "It was hard, Max, no matter what Mom says." No, I think he really did enjoy it and is glad he did it. My other races this summer had me a little more prepped. The man didn't have much time to prepare and didn't realize how much it can hurt the body. But he still finished ahead of me and I was so proud of him!

*Nelsa - my good friend who ran the Ragnar with me...she and her husband ran the half together*

I had a great race! Maybe it's because I have collected some wisdom in the 4 months I've been 30 :)...it seems that I am giving myself a break so much more these days. It may have been a "race" but I just wasn't up for making sure I made my best time. Sure, I wanted to push myself (and did!) but I decided to enjoy the experience and not care about the results so much. With three little ones 4 and under, a husband who works full-time and goes to school, and everything else I have going, I just DON'T have time to train as much as I used to. I was able to train more when I was a two-kiddo mom because I have a double jogging stroller. I don't have a triple jogging stroller or the muscles that would require. It's not my season to be hard-core and going for my personal record. I do these races to lose the baby weight (which I have, though the rolls when I sit down suggest otherwise) so why beat myself up if I don't meet some made-up-by-me expectation? I'm not gonna do it anymore. So much more enjoyable!

We didn't take a single picture at the finish or of the kids or our great babysitter, Jessica, who made the trek out there with us, but everyone did GREAT and had a good time.

This isn't my picture - I found it online - but it's of Leavenworth in the fall. Gorgeous, huh? Such a good course too, although I wish that there were just a few more hills. Too much flat wears on me. I know, weird. Must be the hills I have to run on around my home that have warped my thinking.

*sigh* So nice to have this race behind me. Now I can run for the heck of it...until next spring when I'll have to kick it in gear for the Wasatch Back Ragnar with the hubs and his fam. Gotta get a few more races in next summer before we decide it's time to add another babe to our bunch!