We're home!

Well - I took the trip to Montana. Thursday Trina seemed to be feeling better, so I assumed all was good. I had my packing list all written out and I spent the morning running errands and shopping, but by the time I got home I was totally worn out. I tried taking a nap, but it didn't seem to help much. Aaron had coach pitch practice at 6, and I had a stake RS fireside that I needed to go to at 7, so it was a crazy night. Fireside ended at 8:30, and I hurried out, planning to go home, finish packing, and get to bed by 10:00 so that I would be semi-ready to leave at 3am.

Well - I got home to find all 3 kids still awake (bedtime is 8) and Trina was lying on my bed with a fever of 103 and saying her stomach hurt. WHAT TO DO??? I called my pediatrician's after hours clinic and they said it sounded like strep and to bring her in. The nurse said if it was strep, they could put her on the antibiotic and we should still be able to make the trip. So, at 9:20, Aaron, Katrina, and I were arriving at the doctors office. It WAS strep, so we then went to the all night pharmacy where we sat for about an hour waiting for them to fill the prescription. I got home at 11:40, put the kids to bed, then spent 1/2 hour trying to finish packing. I got in bed after midnight, but had trouble falling asleep because I kept thinking of things I forgot to pack... I woke up at 1:30, worried I had slept through the alarm, then again at 2:45. (alarm was set for 3:15) At 2:50 I gave up on sleeping and got up and packed the van. I got to my parents house at 4:00, helped them finish getting all their stuff ready and loaded, and at 4:20 we started the 11 - 12 hour trip. We had been driving for about 30 minutes when my parents remembered they had forgotten Abraham's birthday present. (a new church suit) We turned around and went back to get it.

I was so tired, I had a headache, I get carsick, and I was dealing with typical morning sickness. Suffice it to say, I threw-up like 7 times between Malad, Idaho and Dillon, Montana. YUCK! I took over driving in Dillon and drove the rest of the way to Cut Bank, and that helped with the car sickness...

All this being true - I was glad we went up. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins, and it was great to be able to visit with my sister and be there for Abraham's baptism. (there were lots of other "funny things" that happened in the course of the trip, but since they are mostly things where "you had to be there," I won't waste any more of your time...

My kids travelled amazingly well. I was so impressed and thankful. My mom told me (after the fact) that she had been dreading making the trip with the kids, certain that it would be an awful 12+ hours of crying and fighting and fussing and noise - she said over and over how surprised she was with how good the kids were. Makes me think we might be able to survive doing it again in July when Laura's baby comes. (I'm still trying to figure out if my going up there would be more of a hindrance or a help...my 3 plus her 4 = 7 kids (plus there will be the new baby) - all of whom are extremely active and busy, are a bit much to handle, feed, and clean up after...) I'm not sure I have it in me to take all of that on. Oh well, I have two months before I have to make any final decisions on that one:)


It's nice to be home. I missed being with Tim on Mother's Day, but overall, it was a good trip.

adventures of motherhood

Nothing incredibly new here. I'm still exhausted and feeling nauseous, and to add even more fun to my life, Katrina got sick yesterday. 102.7 fever and vomiting. Loads of fun. Last night I kept Trina on the floor in my room to hopefully prevent her from sharing even more germs with Aaron (they share a bed - by choice). When Aaron then complained that he couldn't go to sleep because he was too lonely, I explained that I didn't want Trina to throw up in the bed during the middle of the night, so I was keeping her in my room. As a result of the visual imagery, Aaron woke up in the middle of the night screaming - he had had a dream that Trina was throwing up all over him. I also got up twice with Bryan, and once (or twice, it all runs together) with Trina. JOY JOY JOY. As you can guess. I am bit worn out today.

I have been planning to go up to Montana this weekend for my nephew Abraham's baptism. With Trina's sickness, I'm now in limbo. Do I just hope and trust that the other kids will be okay, or do I stay home and plan on dealing with sick children??? I'm already not looking forward to the 11-12 hour drive with 3 young kids, and I can't imagine doing the drive with SICK kids. (Not to mention the fact that I'm sure Laura (my sister) would rather I not bring a van full of germs to her house.) Oh well - I'll wait until tomorrow and then make my final decision. (we're scheduled to leave at like 3:30 in the morning on Friday. Nothin' like leaving it to the last minute, eh?)

Pregnancy note: according to the pregnancy calendar - "Embryo becomes a fetus! Congratulations! All organs necessary to sustain life are formed." Amazing!!!

true confessions

Here I am again. Even though it is a bit early to be making official announcements (hence I'm not yet telling anyone in my ward, but I'm pretty sure none of them check my blog so I feel fairly safe telling YOU guys. My own private little circle of friends) One of the reasons I am so tired and hormonal is because I am 6 weeks along with child number 4. It's rather funny actually. I had just decided that I did want one more child, but I wanted to wait one more year before getting that particular ball rolling, so that I would only have two preschoolers home all day everyday. What can I say... serves me right for thinking I knew what was best... or not counting right, or something like that. Based on my last cycle, the due date should be around December 14th. According to the online pregnancy calendar, here is what the baby looks like today. It is about the size of a coffee bean. I think the fact that our bodies can create a whole new little person is just amazing, and boy oh boy, does it sure suck the life out of me !

So - that's what's going on with me. I am totally exhausted, nauseous, and I am trying to get myself psyched up and mentally prepared to have four children. I have more than my fair share of days when I don't feel like I can take care of the three I have, what am I thinking having one more??? I also seem to be more worried this time - I think because I personally know so many people who in the past year or so have miscarried, or had other serious problems with their pregnancies, or had children born with birth defects... It's just really made me realize what a miracle it is to get a child here safely and in good health.

That's the news. thank you guys for being so supportive. You have been a big, big lift to me when I've needed it these past couple weeks. It is really nice to know that we all go through tough times and that I am not alone.

Happy Anniversary! -

This morning I looked at my calendar to see what was on the menu for dinner, and saw that today is our anniversary. Before you think I am absolutely terrible to have not already KNOWN... we considered our trip to Logan for Charlotte's wedding as our anniversary, so to be honest, it was completely off my radar. When I saw it on my calendar, I called Tim to wish him Happy Anniversary, got excited that I wouldn't have to make dinner - we'll just go out, then thought I'd fill out this wedding meme that Melissa had on her blog last month. (Hers was TONS better because it had lots of beautiful pictures, but I don't know yet how to scan photos on our new machine... Maybe I'll add some later if I ever get around to asking Tim how to do it.)


1. Where/How did you meet? We were set up on a blind date by one of Tim's former girlfriends. She got married while he was on his mission, and she told me one that if she couldn't marry him, she wanted to pick his wife...

2. How long have you known each other? 11 years

3. How long after you met did you start dating? hard to answer. our first meeting was an informal dat'ish kind of thing. I was living in SLC and Tim went down to school at BYU a couple weeks after we met, but he worked Friday nights/Sat mornings in South Jordan so He and I would go out on Friday nights, and he was dating up a storm at school the rest of the time. We dated more seriously after about 6 months or so.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged? 1 1/2 years

5. How long was your engagement? 4 months

6. How long have you been married? 9 years today

7. What is your anniversary? April 27

8. How many people came to your wedding reception? a lot

9. What kind of cake did you serve? I think it was white with raspberry filling.

10. Where was your wedding? Salt Lake Temple - Reception at church house in AF.

11. What did you serve for your meal? Light refreshments at reception included chicken salad sandwiches, chocolate mints, beverage, and I think something else, but I can't remember exactly what...

12. How many people were in your wedding party? Tim's brother Brent was best man and Charlotte was maid of honor.

13. Are you still friends with them all? of course

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? I don't recall. I don't think so.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day? the whole thing was wonderful.

16. Any funny moments? not that I can think of.

17. Any big disasters? nope

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? We took a week long driving trip up into Montana, and Canada. We to fairmont hot springs, horseback riding, played tennis, hiking, river rafting, Banff, camping in the snow at Lake Louise, Calgary Zoo, Cardston Temple... and more!

20. If you were to do your wedding over... I would change NOTHING! It was perfectly perfect!

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on? Whichever side is closer to the bedroom door so that I have less distance to travel (and less things to trip over in the dark) when the the kids wake up in the middle of the night. Currently it is the right side.

22. What size is your bed? KING

23. Greatest strength as a couple? Both very easy going - neither of us are fighters or yellers, so it is a very calm and peaceful marriage. We've honestly never really fought about anything, because we have never had any issue come up, that we disagreed about, that either of us have felt strongly enough about to make an issue of it.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple? Both easy going - so decision making can be a challenge since we both like to let the other person chose what they want...

25. Who literally pays the bills? Tim

26. What is your song? As far as I know, we don't have one.

27. What did you dance your first dance to? We didn't do the dance at the reception thing.

28. Describe your wedding dress: Beautiful - short sleeves, long train that bustled up in back. Roses on the back, scalloped around the bottom. Don't really know how to describe it, but I thought it was beautiful.

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? silk roses, white and red. My bouquet is on my piano as we speak.

30. Are your wedding bands engraved? no

31. How old were you when you got married? 27, Tim was 25

I consider myself very blessed to be married to such a good man. It has been 9 wonderful years and I am looking forward to many many many more! It just keeps getting better and better!

I'm still here

Hi all, sorry it's been so long. I'm afraid I've gone into another little 'slump.' Sometimes I think I need to be on some kind of medication or something. I just really can't control my moods sometimes. I will be going along fine, then whamo! all of the sudden I feel like I'm the worst mom, worst wife, failing at everything in life, can't motivate myself to do anything, house falls apart, etc...

For a time (pre-children) I was using the herb St. Johns Wort, and I really felt like it helped me, but it has abortive qualities so I stopped taking it once we decided to start our family. I just keep telling myself that this is all necessary, you know the "opposition in all things" kind of thing. I can't feel joy and happiness if I don't experience the sorrow and all that. Call me crazy, but I think I'd like to volunteer for the "joy and happiness only" club. I do have faith that my Heavenly Father knows what He's doing and that there will come a day when I will understand why things need to be the way they are, but some days it is a little harder to hang on to that faith and hope.

I'm going to try to throw myself into getting some good work done today. That usually helps me get going uphill again...

Later -

beautiful bride and best of friends

These are some pictures from the wedding weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of Amy. (Tim and I had talked about the fact that I was going to want to stay and visit to the very end... and that he would be VERY bored listening to me reminiscing about my college days and all about people he's never met... so we predetermined that whenever he was ready he could head back to the hotel. When Amy got there - I arranged to catch a ride with her and Tim left - with the camera.) Oh well. Not anything I can do about it now. Now that I'm looking at this - I'm wishing I knew how to scan in some old pictures from our college days, it would be fun to see the then and now pictures. Maybe I'll try to figure it out.

Well - I tried, but couldn't figure it out. I'll ask Tim to help me and maybe tomorrow will be a walk down memory lane post...

I love America -

but I do NOT love politics. I went to yet another county commisioners meeting this morning - dragging along 2 children, in order to once again voice my opinion regarding some illegal mining that is happening directly behind my home. In summary - since most of you will have no idea what I'm talking about, there is a mining compnay that owns land up behind my house. The land is zoned CE-1 which is critical environment/agricultural watershed area. It is protected land and cannot be built on, mined, etc...
14 years ago, the mining comany (whom I am not naming on purpose, so that I can't be held liable for defamation or anything crazy like that) crossed over into the CE-1 zone. The county ordered them to cease mining, and issued a $7000 bond to insure the land would be relaimed. Nothing was ever enforced, and in the past 2 years, mining operations started up again.

As homeowners, we knew when we purchased our homes that there were gravel pits to the south of us, but were we assured that there was a large buffer zone that would keep the mining from encroaching to close to the neighborhood. We watched as the mining came closer and closer. we wondered at what point they would hit the imaginary line over which they couldn't cross (Little did we know that ALL of what we were seeing was in direct violation of the zoning ordinance.)

When we finally realized that they HAD to be over the line, we started contacting people in the city and county. In short, after and year and half of attending meeting after meeting - NOTHING is happening. Today they once again announced that they are going to 'continue' for 3 more weeks, meet in a closed session to discuss the matter, and then hopefully make a decision.

I am so sick and tired of this process. I am so frustrated and I want to blurt out all the mean and nasty things I want to say about one particular commissioner, and at the same time, I want to just forget all about it and wash my hands of the whole debacle. It just makes my blood boil. What is point of having all these laws if they aren't going to enforce them? What is the point of paying our elected officials to make and enforce the laws if they won't do it? ARRGGGHHHH!!! (can you tell what kind of mood I'M in right now???)

I suppose I should go work on something that I have some control over - namely my house that looks like a war zone... Thanks for listening. I'll let you know what happen in 3 weeks.