Snow Day

Recently is snowed here! We don't get a lot of snow- so they cancelled school and we had a great time sleeping in, snuggling in warm blankets and drinking hot chocolate.  The kids had a ton of fun playing in the snow- although I quickly found out that we don't have a lot of snow clothes! All of my kids need snow pants and boots.

One morning we had a ice freeze and it was beautiful!  I love winter! It's magical. The earth is an amazing place.  I took some pictures of these amazing trees!

This tree looked like it came right out a Dr. Seuss book.

Here is Gabe ready to go play outside. He refused to hold still for the picture.

At least he has underwear on under that coat!

Paul's Family Home Evening

On a lighter subject- here is the FHE lesson Paul prepared and wrote all by himself for us this week.
               Heavenly Father Gave us Animals

As you know, God gave us animals. List a few animals. Now, do you know any? Ask crowd. Yes, and most animals are beautiful. Now tell me some bad animals. ask crowd. Ya, those are bad, but lets focus on the good ones. Some animals are pets and others are wild. Some amazing animals are put in zoos. But, sadly, some animals are endangered. They are endangered because of humans. Is it fair that God gave us so many amazing animals and we go and kill them and take their home? Ask crowd. No, its not. Can you tell me some endangered animals? Ask crowd. That's sad, huh? But, many people are helping Gods wonderful animals, endangered or not. There is earth day, where everyone helps animals around the world. There are also clubs and businesses that help endangered animals. Now lets do a small activity and watch Rudolph, the red nosed reindeer, about an endangered species of red-nosed reindeer. There is only one of these rare animals, and it lives in the north pole. :vp

Now, of course he was joking about Rudolph- and we all got a good laugh about it.  But I have to wonder who is indoctrinating my child? 

Trials

Trying to have a baby is not really something I though I would struggle with.  I mean, I have 4 kids and have never had a hard time getting pregnant the EXACT month I planned.  But it's been 5 months now, and nothing but a bunch of negative test results.  My plan was to get pregnant in July, or August, and be done with morning sickness by Christmas, and have a baby in the spring.  I even told my friends I couldn't run in a marathon in September because I was going to be pregnant...ughh.  Then I was planning on morning sickness for Christmas, and still nothing.  I wonder if I should be worried or if this is totally normal- for other people.  It's not normal for me- and that why it worries and scares me.  Am I too old? Did I do something wrong? Was I supposed to have a baby earlier and I missed my chance?  Will I really only have 4 children?  Will Ellie never get her sister she prays for every morning and night? All these worries and more flood my mind.  A tiny part of me feels relieved, each time the test is negative- I don't have to face morning sickness, pregnancy, sleepless nights, diapers, messes, etc.  Then the mother in me crushes that tiny bit and I feel so sad.  I worry and cry that I won't be able to have another baby.  I'm not ready to be done.  I'm not ready for that stage.  Then I tell myself it will be ok.  I will get pregnant- when the time is right.  God has a plan for our family.  I just wonder if that plan involves another baby. Any advice from you mom's out there? 

Time Out For Women

A few weeks ago I headed over to Portland to go to Time Out For Women with Athena.  Darren was on call for the weekend- so I took my Ellie, Kyle, and Gabe with me.  I left Paul home to hold down the fort with Darren.  We had a lot of arranging to do to get a babysitter, and Ben to watch our kids.  Poor Athena was on the phone a lot trying to make arrangements for the kids.  She was so worried about them and Ben being taken care of and getting meals.  We wanted to go out to dinner the second night- but the kids were all crying so we had to go back.  Athena said, "I thought this was supposed to be Time Out For Women- there is just no such thing!"  I laughed.  It's true, when your a mom, you never really get a time out.  Even when your gone you worry and have to arrange things.  I think that was one of my favorite things about my cruise with Darren. We left my mom and kids and said- "Don't expect to hear from us. We'll see you in a week!" But anywho, between cell phone calls, and nursing Teddy, Athena and I had a great time.  I had never been to TOFW before,so I was curious to see what it was like.  I have to say- it was great, but not amazing.  Not as good as Education Week.  If Education Week is a 10- TOFW is like a 7.  There were a LOT of musical numbers that just weren't my style.   It's in a huge conference center and they have to project the speaker onto big huge screens up front.  The room is so huge and there are so many people, it is hard to feel...like your even in the same room as the speaker sometime. You don't get to choose the classes, topics, teachers you go to.  It's just one huge conference room the whole time.  So, over all, they do a great job- but Education Week just can't be beat.  The best part was getting to hang out with Athena and sweet Teddy. 

Here are a bunch of women from my ward.

Oh, and did I mention Ellie came and went to Time Out For Girls?  She LOVED it! There were a bunch of girls from our ward with their daughters- so she had friends to sit with and hang out with.  She felt the spirit a lot and had a great time.  I think stuff like this is so important for young kids.

Painting a Chair

Here are some pictures of a chair I got in Naples and just redid.  I would love to have just spray painted this chair- but couldn't get the color I wanted.   So when I saw the perfect coral color in chalk paint I decided o give it a try.    I haven't ever used chalk/milk paint before and I am still undecided on whether I liked it or not.  It was hard to paint with- it was very thick and has a lot of texture so all the paint brush lines would show up.  I tried adding some water and that helped.  It was a pain to get in all the cracks- as you can see it wasn't the simplest chair to paint. I felt like it took a lot longer than just spray painting- or latex paint.  And I had to do 2 coats- even though they say you only need one coat with chalk paint.  So as I was painting it I was very frustrated and swore to never use it again.  However, I really like the way it turned out, so that's why I am undecided.  Below are pictures, before, during, and after!

Paint Colors

Well, I am slowly starting to feel better.  It has been 2 weeks and 1 days since I got sick.  Can you believe I have been sick that long? I can't!  Now I see why people who get the flu end up in the hospital! I am healthy and this has made me soooo sick.  Anyways, My mom has been dying to see some pictures of my freshly painted walls.  I have been hesitant because my house doesn't look that great.  These are "during" pictures.  I have only begun on my house.  I have lots of plans- with built ins, and painting cabinets, new floors, etc.  So enjoy the pictures but don't expect much.

Miserable

Well, I am feeling absolutely, positively, miserable.  We went to Utah last week for Thanksgiving.  And I got the flu.  The whole time.  And it's still going.  I had all sorts of plans of things I wanted to do while in Utah.  Go climbing at the Quarry, run in a Thanksgiving race, help my mom with Thanksgiving, go shopping for Black Friday, go see a friends sailboat in Heber, see the lights at Temple Square, visit the Church's new children museum, read magazines, sit around and visit.  Pretty much the only thing I did was sit on my mom's couch and scowl.  The flu was terrible, and I have this awful cough and sore throat to go along with it.  I can hardly talk.  It hurts.all.the.time.  I feel bad for myself for feeling so miserable and not getting anything done that I wanted. I feel bad for my whole family for having to put up with my grouchy self.  Sorry family.  I know I wasn't very fun to have around.  Hopefully I'll start feeling better soon. Thanks everyone for being so nice to me and loving me when I wasn't very loveable.