Month of Gratitudes

I have had such a hard time getting back here and writing.  I don't know that I want all the bad and hard stuff out there in cyberland (even though I know my few faithful followers would never care or share it) because a lot of what has been going on is my boys' story, their healing and trauma and not mine to share with the whole of the electronic world.  And somehow writing about the good stuff has been hard too.  I don't want only writing about the good stuff to make it appear that everything is okay or somehow to minimize the challenges and difficulties of our lives and how truly difficult it is and what a long journey healing is.

That being said, I need an out...somewhere to remember that our lives are going on and not just ending here.

So.....what to do?  I'm not going to make promises or set goals or whatever because I've done that before and never followed through....but I am giving myself permission to blog....and we'll see where that takes us...

Today I finished a weighted blanket and pillow case for a friend and they'll go in the mail on Monday...

I also made yummy bias to edge another quilt that has been a lost unfinished orphan for far too long

It snowed...the boys had fun....most of it is gone now

Brady worked with the boys on getting a roof on the tree house

Church is hard.  The Primary President has issues with children with mental health challenges...we haven't attended in over 2 months.  I don't know how to resolve it...but I cannot let them attend in an unsafe environment.


We want to move but the more I want to move  the more things get in the way and let me know we are going to be here awhile....I've been told in answer to my prayers that living here will always be the same the people will never change and will never truly care about our family.....I'm trusting in the Lord that if we are meant to move that he will provide a way.


The time changes tomorrow.....I'm looking forward to being able to sleep in...

I'm going to go ask my music man...if we can go out to eat....

Good Things Utah

Someone was kind enough to bring attention to the work I am doing with Lottes of Love http://lottesoflove.blogspot.com/ to help my friend Charlotte with her cancer related medical bills.

Thank you for helping to spread the word about Lottes of Love!

JANITOR'S BOOK SIGNING!

Soon after returning home from vacation the much awaited book Janitor's written by Tyler Whitesides (husband of Samuel's much loved teacher last year Connie Whitesides) was released and he was signing books at a local book store.  Of course we had to pick up Jackson and go!  It was so fun! 

The boys loved seeing Mrs. Whitesides almost as much as getting their books signed.

Samuel was trying to catch Tyler up on all his doings of the 

summer in the 30 seconds it took for his book to be signed.

Benjamin was a little shy but loved getting his own signed book as well.

Jackson was quite pleased that Tyler remembered him from when 

he was in Mrs. Whitesides' class the year before.

We even had a special treat of being able to see Tyler and his percussion friends perform before the signing.  You can relive it all here:



 

I didn't get a picture because I was driving but their noses were all buried in books on the way home.  Definitely a memory worth recording.  Now when is book 2 being released?

Pacific Northwest

 For our summer vacation we took a 19hour road trip to Washington State.  While there we jumped in the Pacific Ocean.

Looked for sea shells, starfish, hermit crabs and a whole variety of other ocean life in Larabee and Birch Bay.

 The music man and I took a moment to reconnect and just enjoy the beauty of our surroundings

 Took a family picture with all of us in it.  Our last family picture was taken before Tiny T joined our family..

 Climbed all over some rocky outcroppings, looking in the tide pools as these rocks were all under water when the tide was in.

We were lucky enough to be able to tour a couple of tall ships that were in port for the day.  The crew was in  period costume and answered all of our questions.

We had a great time playing with our friends the N family.  Strengthening our friendships and having a new adventure together.  The boys are already talking about what they want to do when we go back again next year.  It was so nice to disconnect from the world, slow down our pace, relax and enjoy the beautiful world Heavenly Father made for us.

Commitment or Fudge?

So sometime in January when we were having some kind of freaky Spring weather break.  ( It was in the 50's and 60's and we were running around outside without any jackets and talking about pulling the bikes out of storage, oh and thinking about planting a garden--I even bought the seeds)  I read about the Mom's going to Orlando planning to do a 5K.  Corey even challenged me ( and you, and your neighbor, and your sister's neighbor) to join them and run our own 5K wherever we were.  I was EXCITED! 

I thought to myself, "Self!  You can do this!  You can come home after church and run back and forth along the river-walk (It's a mile each way) and then call and have Mr. Music Man and the kids pick you up on the other end of the trail as you start your last mile." 

And my self said, "OH YEAH!  We are going to DO THIS!"


So I emailed Corey and said I was in.  Of course the next day it snowed and I was welcomed back to the reality of a Northern Utah Winter.  But I didn't care  I started visiting the rec center more often and working out in my Living Room and my self reassured me saying, "Surely by the 2nd week of March the Spring weather will be back again."  And I kept working out and feeling pretty good.  A friend even said (and I quote), "She put on her ninja suit and she’s kickin’ it and she is doing a fine job of it, too."  Which is taken slightly out of context but she did say it about me and so she can consider me posting it her consequences for talking about me in front of ya'all's faces.(And if you don't know what that means you don't read enough, truly!)

Then came the Saturday before the Orlando 5K and this is what we were doing outside that day:

Uhm, yeah and I committed to run a little over 3 miles the next morning and the Rec Center in town is not open on Sundays here.  So I got creative and this is the Wii and me after finishing my 5K Sunday night.

(and yes you are seeing a few Christmas Decorations that have not yet been laid to rest sitting on the mantle still)

Then the other day I went and made a commitment to Kiss refined sugars goodbye and I've done pretty good so far, except for gum.....and that's not real sugar so it doesn't count right?

What have you committed yourself to lately?

And did you have to fudge the rules to keep it?

You Hit me First! No! You Hit Me FIRST!

So I've been noticing all of the visitors to my blog and I'm grateful ya'all took a minute to stop by.  I'm guessing that you probably hopped here from a comment I left on your blog or a blog that you read.  And yet when you arrive you have been greeted with messages that are months old and truly the last year I have not posted much of substance or consequence.

Well that is all about to change!  (maybe I'm feeling grandiose and motivated at the moment just in case you couldn't tell)

I'm Writing it on the Wall (so to speak) to give myself a wee bit of accountability.
  So If I fall behind comment and get me back on task.


So here are some bullet points of what I've been up to:

*  The Tyrant embarked upon the great adventure of potty training and he has mastered all the necessary skills in record time (that is what you came her to learn isn't it?  :P )

*  The Engineer has been working with his hands of late and learned how to use sand paper, a coping saw, paint and some tape to create his first Pinewood Derby Car.  The big race is tomorrow night!  He is SO EXCITED!

*  The Comedian has been dabbling in the literary world once again.  He has written, illustrated, and published several short books about dragons in addition to the short stories he has shared here on the blog.  He is also embarking on a journey of writing and illustrating  a 6 chapter book about different kinds of dragons and how they help children work through their fears and problems.  I've promised him that when it is done we will see if we can get it published in a real book format.  He's also invited two of his dragon friends to come and live with us for awhile to help him with some of his worries.

*  Mr. Music Man had the opportunity to present at a DJ conference a month or so ago and came home totally reinvigorated and full of ideas on how to improve our business.  He's had some great ideas and is really throwing himself into steering the business in a new direction.  It must be working because he's booked practically every weekend for the next couple of months.

*  I have been so excited to be a little bit involved in some of the planning and even more excited to be able to attend the 2011 Utah Mom's Retreat the second weekend of May.  So excited in fact that a couple of weeks ago I told the children at church that we had to really work on getting ready to sing for Mother's Day because it was only 5 weeks away.  It only took me 48 hours to come to the realization that I want May to be here so much that I had in fact misled them as at the time Mother's Day was 9 weeks away.  But whose counting?

So for now there's the update on us in a nutshell.  Thanks for stopping by!


But uhm....hitting isn't nice!

Some Summer Fun

What are they doing?  

I'm really wanting the cold to go away and the summer warmth (or at least the spring warmth) to come and play with us again.  There have been several days during the last week that our high was in the single (and sometimes in the negative) digits.  So here are some fun pics from Summertime to warm me up.

Slides are sooooo second grade!

Mom he's making a road with my War Cards!

So what exactly is the point of 52 card pick-up?