Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thankful

This November we had some sad moments as we thought of multiple friends who lost children. One was a high school/college friend of mine who I ran into at Costco a few months ago. I hadn't seen him since my wedding, and lo and behold, he had five beautiful girls and a beautiful wife whom I had never met before. He seemed proud of his cute family. Then one morning a month and a half ago I was walking with a couple of women in my ward, when one of them mentioned a tragedy that had occured in a nearby town when a man's friend ran over his child with a dump truck. They had been digging a pit for a trampoline and the homeowner's friend ran over his fifteen month old with the dump truck. Her father found her a few minutes later and she was still alive for just a short time. In the course of this conversation I realized this was the friend I had run into at Costco! I felt so sad for their family, I just couldn't stop thinking about them all month. It was one of those times I wished I could just make it better!

One of my sister's best friends also just lost a little boy Kaedon's age to a rare type of tumor.

We tried a little something In November (inspired by some friends in Colorado) in conjunction with these sad events connected to things we were grateful for-- ie if you were thankful for your healthy body then you would do service for someone who was sick. It ended up being such a wonderful experience for all of us.

It was a great lead-in to the Christmas season and I must admit, I wanted to keep going! Hope we can continue the same tradition each year.

A Getaway!

I was going to wait to post this for a bit in order to avoid blog overload, but decided I'd rather be caught up!

We took a much needed vacation last week-- we have had quite the year, and Miguel had yet to take a single vacation day in almost a year. It was time! Needless to say, we had the most wonderful vacation to date. Its getting harder to get away with school and sports schedules to work around, and our summer was a little crazy! Our next one has to be Colorado-- I'm just dying to see friends and babies and babies of friends!

Another Smilebox, I know, I know. At least I can burn it to CD for a sort of scrapbooky-thing.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our summer in pictures

Okay, okay, so I'm addicted to Smilebox! I signed up for a free trial membership and have to squeeze it in before I can't use it anymore. Enjoy our summer in pictures.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Kaedon's Baptism

Kaedon turned 8! What a great kid he has always been-- very kind and such a good big brother! It was so wonderful to see who showed up at his baptism! Our families were there, including my grandparents, some friends, and my mission president and his wife. What a surprise, though, when some friends from Colorado showed up! It was so wonderful to have so many loved ones to share his special day.

Make a Smilebox invite

Milestone Mania

We have still been so busy! But here are some of our most recent milestones:

* My sister got married! She married such a great guy. We are so excited to have him in the family. Next order of business: get my kids some cousins! Ha ha just kidding. Not really.



* On the night of my sister's wedding party, Ava got her first tooth! My kids have all been late teethers, with Isa being the latest, getting her first tooth at one year. I was doubly surprised when she got her second tooth the very next day! What a surprise.




* We lost our first pet. I wrote a whole post on the sad ordeal, but decided not to publish it, its just too sad. One of our little lambies ate a poisonous plant and died a slow, sad death. When she was dying it was so hard to watch her suffering. In the final stages, it started to pour down rain on our poor little lamb. The kids stood out in the rain holding umbrellas over her while she died, even though they were getting soaked themselves. Kaedon had a good cry, but now our little pet is at peace, our first little grave consecrating our new place for future generations of pet casualties.



Little did we know how soon our lambie would have companions! My sister gave Isa two kitties for her birthday. One of them died just a few days later. It was also very sad. Then the other one ran away! We are not having a good track record here.

* Isa turned six! She has been such a fun girl to have around.

Cute grads

My cute sister graduated a couple of weeks ago. What a great student she is...we are proud of her! She has always been such a sweet girl. I was a teenager when she was born, and being around her made me want to be a mom! She was so cute and fun. I missed her so much whenever I went away, especially when I went to college and on my mission. It has been fun to live close to her again and be able to hang out. We were able to meet her right after her graduation, after hiking my kids up a hill to get to where the grads were. Halfway up the hill, I realized Maia had brought her babies. Of course, I ended up being the carrier of the babies. When I met Miri, she took them for me. It was quite the sight-- she looked so diginified in her graduation garb, and had a baby on each arm. It was making us laugh. We were still laughing when my mom took our picture (I relieved her of her baby watching duties for a moment).



They also had a graduation party for the kindergartners. The bus used to pick her up right outside our house, and my neighbor was kind enough to take a picture of her on the second to last day of school, right in the middle of our move. We will miss our awesome neighbors.

In the Nick of Time!

We went to get our last box and found this posted on the door of our rental:



The auction date is in a week!

We never heard a word from the bank, a realtor, or an attorney about the house while we were living in it. My neighbor said her brother-in-law had been watching its price on the MLS! (while we were living in it!) We had no idea it was listed. It must have been listed in some form for quite a while for it to be in the "to-be-auctioned" stage. We're just glad we didn't have to try to find another place to rent before we moved.

[I took out the picture of our house, just for safety's sake. Now you'll just have to come and see it in person!]

Its a little bit of an odd shaped lot, but at least we have some space for animals and kids.

As far as gardens go, all we had space for in our old house was a little wimpy strawberry patch. I hope we won't regret planting this much! (a lot of beets! my father-in-law planted them, thinking Miguel likes them, and none of us do)



We did this house so we could have some animals and plenty of space for the kids to play. We have been absolutely exhausted after going back and forth working on it and moving for a month, while getting kids to school and feeding lambs, but it feels so great to finally be in our own place!

Farmer Ava

We started looking for houses eight months ago. We decided to look for horse property, not because we want horses, because we want to raise a few small farm animals for the kids. What a roller coaster! I think it was a roller coaster for many reasons. First, we've moved a lot, and we're really tired of it! Second, we've done some major house projects and don't want to spend our kids' childhoods fixing houses (so that ruled out any major projects). Third, moving nine months pregnant AND with a new baby...ouch. Plus, Miguel had to work a ton at first, and I started feeling pretty isolated. Fourth, I miss my friends in Colorado, though it has been more wonderful than even I imagined to be near our family again. Fifth, we almost struck out three times. The third house we put an offer on went under contract with someone else before it fell through and gave us a chance. Sixth, the kids had a hard time in their new school, with Isa's selective mutism returning en force.

Lastly, about 4-5 months ago we started receiving foreclosure notices addressed to the owner of the house we're renting (we didn't open his mail, much of it was in postcard form). We even received a hand-written note on the door from an investor wanting to buy our "distressed" property. Of course we have dutifully paid our rent each month, even though we didn't know if we would be evicted any day and not have anywhere to go (with four kids and way too much stuff!). When I asked the property manager, he said he hadn't heard from the owner for months. Just a couple of weeks ago, our neighbor, who works for the government, looked up our rental property on the internet and it is indeed in foreclosure. Eventually the owner also admitted this to our property manager, who told us to get out as soon as possible.

Of course we had been looking for a place for months already, with no luck. We had a really difficult time finding horse property, even a half acre, in our price range. I started to get desperate and kept expanding my list to include things I previously refused to. We looked at a couple major fixer-uppers, tried looking further away (but the commute is just too long!), looked at going through a builder, even considered other counties.

I reached a point a couple of months ago when I was experiencing all sorts of anxiety relating to our housing situation. Conference gave me some much needed perspective and peace-- I appreciated all the talks about hope in the face of uncertainty. One day in particular I had to ask for some extra help and Heavenly Father really helped to ease my burden emotionally. Things also started getting better from that point on.

I had really been resisiting looking at certain new homes because of their size. I would really rather spend time with my family than cleaning a massive house (though we don't have a small family any more and some homes aren't practical because they are just too small or only have a couple of bedrooms). I was also thinking that the larger the house, the larger the price tag and energy bill, and we really want to be out of debt as soon as possible.

That said, a home popped up on our search one day that just seemed too good to be true for the price. (I've discovered that if the price seems really good, its usually a bank deal) Our poor realtor, who has been hanging with us through thick and thin, agreed to show it to us. It is new, and big, but the price was quite a bit better than the old, small house we almost bought in January. It is also built with a special kind of insulation that makes it twice as energy efficient as the average home. It was a bank deal, and we offered less than the asking price (half of what the original owners paid) and got it (after it went under contract with someone else then fell through)! I kept praying that if it wasn't right, it wouldn't work out, but it did.

So, I guess we are homeless no more!

We were so excited that we bought some fruit trees and aquired some "pets" before we even closed! We've been keeping them in our backyard at the rental until we move in to our home next week. Our neighbors have been really patient with our "pets" escaping their enclosure while we are gone or occasionally bleating early in the morning or late at night. :)



The home we purchased was really dirty, so we've been cleaning it (and I have been remembering my sweet friends who helped me clean our Colorado house...thank you, thank you!) and trying to get ready to put in a yard. We've also been moving things into the basement. Our dear parents have been helping at great personal cost-- we appreciate them so much. Couldn't do it without them! Its been another difficult move. I really don't know what I'd do without the help we've received.

Adventure

When I was a kid, most of my favorite books were adventure novels. I loved Anne of Green Gables, but I also loved sword-weilding, evil-fighting, rough-and-tumble adventures like the Black Cauldron.

We recently celebrated 9 years of marriage. As I thought back to our nine years together, I think one of the words that most aptly describes our time together is adventure. Here are some of our adventures in statistical form:

Number of homes we've owned: 3
Lived in: 6
Number of children born to us in 9 years: 4
Number of pregnancies: 4
Family members we've lost: Miguel's mom, an uncle and a cousin
Number of times we've moved: 7
Number of times we've moved with a baby under six months: 3
Number of interntational moves: 2 (if you count moving to England and back)
Number of countries we've visited together: 14
Number of collective callings we've had: 19
Percentage of said callings as president of an auxiliary: roughly %10
Number of years without an air conditioner: 9 (soon to change! YES!)
US Family Vacations: Maine, San Diego, Southern Colorado, South Dakota
Number of homes that we've had to do some serious cleaning and fixing before moving in: 3
Lifetime friends we've left behind in our moves: too many to count
Types of pets: fish, snails(also too many to count!I know, gross), Triops, lambs, kitties
Collective number of advanced degrees obtained since we were married: 3
Number of jobs Miguel has held: 2
Number of times we've been robbed: 1
Cost of the robbery: $2,000

I think this all adds up to equal adventure! One thing is for sure-- we've never been bored. What a fun nine years.

Oh Baby!

Our baby is growing. Ava is still so fun for all of us!


I had to get a picture of her in her blessing hat thingy before she outgrew it. Cute, just too bad I had some troubles with the camera!



She squeals and squeals. It is so cute. I don't remember any of my other babies squealing so much. For some reason the noise I was making made her laugh.

Excellent

Speaking of excellent, Miguel watched the two littlest babes while I took the older two to the "Five Browns." They were absolutely fun and entertaining to watch. And VERY excellent. Made me want to start practicing the piano again! One of our favorite songs was the Danse Macabre-- it was amazing! It is a classical piece based on a poem written about skeletons dancing in the graveyard before dawn. Sooooo fun! They don't have it recorded anywhere, and their five-piano arrangement was by far the best. I'm going to post a video of someone else playing it. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, just watch the last two minutes. Again, not as good as the Five Browns, but amazing playing and amazing song nonetheless.

Because I'm a computer dummy, I'll just give you the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9rn-HQzGf8&feature=related

Check out the five Browns here: http://myplay.com/video-player/the-5-browns/the-firebird-from-the-1911-version

Whatever You Do, Be Excellent At It

I am a believer in "Good, Better, Best." I realized a couple of years ago that I physically CANNOT do it all. I cannot simultaneously be Wonder-woman and She-ra, and that is okay. I just need to decide what is most important to me, after analyzing the whole picture, and focus on those things. Some things that seem important are just not important. (like having white teeth)

That said, these days I just don't feel like I'm excellent at anything. You could say I'm the anti-excellent. I'm excellent at being in my PJ's until 5pm. I'm excellent at letting my kids make a mess and not cleaning it up.

A couple of weeks ago, (okay, okay, it was a couple of months ago, I'm just getting around to it...see what I say about excellent?) coaches from the BYU and U of U football teams came to our school as part of a week focused on reading. We barely dragged ourselves there, since Miguel had to work late that night. They read a favorite story to the kids. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed at the lack of respect shown while we were there. One could hardly hear them read, even though they had a microphone. People seemed more interested in getting their autographs than listening to what they said about the importance of reading.

I could tell the BYU quarterback coach, Brandon Doman, was tired too, and though I'm sure he believes in what he was doing, had probably dragged himself there too. He had come with two of his kids, who were being a little rambunctious. He seemed worn out and ready to go home.

But I could also tell just by looking at him that he is a good guy. And his kids, though rambunctious, looked well-cared for. He lit up a bit when someone asked him if he liked playing football. He said it was the most fun thing he had ever done. He also shared his belief that excellence is important. He said, "whatever you do, be excellent at it." Having had my brief stint in college sports, I understand how gruelling it can be. I also understand how difficult it is to balance sports with school, which he had also accomplished.

He left out the back door during the crazy last few minutes of the program, looking as tired as he did when he came. I wondered if he felt the time he had taken that night to inspire young people in school and sports had been a waste. But I left feeling inspired, that in my little corner of the world, I may not be doing things of consequence to many people, but I can still do my best. And those times when it seems no one is listening are sometimes the most important times to share ourselves with others-- even if it only helps one tired mom back on her feet.

Isa's Song

Isa wrote a song. I thought it was so adorable! I love this stage of "phoentic spelling." I feel a bit reluctant to teach her correct spelling because I love the way she writes her words. Just in case you can't read her song, I'm going to type and interpret.

Wot [what] do you do on Sunday...you go to church and you eat lunch aftr...wot do you do on monday...you wach [watch] schos [shows] and you eat an appl...wat do you do on Tuesday you war [wear] green to school and you war green to Grandma's...wot do you do on Wednesday...you make some crafs [crafts] and you paly [play] with yore mom...wot do you do on thursday...you look at hawsese [houses] and feed the triops...wat do you do on Friday...you reed [read] book's and you wach [watch] a moovee...wat do you do on Saturday you kleenup [clean up] the haws [house]

She did this on a Sunday, before any of this had happened. I was amazed at her perceptiveness-- the fact that she knew Tues was St. Patrick's Day (we were to go to my parent's for a green dinner that night), and also that she knew at least one day we would go out to look at houses. Also that she knew Saturday is job day (I'm not that consistent about this-- I'm not sure Kaedon knows Saturday is job day!) See this link if your curious about Triops: http://http://www.science-city.com/triopskit.html. Ugly little creatures, thats for sure, but fun (one time!).

A Late Tribute

I know, President's Day has come and gone, but I am still reading John Adams, and have been thinking a lot about the sacrifices the founding fathers made for us. I read a passage a few weeks ago that really touched me. I had been feeling sorry for myself, because my dear husband has had to work 60 hours a week for quite a while now, and has to travel every other week.

It just so happens that while I was feeling sorry for myself, with a new baby in a new place, that I was reading about a time in the Adams life when John was working for the Continental Congress and Abigail was pregnant. They had only lived together for half of the fourteen years they had been married, and she desparately wanted him to come home to Braintree, Massachusetts, at least for the birth of their child. (this was to be her last pregnancy) He wanted to be there too, but knew he was indispensable to the cause for American independence. She had to manage their farm alone, as well as their four children, and all this while rampant inflation made necessary goods all but unaffordable.

One night two weeks before she was to deliver, she had a "shaking fit," and wondered if the life inside her had died. Two weeks later, she delivered a sweet stillborn daughter. It made me so sad! I can't imagine losing a child, or the difficulty of living without a husband most of the time. To go through something like that alone would be so sad! She rarely complained.

Abigail Adams not only did her part at home, but she wrote letters of encouragement and inspiration to her husband. John Adams had to be one of the finest men of the day, and I can't help but think that he would have been half the man without her. (she told him 'affliction is a good man's shining time,' a quote from a favorite poet)

It made me realize that while we honor the men who founded our great nation, the soldiers who gave their lives, and the leaders who built a unique political system on a foundation of equality and justice, we owe an equal debt of gratitude to the women of the time! Who will know what sacrifices women made to give us the freedom we enjoy. "Remembering these years long afterward, Adams would tell Benjamin Rush they were 'times that tried women's souls as well as men's.'" (from John Adams, by David McCullough, page 172)

Cute little Cutie

She is so cute, I know! Already growing so big. Sorry the quality on this video is terrible, but you get the general idea!

The Abominable Snow Shovel

Do you ever have one of those dreams that someone is chasing you, and no matter how hard you try, you just can't shake them? One recurring theme in my nighmares is when I try to call 911, the phone won't work.

It has snowed a ton here, much more than we are used to. We weren't good snow-shovellers to begin with, AND Miguel has had to put in many extra hours at work. Even though the house was a wreck, I tried my hand at shovelling the other day. I was sure I looked awkward (hey, I never do it!) and of course imagtined that all the neighbors were staring at me. And the snow was dang heavy! I had envisioned clearing the whole driveway in a short time by running with the shovel through powdery snow. It was not like that. It was heavy. It hurt my back. I got the steps cleared and about two feet in front of the garage. Then I went inside. To heck with shovelling, this is the pits!

Coincidentally, the next night I had a dream that someone was chasing me and I just couldn't get away. I ran into other people's houses and hid in their closets, borrowed their phones (of couse the phones wouldn't dial 911), and tried escaping my attacker by running out the back door and through neighbors yards as fast as I could. At one point, I ran into a house afert passing a man who was standing in his driveway. After I passed, the man faced off with the "bad guy"-- he squared his shoulders, blocking the walkway, and raised....guess what? A shovel. For some reason, the guy chasing me also had a shovel. They had a pretty nasty fight with those shovels.

It took me a little while to put two and two together. I had a nightmare with a fight involving shovels! I think this is a sign that I should definitely NOT try to shovel the driveway again. I'd better just stay inside my messy house. I'm definitely safe there.

The Latest

We couldn't go to the lake, so the lake came to us!







We were a day away from signing a contract on a house, when someone warned us we were paying too much. We decided to get an appraisal before we signed anything, which angered the owner, who decided to put it on the MLS for 20K MORE than he was asking us! Good and bad-- we got the appraisal back (which we had to fork out some dough for!), and the house was indeed priced about $30-50,000 to high! When we told the owner, he said appraisers don't really know what they are talking about. He's sure his house is worth what he was asking. We said, well, we can only pay what it appraises for and no more and he said...sorry! So, yes, we are sad, but our little investment in an appraisal may be the best return on our money ever! I guess we're out a house, but not the shirt on our backs. And now we get to enjoy the view of the lake from our back windows AND in our basement a little longer!

Two special days recently. The pictures say it all.

Conversations

Seems like everyone around here is saying funny things these days. I just had to write them down.

This morning I gave Maia several choices for breakfast. Instead of choosing something I suggested, she smiled, looked at the cereal shelf, and said she wanted "cream-colored ponies."

Isa and Kaedon love to delay bedtime, but especially at Grandma's house. Grandma was kind enough to lie down with them in an effort to get them to stay in bed. The conversation they had was quite revealing, and I guess I'm glad that I don't know what they tell their primary teachers about us. My mom asked me if I knew Isa could spread her toes out wide. I said I didn't. While showing my mom this clever trick, Isa said, "If I were a cat, my claws would be out."

We finally sold the house! And let me tell you, those people made us work for all that money we gave them. :) We have also been trying to make a deal on a house we want to buy! So exciting. Miguel's new favorite phrase when dealing with a difficult person's request is to tell them to "go pound sand." (akin to telling someone to go fly a kite) I'm not sure he has actually used this phrase to a person themself, but he has been sorely tempted to use it many, many times!

Kaedon got to have lunch with the mayor! On the day he received his invitation at school, he arrived home, breathless with excitement. With a very grave look on his face, he told me: "I'd better not be picky."

My grandmas are so cute. While visiting recently with one of them, Miguel and I got laughing pretty hard. She told us about a friend who often used to say: "I'd rather die young than die when I'm old. That way, people will say 'Oh, what a shame!' instead of 'oh, what a blessing!'"

We Rode the Bus, Yes We Rode the Bus

Yes, I finally broke down and put my kids on the bus! And guess what, they're still alive! And so am I. Something about bundling up four kids three times a day, one of them a newborn, did it. Plus, we're the last stop before school-- its only 5 minutes. I am a little sad to not be the first one to see them after school, or the last to kiss them goodbye, and I had a hard first day. But something about seeing them run off to meet the neighbor kids or burst in all smiles after school makes it all worth it. I'll take happy smiling kids any day. Better than sad and lonely. I guess I'll have to get over the fact that I'm not going to be the center of their universe forever....might as well start getting used to it now. :)