Aidan's 4th Birthday

You have grown into such a big boy! Last week at Kindergarten pre-screening you cooperated very well. You were measured in the 95th percentile for height, and 60th percentile for weight. You are taller than all of your brothers were at your age, and you weigh the same or more than they did. In fact, you are just as tall as Benjamin was when he was 5 years old!

You are a very good helper, Aidan. When mom is busy cleaning, you often join her in sweeping or wiping surfaces. You regularly empty all of the trash containers in the house and throw them out in the can in the garage without even being asked.

You were also the most attentive helper on Saturday when we filled our new raised beds with topsoil and peat moss. You helped to smooth out the dirt and break up the chunks. You tended to the fire that we had going to warm up the soil and the area a little bit, as well as to get rid of the pallets that the soil came on and take care of some of our yard scraps. You also helped mom to remove the leaves and stems from last year's hostas and transport them to the fire.

From Stef's Sweethearts

We had such a fun time on your 4th birthday, Aidan. You were such a good boy getting ready for church. You didn't need much help at all. You got to open one present before church, an Aqua Doodle mat. It folds up and has handles on it so you can take it along with you. You were very well-behaved at church. You wrote on your new mat in sacrament meeting and stayed very quiet, and didn't cry at all when I took you to Primary, where you went right to your teacher and behaved well. You enjoyed your treat from the Bishop, didn't you?

From Stef's Sweethearts

We had a fun afternoon, as well. You got a very funny e-card from Grammie and Grandpa that you played over and over again, as well as a paper birthday card (remember, we do birthday gifts from them in a big party each summer with your cousins). You were very excited about your presents. Your brothers were so nice to spend their own money to give you gifts. Although the rocket from Dallin and the balloons from Grandma and Grandpa were really fun to play with for the rest of the day, and the candy treats from your other brothers were very yummy, and you loved getting birthday dollars from Great Grandpa and Grandma Burnham, you were the most excited about the seeds and gardening tools you got from Grandma and Grandpa. You shouted, "Growing Things!" and were very anxious to plant them. We planted the sunflower seeds in pots the next morning to help contain your enthusiasm to plant all of your seeds in the garden right away.

We had Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner, by your request. Mom and Dad picked it up on Saturday night, along with some Sierra Mist, A&W Root Beer, and Fanta. Mom baked two 13x9 cakes on Saturday, and Dad turned them into a castle cake - very much like Katie's, as you wanted it to be, but with blue frosting with M&M's on it, which was much more boy-ish.

From Stef's Sweethearts

Mom and Dad had wanted to buy you a bike - in fact, we did, as you will learn some day when you read this. However, it was defective. I took it out of the box to assemble it on Saturday, and found that the handle bars, when turned, made a scraping sound and didn't turn smoothly at all. We took it back for an exchange, but two different Target stores were all sold out of bikes your size. Since we have a bike that you will fit into at home, as well as a couple of scooters, we decided to pass on the whole idea and find something else (if we get a new bike for either Ben or Brandon's birthdays later this spring, everyone can move up one bike, and you will get your own, which probably makes more sense, as you are the last boy in the family). We settled on the aforementioned Aqua Doodle mat, as well as some Color Wonder paint brushes and paper, and a new Dora game for the Leapster, which will help you learn some Spanish words. I think you were pretty pleased with them, and besides, not getting a bike yet will give you one less reason to go play in the street when you are supposed to stay in the yard.

I love you, Aidan! Thank you for being such a sweet boy!

Seven Things Tag

1. I quit listening to country music when Aaron stated his distaste for it when we were dating, and allowed him to believe I didn't like it, either.  I can't say I like all country music, but there are some country singers I like, such as Martina McBride, as well as some others.  A few years ago I found Aaron singing along to a country song, but he explained that it wasn't really country because it had crossed over to the pop station.  At that point, I admitted I did enjoy a bit more country music than I had let on...
2. My musical interests are really quite narrow.  I enjoy listening to music that I can sing or could play - even if I don't have the time to practice, or wouldn't ever have the opportunity to play it.  If it isn't something I could participate in, had I the time or opportunity, I probably don't like it much.
3. I still dream of being in a Broadway musical.  Or even a community theater musical.
4. I have a hard time starting projects that have to be set up and put away between work periods (such as sewing).  I also have a hard time stopping, once I've started.  If you want me to get something done, give me enough time to do it all at once, or it may not happen.  Or, dedicate a space for it that no children will ever have access to so I won't have to put it away.
5. My bedroom is messy most of the time.  So are the other bedrooms in my house.  I am trying to fix that.  We have thrown/given away many, many things lately, and continue to get rid of everything that doesn't have a home, in hopes that we will be able to live in a clean house at some point.  I anticipate my bedroom to be clean once Katie is about 4 (when toddlers will no longer bring their stuff into my room, and I no longer have to put things in my room to keep them away from children), and the kids rooms to be clean once Katie is about 6.  One can hope.
6. I dislike throwing children's birthday parties.  Not the kind where family comes over, the kind with friends.
7. I am trying to figure out how to go to Florida in order to be there for my 86-year-old grandmother's baptism on April 11th (yes, that's living, not proxy)!!!!!  It is Stake Conference/Easter weekend, and Aaron has technology responsibilities that could make this hard on him.  I would probably have to go out on Friday and come back Saturday evening.  It is Spring Break for my kids, so maybe I can figure out something for them to do on Friday.

P.S.  Tag, you're it!  Oh, yeah, the rules - it's seven things you probably don't know about me.

Flashback - My #1 Sweetheart

May 11, 1997

Okay, okay, I haven't written in two months!  But, I do have some excuses.  I am in the church sesquicentennial musical, "Footsteps of Faith."  I have one of the leads, that of Caroline.  I have rehearsals every Thursday night and Saturday morning.  Also, I teach cello to Emily Howard on Wednesday nights.  Plus, I have my first church calling.  I am the Anoka Stake Sunday School Secretary.  Add all of this to my 8-4:30, Monday-Friday work schedule, and my regular church functions, and I am pretty busy.

Now, for the bitter truth.  I only now have the desire to write because I want to put my feelings about Aaron Pratt on paper.  It seems nothing before now could motivate me.  So, I'm breaking the rule of my journal (referencing the first page of it, saying that I wasn't going to write about any of the guys I date until I'm engaged).

By the way, Aaron is not the first guy I've had interest in and/or dated since my previous entry.  I hope that serves to clarify that Aaron is significant to me.  I feel that if we do not stay together, even for long, I will never look back on this as a bad reflection of my judgement.

Aaron is amazing.  He grew up in the church - yes, he is a descendant of Parley Pratt, one of the original 12 apostles.  He is a returned missionary.  He has a strong faith in the Church.  Spiritually speaking, I am very comfortable with him.

As far as his personality goes, he is hilarious, in a very intelligent way.  He is a bit eccentric - I can't really explain how, but he is.  He is also what I consider to be a stable person, and so intelligent!  More so than any guy I've ever dated.  He is also a musician.  He plays the piano, cello and French Horn (coincidence)!  He also has a very nice voice - perfect pitch, in fact.  He has the kind of voice meant to blend - I wish I were so lucky!  He also composes.

Aaron is 21 - 22 in August.  He graduated in '93.  Sounds like a good catch, hey?  Well, I haven't completely hooked him yet.  He seems a bit nervous with our courtship.  Heck, I am, too!  I've never met anyone I've enjoyed being around so much.

Here's one amazing thing for me; I've never been in a relationship with a guy I didn't find attractive at first sight, until now!  Aaron is certainly not unattractive, but I'd categorize him as very plain.  However, I became interested in his personality anyway, and then I started to find him very attractive.  He's adorable.

Now for the hardest thing to put on paper:  I am falling in love with him.  If I'm not in love yet, I'm on the verge.  This scares me!  Especially since I don't think he's quite there yet.

Move forward to today - 

Aaron was super underweight when he came home from his mission, and hadn't really filled out much in the 9 months before I met him.  When we were married, he weighed about 165, and was just over 6' tall.  That puts him about 20 lbs. underweight.  His face was very angular, and his hair cut was atrocious.  After I fell for his personality, I fell for his eyes.  Then, I commented to someone - I think my sister - that he was the type of guy who was going to become more and more attractive over the years.  I was right.  And, yet, it doesn't really matter.  He is still the one I would rather spend my time with more than anyone else.

Katie's Bathtime

I know most of my posts are about Katie.  It's not that she's a girl, it's that she's the baby.  If I had started blogging years ago, you'd see that I would have written about all the boys when they were babies, too.  Maybe I'll do some flashbacks - that's an idea.

Katie loved her bath the other day.  I made it a very bubbly bath, and she had so much fun!  I realized I hadn't taken any bath time pictures yet, so I took some.  Katie has such a bright smile, and this picture captures it really well.

Strep and Dinnerware

On Monday, Ben threw up. On Tuesday, he was fine, but I couldn't take him back to school yet. Tristin had been complaining of a mild sore throat, but it wasn't bad. Since Dallin had come down with strep last week, I decided to have them both cultured. The rapid cultures came up negative, and I took them both to school, as Ben hadn't thrown up for 24 hours, and neither had fevers or any symptoms that would normally keep a child from attending school.

Today, the 48 hour cultures grew out positive. They both have been feeling fine, are active, eating well, and have no symptoms of strep. But, I had to take them out of school and put them both on antibiotics. They will also have to wait until noon tomorrow to go back to school.

I hate strep.

On an up note, I went to the Target pharmacy for the antibiotics, and stopped for a few groceries while I was there. There is a new section of plastic dishes next to the grocery section. They are exactly what I have been looking for for months! There are seven different sets, all coordinating with each other. Four are more grown-up, with square dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, and matching cups (the cups are round). Three of the sets have dinner plates shaped as a monkey (which looks like Curious George), an octypus, and a frog. Their salad plates are round, and so are their bowls. Their cups are the same cup with all three characters on them. There are also a boyish and a girlish tray-style plate with the character theme. I bought the girlish one for Katie.

Tristin and Aaron will have to have the same set, and Katie and I will also have the same set, once Katie grows out of the tray. But everyone else has their own, and they all coordinate with each other, so the table will look very festive. There are also pitchers and bowls and large serving trays and baskets (for clearing dishes?). We'll see whether I get carried away enough to purchase any of those. I think I might get a pitcher or two. I am so excited to finally have dishes that won't break when dropped, that are dishwasher safe, and that I can tell who has cleared their place properly and hold them accountable. Yay!

Beautiful Day

Today it is gorgeous outside.  I spent my morning cleaning up toys and filling a container with stuff to get rid of.  Call it a spring cleaning bug - I just need to declutter.  Once we had lunch, though, we were ready to go outside.  Lunch is pretty early in our house, as Dallin leaves for school at 11:45am.  When he left, I got Katie ready to go outside, too.  Aidan insisted he wanted to finish playing with his magnetics first.  He had made ice cream cones out of them (they are the large variety), and he had to eat them all first.

Katie and I waved at Dallin as he left on the bus.  The bus driver waved at her, and she smiled.  Then, we were off to the back yard.  Katie tried out her swing, which she loved last summer.  I could tell she didn't remember it, as she was a little frightened at first.  She seemed content after a while, but she never giggled like she used to when I pushed her.  

After a while, I took her out and let her run around.  She played with a soccer ball for a little bit, and then Aidan wanted some help getting his shoes on, so we went in.  She was not happy about that.  But we were quick, and got back outside to the sunshine in no time.  

Aidan and Katie played on the deck for a few minutes, then headed to the grass again.  They played with the soccer ball again, then headed for the swing set.  I helped her slide down the slide a couple of times.  

Then, I went to work moving the rain barrels to the deck while they played.  They have been along the back of the house in the rocks, but we decided they looked like a mess last summer, so we're putting them on the deck instead.  One of them is full of ice, so I'm hoping it will all melt by this evening so Aaron can help me move it up.  It just needs to be lifted a few feet, as it is just on the other side of the deck rail from where I want it.

Anyway, I got off track there.  While I was moving rain barrels and dumping some hot water in the icy one, Katie found the garden.  Aidan kept hopping onto the stepping stones, and I asked him to stay away a few times, as I didn't want him covered in mud, and Katie was looking pretty interested in trying it.  Well, Aidan did eventually go back to the swing set, but Katie thought she would see how mud tastes while my back was turned.  I found her kneeling down in the mud, stuffing some in her mouth.  She didn't like it much, so I don't think she'll do it again.  I set her back in the grass, and she wiped her hands off and went back to the slide for a while.  Then, I saw her about to stuff something else in her mouth.  Right over by the sand box there are a whole bunch of little round pellets.  Yes, I think they are of the rabbit variety.  Luckily, she didn't put any in her mouth.  She didn't do more than squish one between her fingers and wipe it off in the grass.

We had a good hour or more out there, and it was past Katie's normal nap time, so I figured at this point I ought to take her in and put her to bed.  She had a nice kitchen sink washing, then happily went down for a nap.  

Ben came up and asked to go out at about that point.  Yes, he's home sick today.  He threw up this morning.  Not surprising, after Tuesday's choir concert.  Luckily, he saw it coming and had a bucket handy, so there was no mess for me to clean up.  I let him sit on the deck for a little while.  Then, he asked for food.  This bug seems to be really mild.  He asked for chicken broth about an hour after he threw up this morning, and kept it down fine.  Two hours later, he had applesauce, and then at 1pm he had a scrambled egg.  He is doing great.

When we heard that we'd hit 60 degrees today, William and I thought we'd do a campfire tonight for FHE.  He was assigned the activity, and I knew I could easily persuade him.  We have a lot of lilac branches to get rid of, so I'm anxious to have a fire.  I'm looking forward to some more time outdoors this evening, as well.  Welcome, Spring!

A Sick Week

What a winter for illness! I've had a cold for over a week now. It was really bad for a couple of days, including last Thursday-Saturday, when Aaron was out of town. I'm mostly over it, but for some sinus congestion.

I had to miss Ben's second grade concert, which made me sad. Aaron managed to get out of work to go to it, though. He said it was very exciting. A girl puked on the risers right away when they were just starting, and she kept puking all the way out the door of the gym. All of the teachers ran to get a janitor, and nobody kept guard of the trail she made. Then, due to the snowstorm, parents kept arriving late and walking through the unattended puke. Aaron thought it was hilarious.

When a classmate has strep, the school nurse sends notices home to everyone in the class. I've seen notices from at least two of my three elementary kids. Then, the nurse sent a special notice to let the entire school know that it has been worse than she's ever seen it, as far as how many kids are getting it. She encouraged us to take kids who complain of headaches or stomach aches in for strep cultures, which is why I took Dallin in. I had assumed his headache and tiredness was just a precursor to coming down with my cold, until I got that notice. So, I looked at his throat, and sure enough, it looked like strep. I had him cultured yesterday, and the rapid came out positive.

I'm hoping the headache I'm getting now isn't strep-related. I am singing at Stake Enrichment tomorrow in Kim Dray's class on creativity, and I'm also in charge of a carpool for people in the Waconia area, so I don't have time to be sick right now. My throat is a little red, but my tonsils are not swollen, so I'm just going to attribute it to the post-nasal drip and hope it goes away.

Katie has my cold. It is very sad to see. Her cheeks are very pink, and she is very whiny. She's also a snot monster. I think she might have a headache, but with the cold, I don't know whether I should be concerned about strep. Doctors would tell you that at her age it is unlikely, but since she's had it twice before, I don't think I'd listen. If I could just look in her throat, I'd probably be able to tell.

Well, Aaron is in Dallas at the temple right now. He had nothing else to do this evening, so he called me to see if I could get him some names to work on. I had some ready for ititiatory in my new.familysearch.org file, so all he had to do was print them off and go. What a cool system.

I'm going to watch a hokey Disney channel movie now. What a way to spend a Friday night.

Tagged - 6th picture, 6th folder

Jessica tagged me.  I had to post the 6th picture in my 6th folder.  I'm sure this is very exciting for you all.  This picture is from the scanning party my family had last fall to copy my grandma's photos.  This is from a photo album.  The top photo is my aunt Irene with her husband, Denny.  The little girl is their daughter, Rue Ann.  

Irene passed away in 2004.  She was a great lady.  She was also in the Navy.  Here is a picture of her in her uniform:

I think my great aunt Irene was pretty neat.  Don't you?

Comments

Yes, my comments are working again.  Apparently, if I select the Comment option, "Embedded below post," it won't work.  So, I chose pop-ups instead, and they work (as long as your pop-ups aren't disabled).  I thought maybe it was my new template screwing things up, so I changed it three times this morning, and it still didn't work.  Oh, well.  Now I have another new look!

Picture

I remembered to take that picture of Katie yesterday.  I had to be in it, as she wouldn't stay far enough away from me to get a good picture of her.  It is now at the top of the post called "Katie 'Baby.'"  

Food Storage Guideline Change

Okay, so most of the comments on Jessica's blog post about the article on food storage made fun of her enthusiasm.   But I thought it was a worthwhile subject, so here goes (I started to post this as a comment on her blog, but then I realized it was worthy of its own post - I hope you think so, too).

The new guidelines make starting our food storage less ominous, as well as let us off the hook for some of the food rotation. I can't say 54 jars of applesauce isn't a worthy goal still (for my family, that's just over a 3-month supply), but we are asked to take baby steps and not go into debt to do it. The highlights are:

• Start gradually, if necessary, with storing three months of food you regularly eat
• Then add some water storage
• Then set aside a financial reserve
• Then store a one-year supply of life-sustaining foods (many of which have recently been found to last for 20-30 years, so no regular rotation is necessary on these items - wheat, white rice, corn, pinto beans, dried apple slices, macaroni, rolled oats, potato flakes, and powdered milk, to name a few)

Hurray! I don't have to rotate my beans. The old guidelines were the reverse of this. We were told to take care of those life-sustaining items first, then store additional foods that we normally eat. I think the new way is much more reasonable. That way, if you are temporarily unemployed, you eat the way you normally do, and still have your life-sustaining foods that you spent so much time planning out and canning and paying for in your reserve, and you don't have to go through that process again.

Let me emphesize here that the reason we store food is to help our families and neighbors in times of hardship, such as unemployment or natural disaster. Here is a quote from www.providentliving.org that says it best:

"Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to “prepare every needful thing” (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we can care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others.

"We encourage members world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings.

"We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve."
—The First Presidency, All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage, Feb. 2007, 1

Katie "Baby"

Baby means anything Katie likes, wants, or owns.  It also means "look at me."  It also means "Katie."  And if you say baby in her presence, she will say, "Baby!"

We went to Once Upon a Child the other day.  I took a big bucket of Katie's baby clothes to see if they would take anything.  They took three things, worth $6.  I guess after you pass the 18 month size, they take more.  There are just too many baby clothes brought in.  I brought Dallin, Aidan and Katie with me.  We picked out some jeans for Dallin and Aidan that fit them great, with the elastic that buttons in the waist.  I love those.  We also picked out a new dress for Katie.  I hadn't planned on a new dress, but I saw a beautiful Laura Ashley dress for $10, and it even had a diaper cover with it.  I showed the kids, and Katie grabbed it and said, "Baby!"  So, of course, I had to buy it.  

I had been putting her in a very summery dress with a long-sleeved blouse under it for the past couple of weeks, as she has outgrown her knit turtleneck dress, and the Christmas dress is really not right for this season anymore.  I have two Easter dresses for her, but they are definitely things she won't wear until Easter.  Way too foofy.  So, this dress made sense.  I'll try to remember to take a picture of her on Sunday.

Katie eats her oatmeal by herself now.  She likes to do it herself.  It is a mess, but she does get most of it into her mouth via the spoon, so I'm letting her.  

Katie is cutting molars.  I'm sleepy.

Our Valentines Day

Our day started early.  Aaron woke up William at about 5am, and they drove out to the Bishop's Storehouse.  Aaron had a computer to add an OS to, and was invited to an early breakfast with the guy in charge there.  William went along because Aaron felt like he needed some attention.  

Aaron got the OS loaded onto the computer, and William helped his grandpa Pratt break down boxes in the cannery (Reo and Merle are serving part-time missions as assistant cannery directors).  When William was done with that, he helped a missionary stock shelves.  

I took Tristin to the high school to catch the bus for a J.V. tournament at Delano/Cokato at 7:15am.  He got to wrestle in three matches, and won one in overtime.  Yeah, Tristin!  He's still getting better, although I can't say he's enjoying it any more.

Katie had been up overnight, and I was tired.  Aaron was surprised to hear that.  He had no idea she was in our bed until a quarter to one.  So, I snuggled with little ones in front of the television for a good part of the morning.  Once Aaron came home, we started getting some work done around the house, and he also taught a make-up piano lesson at 2pm to Steven Dray, a beginning student who has had the misfortune of having his lessons canceled a lot lately, due to Aaron's travel.

Aaron made dinner for me, and we let the kids have kid food.  Aaron prepared a delicious meal, starting with a very good, beautifully-arranged Caesar salad.  It was really pretty on the plate, and tasted great.  Our main course was salmon fillets cooked on a bed of lemon with carrots, onion and zucchini on top, foil dinner style, with a baked potato on the side.  It was very tasty, and there was way too much.  Dessert was a moist chocolate chip cookie cake that was a heat-up and serve variety from the freezer section, with vanilla ice cream.  He would have made something from scratch, normally, but our afternoon was too busy.

We ate in our room, in order to not be interrupted by children - I don't think we've done that in a long, long time! - probably not since Tristin became our babysitter and we started going out every Friday night.  I don't think we were interrupted by children more than once the whole evening.   It was a nice night.  No flowers, no expensive mani-pedi.  No guilt.  Just time with Aaron, and no cooking dinner for me.  Yeah!

What Have I Done?

What I Have Done

I saw this on my friend Leisa's blog and I thought it was fun. It really made me realize what I haven't done in my life...YET! The lines that are bolded are the things that I have done...how about you?

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (French horn)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a Mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee Jumping
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (too recently)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you were not ill (mental health day??)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (I was eight, I think, and my aunt suggested it to my sister, my cousins and me when we were at my grandparent's lakehouse spending the night, so we did it.  It was dark out, and a private lake, but please, kids, wear your suits).
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (Czech - I'm not exactly what you'd call fluent, but I can get you to Wenceslaus Square).
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung Karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (drawn)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold girl scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check (not my fault, and the bank reimbursed me)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Graduate from college
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Fish)
88. Had Chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Get married to the love of your life

That was fun. Hope you enjoy it as well.

My Valentine Flowers are Right Here

If you're reading this Valentine's week, you will see a beautiful bouquet of roses on the left of the screen.  Yes, it has taken me this long to figure out that there are all sorts of free template codes out there, other than the ones Blogger gives us.  I knew that, deep down, but I just never bothered to look for any before now.

Anyway, to get on with things, Aaron told me the other night that he has thought about getting me flowers a lot recently.   But, he wanted to know how I currently felt about that.  

Most women love getting flowers.  I like flowers.  They are very pretty.  I just don't like the idea of paying for hothouse flowers.  How much do you figure the bouquet of roses off to the left cost?  Probably $60.  Maybe $30, with a coupon, but undoubtedly you'll have to pay $20 for shipping with that deal.  Yes, it is beautiful.  Yes, if I were being proposed to, I might like the idea of the night starting out with a bouquet like that one (that didn't happen - our engagement was an extremely informal discussion while sitting on a couch, probably during a commercial break during an episode of Friends or some other sitcom of the 1990's, but that's not the point).  

For all the romance a bouquet of flowers could mean to someone else, to me it means I could have put that money toward our mortgage principle.  It means I could have built up our savings account a little more.  It means I am going to feel guilty every time I look at it because after it quits dropping crud all over my table that I will have to clean up each morning, and then finally dies, all I'll have left is one more glass vase to take up space in the cupboard above my refrigerator, and $60 less in our grocery budget.

I told Aaron I still feel the same way.  A couple of days later, he asked me what I wanted for Valentine's Day.  We got interrupted before I could think it over.  The other night, I was upset about my nail polish lasting only a day, and I told him I would love a mani-pedi.  I actually told him I thought we should both get a mani-pedi together, but he really didn't go for that idea.  He said he found the idea of paying for someone to manicure one's nails was upsetting, and that it was even more upsetting if one is male.  

I have only had two manicures in my life.  One was for a birthday party of one of my childhood friends.  We went to the Scot-Lewis beauty school and got very simple manicures.  I think I was in about the 3rd grade.  The other was on a whim when I was a teenager.  It was also at that beauty school.  It only cost $5, and I got what I paid for.  It was very rushed, and there weren't many polish options.  It did last a couple of weeks, though, from what I can remember.  However, I have heard some women lately talk about how nice a manicure is, and how their toenails are still pretty two months later, and how nice it is to just look down once in a while and feel good about one's toes.  So, I thought it might be nice.

I have one problem with my idea.  I'm afraid I will feel about the manicure the way I feel about the roses.  Will I feel guilty every time I look at my nails?  Will I be upset when they chip?  What if the polish doesn't last more than a day, like the stuff I have at home?  What if I can't control myself, and I peel it off?

Maybe I should just ask Aaron to make me dinner.

Our Nice Morning

William woke up early to make breakfast this morning.  He brought scrambled eggs and toast with peanut butter to me in my room while I was studying scriptures.  He helped Ben make oatmeal, which is Ben's current favorite breakfast and snack - yes, snack.  He asks for it when he comes home from school sometimes.

I was determined to make it to the gym today, as I haven't made enough of an effort lately. I've actually been putting on a few pounds for the first time in my adult life, other than during pregnancy.  Everyone was healthy - yay!  Katie's other eye was even clear! So I helped Aidan and Katie get ready, while Dallin got himself ready.  

My friend Patty gave me two pairs of shoes her little girl had just grown out of last night at our presidency meeting, and I tried the tennis shoes on Katie.  They fit very well.  While I put them on her, she examined the other pair - white dress shoes with pink-flowered straps.  I asked her, "Aren't they pretty?" and she said, "Pret-ty."  I said, "They are pretty!" and she said, "Yes."  We then repeated the conversation, as I wanted to be sure she really had said it all.  Then I took her in to see Dad, who was studying in his office, and she repeated it to him, too.  What fun!

The kids were happy to go to the child care center.  Dallin and Aidan ran off to play in the back, where the tubes and kids' gym are.  Katie found a little "bike" in the toddler room and scooted around happily as I left her there.

I attended Fitness Pilates for the first time in a year.  The last time I went, I reaggrivated my tailbone area injury.  This time, after 8 months of chiropractic care and a month of private training, I did not hurt myself.  There was a little discomfort there with one of the moves, but I adjusted and didn't push it.  However, the whole thing exhausted me more than I remember.  Of course, I always took a break during the planks and push-ups before, and now I am able to do them without straining my shoulder muscle tissue (thanks to training with Mitra), so I didn't get to stop and rest like I used to.  I burned almost 400 calories during the hour.

When I picked up the kids, Katie was a little upset, as a little girl who I would guess is about two was stealing the book she was carrying around.  She saw me and said, "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!"  and was happy.  Dallin was in the gym, where he was playing with a ball.  He told me that he was "...learning so many new things today, this place is a school!" This was said very happily.  We picked up Aidan from the bathroom, where he was washing his hands in a sink just the right height for him, and we left.

I enjoyed my morning, and I hope we will continue on a healthy trend so that I will be able to get back into the routine of getting there three mornings a week.

William's Huge, Mutant Grape

Today at lunch, William had a bunch of grapes.  On this bunch of grapes was the biggest grape he has ever seen.  I've never seen anything like it, either.  It doesn't look much like a grape.  Its shape is that of a pumpkin.  William would like to see if he can enter it into the Guinness Book of World Records, but I don't know if they have a place for mutant grapes.

Our Christmas Eve

Amy inspired me with her last blog entry to actually download some pictures from my camera and post some blog entries. I have been using this blog to vent more than to show off the kids lately, so here goes!

Christmas Eve was spent at my parents' house.  Katie got a Madeline doll from Grammie and Grandpa.  She gave it a hug and patted its back right away.  She calls dolls "bay-bay."  Last week during our bout with food poisoning, she was feeling better and wandering around, and I was still in bed.  She brought me all of the dollies from her room; my old cabbage patch, Tristin's old Raggedy Andy (or should we call it new?  It is the one Aaron bought when we couldn't find his and he couldn't get to sleep without it when he was three, that he could tell wasn't his, so he never played with it), the Madeline doll, and the dolly Jake gave her, too.  She wanted me to feel better, so she thought I could use some "bay-bays."

Aidan got a backpack on rollers from Grammie and Grandpa.  He loves filling it up with toys and emptying it all over my bedroom.  Yes, he thinks my bedroom is a good dumping ground for his toys.  We did a good clean-up of my room this week, though, and got all of the toys out.

Dallin was super-excited to get a velvet art kit.  He has made a lot of beautiful pictures.  

Ben got a fun game called Cadoo.  It is a kid's version of Cranium, made by the same people.  We have played it, and it is a lot of fun, and the right age for the middle kids to play together.

Tristin, Brandon and William were surprised when the gifts they received looked a little strange - like a PUR water filter.  But, judge not by the box!  They each received a Target gift card.  Tristin and William went in on video games, and Brandon got a Zero Gravity car.  It is a remote control car that drives not only on the floor, but on the walls and smooth-surface ceilings.  Pretty cool!

Katie has a clear eye!!!

After 14 months of goobery eyes, Katie's left eye finally cleared up a week ago.  Her right tear duct is still blocked, but now I have hope of avoiding surgery.

 

All of our kids have had blocked tear ducts for at least some amount of time.  Most have cleared up by 1 year, but Brandon and William had the surgery.  Our clinic recommends waiting until the child is at least one year, and my doctor leaves it up to me as to how much longer I want to wait, up to 18 months.  He fully supports waiting, as there are always risks to surgery with general anesthesia.  I regret having their surgery done at one year for Brandon and William, as the kids who came after them had theirs clear up on their own not long after 1 year, and William had one eye for which surgery wasn't successful, and we ended up waiting for it to clear on its own a couple of months later, anyway.

The surgery isn't fun.  They put the child to sleep, you don't get to be there with them, and they come out of it with miserable, swollen, and sometimes, bloody eyes.  The week after the surgery is full of antibiotic eye drops that the child hates having put in 3-4 times a day.  So, you can see why I'd rather just wait.

And now there's hope!

I Got Tagged!

Nancy tagged me.  I am supposed to list 10 things about myself that I am good at.  I'm not sure how this will go, but I can think of a couple off the top of my head.  I may need to save this and come back later, though.  We'll see whether this is finalized tonight (Monday) or not.  It is past my bedtime, so I don't have much time to think about it.

1) I am good at conceiving babies.  It has never taken me more than about six months, and normally takes 1-2.  I'm not planning on using this talent again, though.

2) I am good at delivering babies.  Pregnancy, I'm not so good at, but once I am in active labor, it takes very little time to get to the pushing stage.  Pushing itself goes so quickly for me that I decided not to take pain meds for #7, as I just didn't think it would be worth it.  I was right.  Active labor lasted about 40 minutes, and pushing lasted less than 20 minutes.  I can do anything for 20 minutes.  It was really nice not having to deal with a drowsy head or tingling legs after having Katie.  I did it with Ben, unintentionally, and I wish I had done it that way for Dallin and Aidan, too.  I found epidurals to be awful.  I'm not planning on using this talent any more, either.

3) Singing.  You ought to read Nancy's blog and duplicate this one for me. She put it down as #3, too.  http://ibeimomenti.blogspot.com/2009/01/things-that-i-am-good-at.html     She says it well, and I completely relate.  Except for the sisters thing - I haven't had that one happen, as my sister and I don't sing in a choir together.  

(and here's where I left off that night - our family was sick on Tuesday, and I just haven't had the time to get back to this until now, Friday)

4) Genealogy.  I'm a good researcher, as long as the records you need are from the U.S.  Once you need records from another country, beyond telling you to search for someone else who already has done the research, I'll tell you to go ask Merle what to do.  But, if you want to know how to use any family history software, or www.new.familysearch.org or ancestry.com, I can help.  That's what I was doing this morning, in fact.  I got Sister Hachtman up and running on the new Familysearch.  We even popped over to ancestry.com and found four of her ancestor's birth years and places that she didn't have.  It was fun.  We could have researched all day, but that wasn't really what I was there to do.  She also wanted to get back onto her ward & stake website, and couldn't remember her password, so I figured that out, too.  

5) On that note, I'll add computers as one of my talents.  I am quite good at figuring out software and web applications.  I even set up a secured home network.  I made my new laptop print from the printer that is hooked up to the computer in the living room, and I can share files between the two computers wirelessly, as well.  It took me a little while, and I kept laughing when I was going through the process, because Windows would tell me to contact my network administrator for such and such - and I was the network admin!!  But I got it to work, and I'm happy.

6) Laundry.  My wonderful husband took over on Tuesday when seven of us were throwing up (food poisoning, we think), and I totally appreciate it, but I will say that I will continue not using his help with the laundry unless I am sick.  We had a few casualties, including my new pajama pants (washing cotton in hot water), new holes in towels (not clasping eye hooks), and a baseball cap (not supposed to be in the wash).  In case anyone thinks I'm not being grateful, I already told him I'd take all of the damage any time if he will take care of us the way he did on Tuesday.  I also promised him I wouldn't even scowl at him over the damages.

7) Being on time.  I don't know what this "Mormon Standard Time" thing is all about.  I am always on time to church on Sundays, and people think I'm supernatural or something because of it.  I don't think that.  I know what needs to be done, and how long it is going to take, and I make sure we are prepared by Saturday, so that we aren't running all over the house looking for seven outfits that never made it through the wash on Sunday morning.  I know what I can delegate to the older children, and I leave things that aren't critical until last.  I hear some women who are consistently late ask what I do, and then they tell me they have everything prepared, too, and then they tell me they get up at 8:30am when church is at 10am.  This isn't going to work unless your children all get themselves ready, and then it still might not work.  There was one Sunday I can remember when we all overslept (other than Aaron) until 8:30am, and I had to forgo my shower and breakfast in order to make it there on time, but make it there on time, I did (no, I didn't smell - a quick wash with a cloth takes barely any time, and I only wash my hair every other day, anyway).  I also aim at leaving at 9:30am, even though the church is 5 minutes away.  That way, I can get a bench (there are not many benches in our chapel, and folding chairs would be extremely noisy for my brood), help set up the Primary Room, and be seated with the kids by 10 minutes before the meeting.  And if there is a disaster of some sort, this gives me time to recoup and still make it there on time.

8) Editing.  I hesitated to mention this because of the havoc I caused last time I mentioned grammar in my blog, but it really is a talent of mine, so I'm going to bring it up again.  I am the type of person who will find a pen and correct the grammatical errors in books.  I normally have very good grammar when writing.  My only regular errors are run-on sentences and some misspellings, but never of homonyms.  I never actually publish misspellings, to my knowledge, as I have a good command of the ABC button in both word processors and in Internet applications, such as this one.

9) Driving long distances.  I can drive for a very long time without breaks.  After a short break, I can go for quite a while again.  Just make sure I have Amy with me overnight to keep me awake.

10)  Again, I find myself stealing one from Nancy.  I am good at reading.  I read fast, and I process information well.  My best ACT scores were in grammar and reading comprehension.  This is a little bit of a fault for me, though.  I don't really get much enjoyment out of reading things over and over again, so reading the scriptures daily sometimes seems mundane to me.  However, as long as I have a study guide or subject I want to dig into, I do fine.  But the challenge to read the Book of Mormon over again by the end of the year a couple of years ago was misery to me, as I was just about to finish it for at least the 3rd or 4th time in 8 years when it was given to us.  I had also just made a new goal to finish the Old Testament by the end of the year, so I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of rereading of material at the time.  I did finish the Book of Mormon goal, although I took an extra month to get through the Old Testament.  Oh, and despite processing information well, I do not remember names well, so don't quiz me on who's who in the scriptures unless they have a book named after them or are mentioned repeatedly.  Doctrines, I grasp quickly, and I even memorize scriptures well, but names are a challenge.

Thanks, Nancy.  This was good for me to go through.  Now, I'm going to tag Mom, Connie, Lizzy and Leisa.  Connie and Lizzy, if you have blogs, let me know, otherwise email me :)

Aaron's New Calling

Last Sunday, a member of the Stake Presidency asked Aaron if he liked his calling (Executive Secretary).  Aaron does, and told him he loves it.  I told Aaron to watch out.  On Saturday, we got a call from the Stake Executive Secretary, setting up an appointment for us to visit with the Stake President for about an hour and a half from that time.  Sure enough, Aaron was called to the High Council.  That also means he was ordained to the office of High Priest.  

Aaron's assignment will be Technology, and he'll be on the Aaronic Priesthood Committee.  He will be over the Farmington Ward, the ward for which his dad was the "founding" Bishop.  His parents have since been split off into the Apple Valley ward, but the people there will probably know who Aaron is.  I guess even without the relationship there, they have been seeing him play the organ and piano and lead choirs for years now, so he will be a familiar face to many.  

Aaron's Dad ordained him yesterday after Stake Priesthood Meeting, and he was set apart by President Naatjes right afterward.  They were very interesting blessings.  I was grateful for the blessings offered on my behalf, as I will definitely need some help with Aaron gone so much.  Especially in Sacrament Meeting.  That will be the hard part for me.  Keeping our younger three kids reverent is hard enough when Aaron is there with me.  

I'm very proud of Aaron.  He has worked really hard.  He sets a great example to our family of personal worship, getting up so early in the mornings to study his scriptures.  He has held Family Home Evenings, family scripture and family prayers consistantly.  He has gone above and beyond with his callings.  I have no doubt that he is ready for this new assignment.  

Our Own Garbage Man

Aidan has taken upon himself the role of house garbage man. For the past week, he has emptied almost all of the garbage pails in the house daily, and I have never asked him to.  He drives himself all around the house in his imaginary garbage truck, collecting as he goes.  The only down side is that he goes through a lot of plastic grocery bags.  We have plenty right now, but give it a week, and we will start running short if I can't convince him to fill them up before throwing them out.  

His imagination is quite vivid.  If he is driving his truck around, and I ask him to do something else, he insists on parking his truck in the garage first.

Aidan got a Dustbuster for Christmas.  He really enjoys cleaning up messes with it, and has figured out how to empty it.  He has also figured out how to empty the vacuum canister, as well.  That can get a little messy, but he vacuums up the mess he makes afterward, so it is working out pretty well.

Let's pretend.

I went visiting teaching yesterday.  That reminded me that my visiting teachers haven't come in a very long time.  Then, I remembered how when I had consistent visiting teachers a few years ago, I always had a day each month that motivated me to have my house clean and decluttered (having piano lessons here on Tuesdays doesn't really have the same effect, as the dad that comes with his 7-year-old sits on the piano room couch, so his exposure is limited, and I don't really care if the high school boys see the mess).  So, today I pretended I have visiting teachers coming over tomorrow.  It helped.  Of course, it would probably help my mental state if they actually came to visit, but I guess you can't win them all.

My bathroom is clean.

FlyLady has a useful program that has helped motivate me to keep up the housework.  However, sometimes I get frustrated because there is rarely a room in the house that is all the way clean, as her program is to do a little bit every day, rather than doing it all at once.  You see, she is afraid that our perfectionism will inhibit us from getting through a task enough to feel a sense of accomplishment.  She thinks that if I set out to clean a room all at once, I am setting myself up for failure, as there just won't be enough time to get it all done.  She envisions me taking apart my boys' bedroom, getting halfway through it, and, finding myself out of time, hurriedly throwing things into containers, leaving piles all over the floor, and leaving it just as messy - or prone to getting just as messy within the next 24 hours -as it was when I started. 

While that may be true if I try that with the boys' bedroom (okay, yes, that has happened, I'll admit it), I think I can handle it with the bathroom.  My master bathroom has not been thoroughly clean since I started with FlyLady.  If she had her way, I would swish and swipe all four of my bathrooms each morning (that means a quick swish in each toilet with the brush, and wipe all of the counters), and do a quick mop once a week (and I mean really quick - from what I understood before today, she only allows you 15 minutes to mop the entire house once a week - see below).   But cleaning the light fixtures, fans, baseboards, switch plates, front of the vanity, etc. would only get done every few months.  And I have never had a reminder from her to clean the shower stall or bathtub, to my recollection.  

Today was the beginning of the bathroom week.  I couldn't stand it any longer - my shower stall was covered in soap scum and rust.  My bathtub was dusty (I rarely actually take a bath - I'm too tall to be comfortable in my tub, which stinks, because when we moved in I was really excited about a tub with jets).  My floor was really dirty.  I was ready for a deep-cleaning.  

I decided to disregard FlyLady this week and do the bathrooms my way.  I am going to select one bathroom each day, and go at it from top to bottom.  I started with my master bathroom today, and after three hours, it is clean.  Really, really clean.  I mean, I went the extra mile.  I got on the counter and wiped down all the light bulbs and got the dust off of the top ledge of the light fixture.  I wiped down the cupboards.  I wiped the baseboards.  Everything is clean in that room right now, and I feel good.

After I was done in there, I decided to declutter Dallin and Aidan's room.  They have too many toys and junk.  I took my laptop in and listened to an archive of last Friday's blogtalk radio of FlyLady's show on helping your kids have wings.  There was supposed to be some advice about decluttering their rooms, so I thought I'd have a listen.  During it, I found that she mentioned me.  Yes, I really mean me.  Last week I got frustrated with the Home Blessing Hour and emailed her to ask her if she had any tips for people with my family size.  She emailed back some links to her page with helps for large families, and let me know that the Home Blessing Hour is more flexible than I was making it.  Here's what that is, in case you haven't heard of it:

The Weekly Home Blessing hour is the time FlyLady spends blessing her home. No detailed cleaning required; vacuum the middle of the floors only!  The time on this can depend on the size of your home, could take less than an hour or more than an hour but on average about an hour.  Set your timers and have fun - you are blessing your home and family!

FlyLady sets her timer for 10 minutes to work on each of 7 ways to bless your home:
    * Vacuum
    * Dust
    * Quick Mop
    * Polish Mirrors and Doors
    * Purge magazines/catalogs
    * Change Sheets
    * Empty all trash cans


This takes approximately one hour; some tasks take less than 10 minutes.
 "Don't obsess, set your timer for 10 minutes for each task, then QUIT!"

I decided that FlyLady must live in a 2-bedroom apartment in order to be able to do all of that in an hour.  Or even two hours.  But, as I was told by Laura, who responded to my email, these tasks are to be rotated each week to an area that I didn't do the week before.  I didn't really like this answer, but when I listened to the radio show today, she referred to my email, and said that we also should have the kids in on these tasks, and that they can have their own home blessing hours each week (or maybe their own home blessing half-hour, or 10 minutes, depending on their age).  It's not like I don't have them doing this already - I was just stressing out over the idea that she thought I was supposed to do all of this myself each week.  

As for the links that Laura gave me in her email, there are some neat ideas, although there are also some duds.  The families that are as large as mine have some great ideas, but when I read on I find that they have some advantages, like walk-in pantries, large laundry rooms, super-sized front loader laundry machines, etc.  Oh, well.  But I might take one mom's tips.  She has bought her family some new dishes.  Each child gets a different color, and they each have their own cup, bowl, large plate and small plate in their own color.  They have to take care of their own.  They also each have their own towel and washcloth color.  These are some great ideas!  We have been having many discussions lately about "whose cereal bowl is this with soggy Cheerios in it?"  and "who left their plate on the table?" The only downfall to this is, what do we do when there is company and there are only 9 of each dish?  I can always pull out the china and stemware for a nice dinner, but maybe I'll need to make sure we always have a stack of paper plates and bowls handy for when the occasion doesn't call for something quite that fancy.  Maybe I'll keep the old dishes in a box in the basement for backup.

I also seem to wash way too many towels.  Dallin, William and Ben each have a bath towel of their own, so maybe I'll assign a colored one to each of the others, and instead of throwing their towels on the floor each time they get used, they will be held accountable for their own towels.   I'm always looking for ideas like those, so if anyone has more for me, please let me know (Leisa, if you're reading this, please do tell me how you manage with eight)!

The Stranger

This is something Aaron forwarded to me today.  I found it very interesting, and since I generally don't forward emails, if you want to read it, here it is...not cluttering up your inbox.

The Stranger  A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town.  From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.    As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family.  In my young mind, he had a special niche.  My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey.  But the stranger...he was our storyteller.  He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.    If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future!  He took my family to the first major league ball game.  He made me laugh, and he made me cry.  The stranger never stopped    talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.    Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)    Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home.. Not from us, our friends or any visitors.  Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.  My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol.  But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regularbasis.  He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished.    He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex.  His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.    I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger.  Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.    More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family.  He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first.  Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name?.... .. .     We just call him 'TV.'  (Note: This should be required reading for every household in America !)   He has a wife now....We call her 'Computer.'

Last Week

This is more of a journal entry than a normal blog post.  I am not very good about journaling, so I'm going to take this opportunity to document what I consider a pretty important week.  

On January 2nd, Aaron's grandfather passed away.  The next day, Saturday, we found out that the funeral would be on Tuesday, and plane tickets were not looking too affordable for this whole crew of Minnesotans to get out to Utah.  Seeing as how I have a 12-passenger van, it occured to me to offer to put it into service to save a few thousand dollars in airline tickets for the family.   After frequent calls among Aaron's family (seriously, the call-waiting kicked in during almost every call), we determined that this was the best option, and it only hinged on my getting a sitter.  I got ahold of my mom around 11:30am.  Thankfully, she could take the kids for all but the first day.  My sister dropped everything and brought her three kids over for the first day.  I'm pretty certain that was the first time she has ever taken care of ten children at the same time.  In fact, that probably goes for my mom taking care of just my seven kids, too.  That was an amazing sacrifice on both their parts, and I am so grateful that they were willing to help out.  

I also had some help from the Primary President, my friend Kristen Johnson.  I called to let her know I wouldn't be able to make it to Primary, and she asked if I needed anything.  I told her I next needed to find rides for my kids to get to church, as my sister needed to get back home in the morning, and she couldn't have gotten them all into one vehicle even if she did want to take the kids to our church.  Kristen said she'd figure it all out, and she enlisted the Primary Secretary's family (the Beckles) to help pick up the kids that wouln't fit in her vehicle.  I hear there was a nice-sized caravan to get them home after church.

We started out with Merle and Emma meeting us at our house.  They arrived around 2pm, and we left about a half hour later.  We drove through sleet to Mankato, following a snow plow that was spreading sand for the first half hour.  It was a little slow going.  We picked up Jessica and baby Daniel around 4pm.  Our drive to Worthington to pick up Amy and baby Andrew was worse, but we survived it.  It took until after 8pm, which means it took us over twice as long to get there from Mankato as it normally would.  We drove straight through, with only stops for gas, food, and for Jessica to nurse Daniel.  Luckily, the precipitation stopped once we left Minnesota.

Aaron did the driving until around midnight, and then I drove overnight, with Amy keeping me awake.  She and I both have the misfortune to not be able to sleep in the car.  This could be looked at as an advantage, as I would rather drive than be driven on a long trip, and Amy is happy to keep a driver awake, because she's awake anyway, and doesn't want to drive herself.  That girl knows how to talk.  She kept me alert throughout the night.

Emma took a turn at the wheel the next morning.  I was so tired I actually fell asleep for a little while, but then the roads got icky, so I took over again.  I just can't handle being a passenger on bad roads, and Emma had never driven a 12-passenger van before, anyway.  The forecast before we left was really good, so I was surprised at the road conditions.  It seems they don't do such a good job at plowing in the mountains, as it was a beautiful, sunny day, and there were thick patches of packed snow and ice all over the place.

After experiencing Sonic for my first time (oh, gut bomb!!!  terribly greasy food, but good slushies) in Evanston, WY, we arrived in Provo, UT around 6pm.  We met Aaron's dad and other two sisters at Matt and Melissa's apartment, then Aaron, Amy, Andrew and I checked into the Hampton.  It was nice.  Aaron and I were able to work out the kinks in the fitness room before retiring for the evening, and the bed was fabulous.  It was seriously the most comfortable hotel bed ever.  I slept soundly every night we were there.  I guess this could be due to the sleep deprevation, but I'll give the bed some credit.  Aaron says the heater's blower kept cycling and waking him up all night, but I never heard a thing.

Amy and I both got calls saying we had children throwing up on Monday.  We felt really bad for our family at home taking care of our sick kids.  But, we had things to do, and we were able to prepare for the funeral ahead, support Reo through a tough day, and get another good night's sleep on Monday night.

The funeral affected me differently than I had anticipated.  

I really liked Grandpa Pratt.  He was always very caring, and interested, and funny.  He gave me some silver scraps once and told me about how he got them as a lithographer.  He also made me a walnut box, a good size for keeping cards and small keepsakes.  He wrote me back every time I sent him a letter, even if it was just a short note with pictures of the kids in it.  I knew he was very musical, and he played the horn for me on one of our visits.  He loved to hear us play and sing for him.  I have experienced a few funerals in the past couple of years, and I was expecting to feel about the same - pretty calm, reflective about the life the person lived, and comforted, with my knowledge of the plan of salvation assuring me of the sweet reunion in the future.  

However, about three-quarters of the way through it, I suddenly realized that so much of what was being said could be said about Aaron.  It could almost have been his funeral.  His love for music, his brains, his sense of humor, his sense of priesthood duty, his strong belief in singing hymns in Sacrament Meeting being a reflection on a person in the church.  

One brother talked about how when the choir had been struggling with singing "Oh, Say What is Truth," he taught them what the words meant, which is exactly what Aaron would do.  While anyone else would bang through parts, they would teach doctrine, with success.  Aaron had recently had our family sing this same hymn before scripture study a few times in a row, which was the first time I can remember ever singing it.  

I was awakened to the grief that I would be feeling if I were attending Aaron's funeral.  It also brought on a moment of self-examination.  I wanted to repent of my faults and become a better wife, a better mother, a better friend.  I made some mental notes on ways to improve my faithfulness to the covenants I have made, and strive to be found worthy to enter into the celestial kingdom when I leave this world, so that I can be with my loved ones.  I got a little choked up and teary-eyed, realizing how I would miss this great man, and also realizing how far I have to go.

We spent one more night in Provo.  Strangely enough, we went bowling that evening with Aaron's parents and all of his sisters, and ate some really good mexican food.  I actually scored around 130 each game, which is pretty impressive for me, as I haven't bowled in a decade, and I can't remember breaking 100 before.  

Aaron took off early the next morning with Nancy for Salt Lake City, as he had to catch a plane to Las Vegas for a trade show, and she lives and works in SLC.  Emma caught a ride with a friend up to BYU Idaho right after the funeral, so with the addition of Reo, the rest of us headed back home.  I drove all but a few hours of it, with Reo taking the wheel for a few hours before we decided not to push through and to stay the night in a hotel.  The babies had pretty much had it, and we moms of small children suddenly realized how much better off we'd be if we came home well-rested.  I was particularly in favor of a good night's sleep, as I was going to be without Aaron for the next five days.

I made it home at about 3:30pm on Thursday.  My house was clean, my kids were bathed, and my mom was looking ready to go home.

I am so thankful for this experience.  I feel so blessed that I have family and friends who are willing to step in when I need them.  I am greatful for Aaron's grandfather, who has been so influential in Aaron becoming the great man he is today.  I am also thankful for my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which gives me peace, rather than pain, at the losses of so many dear ones this past decade - especially when so many have passed in the last year.  I know I will see them all again, so my sadness is confined to just missing them, and sympathy for those whose lives are affected most by their deaths.  

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." - 1 Cor 15:22

The One Thing I Can Always Count On...

...when Aaron is out of town, kids puke and a foot of snow lands in my driveway.  

So far, we're five down and two to go for this particular stomach bug.  Aaron returns tomorrow, and I am looking forward to getting out to set up and teach at our Primary Teacher In-Service in the evening.  I'm supposed to bake cookies or brownies and bring them there, but I'm thinking everyone would appreciate it if I just buy some and reduce the chances of transmitting germs.

Cute. Here's my Castle thing.

I stole this from Emma, who stole it from Jessica.

You Are a Practical Realist

You are scared of new experiences. It's hard for you to break outside of your comfort zone. You like to think that people see you as intellectual and wise. You consider yourself to be very smart. You are a very realistic person. You see the world as it is, flaws and all. Right now, stress occasionally makes you feel trapped in your life. You usually have a clear perspective on things though! Overall, your life is calm and steady. Not much stirs you, and each day is full of joy. You feel like the fate of the future partially rests in your hands. You believe you need to help make the world a better place. The Castle Personality Test