Jackson Hole Day Trip: Escape the House Work!!!

A few Saturday's ago I woke up and told Scott that we should go do something.  

This was secretly my way of escaping the HOUSE WORK that had built up all week.

 It was a brilliant plan, and a fun, spontaneous day trip.

Our half-way point was here at the Rainy Creek Gas Station.

 It is famous for it's SQUARE ice-cream.

I'm not sure why it is so hard for Dylan to get excited about putting his arm around his sister. First photo was before I threatened him with no ice-cream. Second photo was a little better.

Now days, I'm starting to look at my family and and loving how our numbers have grown. I wish there were twelve of us, but my body and my age just might not be able to make that happen.

Bummer, Cause we are CUTE.

Okay, so I know that this toilet picture is having you all gagging. 

Rest assured that I did all the dirty work for her including lifting her on and off the toilet and wiping.  

She did not want to stop eating her ice-cream.

2 year old's and ice-cream EQUAL:

OH.

My.

MESS.

Scott likes to tease me that he is feeding Wyatt big boy foods.

Wyatt is my smallest baby.

And on behalf of my aging back.

Thank.

You.

This drive is so beautiful. The farm land, mountains, rivers.

Peaceful.

Our first agenda was food when we got to Jackson.

This is Kate before she was fed.

My family gets so grumpy when they are hungry, including Mr. Peterson.

My kids eat a lot.

Remember they just had ice-cream cones an hour ago.

Kate ate lunch and recovered. 

Doesn't she look better after being fed?

Or goofier. 

Is that a Word?

Serious Poser.

Remember how I said that my Family eats 

a

LOT.

Here are a few totally disgusting photo's of 

Dylan consuming lunch in about 

10 seconds.

And you can't go to Jackson Hole without the famous 

Antler Arch photo in Town Square.

I stayed in the car with a sleeping Sawyer and fed Wyatt while

the older kids took a hike with Scott. 

It ended up being a SHORT hike because Dylan's stomach was doing 

cartwheels and he came running down the mountain with tears in his eyes, yelling

"I need a bathroom, I need a bathroom."

I drove him to the only one I could think of and we made it back just as Scott and Kate were coming down the mountain.

The drive home was so beautiful. I tried snapping some photo's but the mixture of a broken camera and dead bugs on the windshield made for terrible pictures.

And now would be an appropriate time to tell you all that I saved our family from hitting a deer.

Scott thinks I am a nagging side passenger, which I am.

But this trip my keen eye and cat like reflexes saved us.

Thank you to myself.

Are you a Nagging Side Passenger?

Ever had Square Ice-cream?

Not Another Tooth

Am I the only parent that becomes grumpy when their children's teeth fall out.

I really get mad...I hate it. Their sweet baby faces change from cute and innocent to

I'm Huge and I'll be moving out in a month.

( a little dramatic, but it is how I feel.)

 This picture that Dylan drew was too cute not to post. I love it that he drew a picture of the fairy and also a picture of himself sleeping in his bed.

Adorable.

And maybe it is my fault that he had to add the message,

"I hope you come",

because maybe the tooth fairy forgets at our house.

A lot.

Sawyer Splits His Eye Open...

At 10:30 PM Thursday night, Scott and I heard Sawyer Screaming from downstairs. It was the kind of scream that you know means BUSINESS. I had left Sauce on my bed watching a TV show because he wasn't tired due to a late nap.  I went to change a load of laundry and quickly glance at my email. (Stupid Computer). Before we knew it, Sawyer had crept downstairs to crawl into bed with Dylan. In his attempt to hurry into Dylan's room, he tripped on something on  the floor of Dylan's room and smacked his head on the side of Dylan's bed. Scott was the first one downstairs and carried Sawyer upstairs to me. I immediately could tell that he needed stitches. I started panicking because I couldn't imagine how a 2 year old could possibly hold still enough for stitches right next to his eye. It was bad. And the worst part is that he had just had surgery the week before and was already traumatized from it.

I thought through my options and decided to call our dermatologist who is also our neighbor and friend. He answered the call and by 11:20 PM Sawyer was all taken care of. 

I am so grateful for people that use their skills to help others. 

It was pretty horrible having to restrain my baby. Scott held his body super tight and I held his face and head. He was fighting us so bad that he now has broken blood vessels all over his face and neck. The cut was SO close to his eye that it ended up needing 5 stitches.

I'm sorry but his face is so sweet.

He looked like he had been in a boxing fight.

And here is a video of him getting his band-aid on and the finishing touches.

His cry makes my heart hurt.

 And I love how he just collapses into Scott when we tell him it is all over.

We took him straight to Wal-Mart and let him pick out a new train.

 This put a smile on his face immediately!

We also took him to McDonald's for a smoothie.

Your parent's love you Soy Boy!!!

All photo's taken with I-phone so not great quality.

Sunday Night Testimonies & Dance Off!

There have only been a handful of times since becoming a mother that I have received VERY specific instructions from the Lord on raising my children. One Sunday I was sitting in Sacrament meeting on a Fast Sunday and Dylan leaned over to me and asked me if he could go to the Pulpit and share his testimony. I said SURE. Well he got up to the front of the congregation and panicked. It was a lot of people starring at him and he didn't feel prepared or confident enough to do it.

I was still very proud of him for having the desire to share his testimony, but it left me with such a nagging feeling. Many Scriptures and quotes started filling my mind and I desired to be able to help my children grow and cultivate their own testimonies so that they would have the faith and strength to withstand the darkness that this world has to offer.

I had the impression before the end of the meeting that as a family we should start holding a regular testimony meeting. Nothing big or fancy, but just an opportunity to give our children a short slot of time to reflect on what spiritual truths they know to be true. I also had the impression that this would be a great tool to unify our family and help us love each other more fully.

I decided that we would do this every Sunday night before we put the kids to bed and that we would make it something that they looked forward to.

Each Sunday night we sit down together, nothing to formal, but we always start in prayer. Then each person takes a few seconds to share their testimony. We do not draw this out and we do not instruct our children on what to say. We let them discover their sweet testimonies on their own.

As a reward each Sunday night after our testimony meeting we turn on music and have a Dance Off. The only rule is that everybody has to dance. This is the kids favorite part. We have so much fun. We have had injuries and a few bloody noses from dancing to close to each other, but for the most part it is PURE FUN!!! And I can't help but laugh at some of the insane moves that Scott & Dylan come up with.

We have been doing this for a few years now, sometimes more consistently than others, but I still feel the Holy Ghost confirm to me each week that I am doing my part, that my children are growing in faith, and righteousness, and that our family is being strengthened. We have had many visitors participate with us too and while some of them are a bit shy in sharing their dance moves, I know they still enjoy it.

I have photographed our Sunday Nights many times, but I don't remember sharing any of the photo's on my blog.

Here are a few photo's from Sunday Night's Testimony meeting.

 Some of the Quotes that I love are the following...

“To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves. …

“The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. If you do not have it, how can you stand?” (quoted by Orson F. Whitney inLife of Heber C. Kimball, 3rd ed. [1967], 450).

President Harold B. Lee said: “Testimony isn’t something you have today, and you are going to have always. A testimony is fragile. It is as hard to hold as a moonbeam. It is something you have to recapture every day of your life” (quoted by J. M. Heslop in “President Harold B. Lee Directs Church; Led by the Spirit,” Church News, 15 July 1972, 4).

Elder George Q. Cannon wrote: “It is not enough that we knew of the truth of this work yesterday or the day before or a week or a month or a year ago; we ought to and must, in order to be happy, know it to be true to-day. … We can only retain the testimony of the truth in our heart by living near unto God” (Gospel Truth, sel. Jerreld L. Newquist [1957], 1:343).

The Gift of Life Part Three: A Baby is Born

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(Here is the link to take you to PART ONE.)

(Here is the link to take you to PART TWO.)

It doesn't matter how many times I've been wheeled into the operating room, the sounds are always hauntingly the same.

"Cla-Dink, Cla-Dink, Cla-Dink, Cla-Dink."

This time was no different. The Wheels on the hospital bed seemed to shriek like two metals being rubbed together. And then, what seemed like a lifetime of pregnancy, with a 30 second trip down the hallway to the O.R. will soon be over.

I still can't help but be shocked when doctors and nurses prepare me for surgery. One would hope that the casual banter displayed on television shows like E.R. or Grey's Anatomy would only exist between Actors and Scripts, but the truth of it is...it has existed in every operating room I have ever been in. Instead of, "When was the last time you performed this operation?, or Are you awake enough to place this blade into her body?", I hear childish chit-chat about cars, camping, vacations, and food. It is as if they are riding a bicycle. Not really needing to concentrate on the woman and the baby whose lives are in their hands. It is scary. And it isn't that I don't think they are skilled enough to perform the surgeries. It is the ease and merriment associated with it that disturbs me most.

I listen in as the assisting Surgical Nurse reports how he was pulled over on the drive into my emergency C-section. He jokes as it was the first time he has been pulled over in the middle of the night in 10 years of taking emergency calls. He reports that he wasn't ticketed. I'm relieved.

I'm told to lay stiff like I'm a board and then I realize they are going to move me onto the operating table. I begin apologizing over and over again for the 'heavy' load they are lifting. They roll their eyes like I'm the bazillionth  person to ever feel like I was too heavy for them to move and then on the count of three they lift me with ease. I'm pretty amazed after feeling like a lead ball for the past few months. They are stronger than they look.

They sit me on the side of the bed and I am told to curl my back like the letter "C".  The Anesthesiologist quickly and painlessly numbs my back and gives me my spinal. I'm completely perplexed by how painless it was. The spinal I received in the fall for my spinal meningitis diagnosis was so horrifyingly painful that my mind spins with wonderment at the stark contrast.

I'm strapped to the table with large Velcro straps, both my arms and legs. As soon as my arms are secured I get this terrible itch on my nose. I scan the room for someone to help relieve me. The Anesthesiologist steps up as if reading my mind and asks if I need anything. Thank Heaven's. He scratches my nose, which I take as a true labor of love, and I feel much better. There is  large blue partition placed on my chest and it rises up towards the ceiling; it's purpose is to act as a shield so that I don't have to look at the huge mess they are about to make in my pelvis.This is when Scott is invited into the room and takes his place beside me. I am so happy to have him. He gently holds my hand and I squeeze his hand back so hard it is like I am communicating my anxiety through my grip. He reads my signal and steps a little closer brushing my hair on my face and down towards my head cap. I know that if I can just hold on for a few more minutes there should be a sweet cry echoing in the room, replacing the stale static.

A few minutes later, after felling some serious pressure on my abdomen, hearing more causal banter by the doctors, and squeezing my dear Scott's hand some more I heard it.

"Ah...aaaaa.....Whaaaaa...Whaaaaaa.!"

The volume of the sweet cry grew in intensity and then quieted to a soft sob.

I waited for them to bring the baby to me, but all I got was a short glance. He was perfect. My sweet, tiny, baby boy.

And then they robbed him from me which is the harshest cruelty associated with a C-section. But I knew I would see him again shortly. Or, so I thought.

And then the Doctor's voice chimed in delivering the hard blow.....

(to be continued in The Gift of Life Part Four: You Chopped My What?)

This picture is from Sawyer's birth, my third C-Section...but I think it does a good job with the visual for those of you who have never experienced a C-Section before. Pretty gross. Pretty Amazing.

(Still trying to write part 4. To be continued)

Are You Chubby?

Um...I know it's sort of a personal question...but not that personal. 

I mean we do share ourselves with the rest of the world. 

Right? 

It is however hard to admit.

Really hard.

So here I go......

I'm Chubby.

It is bound to happen to you if you have four kids in a short amount of time, 

and eat too many calories and burn too few.

Right?

Well, I'm ready to be fit again. Like REALLY fit. 

And I want to do this so that I can...

 And Maybe feel cute, confident and comfortable in something like this.

(You know, so that when I bend over in my jeans I'm not tucking my buns back in when I stand up.)

 And I can't wait until this...

Feels really good.

Feels really great.

Feels like it USE TO.

And I'm not doing it because I want to wear a bikini or shake my tight bottom...

(although it will be nice to shake it and not have it shake back!)

I'm doing it because...

My Body IS Amazing.

You see my body has had a really HARD year.

My body Survived Spinal Meningitis.

My body Survived Pregnancy. 

My body Survived a total Placenta Abruption.

My body Survived having my Bladder Cut completely in Half during my C-section.

My body Survived my 4th C-section.

My body Survived having the Foley of a Catheter shoved accidentally through my bladder and into my Uterus.

My body Survived having to wear a Catheter for close to a month.

My body Survived having 5 months of strait Urinary Tract Infections.

And this week my body is Surviving Strep.

So, I do think my body is Awesome.

In fact, I think that I am Awesome.

So I am doing it because...

I have Potential.

PURE

POTENTIAL

So tell me...

are you chubby?

And if so...When are you going to start REALLY doing something about it?

I started a month ago and
I lost 2 lbs last week.

Yea, Me.

Koo Koo for Cocoa Puffs

Just wondering if it is possible to survive on Cocoa Puffs?

I've got strep throat this week, which is TOTALLY Lame. I'm a first timer.
Nothing tastes good. NOTHING. Well, that is except this Cereal. I don't ever eat Sugar Cereal...Like NEVER.

But.

boy.
O.
boy.

It sure tastes good today.

Seriously YUM.

Anyone out there still eat Sugar Cereal?

How many cavities do you have?
Is drinking the CHOCOLATE MILK at the end gross or yum?
(I vote Yum!)

(Image Taken From http://matthewschocolateblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/13.jpg)