Firsts

This week we have had a lot of firsts. Yesterday was the first day of school, the first absence for Ashtyn, Ashtyn's teacher's first year teaching, Whitney's first time riding a bike, the first day on our two new bikes and today is the girls first time riding a bus to school and the first day that the girl's haven't been home all day this school year.

The FIRST day of school

I always loved the first day of school. The excitement, the new clothes, the new friends, the new teacher, the new subjects to explore. The girls were very excited. We got right up, dressed and all ready to go. We got to school early so we didn't feel rushed. Then right when we were stepping out of the car Ashtyn said with some urgency that she had to go to the bathroom right now. We rushed into the school and she had diarrhea. She had to miss the very first day of school. She was very sad, but her tummy was hurting too much to stay. I don't necessarily think she was sick because she did OK at home. I think she just may have inherited my IBS. I hope for her sake not- but at least I will be able to help her cope if so.

Whitney was pretty scared that Ashtyn wasn't going to stay- but when we drove away she was happily standing in her line waiting for the bell to ring. I am really proud of her- she has come so far with her confidence. A few years ago there would have been tears and leg clinging- but now she is so much braver. She had a great day at school. She made a new friend and loved her teacher. She was excited to go back today.

We did meet Ashtyn's teacher before we left to let her know Ashytn wouldn't be there. She is so cute. She is young. This is her first year teaching- which I love because you have a fire in you the first year that makes you excited and positive.

FIRST bike ride

Whitney came home from school and taught herself to ride a bike. We had tried a month ago to teach her- but sometimes it just works better if you figure it out on your own. I am really proud of her and Ashtyn- now we have two new bike riders in the family.

FIRST time on new bikes

Ashtyn and Whitney have been fighting over our one bike this week because Ashtyn wanted to practice her new skills and Whitney wanted to learn to ride. We use to have two bikes, but one of them was getting a little small and we told them we wouldn't buy new bikes until they learned to ride. Right after school they both wanted to ride the bike- so of course there were tears shed when we had to take turns. I decided that it was time for a new bike. I looked in the classifieds online and the first post was an ad for two girl's bikes for $10. It had only been online for 5 minutes. I knew that we were meant to have those bikes. I called the lady and within a half an hour we had two new bikes for way less than I would have paid for new ones. Last night we could barely get them to come inside and stop riding them. Now we have three bikes to go with our 3 kids.

the FIRST time riding the bus

Our neighborhood is bused to school because there are no sidewalks between us and the school. Today was our first time riding the bus. The girls were so happy and wanted to be to the bus stop 20 minutes early. They felt so cool getting on the bus with all the other kids. I felt like I might throw up. I hated riding the bus to school. I didn't have to until Jr. High and High School. It was at least a 45 minute ride to school for us because we lived on the other side of town. All I remember is the anxiety I felt that I would miss the bus, the spit wads, the rude teenage boys, and my only happy memory of sitting next to my friend Heidi and making fun of country music- that I now happen to love. One time our bus was an hour late. I cried the whole way to school because I was going to be tardy. Then there are the nightmares about missing the bus after school and having to wait for the activity bus and then missing that and having my mom refuse to come pick me up because it was raining and she had just washed the car. Thank goodness in High School I had friends that had cars to drive.

So as my girls stepped on today I just hoped that they would make it to school OK- I knew by the big grins on their faces that it would be OK.....until I have to let Ethan ride the bus all alone home from Kindergarten next week...I might be driving him myself.

FIRST day without the girls

I feel happy and a little sad without the girls home today. It feels calm and quiet, yet I love hearing them play with each other and make up games with Ethan. I always have mixed feelings about sending them to school. But I know that they need to start having their own life outside of me- I feel like I hold them back a lot because I am such a nervous mother- Ashtyn always says "Mom I am 8, when are you going to start to trust me?" I just miss them when they are gone- but I suppose it is better to miss them now, then to have me camped out on their doorstep on their wedding night..LOL. The only thing I don't miss is the homework they have already brought home. But even that can be fun sometimes.

Life List Update

Wow - I really didn't think I would be updating the life list this soon- but last night at Young Women's they were looking for someone to play the piano for opening exercises and no one was available. Finally the president asked me and normally I would have said "No I don't play"- but last night I said "Yes, I can play a little", so she said to pick any song. I chose We Thank Thee Oh God For A Prophet because I have practiced that song a lot. I DID IT. I didn't play an intro, but I played the song almost perfectly. It was the best feeling and gave me so much confidence. I can definitely say that YES I do play the piano.

Life List

I subscribe to the Ladies Home Journal. This year they started a feature called Life List that is now in every issue. It's all about having goals and making them happen. "Write it down. Make it happen. Live your dream." Each issue features a women trying to achieve 3 goals. Some of their goals have included wear a bikini, fly a plane, run a marathon, learn Italien, open a cupcake shop, win on Jeopardy, read Don Quixote in Spanish and run a bed and breakfast. I have become so inspired by this feature. I feel like I haven't reached a lot of the goals I set for myself and I can't figure out why. I got my new issue this week and decided that today was the day to do it. So here is my life list:


my goals

• play the piano proficiently
• visit the Eiffel Tower
• get my bachelors degree

my plan

I am going to start with the piano goal first. I know how to play the piano- but not well enough to feel confident playing in front of other people or for other people. I am starting with the Hymns Made Easy- I currently can play every Hymn in this book slowly- so each day I am going to practice a few at a time until I can play all of them well. After I have mastered each of these Hymns I am going to move onto the Hymn Book and one by one learn to play each and every hymn. I am hoping that while I do this I can save up enough money to one day be able to buy a piano. Right now all we have is a key board.

what I learned

I just started this goal, so I will add more to this section as I go- but as of right now- I have learned that it's very helpful to prayer and ask for help. I feel like music is one of my talents that I know I could be very good at. I know that if I ask for help and then do all that I can in my power that Heavenly Father will bless me.

If you have a life list too I would love to hear it. Remember to choose goals that you have control over- after all your chances of becoming the Queen of England are pretty slim if you haven't been born into the royal family :)

Girl's Camp

I was called into Young Women's three weeks ago and last week was camp- so I got to go. It never ceases to amaze me how Heavenly Father makes things possible when he calls us to do his work. Jeff was out of town and so my mom and awesome sister Liz took care of my kids. I am really grateful that they were able to help me because camp is the best place to get to know the girls. I think a person's true personality comes out when you are camping.

We have 45 girls in Young Women's and 42 of them came to camp- so you can imagine how hard it is to get to know that many girls. I have been more than impressed with the the girls in my ward. They are some of the most responsible, intelligent, beautiful, respectful, reverent, spiritual and considerate youth that I have ever met. We as leaders left a lot of the planning and preparation up to the YCL's in our group and not once did we have to nag them or remind them or babysit them at all. They knew what they were responsible for and who they were responsible for and they went above and beyond what they were asked so that each and every girl there had fun, was spiritually fed, felt loved and was watched over and included. We have one particular young women who has cerebral palsy and a learning disability. Ever single girl took the time to make her feel included in every thing we did. They helped her and cheered for her and loved her. It truly touched my heart that they would think of others before themselves. I loved being in their presence and learning from them.

The first day there we went on a 5 mile hike- for all of you that have hiked with me before you will know that I am weak physically and so this was a huge challenge to me. Most of the hike was up hill and in 90 degree weather. It was very hard for me- I found myself really struggling to stay positive. I wanted to be an example to them and it turned out that they were more of an example to me. They were all so positive and never left any one behind- which was usually me. I truly know that I was being sustained the entire time I was at camp- because I was totally out of my element (no sleep, lots of strenuous hiking, long hours, etc.)

I am over the Laurels and today I taught the lesson and felt so comfortable with all of them because I was able to go through the experience of camp with them. I hope I can remain in young women's to be able to go again next year.

I only wish I had pictures to show. I know we took a lot, but I didn't get any- so that will follow later.

Brown

Ashtyn informed me that the last back ground I had was brown and pink- not black and pink-LOL. She was right so here's a new one :)

We through a party for Whitney this weekend. Actually she told all the neighbors we were having a party- so we thought we'd better do it then. It was suppose to be a swimming party, but the weather didn't cooperate so we had a Fancy Nancy party instead. You haven't heard of Fancy Nancy? Well she is tres tres chic. We dressed up in our fanciest clothes. I gave all the children a new french name and we learned to eat cake with our pinkies up. We ended the party with a fashion show. One of the little gentlemen that attended said that the party was too girlie for him..LOL. It was one of the more mellow parties I have thrown- but the kids seemed to be having fun, so it turned out alright.

I also got my hair cut this weekend. I love a great bob. My friend Steph recommended a fabulous stylist. I loved the cut- but then I got a little over zealous and went back and had her cut more off....oops- I liked it better the first time- but it still looks ok and my hair grows so fast that it'll be back to the first length in no time. It only took me ten minutes to style it- wahoo!

Our family attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Our kids were a little confused and thought that all the temples were the same, so why did we need to see this one when we just saw the Draper Temple. Then when we were inside Ashtyn realized that it was different- yet there were all the same rooms- she asked me if every temple, all over the world has the same rooms. That was amazing to her. As we went through I kept looking at Ethan and wondering what he was thinking and feeling. He is so small and I noticed that from his eye level point of view you wouldn't have seen too many things- all of the beautiful art work and grand chandeliers were so high- we kept saying look up, so that the kids wouldn't miss anything. Then a wonderful volunteer asked him if he noticed the stars in the windows. He didn't miss a single star after that- he was so mesmerized by them. When we were done we all pinkie swore that they would someday come back to the temple to be married. I love temples. I always cry when I am in them because I feel such over whelming peace. I found myself thinking- how can you ever come to this magnificent house and then feel even the slightest desire to do anything that is contrary to the saviors teachings. I wanted to go home and do nothing but read my scriptures. In the brides room was a picture of Queen Esther. The girls thought she was beautiful and we have told her story over and over the past few days.

It is amazing how quickly the serenity can fade when you leave those hallowed doors. On Sunday Jeff went out of town and the kids were having a very bad day. They were fighting and Ethan wouldn't get off the ground to get his shoes or brush his teeth. I had to drag him to the car to go to church and then he was crying, Ashtyn was upset and crying, Whitney was yelling at them to stop and it all made me cry. We almost turned around and went home- but I needed to be to Young Women's so we stayed- then Ethan head butted me in sacrament and Ashtyn was in one of her "You hate me" moods and she just kept saying so loudly "Why don't you love me- you won't even listen to me- you hate me" Again we were all crying. Then the opening hymn was "Come Come Ye Saints". The first verse spoke peace to my heart. It says:

"Come, come ye saints

No toil nor labor fear;

But with joy wend your way.

Though hard to you this journey may appear,

Grace shall be as your day.

Tis better far for us to strive

Our useless cares from us to drive;

Do this, and joy your hearts will swell,

All is well, all is well!"

Things calmed down after that. Whitney wrote a short essay on what it means to be reverent:

"how to be revrint- being revrint is to fold your arms and to lisin and be qiite when samwn els is speking." She drew a lovely picture of Jesus on the back.

Ashtyn wrote me a note about why she thinks we hate her. She said it's because she thinks when we get mad at her and correct her that it makes us hate her for doing wrong things and that makes her a bad girl. It breaks my heart every time she says things like that- because we tell her multiple times a day how much we love her and how no matter what she does- we will always love her. I'm not sure how to make her believe that, other than to try very hard to catch her doing good before she has the chance to make mistakes. She said in her note that she knows we love her and that she understands- I just hope that is true.

I took them to primary and went to Sunday School where I read these verses in the Doctrine and Covenants. It again spoke peace to my mind. There are so many times in my life when I start to feel sorry for myself and it's good to be reminded that the things I have been called to pass through thus far in my life are nothing compared to what the Savior had to suffer. Our family has been trying to refocus our lives on the things of the spirit and head in a more spiritual direction and we have met a lot of opposition in trying to do so. I feel like we are on the right path though.

You'll notice that I keep changing my layout- I just always come back to pink and black- Pink is my signature color;)

Today

Today my Whitney turned 7

Today I let her do whatever she wanted

Today we went swimming with Ryan, Dani, and Ben

Today she chose mint ice cream- her favorite

Today she was so excited to get a My Little Pony Baby

Today the phone rang non stop with calls from people who love her

Today she asked if she could stay up as late as she wanted- I said no- she said It's my birthday

Today we prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for Whitney

Today I cried because I love her so much

Today I cried because it was a year ago today that Uncle Dennis died

Today I felt sick

Today I talked to my husband who is in Montana

Today Ethan made up a new word for I love you- "Septs"

Today Ethan told me he was my baby blue bird and flew onto my lap

Today we watched Pinocchio because Whitney wanted to

Today we went to Wendy's for dinner because Whitney wanted to

Today we planned a party

Today I am going to bed early

Today Ashtyn told me that it makes her angry when people don't do what she wants and that she wants to learn to control that

Today we put on fake glitter tattoos

Today I'm going to leave the dishes until tomorrow

Today I learned that maggots can heal a diabetic ulcer

Today I read a wonderful quote by Richard G. Scott- you can read it here it starts with the phrase "Know that the wicked..."

Today was a good day

4th of July Weekend

I love the 4th of July Weekend. We always have a lot of fun. This year we spent Friday night at a neighborhood BBQ with Scott and Malia- We were invited to this last year too and we loved it so we were very happy to go again this year. They always have tons of food, friends, fun, prizes and fireworks. I made hamburger cupcakes to take. Ethan won a set of candles that he is obsessed with- I told him I would trade for the bubbles I won- but he loved the candles and wanted to keep them. We sang songs and watched a great fireworks display.

Today we went hiking up to Battle Creek Falls- a trail up in Pleasant Grove. It was really beautiful. It follows the creek up hill the whole way to the beautiful falls. You can hike down to the falls and enjoy the cool breezes or hike up over the top of the falls and play in a breather pipe that squirts water. The trail is covered in rocks- but it is fairly easy. Jeff and I love to hike- and you can't tell from the smiling kids in the pictures, but our kids actually complained the entire way up- they hate hiking- but usually end up having fun and enjoying the hike back down, which was the case this time- they loved playing in the water and hiking down was great.

We spent the rest of the weekend teaching Ashtyn and Whitney to ride a bike. Ashtyn picked it up in a day and Whitney is still working on it. We never took the time to teach them at our last house because there wasn't a safe place for them to ride- now that we live on a flat, dead end street it's perfect.

"Hair" today- Wish it was gone tomorrow

Do you ever feel like there are certain aspects of your life that aren't meant to work out? My hair is that aspect for me- this may sound trivial- but if you knew my history you'd understand.

I have played Hair Wars my whole life. I have extremely thick hair and I love it- I really do- but it comes with a price. It's so thick in fact that the other day my sister in law and I were comparing hair and we discovered that the amount of hair I have in my bangs alone covers her entire head.

I also have a natural wave in my hair- just enough to not be curly and keep me from straight hair. This may surprise some of you, but I didn't discover a straightener until after I was married- so if I wanted straight hair I would have to blow dry it out- it takes me more than 30 minutes to blow dry it out. I have also tried hot rollers and pretty much got by with them all through high school. If I ever wanted ringlets or Faith Hill waves I would be in front of the mirror for well over an hour. Only to have them fall out a short time later from the sheer weight of my thick hair. I consider myself to be a very low maintenance girl- so for it to take hours for me to get ready in the morning is sometimes more than I can handle.

So what do you do when your hair won't go right-wear a ponytail- but here is the problem- anytime I pull my hair up it is very heavy and causes terrible headaches. So the last few years I have tried various short hair cuts to try and cut my hair styling time down and simplify my beauty regimen. Yet again here is the other catch- my hair grows fast. So in order to maintain a short haircut- I need to get it cut at least every six weeks- but who can afford to pay $15-$20 or more every six weeks? Also it's not that easy to find a babysitter every six weeks either.

I have bounced around from one stylist to another because I can never quite find one that can handle the thickness of my hair. I have a crazy duck tail too that just even further complicates things. The stylist will start cutting and soon realize that I have way more hair than they thought and get confused and I always seem to end up with a boufy mushroomesque cut.

I also have very bad luck keeping a stylist- they either quit cutting hair or butcher me to the point where I get scared to try them again- or they become so busy with other clients that there is just never enough time for me to get a cut. A year ago I finally found a stylist that was learning to cut my hair- the first time she did- she completely butchered it to the point where I had little tiny wispies all over my entire head. I kept going to her however because I felt like if I did she could lean to cut it and keep cutting it and I would be all set- then she quit cutting at the salon and now cuts from home- she is very busy and I don't feel like I can ever get an appointment- so here I am again. My hair is growing and growing fast. It's starting to take longer and longer to do and my headaches have returned.

I tried to get into a salon near my home- but they don't take appointments- when you have kids you NEED and appointment so that you can arrange a babysitter. I am frustrated. I want to get my hair cut- today-now-this week- but I also don't want to have to train somebody new all over again. I have even considered going to beauty school just so I can cut my own hair- although I'm pretty sure that would make for some very tired arms when I was done :) So for now I let it grow and grow and try not to have to do it too often. Do you think I could pull off baldness???