Gratitude Journal Entry

I just need to write down some experiences that happened to me last week.  I have not had family pictures taken for about 3 years.  James is now 3 and in our last picture he is 6 months old.  Charlotte is not in a professional family photo at all yet and she will be 2 in a month.  We went to St. George with friends over Labor Day weekend and arrived home Monday evening so the kids could go to school Tuesday.  I had scheduled pictures for that upcoming Saturday.  I had yet gotten clothing to wear for the pictures.  Instead of going into my usual panic I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me.  I acknowledged that getting clothes was not worth spending a lot of time on however I did need them so our pictures would turn out nice.  I plead with him if he would help me I would not spend too much time on that since there are far more important things I can be doing with my time.  I sent James to preschool on Wednesday morning and Charlotte and I headed to the mall.  I immediately found clothes for James, Scotty, Madeline, Marianne and Charlotte.  I was so grateful for this and told Heavenly Father this through several prayers in my heart.  We picked up James and went home.  The next day I braved taking James and Charlotte to a few stores to finish up my shopping.  I then found things for Scott, Haley and myself to wear and Madeline.  I found something better for her.  James and Charlotte were perfect and we went to the grocery store for food and then on home.  Meanwhile all happy.  That in and of it self is a miracle. I thanked Heavenly Father again, repeatedly. By the time we got home Charlotte was asleep.  I put her in bed and then made lunch.  A friend called to see if James could come swimming with them.  He was so excited.  So I was left with ample time to prepare my lesson for Sunday.  I had read most of the information already but sat down to read some of the information again and hopefully plan what I was going to teach.  I did this for a while and then got really sleepy.  So I laid on the couch for a little nap.  I slept for a half hour or so and then was awakened.  I was too tired to get up so I lay there for a little bit.  As I was laying down I had tons of thoughts flood my mind regarding my lesson.  I had an object lesson clearly laid before me and almost word for word what I needed to say in this lesson.  I laid there and played it over a couple times to make sure I knew what to do.  Then I promptly got up and wrote it all down.   I thanked Heavenly Father for giving me the inspiration on this lesson.  Soon, James came home, Charlotte woke up and Scotty came home from school.  After that there is no free time for me.  That evening in the middle of the night James came in my bedroom awake complaining that his stomach hurts.  So I sent him to go to the bathroom and let him climb in bed with me.  The next morning he was not himself.  He had a runny nose and still complained of a tummy ache.  We ran a few errands and I did not take him to preschool.  By the time it was 11 am he was not really functioning.  He would sleep for an hour and then wake up and want me to hold him.  Then he would collapse on the floor somewhere for another hour.  This went on all day. I knew he did not feel good at all.  By the evening he was starting to have a hard time breathing and had developed a bad cough.  We gave him a couple of breathing treatments but they did not seem to help much.  By 9 that night Scott was really worried and wanted to take him to the hospital.  I was concerned but did not feel it was necessary.  Still I had family pictures in the back of my mind.  We were scheduled to take them the next afternoon.  I was tempted to cancel but couldn't do it because why would the Lord help me find clothing if he knew we wouldn't be able to even take the pictures?? Where was my faith. I knew somehow it would work out.  After talking with ward members that are in the medical field we decided to take him to the emergency room.  We are so glad we did.  They took him back immediately and gave him a steroid and an hour long breathing treatment and he was still laboring to breath.  They did X-rays on his lungs to make sure it was not pneumonia.  It turned out to be a nasty virus that settled in his lungs.  He came home around 3 am.  The next day he was feeling much better.  We continued his medication and breathing treatments and by the time picture time came around we were ready to go.  What a huge tender mercy the Lord gave us through those difficult hours.  I have no doubt that he knows me and my family and that he loves us!  He is mindful of my desires and wants to help me out and does help me out when I recognize His hand in my life and I am striving to put him first.  The story goes on.  Pictures were a success as far as they happened.  It was so hot outside who knows if any will turn out good.  That is a lack of faith! Shame on me!  They will be wonderful.  The next day was Sunday.  Even though James was feeling better, we did not feel comfortable sending him to nursery in case he could still pass on the virus.  So Scott or I had to stay home with him.  Normally it is me because I quickly volunteer. I am the mom right? Scott was headed on his annual elk hunting trip Sunday afternoon and had not packed at all.  Not because he was procrastinating but because he was helping me and spending time with the kids.  He had taken Scotty to the movies Saturday after family pictures to have some much needed one on one time with him.  I was so proud of Scott for putting Scotty before his hunting trip.  This has been hard for him in the past.  So again Heavenly Father provided a way for us.  We both teach a youth Sunday school class.  Scott has the 16 year old class and I have the 17 year old class, so days like this are hard.  Usually he would just teach both classes and I would stay home, because I get terrified to teach both classes.  I have gotten used to my own class and the kids I teach are great, mature, respectful and participate.  His class is the opposite mainly because of two particular boys.  But I knew I had to teach because the Lord has inspired me on what exactly those kids needed.  I cannot doubt that.  How could I let that inspiration go unused? I surely would have been held accountable for that.  So terrified I went to church and taught both classes.  At first only half the kids were listening, the rest were playing on their phones. The two boys that cause trouble thankfully were fighting so they did not sit together and would not really talk (at least to each other).  As I got to the object lesson all the kids participated and by the end I had their full attention and the spirit was present.  It was amazing.  I am not sure how much the lesson impacted those kids but I do know that I gave the message the Lord wanted me to give and that felt good. The whole message was that the commandments are given to us to help us BECOME like our Heavenly Father.  The Lord is amazing.  I am learning little by little how He works through the spirit to use us as instruments in His hands.  The other great miracle about this is Scott was able to attend a sacrament meeting with James during our church and still had time to pack for his trip.  If I wouldn’t have had inspiration about my lesson, he would have been teaching the class and would not have had time to pack.  That too was a tender mercy that came out of this.  It was an amazing week.  I wish I could say this week has been the same.  It has been quite the opposite.  I have been struggling emotionally along with my kids.  Why can’t all our days and weeks be filled with inspiration, love and joy??  As my dear mom told me this morning, “because we would not grow”.  

Scotty's 1st Pine Wood Derby

Scotty had his very 1st Pine Wood Derby race for Cub Scouts in March.  He was so excited and anxiously awaited the day.  Scott helped him make his car, which he called "The Green Machine".  Scott has had practice helping Robert Butler make his boys cars in years past, so he was confident they would have a winner.  And he was correct!  Scotty took 1st Place, winning every race!!!

 He was so Proud!  This is him getting his award and metal from his Cub Master, Brother Snow.

 It was a very exciting evening!  Go Scotty!

 "THE GREEN MACHINE"

Happy Birthday Scott

I have been terrible about keeping up on this blog.  I really want to do better.  Not that it really excites anyone besides Grandparents but because one day I will make them into books and this will be part of our family history, so I am going to be doing some catching up posts.

Happy Birthday to Scott!  He turned 38 this year.  We don't usually do a whole lot for his or my birthday but the kids would not let us get out of having cake and ice cream and opening a few presents.  If you know Scott he LOVES Chocolate chip cookies, so his cake was a stack of chocolate chip cookies.

I have to brag on Scott for a minute.  He is such a great father.  He loves his kids and even though he is not home very much he really makes the most of those times that he is.  He plays with the kids, teases them, loves on them and helps me clean up at night once they are all in bed.  A couple weekends ago, Scotty had a couple of friends over and they were playing baseball in the backyard.  Scott was also in the back yard doing yard work, but it wasn't long before he was right in the middle of the game with the boys.  One of the boys made the comment, "Scotty you are so lucky your dad will play baseball with you!"  That's what kind of Dad he is!

Scott loves the Lord.  For that I am very grateful.  Even though I complain some that he is always gone for church, I am so grateful that is my challenge rather than having a husband that won't go to church with me or does not take his priesthood serious.  I am so glad that he will serve in any calling the Lord wants him to and he serves 110 percent.  I know that we are blessed as a family and I am blessed personally for his service.

Scott is a wonderful provider.  I have never wanted for anything since we have been married and I know that I never will, because he would do whatever it takes to provide for his family.  Scott is so good at what he does too.  I am so proud of him and the efforts that he makes at work.  He has had several great cases at work lately.  There was one a couple weeks ago that was a gruesome double murder of a mother and daughter and attempt murder on the father.  Scotts squad was called out on it, but then it became so high profile that every law enforcement agency was working on it so they backed off and moved onto other cases.  Well a week passed and they still did not have a suspect, the detective over the case called Scott and asked if he would help them again.  Of course he said yes, he started to work and found a great lead, followed it doing what he is best at and soon had a suspect.  He left for work on a Thursday morning and we did not see him until the kids were leaving for school on Friday morning.  In that amount of time he had come up with the suspect, located him and an arrest was made!  Go here to read more about the case.

This story goes on though.  When he came home on Friday after working 24 hours straight he decided he would not be able to sleep right away so he got to work on the yard and cleaning the pool to wind down.  Well I finally made him go inside around 1:30 to get cleaned up and get some sleep.  He slept until 5 when he had to be at the church ready to take the boy scouts on a campout.  He was with them until 5:30 Saturday evening where he cleaned up again, had dinner with us and went to work on writing a talk he had to give the next day in church.  I think he worked in that talk until about 2 am and had to be up and at Bishopric meetings by 6am.  This man is my HERO!  I love you BABE!

Hand Foot and Mouth Disease has taken over!!!

This little boy broke out in a nasty rash last Tuesday evening.  I let it go on Wednesday thinking he was allergic to something outside.  But by Wednesday evening when it was getting worse I decided I had better get him to the doctor.  So I took him in on Thursday morning after I got the older kids off to school.  The minute the doctor saw him he said he had hand foot and mouth disease.  He said that there has been an out break here in Las Vegas.  But, he was very intrigued with James because he had an abnormally large rash all over his legs.  He brought another doctor in to look at it and took pictures of his legs.  The other doctor asked if he had eczema and I said yes.  I guess kids with eczema get more severe sores.  Most kids just get cancer sores all over inside their mouth and a few blister looking sores on their hands and feet.  Not James he likes to be dramatic.  Luckily he only had a few sores inside his mouth so he really was not in too much pain.  Here are a few pictures of the battle wounds.

This is a picture from yesterday.  The sores look worse but they are just scabbed over now and are starting to heal.  

 Did I mention this is very contagious?  And there is nothing you can do for it but let it run its course. It starts with a fever for 2 or 3 days (which James had but I chalked it up to breaking molars), and then sores break out.  Well, Friday evening Madeline came in telling me she did not feel well and sure enough she had a fever. On Saturday morning Marianne came in and said she did not feel good and also had a fever.  They both spent the day on the couch in and out of consciousness.  Today they both feel a little better.  Madeline has a few sores in her mouth and a couple on her legs.  Hopefully that will be the extent of it.

I did have to miss church today to keep them home and take care of them.  I was a tiny bit sad because our bishopric is getting released.  That means Scott is getting released but then was getting called back in with our new Bishop as his 1st Counselor.  I would love to hear him bear his testimony.  But what do you do?  This is what happens when you have 5 kids!

OH...I wish school was out!

It is 9pm and 1 handsome man is still at work, 3 little girls are singing in the shower, 1 baby boy is crawling around the house with a bottle hanging out of his mouth and 1 boy is climbing into bed waiting for me to do happy experience.  I am so unmotivated to make my kids stop playing, clean up their many many messes, and get into bed.  I am so ready for the unstructured days of summer, where we stay up late, get up when we want and DO NOT have to drive to school every morning!  I have major Spring Fever!  I think the 100 degree weather and jumping in the pool directly after school has sparked this for me.  Well, I guess I should be a responsible parent and get them into bed! I have to face reality at some point tonight because it will sure hit me like a ton of bricks come 7am!:)

Random moments of HAPPINESS!

 This little girl has been sick with a fever and really bad head cold.  She is SO SWEET when she is sick! It makes me Happy to snuggle and love on her!

 My wonderful sister sent me these beautiful flowers for my birthday!  They make me Happy every time I look at them!

Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake!  ...need I say more?

This little boy is a Pure Joy!

   

 This adorable family got sealed for time and all eternity in the Las Vegas Temple today!  That was an experience I will never forget and will be forever grateful I was able to be a part of!

The Las Vegas Air Show

Back in September we took the kids to the Nellis Air-force Base to see the Air show.  We actually went the day before the air show, and watched the run through.  They invite the air-force families onto the base to watch the pre show.  Someone at Scotts work got us in.  This is the only way to go because you can park right on the base and there are only about a 1/4th of people that go the next day.  It was a lot of fun!