comfort food

Catching up

2011-04-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Since my goal is to make this into a family journal/scrapbook of sorts, I better catch up for the remembering.

Chris graduated last May. (Yay!) He got a job in Utah in June, the same time our 5th child was due. He was supposed to begin his job mid month, and we were a little concerned-ish because we hadn't sold our house yet, and he would be 4 hours away during the week and only home on weekends. I have babies really fast, and we didn't want him to miss the arrival. That is of course almost the best part ;) But Heavenly Father worked it out just like he always does. I had an uncomfortable night, and went into my 37 week appointment, only to discover that I was dilated 7 cm. So we went over to the hospital and had a baby. That can be another post in itself. It was of course a wonderful experience where I gained two new loves: My baby boy Logan, and an addiction to 'The Cocoa Bean'. They deliver cupcakes to the hospital everyday and all the new mama's and daddy's get to have one. We totally drove to Rexburg with a two day old baby to get a box of them before we officially came home from the hospital.

While we were away, my 16 year old niece Kira took care of the kiddo's, and we just love, love, LOVE her. Chris started his job 2 days later, and sweet Kira even came back to stay with me for the majority of the summer since Chris was away every week. I formed a really good friendship with her, and I now know what it is like to have a little sister. I always wanted one :)

We sold our house mid to end of August I think. Another miracle to us. That was a hard one for me, trying to keep the house clean with a bunch of little kids home for the summer and a new baby to occupy my time and interrupt precious sleep time. Chaos doesn't even describe it. Mayhem was more like it. I had no idea how to keep the house in house selling order without sacrificing my sanity, but another lesson was learned, or should I say re-taught: I am not in control. It was a Saturday afternoon, Chris had just finished Mowing the acre of grass, I had just finished cleaning the house top to bottom, and the kids had just gotten invited to the neighbors, when a car happened to drive by, and then come back again. They noticed our for sale by owner sign and wanted to have a look. They ended up making an offer that evening. They wanted to close pretty fast - I think it ended up being 3 weeks.

So, the next day the whole family headed to Utah for the week to find a place to live. Chris worked during the day, while I house hunted for rentals for us to look at in the evenings. That was a terrible experience! Everything we looked at was overpriced and in horrible condition. Like holes in the walls, 15 pets that had been living in the house, nasty condition. By Thursday I was in tears. I called my mom balling my guts out wondering what in tarnation we were going to do?! I only had one more day essentially to find a place to move to for probably a year's duration and only 2 weeks to pack husbandless and overburdened with children... I officially had a meltdown. I of course called the right person. My mom is always a pillar of strength and faith. She said sternly "Jenny, what are you crying for? Don't you know that heavenly father will work it out? Now dry your tears and stop and think for a minute..." I took a deep breath and we brainstormed a few minutes. She mentioned trying to find a family that hasn't been successful selling and would consider renting. That way we could find something in good condition, and it would also help them because we would be good renters. Later that day we looked at our last rental option even available, (it was another let-down) when Chris said "Jenny, I think Brian and Tiffany's brother has a house for sale in this neighborhood." They are some dear friends that had mentioned it to us about a month prior but we had dismissed the idea because we weren't going to be buying yet. Low and behold we drive around the corner and there it was, vacant. Brian's dad met us at the property about 15 minutes later. As soon as we walked into the house I felt an overwhelming sense of peace that this was the right place for us to be moving to.

Leaving Blackfoot was hard. Those 4 years were a turning point in our lives. Looking back I can see so vividly the hand of the Lord in our times of joy and times of pain. I can honestly say they were the best 4 years and the hardest 4 years of our lives so far. If I had the chance to go back and not move there knowing what I know now, I would still do it all over again.

We somehow made it through the move with LOTS of angels in the form of our wonderful friends helping us, and we are onto the next part of our lives. It is so good to be together. You know what else is good? We live right by the school. As in I can watch the kids walk right to it everyday. I LOVE it.

Another great thing that happened, is that we got a call the day before we moved down, from a company that Chris had interviewed with a few months prior. They were our first choice, and Chris even interviewed with a branch of their company in Alabama - that is how much we wanted to work for them. I was mostly relieved that we got another job in Utah first - even though I do have a little brother and sister in law living there (sorry Bobby, I still love you:) Anyways, someone was flying in from Texas that weekend and wanted to interview Chris because one position was opening up at their location in Utah. He couldn't do it because we were moving on Saturday! He said he would stay until Sunday if Chris would come and talk to him. When all was said and done we had dropped off the moving Trucks, my Brother, and gotten our kids from my sister in laws, it was nearing 3 AM. Chris had to interview at 9 the next morning. He asked a lot of technical questions and Chris later said he couldn't even remember what he said he was so tired, but we ended up getting the job. We have been really blessed in countless ways.

It is crazy how time gets away from you. We are just living our busy life, and everyone is growing up in the meantime. Bailey turned 9 in January, Jacob will turn 8 in July and get baptized, Carter is turning 5 this summer and will start kindergarten, Brayden turned 2 in January and to prove it is leaving his 'art work' all over the house, and my baby is now 9 months old and crawling all over the place. I would post pictures of my little Bedlamites but I can't find my usb cord tonight! Next time!

To Blog!

2011-03-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

Okay friends, you sufficiently motivated me back into the blog-o-sphere! My main reason for blogging is so I can have a journal for my family. And since I will be making this into a book, this is the perfect forum. Also, it is fun to correspond with the people I love, adore, and admire (You:), so thanks for your words of encouragement and your thoughts.

My goal: once a week. Possibly Friday mornings. Maybe late Monday nights after kids are in bed like now. I don't know yet, but the goal for me is to find a good time that will still allow for me to have some balance with the other things I should be doing and so I won't get too distracted blog-hopping for too long. You are all really fascinating and talented and witty and well spoken (written) and once I start to see what is happening in your lives I lose track of time. That is why I haven't read any blogs of anyone or facebooked in months! Finding balance in life is hard, but I will never give up trying.

So, a new post about what is happening at the Cook's coming soon... :)

to blog, or not?

2011-03-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

So, I am thinking about blogging again. The key word is here is 'thinking', because that is about all I have time to do these days. Lots of time to think amidst the chaos about all of the things I would like to do but not alot of time to actually do. Blogging keeps popping in and out of my thoughts... I need a better way to document my growing family other than mental snapshots I take daily with my mind. I am just not sure when I am going to fit this into a life busting at the seams currently... Any thoughts?

Looking Forward

2010-08-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while.

I am vaguely remembering in moments throughout the day that I like to do certain things. That under my sleepy disheveled soft exterior is a woman with hopes, dreams, hobbies, and wonderful friendships.

My life is a good one, and I am trying to remember that one day I will be able to exit the bubble of my home and get back on with things.

I am looking forward to living my life and enjoying all the little people my husband and I have made together.

I am looking forward to being the sexy woman I am in my head - (that is until until I shockingly catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and remember once again that I am that new mom of 5).

I am looking forward to sleeping through the night someday.

Looking forward to oh so much...

doing some of the things I love... reading, writing, photography, decorating, health and fitness, gardening, cooking, chatting with friends...

The next phase of my life is ahead. And I am excited.

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This last pregnancy was a doozy. Every one of them has been a real struggle for me; usually by 6 months into them I am able to feel good again until the last 6 weeks, but I am always blessed with awesome easy deliveries. I don't think I felt good for a single day of my last pregnancy. Once I finally got my pic line out at 6 months and the nausea let up I felt significantly better, but physically my body was shouting 'enough already!' I felt better 2 days post partum than I did the entire 9 months of pregnancy.

Isn't it funny how you can hold that tiny, soft, warm, snugly bundle of sweetness and all the suffering of pregnancy becomes worth it? It so was. Our little man got here June 16 and I am so glad to have him on the outside.

My house is a tad on the chaotic side. Okay, who am I kiddin, it is a freakin zoo. But I am choosing to count my blessings about 70% of the time. The other 30% I give into some good old fashioned boo-hooing and reach for the chocolate to console me. It is so hard to remember you want to be skinny again when you are already so fat!

We really have had alot of wonderful blessings occur lately, and I am trying to stay positive and have gratitude for those instead of letting the hard stuff bring me down.

Chris graduated and got a job in Utah right when we needed it most. He also just took his journeyman's test and passed it the first time. (Good job honey!) He is gone all week but home on Saturdays and half of Sundays right now - which has been lonely and hard for the whole family. But we were so seriously blessed to have the baby at 37 weeks - 2 days before he had to leave to start his job. Also, my brother and sister in law have generously opened their home to let him stay there until we can sell our house. We also have been surrounded with such love and generosity from so many friends and family around us. I have had so much help and support and I know that all of these 'angels' have literally carried burdens so that I have hardly felt them upon my back. It is all because of a loving Heavenly Father that knows me personally. I really feel like I am so undeserving of all these blessings; so many more that are private and personal that I won't go into detail about.

I am not going to lie though. 30% of the time... I do not remember the blessings. I allow myself to become overcome by the things I am burdened with ... until I remember the many times I have read the Book of Mormon and have seen the cycles that occurred with the Lamanites and the Nephites. Isn't it funny how we can get so many blessings and have success and happiness in our lives and we forget to recognize that God gave all of that to us? We forget to have gratitude? I am trying to remember; and I am trying to have patience. I am trying to have faith that I do not always know what is best. I am trying really really hard to have enough faith that my Heavenly Father knows what is best for my family and is so ready to bless us with what is best. I am trying to have patience and faith and remember the many times I have complained and threw a tantrum, only to have had blessings poured out into my life that literally felt like I did not have room enough to receive. Then I always feel so bad for complaining and for my lack of faith.

It is hard being here with a new baby and 5 little kids without a hubby most of the week. It will sure be nice when we can sell our home and get settled together again. But I am going to be content with my life at present and try to be productive and find joy in each day. We have great neighbors, a wonderful ward at church, and good friends here. The kids are so excited to start school and see all their friends; We love our home and are going to enjoy living here while we can; I have really loved living here, and I will continue to love it until we are blessed to start a new phase in our life. Like I said, it is a good one.

And I am sure looking forward to so much.

Sunday Dinner Conversation, and randomness

2010-02-22T22:10:00.000-08:00

Every night when we get the colored plastic kids cups onto the table the kids pipe up with this little rhyme:

" Purple (or whatever color their cup is) is the best, Red is the less, Blue is the one with the hairy chest!! "

A few weeks ago I leaned over to Chris and quietly said to him "funny, that isn't the version we used to say growing up!"

So last night, as usual the kids were going the rounds about which one had the best, the less or the hairy chest. Bailey looks at me and says "Mom, what did you used to say when you were a kid?"

So I told her. I had been holding back because I didn't think it would be nice for my kids to be the ones spouting it off and teaching the rest of their first and second grade friends... or the neighborhood friends. 'They' are going to love us now. But I figured we lovingly have referred to our little boys for the past few years as our little "terd birds" so, it's not like it's that new to their vocabulary or anything!

"My brothers and I had an ongoing race every time we got home and would race from the car to the front door. We would say 'first the worst, second the best, and third the TERD!' And no one wanted to be first the worst, but if you ended up being third the terd, someone would always cry or get mad about it."

And of course, peals of laughter ensued. Like, for 5 minutes. Potty humor is BIG to first and second graders. 3 year olds think it is pretty funny too.

Then Bailey sputters out through her choking, gasping laughter "Red is the best, Blue is the less, Purple is the TERD with the hairy chest!!"

It was pretty funny. She got us all going on that one.

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We were trying to have family night tonight. My boys are always pretty high energy and have a hard time sitting still. Carter was bouncing around and seriously bored. Chris had the lesson and pulled out one of my fake plants for part of our object lesson and says "what does a plant need to grow?"

And Carter who was flying around the room hops onto the couch next to me and hollers "WATER!" To which I surprisingly praise "Right! Good job Carter!" And Chris then says, "right, what else?" And Carter hollers "SUNLIGHT!" And Chris and I busted up laughing - it was just so funny because I guess he really does take in more than we think -he is always going a mile a minute. It was another funny moment with the kiddos.

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So I guess it is only fair to say a little about my absence. We found out around Halloween that I am pregnant. HUGE surprise. We are excited, but I get really, really, really sick. Like cannot get out of bed or keep anything down or open my eyes unless I HAVE to - to change a bum or feed a child sick. I always wonder how I actually survive. I was really lucky this time to have a pic line put in and have home health nurses come to do IV's every day. It helped keep me hydrated, but didn't take away any of the SICK and want to die feeling. We have an amazing ward here - they brought in dinner 3 times a week, and a good friend came and did my laundry and would lift my lonely crazed mind with visits and we somehow are now on the other side of sick. I am so thankful to not be sick anymore. I really think this child will be the grand finale which is bittersweet for me. I know that is probably crazy to most of you to hear, but even though getting so sick is so hard for my whole family, I feel so blessed to bring those sweet little bundles home. I just love em'. The thought of being 'all done' is a little heart breaking to me. Anyways, long story short... another Cook is coming and I was just getting used to 4, so I am figuring I better get organized with my priorities so that 5 can ease on in ... yeah right! I've done 17 months apart before... it was hard!!! And back then I just had TWO! Doe! I shouldn't say 'just' because 2 was hard then... so was 3, and 4.... I guess it is an adjustment every time and just gets harder because you have something to compare it to!
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I have managed to get up and get ready and leave my house a few times now... I am missing my friendships! Sorry to have not kept in touch with so many... I was just trying to survive Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb up until now. I have some catching up to do!

By the way, we have been going back and forth about finding out the sex of this baby, put it off for a couple of weeks then finally caved. Tomorrow we find out...

I Gotta Feeling

2010-01-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

I'm not a huge Black Eyed Peas fan, in fact I can't really say I like anything they have done, but I loved this. I secretly wish life were a musical.

[Dipdive] Black Eyed Peas Video+Audio » Oprah Feeling / I Gotta Feeling Live at Oprah's 24th Season Kickoff Party

By the way, I am still SO sick, so I am not back yet. Just wanted to share this video I hope you watch it -

2009-11-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine told all of her friends to update. So here's mine:

I am sick. I don't feel so good. Don't be surprised if you knock on my door and I don't answer it, or if you call my phone, and end up leaving a message. I'm really not feeling so hot these days.

But I love you all. Don't take it personal. I don't like to be seen or heard from when sick, and I hate 'faking it' when I'm sick, because seriously, that is what I feel like doing when I am caught sick. I don't know why, it is just one of my weird quirks.

It might be a while before you hear from me. But don't worry, I am somewhere in my house wrapped up in my bathrobe and blanket amongst my mess.

I will give a more interesting update when I feel better.

2009-10-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

It was a good summer.
The garden grew - we even learned a few lessons along the way...
like, never plant an entire row of radishes,
or, zucchini...
But when all was said and done, it grew well...

and so did all the kids.
This buddy is 8 months old now...

And this monkey turned 3...

This guy turned 6...

Also, the big kids had swim lessons.

This chick rocked. She had never had lessons before, and has a definite natural ability. By the end of the summer she was at a level 6. She loved every minute of it.

This picture of Jake cracks me up, every time.

This one just played.

We went to bear lake.

And the park...
Here I am with my two oldest.

Also, we went to Logan for the 4th...
thought I would throw in a little eye candy for you, my hubby and little brother

My sweet little ones

They grow too fast. This summer was a good one.

Decongestant tablets don't taste good

2009-06-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

.........as was experimented upon this morning by a less than happy Carter.

I of course called poison control as he was drooling, hollering, and rubbing his eyes; and also because I only found a half a tablet left out of a package that should contain two little red pills. SOMEBODY thought they were candy.

Luckily, because they expired in 2003 and had lost a little potency, they seemed to think we may be able to handle it at home. I was told if he vomited, acted drowsy, or hyper, or anything out of the ordinary to call them back. Other than a little face rubbing for about an hour, he seemed to do ok. Stomach pumping averted. Phew.

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On another random note, I walked past Bailey's room this morning to hear this little scenario taking place:

"You just sit back and belax Bailey, I've got this." Said Jacob, as Bailey sat lounged on her couch reading a book aloud. Jacob proceeded to clean up her room and haphazardly make her bed! I wonder what sort of arrangement they've got going on!

Update

2009-06-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been busy - Chris came home from a job he did in Indiana for a few weeks, and we got right to work.

The afternoon he flew in, he came and got Jacob and Carter, packed them up and went to the father and son's outing. He was really tired, total travel time was 10 hours prior to the outing - but he had promised his boys, and by 10 that night they were all sacked out.

Bailey and I went to go and see the Hannah Montana movie, and out to dinner just us girls (and Brayden). We had a lot of fun and even hit the dollar spot at Target. I love looking there, they always have good stuff.

The next morning we started on our garden. Man oh man, project and a half - we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. We had to take up all the sod first - and thank goodness for awesome neighbors - one got us a sod cutter to use, and another came in with his tractor and spread all of our compost and rotatilled it up. The project was slow going - lots of interruptions with the kids and baby, and it was HOT! We of course got burnt because we didn't put on sunscreen; we do it every year, and are sorry every year. Another awesome neighbor brought us their leftover pizza from lunch - only one piece was missing - I was so happy because it was 7 pm and everyone was hungry and dirty and I was about to run and go get some! The other neighbor that brought over their tractor even invited all 6 of us over to have dinner with their 6 - even though I know we were dirty and rambunctious - we had already eaten, but I am continually surprised by the generosity and good works of so many we come in contact with. We have been so blessed with good friends here!! It sure makes up for all of the hard stuff, and I really recognize that the way my heavenly father is answering my many prayers of discouragement, is with all of the kindness that comes through our friends. I really feel so blessed.

We ended up getting the planting done the following Monday (and Tuesday morning), Chris had taken those two days off because of the consecutive weeks of work he had done in Indiana. Yay! We were so glad to be finished and see if anything would actually grow.

Well, it has been about 16 days since planting now, and everything is coming up great, except the tomato's. They are dead. I guess you aren't supposed to overhead water them. We have 3 types of pumpkins, corn, zucchini, red and yellow potatoes, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, green beans, 3 types of peppers, onions, 2 types of peas, raspberries, strawberries, 4 types of lettuce, spinach, and... dead tomatoes.

The following weekend, we finally had some time to attack our 2 ft tall weeds in all of our un-landscaped flower beds and along the front of our house. We haven't done anything to date, because last year we thought we were selling, and besides, I was on my deathbed, and Chris was traveling constantly... so nothing got done. Now, we are trying to make a few improvements at a last attempt to sell our house in a couple of months. We always do this, make it all pretty for someone else to enjoy.

It took all weekend, but it does look pretty. The dirt is like CEMENT here! I just can't get over it! Also, our property used to have the snake river run through it (supposedly) and the soil is just overloaded with river rock! I am amazed even our grass grew! It makes it really hard to weed, dig, and plant anything and made the planting take twice as long -because I was obsessed with sifting out the rock - I want to give my plants a fighting chance after all this effort!!! We planted some trees, and it came together nicely. It has taken every night about the past 12-14 days - but it looks a lot better. I love my house, and I don't want to sell it.

Chris and I have finally decided enough is enough with the past year and a half. We are getting him back to school in August for sure - whether we have sold the house or not, and whether or not his work is willing to work with him. By this time next year, he will have his Journeyman Electrician's license, and an additional associates degree (he already has one in arts and science with a specialty in criminal justice); this new degree will be in the electrical instrumentation program at Idaho State University. He gets to skip the first year of the 2 year program because the past 4 years of schooling to get his Journeyman's license already covers a lot of the classes he needs. Everyone that graduated the program last year had a job to go to - there is a big market growing in this instrumentation field. It works a lot with new energy. We really want to him to go ahead and get the Bachelor's degree in this field - it is an Electrical Engineering degree, and I just found out is rated among the top 7 best jobs to have in this economy. So that will be next.

His work he is currently at keeps saying they have a huge education fund and they want their employees to go to school, but Chris has approached them twice and they keep saying that they won't work with him because the program is from 8-3 M-Th. It just doesn't make sense to me because having employees with this degree would be of great value to this company. Chris has since talked a lot about this program to several other employees and now 4 more have signed up for this class! I guess a meeting is now arranged between the owner, the professor, and the HR guy and maybe, just maybe they will work with these guys to get them to school and allow them to have a job in the process. I am hopeful, but am not holding my breath. Our decision is made regardless, we may be unemployed and living on student loans, but in 9 months will be able to get a much higher paying job, and hopefully not have Chris traveling as much. Totally worth it to us.

Here are some other updates:

Yesterday Carter turned my fireplace up to 90 degrees, the air conditioning was blasting, and I just happened to notice an unpleasant aroma - of melted plastic. Yes, all of my silk flowers behind my fireplace screen got the back side of themselves melted all down the front of the fireplace glass. Such a great thing to clean up, (and smell!!!) He is so busy. He turns 3 on Friday, and I love his little busy bum. The wheels in his head are constantly turning. Also, I have attempted to bring plates of cookies twice now to two friends in my ward that have had babies, and wouldn't you know it, he had gotten into them both times now. Their blankets are made, maybe I just need to go with that.

And, I totally broke my little toe on my left foot. I was in a hurry and hit it against the door jam as I was leaving the room; it is black and swollen, and I still can't fit a shoe on it. I did it this last Friday, and on Saturday, it got jumped on by Jake - he felt so bad! I totally skipped church on Sunday because I was vain and didn't want to wear flip-flops! I have been babying it so I can wear heels on this coming Sunday - we are going to a baby blessing in Utah for some of our dearest friends, and just today, I hit it again on the door - it is swollen up humongous again, and I am limping around, it really hurts!!!

Other than that, school is out on Wednesday (Jake) and Thursday (Bailey) and I am so excited for this summer. I totally missed all of last summer from being so sick, and I can't wait to do so many things. We have swim lessons set up 2x a week, we got 1$ movie passes to go to once a week all summer, reading at the library on Wednesdays, free lunches at the schools we can hit, we are going to bear lake around the 4th, and I am looking forward to having Chris home a lot more. I also am finally feeling like I can mother 4 children, and just maybe have a little bit more of a schedule in tact. I am going to try to work out in the mornings before they get up (wish me luck!) I have about 40-50 pounds I would like to lose. Who wants to be on my cheering squad?! I need lots of support. I am not opposed to phone calls checking up on me to see if I worked out and avoided chocolate chip cookies. I need my friends behind me!

New Moon Trailer

2009-06-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Go to my friend Lori's blog to watch the New Moon movie trailer - it looks good! I can't wait!

2009-05-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

You have to go to my friend Nicki's blog for a good laugh. They did a murder-mystery night and the dresses they wore are a serious 80's prom flash-back.

Jacob has a girlfriend

2009-05-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

The kids and I were just 'hangin out' on the couch a few weeks ago, chattin it up. Bailey will chat it up for hours if I let her. She's a girly girl who like to tell you all about it. Jacob is not so much the chatty type, but likes to listen in on everything once in a while, and every once in a while likes to share random snippets from "a day in the life of Jacob." I think listening to all of Bailey's 'sharing' inspired him to do a little of his own.

"Mom, I have a girl-friend." Stated matter of factly with a smidge of pride lingering in the air. "Yeah, I do. Her name is Hannah."

"Really, Jake? How do you know she is your girlfriend?" I asked.

"Because we met, and we playded together. Me and Tanner and Bryce and Hannah. Yeah." He said.

"Oh, is she in your class?" I asked.

"No, she's in a different class. We playded on recess. Me and Tanner and Bryce makded important plans on the bus on how to get the girls. Yeah." He giggled.

I had to chuckle too. I never thought my little boy would like girls. Not yet at least. I thought Bailey would be the one liking boys first - but she hasn't been the least bit interested up until now, even though most of her friends have been boys at school. (That could be because there have been about 20 boys and 5 girls in her classes the last 2 years though.) Bailey looked a little shocked at my reaction.

"Your not mad that Jacob has a girlfriend?" she said in utter disbelief.

"I don't think she is really his girlfriend Bailey, " I whispered with a smile. "It is okay that he thinks she is pretty, " I said for all to hear. "It is normal to notice when other people are cute," I told them both. "But NO KISSING," I warned with a grin. "That, is Gross!" I told them both. To which they both melted in fits of giggles.

Then Bailey piped in with "I think Brayden is cute!" Brayden is a boy in her class.

Ahh, kindergarten love. This is all starting too soon for me!

The Raisin incident

2009-05-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

Carter and I were laying on my bed watching The Little Mermaid this morning. I had one of those nights that left me delirious upon awakening. I started to doze off when I was jolted back to reality by the shrieks of Carter. I bolted upright, hovered over him, and a little panicked, asked what was wrong.

"I GOT A RAISIN UP MY NOSE MOM!!"

"What?! Are you sure?!" Duh. I am sure he was pretty sure.

"YEAH MOM!" Said in complete hysterics and discomfort.

I then of course squeezed his nostrils, couldn't feel anything, and told him to blow his nose. To which, he then sniffed.

"No, blow your nose Carter, like this," I idiotically demonstrated. I'm a mommy, what are you gonna do?

To which he said: "Huh?" in a very perplexed manner.

I then proceeded to adjust his head in various positions to aim the light up his dark little nostrils until I spotted the intruder. There it was, lodged up his left nostril just as explained. "How the heck am I gonna get this out?" I thought to myself. First thought was a q-tip with the cotton picked off. Not so much. Didn't work. Then I remembered my little mani/pedi case I got for Christmas that hasn't been used - it has tiny tweezers in it, and once I was able to hold his arms and still his writhing head and body sufficiently, it did the job. I think just in the nick of time too. It was pretty soft and mushy at this point.

I pulled the offender out, held it up in all its glory, covered in green goo (I think I just gagged) and said:

"I got it!"

To which Carter said:

"Can I eat it Mom?"

There's your laugh for the day, compliments of Carter. And, your welcome.

Muffins with Mom, and the best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe ever

2009-05-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Our local elementary school does some fun stuff throughout the year to involve the families. They do a Doughnuts with Dad morning, a grandparents day where they can go and have lunch with the grand kids, and this morning, Muffins with Mom. I felt kind of bad for Bailey this year - Doughnuts with Dad didn't work out - for obvious reasons; Dad kind of has to be around for that one. Then, grandparents day rolled around, and that didn't work out because we don't have any of those here, let alone any other relatives around to go with her. Needless to say, she came home in tears because she ate lunch all alone because most of the other kids had grandparents with them! I felt so bad! I didn't even realize that I could have gone with her - I probably could have found a babysitter for that one. Oh well, next year, right? Well, I knew muffins with mom was coming up, and I also knew that there was no way I was going to be able to have the baby nursed and ready, the other three kids dressed and ready, let alone myself ready to be at the school at 7:30 in the morning for muffins. (Not to mention the physical strength and energy alone it takes to tote a car seat, diaper bag, and two year old on a leash with me while vocally ushering the two older ones along with me, in a crowd. It is a little overwhelming for me, I don't know how others do it). So I had a talk with Bailey, and told her that every family is different. I told her that if we had dad at home, it would be easier for me to go with her by myself, just her and me. I also explained the difficulties for mom to be able to get there to be with her. She was pretty sad, and I of course felt bad. I offered the alternative to have a 'muffins with mom' morning at our own house before she went to school; then she could cheerfully tell her friends that she had already done it at home. That went over pretty good. I made yummy coffee cake muffins, scrambled eggs with cheese on top, and OJ. The muffins were so yummy I want to share the recipe:

Coffee Cake

(don't know who the recipe is by, otherwise I would give credit where credit is due)

2 C flour
1/2 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Mix these together until butter is in fine pieces. I used my hands to squish it all together until it was a crumbly texture. (Obviously the butter needs to be cold to do this). Reserve one cup of this mixture to put over the top of batter before baking.

Stir into dry mixture:

2 beaten eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 C buttermilk

(I used 1 C milk instead, and it turned out delicious).

Pour into 9x13 pan and sprinkle with 1 C topping mixture. Bake at 350 for 25-30 min.
Variation: I made mine into muffins. however, I would say this makes 18 muffins rather than 12 - I poured mine into a 12 - muffin tin and they boiled over a little, I had to tuck the extra back into the tins when I was done baking. They are pretty sticky and yummy. I am freezing the extras for another morning!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And this is just for Kimberlee, and anyone else who wants the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever. It comes straight off the back of the nestle toll house chocolate chips bag, with a small variation:

1/2 C butter (You really need butter, not margarine for it to taste really good)
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar

Cream together first three ingredients. Then add:

2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla - (this is the variation. Original recipe calls for 1 tsp. I have found you need more.)

Once this is all mixed together, add dry ingredients:

2 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

2 C chocolate chips - Semi Sweet is what I usually use, sometimes milk chocolate instead. Both are yummy.

(I also really, really like adding the peanut butter chips/chocolate chips bags they sell instead of the semi sweet. Who am I kidding? They are both dang good.)

Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes.

I usually make up a double batch, fill up a couple of cookie sheets with cookie dough balls and put them in the freezer, then transfer into gallon size freezer bags once the dough has frozen so they are ready to go when we want to make quick treats. This has been really great when taking dinners to friends, or for our last minute family nights we throw together; things just seem to get more chaotic as the years go by. When baking from a frozen state, I adjust the temperature to 350 for 10-12 minutes. Yum.

Projects

2009-05-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

Projects as of late...

Freezer Jam - Totally wish I had a freezer full of beautiful matching containers for all to enjoy looking at. Okay, really, for myself to enjoy looking at every time I open the freezer to pull out one of my 30 pints of delicious Jam. But I don't. Have rows of beauteous containers that is. Being the thrifty mc-nickle pants I am, I saved old butter, cottage cheese, sour cream, and frosting containers throughout the year just for this purpose. Mom if your viewing this hold back on that big 'I TOLD YOU SO!' I have teased her for years about keeping all her old containers - it drove me nuts. Yet here I am, following suit.

Haircuts - Carter and Jacob have completely different hair. Jake's is curly like his Dad's. I have to buzz both of theirs super short. Once it gets 1/2" long it is really hard to keep from going berzerk. Carter's however is straight and thick and looks better when I just cut it as opposed to buzzing it. I usually start trimming a little here, a little there, and get completely annoyed within about 5 minutes because he wont sit still and end up buzzing it all off just to save myself the trouble of having to cut it again any time soon. Well, I finally gave him a real hair cut the other day. He sat so good for me that I gave him a bowl of ice-cream at 10 o'clock in the morning just to show my gratitude. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Blankets -I have 8 friends and family members having babies in the next couple of months! Holy cow! So I have been making rag blankets out of flannel as gifts. The first one is the one I made for Brayden before he got here. I saw one that another mom had when I was out and about the other day - hers was completely random, and super cute - I decided to try it with the second blanket I made. I haven't cut and frayed the seams on the second one yet, but I think I like the random pattern better than the precise pattern on the first blanket. I am experimenting with a few more blankets to see what I like better. A girl in my ward shared her pattern with me and I am really enjoying making them - they are very simple to do.

Next up, the garden. I am a little intimidated to get going on it. I need some advice from all of you gardeners out there. I went to the nursery last Saturday and picked up a page of info on gardening for beginners - also 60$ worth of seed! I hope I don't ruin it all! I have no idea what I am doing. Why the heck didn't I pay more attention to what my parents did in our garden growing up?! The info tells what type of things grow good in the area I am living, but it also says to plant certain things in late April, and others in late May. I am so confused. Also, how do you know how much mulch and manure to buy for your plot you are planting in? And most importantly, how the heck am I going to keep the neighbor dog out of my crops!!! If you have gardening knowledge and tips - please share, I need all the help I can get!

Job Security

2009-05-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Time to re-clean up.

More... on my whirling dervish

2009-05-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

My back started to go out yesterday. When this happens the only thing between me lying motionless in my bed and having to call my neighbors for 'bathroom' reinforcements is some serious hydrocodone. Thank goodness we had some left over in our cupboard from Chris's surgery last year. One of my awesome neighbors took my older boys for a few hours yesterday while Brayden slept, so I could get some rest. She then (of course because she is awesome like that) brought dinner by - without asking. She probably knows I would have said "no, really, we will be fine" because I wouldn't have wanted to bother her. She has 5 kids of her own and a very busy husband. And then we all would have eaten a bowl of Fruit Loops for dinner. Can I just say, I am SO thankful she served me! I want to be more like her. And my back is doing better today.

Anyways... another Carter update -

I was in the bath this morning, and he of course, was in something else... He came running in with his mouth gaping open, pointing to his obvious mouth ajar, hollering open mouth talk, and I had to laugh.

"Did you eat something, Carter?"

"Yeah, mom!" Said in a panicked, slash, perlexingly urgent manner. "I Drinkded something!"

"What did you drink?" I said with a little dread in my voice.

"I drinkded a potion mom!"

"Can you bring it to me?"

"Yeah mom!" he said as he scampered off. Only to return with our huge bottle of Vanilla extract, half gone.

"Did you drink a lot, or a little bit?"

"Huh mom?"

"Did you spill some?"

"Yeah Mom."

"It tastes yucky, huh?"

"Yeah mom!!!" Said in utter disgust.

As I contemplated calling poison control, I went out to the kitchen to see our floor covered with spilt vanilla extract and next to it, the measuring spoons. Needless to say, someone has observed someone else making Chocolate Chip Cookies... one to many times!!!

And on another random note, Is there ANYTHING worse than finding Big Boy Poop in their Big Boy Underwear?!

I think not!!!

Let's just say another perfectly good pair of Lightning McQueen's bit the dust!

Bedtime Battles, the finale

2009-05-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

And here is the exciting conclusion... (By the way, this three part series was meant to be told comicaly, and of course, dramatically... I really am just having fun writing it all. And although it is all very true, and I'm not going to sugar coat it... at least, I crack myself up in the process. Hope some of you can relate to having a strong willed child, and can find my humor in it all!)

Tonight was no exception. The night ensued, just as I have told. Hollering, lights turning on, giggling, WHAKING by big brother, and of course, my favorite part of the evening when I totaly lose it after he starts throwing items down the stairs.

And then it occured to me. He may be winning the battles, but I AM GOING TO WIN THE WAR. I decided to confiscate THESE instead.

And then I moved the gate up around the corner to the actual doorway. HA SUCKAH! Who's your momma?! That's right!

Next step: Actually taking away his pacifiers.

Bedtime Battles Part II

2009-05-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

I finally caved.

I told him the fairy brought them back.

I KNOW!! I couldn't believe I gave in either! I was too big and fat and pregnant, and just so dang TIRED of listening to the pleading - he totally wore me down. After 10 days, I just wanted to make it stop! He about had me crouched in a corner rocking and singing to myself. So I gave him his fix. And he actually went to bed good for like, a week. I think the experience traumatized him enough that he didn't want to lose them again. NOW, its all in the past of course and he is back to taunting me.

I recently switched all the kids rooms around so I could get Brayden out of my room and into his own. Jacob and Carter now share the room upstairs. I thought maybe Jacob's blessed example would rub off on his little brother. Not so much. Every night I usually end up letting Jacob come downstairs to go to bed. Carter is making him crazy. Here is the low down on the typical nightly battle...

I ask the two year old nicely to go potty, put on his pull-up and PJ's and go get his toothbrush. He says "Ok Mom", gets distracted immediately, and then proceeds to poke, prod, and otherwise annoy big brother and sister to which they then decide to chase him around couches, up stairs, in and out of bedrooms and under tables, until I catch said two year old, and again, firmly ask again for him to do as he was told. He says "Ok mom." To which end the same scene is then repeated. I then raise my voice at big brother and sister and remind them that they are BIG kids and are NOT helping things. All the while the baby is crying and wants to eat. I then chase the two year old around until I catch him and wrestle his clothes off which he grabs with his fists every night without fail and I yank for about 30 seconds trying to get his shirt off. He thinks this is SO FUNNY every night. (Okay, it kinda is, but just that part). I then wrestle him down to put on pj's and brush teeth. He then of course is TOTALLY disruptive while I try and read books; to which end, most nights, I totally lose my cool and get fully ticked off and irritated that I can't read a dang book without disruption like every 30 seconds.... Big Breath here... Then we attempt to have family prayer... where I snap at the kids for their complete irreverence - that could be an entire post by itself - I really know how to create a warm and loving spiritual environment... I then try to usher my unruly herd, who are by the way laughing and being overly silly, completely oblivious to my outright annoyance with the lot of them, who are also completely oblivious as well to the hollering from their baby brother which is getting louder all the while reminding me that he is HUNGRY and ready for his meal. I finally get everyone tucked in, have a lengthy conversation with Carter about my expectations for him at bedtime - that he stay in his bed, leave his brother alone, leave the light off, stay in his bed, leave his brother alone, leave the LIGHT OFF, please. I then make him repeat after me "Mom, I will stay in bed and choose the right." he then says, "Ok mom." I put the gate on half way up the stairs so he won't come down and bug me. I then head downstairs and start to nurse the baby for all of 5 seconds when I hear feet scampering, a light clicking on, another set of feet thudding, a little voice giggle, and another irritated voice holler "MO-ooooom! Carter turned the light on!" I am nursing, and really don't want to get up, so I holler back to both of them to turn the light off and get in bed. Then Carter says his believable "Ok mom." Then this battle ensues. Back and forth, hollering and clicking of lights and giggling, and jumping on beds, and undoubtedly a WHACK! and then a sob, because he had pushed Jacob over the line of tolerance. Jacob, after all is tired and he actually wants to go to bed. He has to get up at 6:15 after all. I raise my voice and holler back repeatedly during this exchange, and I always feel guilty afterwards because of poor Brayden. He is just trying to peacefully nurse and get snuggled on by his momma. He has waited all day for this time with me by himself without the rest of the crazies running around. He really doesn't demand all that much from me during the day after all. And what finally pushes ME over the edge, is when Carter starts throwing things down the stairs. Talk about going too far. I have resorted lately to putting down the baby, hurdling the gate on the stairs, spanking a little bum, and swiping a pacifier. He then throws his monstrously annoying fit to get his "PAAAASSSSSS" back, and I have been so proud of myself when he actually gets quiet and goes to sleep without it.... That is until I go in to check on him later that night and find that he has another pacifier in his mouth! That dang kid. He must have a secret 'stash' somewhere in case of emergency so he can get his fix. This happens on more occasions than I can count. Most nights he seems to be winning the battle.

To be continued....

Bedtime battles

2009-05-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

Two year old boys are the bane of my existence.

Jacob was my angel baby. He was the easiest baby ever. Slept through the night at two weeks old, hung around in his swing, vibrating seat and bouncy saucer all day, loved to laugh and smile at us, and never fought me once at nap time or bedtime. It was a refreshing help to me, because I had bedtime battles with Bailey up until she was almost 4 years old. Bedtime was a torturous time in my life for years. It hasn't helped that Chris has always had a job incompatible with him being home during dinner and bedtime 99% of the time. I even resorted to watching super-nanny for tips. And her 'back to bed' routine actually worked... like after 2 years of trying it nightly...

Although Jacob was a bedtime champ, about 18 months - to 2 years old rolled around and he became this holy force to be reckoned with. I would fight with him daily. That kid sat in time-out more times in a single day than I could count. He got into anything and everything faster than I could stop him. I even had those safety locks on all my cupboards and doors, and he still figured out how to get what he wanted. I had to have called poison control about 150 million times. I swear they knew me by name and laughed about my mothering skills every time they hung up the phone.

My most memorable 'incidents' committed by Jacob include: Black permanent marker ALL over my freshly painted walls and window treatments, and of course his humongous teddy bear that was bigger than him; the time he flushed my hard contacts down the toilet when I had the stomach flu. That was a great one. I can't see 2 feet in front of me without them let alone drive, and had to wait 8 weeks to get my new ones. And two weeks later, he got hold of them... and flushed them... again. But the one that tops them all, is definitely the time I brought home my brand new leather couches. I had them home all of 2 days. I put the kids in front of a movie and hoped in the shower. I was in and out in all of 5 minutes, when my trusty little spy Bailey came running in hollering "MOM! JACOB IS DOING SOMETHING!!! I of course came running out to see if my couches were unscathed... they weren't so much. He had climbed up to the top shelf of my pantry and gotten out the Dawn Power Dissolver that cuts tough grease on pots and pans. It works AWESOME on pots and pants. It DESTROYS leather sofas. He was turning around in circles spraying this stuff. It also took the finish off the front of my television and armour. I speechlessly escorted him to his room where he stayed for the next hour while I tried uselessly to fix what was damaged beyond repair.

Yeah, he drove me up a freakin wall. Like until he turned 5. Then all of a sudden... he became about 95% more pleasant to be around. He is still your typical little boy; gets wild and silly lots of the time, but is able to be a lot more obedient, and I can actually reason with him now. We get along a lot better these days.

Carter has now occupied the role of holy terror for the past 18 months or so. He will be three years old next month. He is exactly as busy as Jacob was. I can't believe how much damage that kid can do to a perfectly clean house in minutes. He is my little wild man. I love him so much; but he drives me up a freakin wall, every day without fail.

He was the best baby too. Seriously. Went to bed like a champ every night... until I had to put him in an actual bed. Then the torture began. The only bargaining chip I had was to take away his pacifier.

Did some of you actually gasp? Okay, before you get all Judgy-mcjudgypants on me, let me set the record straight. I NEED that dang pacifier for my sanity! I am pretty much a single parent these days. I need some solace at night after my children go to bed! Some days it is all I have to look forward to! So what did I do? I would threaten to take it away like the first 50 times he got out of bed, then of course actually take it away, to which he would then throw a monster fit for the next 20 or 30 minutes following the confiscation; to which I would argue and fight with my 2 year old just like I was a two year old and stubbornly refuse to give it back because after all, I had told him what I was gonna do if he got out of bed even ONE MORE TIME... and GOOD mothers follow through with promised punishments for the good of their children, right? Then I would of course cave and give it back just to make the torturous tantrum stop, to which 85-90% of the time he would actually then go to bed. Whew. I am such an effective disciplinarian, believe me, I know.

Well, then I started feeling guilty about 2 months before the baby came that my almost three year old still had a pacifier. So one night when Chris had just gone back out of town for work I decided to have the "Pacifier Fairy" come and take his pacifiers to a better place where new babies needed them, and not big boys. (Another Super-nanny favorite.) Carter gathered up his most beloved pass's as he calls them and put them all in a bag on the front porch, and then balled his guts out heartwrenchingly, as I listened torturously for 3 painstaking hours; he got a present the next morning in place of his most prized possessions. I made it through about 10 days where he of course would beg and plead at nap time and bedtime for hours. Gut-wrenching, whining, pleading, tantrum throwing, hollering, mourning the loss of "MY PAaaaaaSS mom, MY PAAAAAASSSS!"

To be continued.......

2009-05-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

I never thought it would come to THIS...

But I have conceeded. It seems it must be...

And now, I'm kinda likin' it.

It's a good thing he's so dang cute. By the way, he is of course saying 'cheese.'

Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act

2009-04-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

If you haven't had a chance to support this, I really hope you do. It only takes a few minutes of your time. I feel really strongly about putting money behind law enforcement to track, find, and hopefully give justice to innocent children out there - victims of horrific sexual abuse. Many of you supported the child protection safety act just passed a few months ago, this is another bill that desperately needs support. We have a responsibility to speak up. You can go to Oprah.com for further details on the subject.

It is very simple - copy their sample letter (or write your own), then click on their link senate.gov and go to your state. Then paste their sample letter into an email to your senator. Easy peasy. (That one goes out for my mom).

Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act - Oprah.com

Baby Fat

2009-04-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

I love my babies, but lets be honest here.

I hate losing 'baby weight.'

Brayden is 10 weeks old now. I don't know how that happened, because I haven't yet come out of the fog. Let's face it, I am tired, sluggish in my softish type body, and although Brayden is a champ at sleeping most nights, I have three OLDER children that like to come and pay me a visit regularly during the a.m. hours of the day. They like to take advantage of the empty space next to me in my king size bed that should be occupied by one 'daddy' who shall remain nameless. 2 days ago I woke up with all four children lined up next to me, and decided I had 'had enough of the insanity!'

So in typical "Jenny" fashion, I set out to get some order and control back on the Cook family home front. I have been a little bit in denial about my life the past year. I thought that surely misery of the sorts we had been enduring couldn't possibly be permanent. I have fought tooth and nail to try and change things. I am now starting to bitterly realize that things are not going to change in the near future, and 'this is as good as it is gonna get...' so .... I guess I have to deal.... sometimes tearfully deal...anyways back to what I was saying; In typical 'me' fashion, I got myself all pumped up to get it all back under control and make my own 'happy place' and set some goals for the next two months. I was really quite impressed with myself. I even set realistic goals. I then went further and wrote detailed information on how I was going to accomplish said goals. And yesterday, I was so impressed with myself on how well I followed my rules and expectations for myself on reaching my stated goals.... Then today rolled around. It wasn't so great... And once the afternoon rolled around the cookie dough in my freezer was beckoning and I gave in to one cookie dough ball.... Then another.... and as the day got worse I said to myself 'to hell with it!' and baked a whole dang dozen... and you can guess it... ate the whole dang thing myself. What can I say? I crashed and burned today. One more day of being stuck in this baby body that I am not so happy to be in. There is always tomorrow, right?!

And by the way, why didn't anyone tell me that having 4 kids would be like this?! What the crap?! Why do you all make it look so easy? Are you all just a bunch of liars putting on a show? Or am I really just a little weak and pathetic? I think I have figured out that the timing on them getting to our family is just a little painful! Between the nursing child, the wild two year old that cannot be tamed, the kindergartner that gets off the bus at lunchtime, the first grader that gets off the bus mid-afternoon, I am painfully counting down the days until I will have 2 kids in school all day, making it possible to get to any type of store for any amount of time over 15 minutes without having to rush back home again! And oh, the thought of getting through an actual workout without a crying baby or 'wild child' constantly finding trouble I have to get him out of makes me giddy at the thought. I am trapped, I tell you! Trapped! What I wouldn't give for a partner in crime home in the evenings so I could ESCAPE the madness once in a while!

Alright, enough complaining. I really do love em all, I just didn't know it would be so hard. Cuz it is, it is HARD for me, really it is really hard for me. Did I say it was hard? Cuz it is. I'm not holding back. Did ya notice?!

Addicted to LOST

2009-03-03T14:51:00.000-08:00

So, I have always wanted to watch LOST. But, you can't really just jump in on those episodes, I mean, what the heck is happening? So Chris and I borrowed seasons 1 and 2 from a friend, and started watching them when we had a 1 week old baby.

Big mistake.

Just how stupid are we?

They are seriously addicting. All we have done every night for the past month is eat, drink, and breathe Lost. We have watched 3 seasons in 4 weeks, and the first 6 episodes of season 4. Now Chris is in Wyoming working for the week and we are DYING a little inside every day. However, the sleep I am finally getting is kinda nice. I mean, how stupid are we? As if we aren't up all night with a new baby, a 2 year old who won't go to bed for 3 hours every night, then likes to try and sneak into our bed 80 bazillion times a night, and a bed wetter to boot; You think we would be smart enough to ya know, go to sleep at night. But we're not. That dang bowl of M&M's and our boob-tube have been beckoning. Like I need M&M's and Television sucking up my time, adding more cushion to my jelly belly. Good news is, since I have had two nights off from Lost, I finally started working out and getting to bed by 10:30 at night. AND Brayden, bless his little heart, has slept through the last two nights. Now if I could just step away from the M&M's...

I can't believe all you dummy's who have been watching this for the past 5 years. I would have poked my dang eyes out! I can't believe what they are doing to the viewers! I mean what the crap were they thinking ending season one with that dang hatch opening, and not letting you see what was inside?!!! And leaving you hanging with tidbits of information and not getting back to those important bits of info until like 3, 4 or 5 episodes later?! I think I would have died waiting for just what the heck is actually going on by now. When we finally get caught up, I don't know what I am going to do. How will I wait and entire week between episodes? And now that we have gotten rid of the love of my life (my DVR and Dish network) what's a girl to do? Life as I know it will have to stop again to watch a dang TV show. *sigh*

I think I need to get my priorities straight.

And don't even get me started on "The Bachelor"...

The newest Cook

2009-02-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

Our baby arrived - Brayden Grant Cook - weighing in at 7lbs 80z, 20.5 inches. And who does he look like? It's like giving birth to the same baby over and over again, because they all come out looking like their dad. That's right, I do all of the work and get none of the credit. It's a darn good thing their dad is so good lookin'.

For anyone curious, and just for journaling sake - here is this round - summed up. I was supposed to be induced on Tues. Jan 27, but I went in for my appt. on the 26th to make sure everything was still on, and I hadn't been feeling to well. I gained 6 pounds in 2 weeks, my legs were so swollen I felt like I was flexing my leg muscles all the live long day, and I was seriously seeing spots. For reals. Come to find out I had protein in my urine, and high blood pressure also - which I guess means pre-eclampsia (never had any other problems with my other pregnancies). Oh, and I was also Dilated 5-6 cm. So they told me to get over to the hospital, we were going to have a baby TODAY instead. (the 26th). So I begged to let me go home and get my stuff and Chris first, and they made it sound like such a big deal to hurry up and get back up to the hospital. So we did - we got there at about 1, or 2ish, I think, and then, waited. And waited. And were seriously annoyed with all the waiting. We finally got word my doctor would be coming at 5 or so to break my water and get a move on getting baby here. At 6 I talked my nurse into getting the anesthesiologist over to get me my epidural, 'because I have babies 15 minutes after they break my water' I bragged. In fact, I had been telling my doctor all month I go really, really fast - so not to go anywhere once they break my water and start the pitocin. He finally showed up at 7 and broke my water, then informed me he would be back in an hour, he was getting some dinner. "WHAT?!" I protested, " you better not leave this hospital!" I threatened. He came back to check me in an hour and said, "you are still a solid 6". I shrugged my shoulders and could feel my ears turns bright red. I looked like such a big fat liar! I managed to throw out a 'sorry' as he left again. Then I realized they hadn't started the pitocin yet. So they did. and when he came back the next time an hour later, I was able to redeem myself. Got baby here. Chris even gowned up and got to deliver Brayden. Our OB in Washington always let the dad's help catch if they wanted to, so he got to help with the other three kids. This OB was alot of fun, and I let his student doctor come in for the delivery, so he and Chris were able to do the whole delivery while my OB 'coached.' Bring in the entourage. Brayden arrived at 9:38 pm, a sweet little piece of heaven placed in my arms. It is such a miracle. You go through so much for what seems like an endless amount of time, and in a fleeting moment, this sweet precious child is here. I feel so lucky to be a mom.

My mom came down from Seattle to stay for 2 weeks, and I would not have made it this time without her! Chris and I are so thankful she was able to come and be with us. She is so helpful, and such a good Grandma. Mom, I love you!!!

My friend Shelby came over to take pictures of Brayden. Shelby has her own photography business, and takes beautiful pictures. Here is the link to her photography site FizzieLime Photograpy. She does all sorts of different photo sessions, and we can't wait to do family pictures with her. Thanks so much Shelby!

I don't know why, but blogger won't let me re-arrange pictures on my posts lately, so I will post some pictures from the hospital separately down below.

Hospital pic's

2009-02-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

I think he's a little disgruntled.

Chris helping with his first bath in the 'nursery'. I didn't even know hospitals still had nursery's. Chris followed after the nurse as she whisked away our new little guy just an hour old. He had to make sure they didn't switch him with some other baby.

Ah, more like it. Snug as a bug in a rug.

Aww, my baby, holding my baby.

I think Jake felt a little out of place.

That's better. I think he's warming up.

What a good big sister! And Holy crap is my face nice and swollen!

Chris looks a little tired.

But he CAN'T be as tired as I am. Wait, he did have to sleep in a recliner for two nights in a row. Maybe he is. At any rate, we were glad to get out of the hospital.

I just love his dang little mits.

Happy Birthday Bailey!

2009-01-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

My little Rag Doll

My Baby is 7 today. Which is kindof amazing actually, because I just brought her home from the hospital.

It was a cold, blustery Seattle night, and I was cranky and uncomfortable as I sat, beached on my couch, counting the minutes and timing my annoying 'cramps.' I was getting more and more cranky and uncomfortable as the hours passed, and Chris was headed off for his 2nd job - night shift, stocking shelves at Home Depot. He kissed me goodbye, and told me to call him if I thought it was time to go to the Hospital. I said goodbye at about 9:30 pm and tossed a 'yeah, right' after him as he closed the front door. Time to go to the hospital? Yeah right. I'm not in labor.

About an hour and a half later, I called up the labor and delivery at my hospital and told them of my worsening symptoms. They instructed me to get in a hot bath, and either my contractions would stop altogether, or they would pick up and I would need to come in. 'Come in?!' I thought to myself. No way. 'What to expect while you are expecting' tells me what labor is supposed to be like. Contractions are supposed to last 45-60 seconds and get closer and closer together. Plus, they are supposed to hurt really, really bad, right?

So, I took a bath, and about 5 minutes into my not so relaxing bath, I started to do that stupid breathing thing because I thought I was going to DIE. I quickly called Chris and told him it was TIME to go to the hospital and to hurry up and get home. He was a 30 minute drive away, and my hospital was another 45 minute drive away. Thank goodness he was a first time Dad, fulfilling the scene he had created in his own mind that wasn't that much different than the one in the movies - Wife is all of a sudden in labor at midnight and you get to fly to the hospital. He was there in about 10-15 minutes, thank goodness, because I was doing that hard core hee-hee-hoo breathing that I swore I would never do at birthing classes. I had about five contractions just making it from our little condo to the car in the parking lot. Superdad then of course drove like a maniac to the hospital probably doing at least 90 mph, because, of course, he was only doing what first time Dad's are supposed to do. All I remember of that exhilarating drive was Chris in crisis mode hollering "Those contractions are NOT 3-5 minutes apart! We were supposed to go to the hospital when they were 3-5 minutes apart!" Duh. I would have done that if they actually did what the dang book told me they were going to do.

Long story short, My labor was quick, the anesthesiologist was my hero and the man of the hour, aside from my OBGYN, and in the early hours of the day they placed the tiniest, softest, sweetest, most breathtakingly beautiful bundle of instant love in my arms. It still brings tears to my eyes. She was everything I had ever dreamt of, everything I had ever hoped for, but not in a million years could have ever been prepared for in my life. No one can ever tell you how instantly life changing it is to hold your first baby in your arms. No one can ever put into words the instantly overwhelming feeling of unconditional love that it is to hold your child for the first time. I am so lucky to be a mom. And now all of a sudden, she is 7. Where did 7 years go? I was talking to Chris the other day, and wondered aloud if the next 7 years were going to go as fast as the last. He said he thought they would probably go even faster. And I told him he better call the WAAAAAaaaaaambulance, because I think I am going to crumble at the thought.

Bailey Anne, you are such a joy. I am so thankful you came to our family. I am so blessed and lucky to be your Mom. You are amazing in so many ways. I love your sweet spirit, your gentleness and kindness; your infectious laugh, your innocence, your compassionate heart; your forgiving nature, your desire to serve others, your ability to make new friends so quickly. You are such a good big sister, such a great example, so much fun to be with, and I love you!!! Now, stop growing up! Happy Birthday my love.

Love, Mom

Plugging the pipes

2009-01-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

Should I be concerned that my 2 year old just ate up 6 pieces of bubblegum? Or should I be glad I know where they are and not chewed and strewn about...

Just to make sure his plumbing wasn't already good and stopped up he dove into a brick of good old fashioned cheese.

That's right, I ate Cheese mom. Now I am peacefully playing with my cars. What? I didn't do anything.

It is safe to say someone may be getting a diet of raisins, prune juice, and milk of magnesia; while someone else will be on poo-watching duty for the hunk of bubblegum to make it on through.

It would take a miracle...

2009-01-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

Here's the low down at the Cook household: AKA the latest drama filled episode, the continuation... if you will...

We have managed to hang on for the past 9 months since closing our business, in high hopes that we would get the job that would "solve it all" in Mesa, Arizona. Not my ideal place to move. C'mon, I am a wet Seattle girl. 85 degrees is way too hot for me. But geez, I followed my man to the cold, windy, treeless (ok, virtually treeless) place of Idaho to follow his dreams. Why wouldn't I follow him elsewhere for financial security and a job he already went to school for? Well, after passing all of the background investigations and rigorous testing, we received a call saying 'we would love to offer you a job, but, due to the economic crisis there is a hiring freeze..."

So we jumped to plan B. He is 3 years into getting a license that takes 4 years, and even better, if he goes back to school at ISU this year for another program, it adds to the license he's getting next year and makes him even more valuable, and I won't have to worry about him going undercover on a drug bust and getting shot at at 2 AM while he is patrolling in his sexy cop uniform, plus, we don't have to move to a HOT place. Double perk.

Plan B entails going to school from 8-3 everyday. Shoot. We still need another job since now he can only work in the evenings (which we haven't been able to get for the past 9 months), we also still need to downsize it to 'student' life again aka: apartment living with 4, count em' 4 little crazies that are all under the age of 7, and lets face it, we still haven't sold our house. Oh, did I mention school starts in 1 week? Ooooh, did I also mention we get to bring #4 home in like 2-3 weeks also?

My big master plan is not so much working out. Unless, by some miracle we sell our house in the next 7 days, and or get another job that will support his school schedule and still somewhat pay the bills, and if we hear from the school that there were still pell grant funds and financial aid funds available so we can pay for school... it looks like school will be put off until August. IF we get accepted back into the program again.

But for now, sigh, I guess we have to put up with a constantly traveling parent, and hope that there really is someone who navigates the 'big' picture for us and has our best interests in mind. Cuz that is what we really want. I do realize that my way, is not always the best way.

I just wish that if my master plan wasn't going to work out anyways, we could stop having people call to come and 'see' the house. Every time someone does or does not show up for a looksy after my rigorous cleaning and hollering at the kids not to 'touch anything!!!' I get my hopes up that it all might work out by some miracles. It is seriously toying with my emotions.

2 people are coming tomorrow to look. It could all still happen, right?! Like I said, totally toying with my emotions.

Here's my heart, oh take and seal it

2008-12-22T15:51:00.000-08:00

I found this video on my friends site, and had to share it. I have a tender heart this year, and it surely warmed it. I also loved that it uses one of my favorite songs. It's only 5 minutes, and I hope you watch it, all about the reason for the season. Merry Christmas to all of you!

Much love,

Jen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oteno81QzzQ&eurl=http://deseretbook.com/video/embed/5&feature=player_embedded

Day 6

2008-11-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

Giving thanks...

The sound of the Idaho wind. I'll admit it has been my #1 annoyance since moving here. A lot of times it is so windy the kids can't play outside, you nearly get knocked over walking from car to store, not to mention what it can do to a perfectly good hairdo Sunday morning. But last night as I lay in bed the brisk powerful winds whipped around my house, and it is a sound and force to be reckoned with. It reminded me of the thunderstorms from back home in Seattle that I loved to be lulled to sleep with.

The warmer weather we have been having. Last year this time we surely had snow on the ground and freezing temperatures. I am so thankful for the beautiful sunshine and calmer windless days so the kids can still go and enjoy our backyard for a little bit longer.

Theme days at the elementary school. Today was 80's day for Bailey, and Bear day for Jacob. They were both so elated to do things pertaining to their 'theme.' Bailey went decked out in her 80's outfit, and I still chuckle when I think back to her comments while I donned a side ponytail on her head. "Mom, are you sure this is how they dressed in the olden' days?" I then of course had to clarify that 80's were definitely not the olden days, and had to show her pictures of me at her age with a side ponytail in my RAD outfit and that I was actually going to school like that for reals not just for fun. And Jacob ransacked the stuff animal buckets in search of the perfect bear to bring to school on Bear day. He smugly trudged out with our humongous stuffed bear that sits next to his bed, which is by the way as big as he is and said "Mom, I think I am gonna take this one to school!" He of course is always looking for the opportunity to get a laugh. What a comedian.

For great teachers. I am so thankful for wonderful teachers out there who actually love their jobs and do so well at them. It gives me so much peace of mind to know that my children are in good hands as they now spend the majority of their time away from home and away from my loving arms. It is hard to let them go, but I find so much comfort in knowing they love school and they love their teachers. I know this is because they feel the love their teachers have for them. That is amazing to me and speaks volumes about the special gifts and talents of teachers out there. It amazes me that they are able to make the one feel as special as the group as a whole.

Magic cookie bars. You are good every time.

Day 5

2008-11-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

Giving thanks for...

Visiting teaching. And not just to check it off of a 'to do' list - I feel so lucky to get to know women that live close to me and value those friendships. I have found out more times than I can count that we all have the same basic need - to be valued and accepted and loved. I am often so inspired by what wonderful wives, mothers and women they are, and I leave their homes uplifted and renewed.

Great memories of the past. Days from high school - going to seminary at 5:45 in the morning to make it to my 6 am scripture study class. Yes people, they do still do that when you don't live in Idaho and Utah. My friends and teachers all thought me a little crazy, and truth be told, I don't really remember much of the scripture lessons and stories, I do however remember the friendships made, the games played, and what a blessing it was to start my day with a wonderful spirit. Not only seminary, but the fun times with my friends at youth conference, girls camp, football games, church dances, girls nights out... Days from the Singles ward with all my homies, those were some fun times I am glad I get to remember so fondly.

Sad memories of the past. I am thankful to remember these times as well. I am thankful to be able to remember them now and not have them sting bitterly, but to remember them as defining moments of lessons learned, and experiences that allow me to have compassion and empathy for those around me. I hope my unique experiences will help me to comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and lift another's burdens. I am thankful that I am able to see the world through my own set of glasses, and hope I can fulfill the role and purpose that I am here for.

To be a woman. I love being a girl. I always thought myself a little tom-boyish, especially growing up surrounded by brothers. And maybe I am. Yes, I love a good work-out (When I am FINISHED), I love wearing comfy sweat-pants like clothing, that will never change; I love going make-upless when I don't feel like getting ready, the list could go on. But I also love how I feel when I get dressed up cute, do my hair and make-up, put on a little somethin-somethin to smell good, and the look my husband gets when he sees me that way. I like to look and feel pretty. But appearance reasons aside, I love the attributes that women uniquely and naturally possess. I love and try to be nurturing, compassionate, kind, thoughtful, cleanly, organized, beautify my environment, creative, etc. I love that these things are innate in me, and I 'get' the women around me. I struggle to understand men a lot of the time. It is so interesting how differently we communicate and our own innate qualities. I am so thankful that my husband feels driven to honor, defend, protect, provide, and nurture in his own way. I am thankful that is his role, and that he thinks of it automatically. That way, I can stick to what I think of automatically to fulfill. Makes life easier a lot of the time.

Stephen's mint truffle hot chocolate, found at you local Wal-mart stores. And if you get the biggie can it is like 60 servings or something for less than 10$. This is getting props 2 days in a row. Thank you for all of your comforting mint-truffly-goodness. You better many of my days. Even though you still give this pregnant girl heartburn. It hurts so good.

Day 4

2008-11-18T09:56:00.001-08:00

Giving thanks for...

The school day. I love how it makes me rise and shine bright and early to jump start my day into an actual routine. Otherwise, I would definitely stay in bed longer.

Exercise equipment I have at home so I don't have to leave to go to the gym.

Helpful children.

Wonderful women that are in my neighborhood. I admire them and value their friendship and have so much gratitude for all of the help they give me so often.

My washing machine and dryer. Washing clothing by hand or having to go to the laundromat would really suck.

Day 3

2008-11-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for...

Naptime
a comfy bed to sleep in
cold brisk weather, it makes me feel so cozy inside
Stephen's mint truffle hot chocolate, even though the consequences are heartburn
good books to read

Day 2

2008-11-16T14:32:00.001-08:00

I am thankful today for...

A great ward to be a part of - I really felt so much love today
designers who know how to make cute maternity clothes
Christmas music
great friends
my brothers and sisters in law
chocolate chip cookies
sweatpants, oh how I love you
the laughter and innocence of children

2008-11-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

I am following my friend Kathy's good advice and posting things I am thankful for each day until thanksgiving.

A family that loves me
Wonderful friends
Delicious food
Babies
My sweet husband
My beautiful Children
My health
A warm house
A job to support our family
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
The gift of the Holy Ghost

Thank you

2008-11-13T11:00:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to say thank you for all of your love and support. I feel so much gratitude and feel so blessed to know so many kind and compassionate women. I sometimes wonder how I got so lucky. I have felt an outpouring of love, and have literally felt my burdens lifted over the past few days. I kind of panicked after posting last time. I wrote that late at night, and was overcome by emotion, and when the air cleared the next day, I started to wonder what the heck I was thinking putting myself out there like that! I hate being that needy girl, so stripped down and broken. I realize though, that at times, we are all stripped down and a little broken. Again, I thank you all for lifting me up in a time of need. I just wanted you all to know, I really am ok. I am going to be ok, I do realize this - and it is up to me to be patient in my life and try to endure - cheerfully if possible. I promise not to be so boo-hooey next time!

Surrender

2008-11-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

This post is really more for my own personal journal's sake. It is a time in our life that needed to be written down for therapeutic reasons. My intent is not to complain or bring anyone else down, but sometimes writing down my feelings helps me sort them out. This is lengthy.

Chris and I got married almost 9 years ago. This is the song we picked to be 'our song' and danced to at our wedding. That day I dreamed of seems so long ago. It seems like I was a totally different girl. Full of hope, wonder, dreams, and excited for what experiences would lie ahead for us as we began our life together. I had no idea what lay ahead or what we would go through up until this point. I just knew that this was a life I wanted to choose to have with my best friend. I knew I had nothing to fear in facing the life ahead with the man I had chosen to lift me, inspire me, and encourage me through the good, the bad and the ugly. And although nine years doesn't mean much in comparison to our parents and grandparents, that is our reality up to this point, and I am not here to compare myself to another.

It has been a rough year for us. 2 years ago we started our lives over. 2 years ago we left Washington with a 4 year old, a 3 year old, and a new baby. We threw all reason to the wind and left a comfy job, a home we loved, and family and friends behind to follow an feeling of inspiration we strongly had that there was more to our life we were missing. That the possibility of having the family life we so desperately wanted was out there, and was not going to happen in the career we had started. We received some great support by those that love us, but also some strong opposition by others that love us, which was and has been very painful. I am a girl who has always hated change, and has always liked to have a plan for it all, has always liked to have it all under control. It was hard enough then to give up control and follow an inspired feeling bigger than myself. But I did. We both did. We went with it, and although it was hard, we know it was right. I had the opportunity for the first time in my life to face my past, and deal with hard things. I didn't realize how much wounds of the past are truly weights we carry on our backs daily. I didn't realize how much that weight made me so tired. How much it affected my marriage and children and relationships with others. It is so amazing to be free of that. If we had changed our life completely just for my sanity's sake, it would have all been worth it. But it has been more than that; even though it has 100% not been what we had planned or expected!

It's no secret that our business failed. And although that is a HUGE relief to be out of, it is a mess in itself that we are still dealing with. We thought no biggie, let's follow plan B. Chris has a background in law enforcement, a degree and 5 years experience. We tested with Mesa PD back in April, and we were just informed that he passed all of the testing and his background investigation and is qualified for hire. However, it is very competitive, they pick the best candidates to fill positions, and due to the economic situation they aren't hiring a set number anymore. We also just found out the January academy is already full, but they are putting through 30 more officers in March. If Chris doesn't get offered a job by then he will have to go back through the entire testing and background process again because you are only eligible for 1 year from your first testing date - which was yes, April.

We have been praying for the past 3-4 years for direction and inspiration in the choices we make with career so that we can have the family life we so desperately want. We finally decided to have an attitude of asking in faith for the things we want, but only according to his will, not ours. This is something I have always believed, but never really had experience in having things turn out in such a desperate hour completely opposite of what I really thought would fix our problems. Logically, this job in Arizona would completely take care of our financial needs and have a pretty secure future. Deep down, I don't want to live there. It is hot there. I hate 85 degrees, let alone 120 degrees. All my family is in Washington and Utah. I have made great friends here in Idaho, but would love to eventually end up in Utah with most of my family. I am however willing to go wherever my husband can be happy in his job and support us. It has been an excruciatingly lonely and painful year having Chris gone the majority of it, drowning in the leftover mess of our business, flailing with the lack of control over any of the attempts to find other employment, sell our home, make a plan for some security for our children, and oh, did I mention I was on my death bed for 5 months because we are having a surprise baby? We also, by the way don't have any medical insurance this time around, and no doctor really has wanted to care for me without a financial plan in place. It really feels overwhelming some days. Okay, not gonna lie, I ball my guts out a lot of days.

We are now considering plan C. Chris is in his 3rd year as an electrical apprentice, and needs one more year to get his journeyman's license, but that is not really what he wants to do. Unless you own your own business, my feeling is that the job pretty much sucks here in Idaho because you are underpaid and traveling away from your family most of the time. Not to mention benefits suck. We stumbled across this 'Electrical Instrumentation' program at Idaho State University that is a 1 year program, and starts in January (Actually 2 year program but Chris can skip a year because of his previous degree and the electrical experience he has now) but the program is from 8-3 every day. Meaning we have to try to sell our house and find a job that would give him 30 hours a week that can still support 4 kids while he is going to school. And how the heck are we going to pay for school? We then would have an additional year after that to get his journeyman's license because he is so close, and we like to finish what we start. Even though this is obviously a much harder road in the beginning, it has the potential to give us a career with normal work hours, good pay, and options to work and be valuable in his acquired skills pretty much at plants and factories all over the place. Long term, it seems like the right choice to make. Where as a career in law enforcement has great pay and a great retirement and benefits, we are pretty much guaranteed Chris will be gone for every holiday, most Sunday's, and have crappy hours for a good 10 years. It seems like an easy choice to make. But the thought right now of leaving our ward where I have made such good friends, and living in a tiny cooped-up place with 4 children, a husband who will inevitably be absent most of the time for another 2 years, (and having to try and form some sort of support system again) seems a little daunting. I know I can do anything for 2 years, and I know I can surely support my good husband in all his hard work to provide for our little family. I just feel a little overwhelmed right now, it all feels so impossible right now.

This last time Chris left (won't be back until thanksgiving) I pretty much crumbled. I felt completely depleted. For the first time in my life I started to question something I had always known deep in my heart. That my Heavenly Father knows me personally. That my heavenly father loves me. I started to feel so isolated and alone in circumstances we now face, and in the fact that we have absolutely no control in what is happening to us presently. Being out of control is a little hard for me, and seems to be a recurring theme. I have spent a lot of time in my bed. I have spent a lot of time mopping up my own tears and blowing my nose. I have spent a lot of time eating bags of famous amos chocolate chip cookies from Costco. I even ate a whole loaf of chocolate chip pumpkin bread. After a serious headache from weeping, and a serious tummy ache from 7 months of humongous baby belly and too many goodies masking my woes, I decided it was time to spend some time on my knees. After some time on my knees I read Alma 32 in the book of mormon, and realized that in order to make a garden grow and bring forth delicious fruit, we have to tend to it. My own testimony has not been tended to for quite some time, and my faith and hope in a father who loves me and has a plan for my life was withering away just as it speaks of a tree that will bring forth delicious fruit:

in verse 37 "as the tree beginnith to grow, ye will say: let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye will nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit."

38: " But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out."

This morning I was forced out of bed by the sounds of my sweet 6 year old trying to sweep up the sugar mess that was strewn across the entire kitchen and dining room. I emerged to find popcorn popped and crumbled everywhere, cereal and milk poured and spilled about, sticky handfuls of sugar trailed amidst it all, and a 2 year old covered in chunks of sugar looking all the more guilty as I strode quickly to him. I think I washed him off, swept up the dry spots and hand mopped up the sticky spots, put in a movie and got back in bed. The obvious chaos in the living room was just too much to bear, because that is how I felt inside. Swimming with chaos. I told myself that at 9 am I was going to go downstairs and workout on our treadmill, take a shower, and then clean the house and spend some time with the kids today. Today, I was going to set aside the lack of control and be a present mother, be present in the life that I was living. At 9:15 Chris called to see how things were going, and after the usual cry-fest about what the heck are we going to do, and this is so hard to live with right now, I rolled out of bed and onto my knees and asked for strength to surrender all of the burdens of what I could not control, so that I could try to find joy in the life I was living right now. And you know what? I went downstairs for a work-out, took a shower and put on clean clothes, fed my kids their lunch, and after putting Carter down for a nap, Bailey and Jacob helped me clean up the whole house. They didn't even complain. Bailey asked to organize 3 of my cupboards and did an incredible job. She then learned how to unpack and pack the dishwasher (all of her own asking) and Jacob helped me sweep and mop the floor. We even made sock puppets as a reward for all of their willing help. And although I still ate quite a few bags of chocolate chip cookies, things are looking up. I will try to continue to turn my burdens over to one who has already suffered for them, one who does know me and loves me.

Sweetheart post

2008-11-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

My friend Kathy aka "Mrs. B" tagged me. Thanks Kathy this was a fun one.

WHAT IS YOUR HUSBANDS NAME? Christopher Aaron

HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN MARRIED? It will be 9 years this coming March

HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? 2 1/2 mo. before a proposal, 4 1/2 mo. before we officially announced it, 9 mo. before we we got hitched for time and all eternity

HOW OLD IS HE? 31

WHO IS TALLER? Chris. It was an official requirement on my eternal companion list - he had to be bigger and taller than me, and no matter how many children I had I could never at any time out-weigh him. He is so good at keeping up his end of the bargain.

WHO CAN SING BEST? Me. Although Chris knows every word to every song in every genre on the radio, yet getting him to sing hymns in sacrament is like pulling teeth. I like hearing him sing.

WHO IS SMARTER? That is a toss-up. We are both smart in different ways. We compliment each others stupidity.

WHO DOES LAUNDRY? Me. He always dye's something or shrinks something. Totally annoying when he does the laundry.

WHO PAYS BILLS? Me. Not that he wouldn't do a fine job. He is never around, and when he is, he is always good about getting the stuff done that I can't physically do too well or mentally accomplish with little children running amuk.

WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Chris knows I change my mind about what side is more comfortable on a regular basis, and when he is home, he lets me pick whatever side I want. He's so flexible.

WHO MOWS THE LAWN? Chris. I would end up chopping off one of the kids legs while they ran behind me. Plus I know I would hate riding that mower for 3 hours around our acre in the bazillion degree heat here. I just love him for it.

WHO COOKS DINNER? Me 99.9 % of the time. Which is just fine by me. Healthy to me does not include frozen chicken nuggets, or macaroni and cheese and the likes on a regular basis.

WHO'S FIRST TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG? Chris. He is so much more humble than me. I am so lucky to have him.

WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? Please, like he could resist this.

WHO WEARS THE PANTS? We both do. I don't even like the term wearing the pants. I think a happy marriage is one that works together for the common good of the family, and husband and wife support each other in their much needed roles. I feel so comforted and happy and at peace when Chris is fulfilling his responsibilities as a husband, father, and provider; and I know that he is happy to support me in my roles as a wife, mother and caregiver. Marriage is so great when we support each other in our pants-wearing.

Our Pumpkin Night

2008-10-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Our annual pumpkin carving night took place in two parts. Part one, pumpkin gathering/purchasing. I really wanted to find a local pumpkin patch to go to this year. I found a couple that were pretty close, but Chris didn't get back from California until Saturday late-afternoon. He works during the week until 5:30, and since we live in Timbuktu, it would be dark by the time we made it to any pumpkin patch within a week before Halloween. I settled for fake pumpkin patch pictures at Walmart.

Carter, Say Cheese.

Bailey, strike a pose

Jacob, don't be cheesy. Love ya, buddy.

Part two took place the next night. Family night first where we talked about Prayer, and bribed the kids with pumpkin carving after the lesson if they would sit still for 5 minutes. They did pretty good at the sitting still part, we forgot to specify we wanted them to listen and participate, and they thought that our lesson was taking forever. During the opening prayer Jacob said "and I just can't wait to carve pumpkins Heavenly Father, can you please hurry our lesson..."

This girl never has qualms about pumpkin guts

pumpkin guts still make this guy want to barf, ahhhh, just like his Mom.

This one never needs to be asked to help make a mess, nor does he listen when it is time to stop making a mess. But isn't he cute?

We attempted making these. I discovered this morning they may be just for looks, as they aren't exactly edible. I was lazy and bought he Carmel squares you can unwrap and melt. BIG mistake. When they re harden they are really, really, hard. Good thing we will get real treats in 2 more nights.

Ta-da! I always love it when the carving is over.

Happy Halloween, Love the Cooks

Tagged again

2008-10-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my friend Heidi.

10 years ago I:

1. Dropped out of my second year at Edmonds Community College, to work full time. I hated going to school, but now I wish I had finished.
2. Lived with friends Leanne and Kerry (Don't know what ever happened to them)
3. Attended activities with my Singles Branch just about every night of the week, and thought my life was soooooo busy then.
4. Ran 5 miles every day, 10 miles on Saturday's, and thought for sure I was headed for running my first marathon.
5. Had long Blonde hair to my waist.

5 things on today's "to do" list:

1. Clean the House
2. Fold Laundry
3. Prepare meals, serve meals, clean up meals
4. Help kids with homework
5. Go to the temple tonight

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Anything that is classified as a treat
2. Grapes
3. Nature Valley Granola Bars
4. Celery and Peanut Butter
5. Did I say treats?

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Hire a maid to clean my house weekly
2. Go to a spa weekly (namely get a massage at said spa)
3. Hire a personal trainer to help me daily
4. Have a fully equiped home gym
5. Take a vacation with my family

5 places I have lived:

1. Edmonds, WA
2. Lynnwood, WA
3. Everett, WA
4. Blackfoot, ID
5. That is it.

Five jobs I have had:

1. Paper route
2. Babysitter
3. Nanny
4. Dental Assistant
5. Mommy

I tag...Whoever wants to - this is the second tag I've gotten in a couple of weeks. I already tagged a few friends last time, so I won't make you do it again if you don't want.

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog

Rockstars

2008-10-11T19:13:00.001-07:00

Sheldon, Aaron, Rich, and Dave - this one's for you. Bob and Dan, sorry, you two won't remember.

Bailey wanted to listen to her favorite band today - the Beatles. I put the CD in and got busy scrap booking while they danced and sang. Next thing I know, they had fashioned their own home-made guitars and informed me they needed strings to tie them over their shoulders. It was just so funny to me. How creative of them. They got out all the fixing's and made their craft unbeknownst to me. When I had stapled on the strings, Jacob declared ' Now we look like Rock star's mom! ' What a crack-up.

This brought back vivid memories from childhood. All the way back to the 'yellow' house - the first house I lived in, and moved from at age 5. My older brothers and I used to listen to my Mom and Dad's records - namely the Beatles and the Monkey's - all the time. There was a bonus room over the garage that was a bedroom for two of my brothers. The back 1/4 of the room stepped up and was used as a stage where the 'band' would perform. Everyone had tennis rackets for mock air guitars, and I think it was the most joyous part of my day if I got to perform with the band. I do remember getting shoved off the stage quite a few times because I didn't quite know the words good enough. Mean brothers. I don't know if Dave remembers, he was only 3, but I bet he does. Those were good times with my brothers. Watching my children re-enact their version of being rock stars was a little nostalgic. Here are some pictures of the rock stars in action.

New twilight trailer

2008-10-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

11-21-08

Boo-yah!

My friend Lori has the official trailer on her blog and you can see it here. And it looks really good by the way. So who's going with me?

Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

2008-10-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

In reading one of my friends post recently, I was reminded of all of the reasons I love the fall. You can read about her reasons here.

It made me think about all of mine, so I decided to make one of my fall favorites, and wanted to share. Your welcome.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Recipe makes 10 mini-loaves (That way you can share)

5 eggs well beaten

3 C Sugar

2 1/2 C Canned Pumpkin

2 C Oil

4 1/2 C Flour

1 1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 t. Baking Soda

4 1/2 t. Cinnamon
1 1/2 t. Nutmeg
1 1/2 t. Cloves

1 t. Ginger
12 - 16 oz. milk choc. or semi-sweet choc. chips. (I like semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream eggs and sugar. Add pumpkin and oil. Add dry ingredients slowly and combine thoroughly. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into greased and lightly floured pans. Bake for 45 min. If you use small loaf pans, place approx. 1 C of batter into each pan. (Or you can use 4 normal size loaf pans).

You can half this recipe, or freeze extra loaves. I wrap each loaf in saran wrap and then foil to prevent freezer burn.

Tagged

2008-10-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

I was tagged a while ago by my long lost friend from high school, and I decided it was high time to make good on my tag.

Here are the rules...

1. Link to the person who tagged you:
http://woody'sfam.blogspot.com/
2. Post the rules on your blog:
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Six random things about myself? This is hard. I feel a little on the boring-ish side... Oh well, here goes.

1. When I am not pregnant, I usually work out twice a day, just so I can still eat treats. I am a total candy maniac, but am still obsessed with diet and exercise; so I like to punish myself with workouts, yet reward myself with treats. What is wrong with me?! All the while I logically know that if I just cut out treats to an occasional indulgence, I could just work out once a day and still look how I want to. I would have so much more time in my schedule. Yes, I know I should go back to therapy.

2. I am a total recovering germ-o-phob. I worked for 8 years as a dental assistant, and I think that constant focus on killing the germs all day long spewed over into my normal life. I used to wipe down my grocery carts with Clorox wipes before putting my children inside. I also used to deep clean my house almost every-other day. And although I still cut raw meat with rubber-gloves on, and I still cannot bring myself to eat anything other than cotton-candy at the fair, having children has totally interrupted my germ-free world, and made me relax in soooo many ways. Let's face it. Kids are one big ball of germs. I had to face the facts that I can no longer try to live in a bubble without scarring my children for life. I now feed them snacks in the grocery cart just to keep them quiet, even though I totally don't even wipe down the cart anymore. (Ewwww, I know. I swore I never would do that and almost gagged when I saw other mom's doing it. Whatever. Anything for a peaceful shopping trip. I am totally that mom now). And if you come to my house on any given day, you will find that 3 mess-makers rule the roost and are totally faster than me, and as for deep-cleaning my house? Well, some weeks it happens once, sometimes it happens every couple, and well, sometimes it is even longer before the toilets get scrubbed. But hey, don't judge me. You know sometimes there is a ring in your toilet too.

3. I can't go to bed at night. It is a sickness really. I aim to get my kids in bed by 7 pm, sometimes it doesn't all wrap up until 8, but after that, a choir is blasting 'Hallelujah!' in my head and I become wide eyed and giddy at the mere thought of quiet time to myself...(that is, when Chris isn't home). I suddenly get my second wind no matter how sleepy and dragging I may have been during the day, because it feels good to be 'off duty' from my mothering for a short time, and I consider all of the possibilities of what I could do uninterrupted. When I am not pregnant, I work out, then play. These days, I think about all I could be doing, but usually end up laying in bed with chocolate and seeing what is on my TV. If I look like I am getting fatter, now you know why. Dang Chocolate.

4. Chris and I met because we were set up by our best buddies. He had been home from his mission for 4 days, and they brought him to a young single adult dance to meet me. I was walking out to go home, and he was walking in to find them. As I held the door open and he breezed past, I said 'Hi' with serious ga-ga eyes, and he muttered ' Hi' back without so much as a glance in my direction. My pride was immediately wounded as I thought ' What a jerk!!!' I looked really hot that night. Yet in the next moment I thought ' I wonder who that is?!' and of course went back in to discreetly see who the hottie was. And it was him. The love of my life. Who didn't even notice me the first time he saw me. Don't worry, he's more than made up for it. Now he knows how lucky he is.

5. I always wanted to serve a mission, and after getting my patriarchal blessing at age 16, I felt strongly that I should serve one. I even saved up almost all of my own mission money, and swore I would never skip my mission for a boy. Guess what? I TOTALLY skipped my mission for a boy. After Andy and Em introduced Chris and I, we started talking, then because we were at a dance, we of course danced. While we were dancing I casually said, 'so, you just got home from your mission? I am going on a mission soon...' because I wanted to make it clear that I was unavailable, even though he was seriously the hottest guy I had ever met. He wasn't scared. We all know how this one ended up. And I am so glad it ended up how it did. Now I can serve a mission with a companion that I like.

6. I love all things (okay most things) creative and crafty. I cannot usually 'create my own ideas' per-say, but if you show me how, I am a pretty good copier. I love photography, baking, scrap booking, wood crafts, and more. I have always wanted to take classes to sharpen my skills, and learn new things to get better at my amateur attempts, but always have other things that seem to stop me from doing so. Okay, it's my kids and husbands fault. Kidding. kind of. I love em, and they are my first and best priority, and I accept that this is a busy season of life. If Chris's work schedule were different, he would totally be there for me to support other interests. And although I wish I could take pictures like Shelby, bake like Nicki, scrapbook like Angela, and make wood crafts like Emily, I realize that one of these days, I will be able to make time to make each goal a priority. But for now, I will settle for for admiring the talents of some of my friends. But even if I didn't name you, don't think I don't admire you. Because I do. I have some really cool friends. I am lucky to have you guys.

That is it. I am supposed to tag others now. I don't even know who has already done this. Hmmm, I now tag Jen and Dave, Tiffany, Katie, Kimberly, and Jotien. If you already did this, then, I guess never mind. By the way, tiffany, if you read this, I can't link to your site. Did you know your address now goes to some advertising site? Just click on my link.

A coincidental bug

2008-10-04T19:11:00.001-07:00

Good news people. Bailey was up until 3:30 last night, burning up with a 103.5 temp. wailing, moaning and crying about her tummy hurting. I put her in bed with me since she was inconsolable and so helpless. I hate it when they are sick and suffering. Jacob did the same thing earlier this week, and it only lasted about 24-36 hours. I now know that Carter really didn't sear out the lining of his stomach and cause permanent damage to his body (which I really was starting to believe because he on the other hand kept up with a temperature and bad tummy ache for about 4 days). Just a freaky bug of some type. I mean, I have never seen a temperature and stomach ache and no other symptoms ever. Weird. But I feel better now.

I am off to bed for once before 9 pm at night. I ended up letting Carter and Jacob sleep on my floor last night because they kept repeatedly coming in to bother me in the midst of dealing with the moaning child. I know I sound so compassionate. I just think compassion is hanging on by a thread these days. I finally caved and told them to zip their dang lips and sleep on the floor, but for Pete's sake, don't wake me up again. Whew. Sleep now is calling my name. Just wanted to share.

Poison Control

2008-09-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

My two year old is killing me. He likes to eat anything disgusting and poisonous, and the mere fact that it tastes like crap sure doesn't stop the likes of him. I was out sweeping the front porch real fast this morning, and mistakenly asked the 6 year old to 'watch him' for a couple of minutes. She was doing her hair. Which means slicking it down, headbanding it back, and admiring herself in the mirror. I should have know she was too busy for such a menial task. She totally had better things to do. It is not her fault. I just should have tied him up with some rope before stepping outside. I came back in and heard Carter crying loudly 'It's too hot! IT'S TOO HOT!' I came into my bathroom to find him sitting on the counter by the sink emptying my Mary Kay Acne Treatment Jel into the sink. I assumed he burned himself with hot water until after further speculation saw that his lips were becoming burnt and bright red. I asked him if he ate some. He said pathetically 'Yeah mom.' Whimpering all the while. I called poison control for the bazillionth time on this child and they told me that benzoyl peroxide would not poison him (just for your information) but to rinse out his mouth, and wash his face, give him some milk and or water and he should be fine. Ahhhhh, sweet relief.

That was until about an hour later when he started screaming and writhing on the floor in pain. He kept repeating loudly 'I'm gonna frow up! My tummy hurts!' and kept laying on the floor. I finally got him calmed down and he took a little nap, but then came into my room about an hour later in extreme pain and repeating the same things. I went into the bathroom and upon further inspection, found a bottle of microderm abrasion open and drips coming down the side (It was behind my big basket of face-wash type stuff on the counter). I then assumed he must have ate some of that too. Of course, why not taste test another disgusting thing? Well, then I freaked, because it was 4:30 on Saturday afternoon and I didn't want to end up in the emergency room tonight. Chris is out of town, and I would have to pawn off kids on unsuspecting neighbors and then there is the sad fact that we currently don't have medical insurance and large unpaid accounts at the hospital, and doctors office. I of course don't want to add to them. So I donned my baseball hat, and made all the kids get in the car.

There is only one word to explain our appearances. RAGAMUFFINS. The whole lot of us. I was in my sweatpants and some retarded mickey mouse shirt that barely fits over my big pregnant belly. Carter had no shoes on. Bailey and Jake had been playing out in the dirt for the past two hours. We looked like homeless people. I just panicked and ran. When we got there, they called poison control about the other stuff he ingested because now Carter had a fever of 101, but they found out the fever should not be related, and good news is, he would not die. Hopefully he is just starting a little flu bug or something. I just hate it when stuff like this happens.

I am so tired today. Jacob has so many medical problems right now, and as many of you know is a serious spontaneous barfer. I feel so bad for him. And I feel so bad for me. It is so embarrassing sometimes, and I don't think you ever fully embrace the cleaning up of barf. I will just say this: I love my hardwood and tiled floors, and even more, I just could kiss whomever invented plasticized mattress covers. I could just kiss you whoever you are out there. We ran out of one of Jacob's medications this week, and when that happens he gets on this non-stop coughing kick and literally cannot stop around the clock. He then of course, barfs because of all of the coughing. Nothing helps. He plays outside, which makes him cough and barf, and it is hard to send him to school, and even worse, no one sleeps at night between Carter coming in to get me, me having to go pee fifty million times, and Jacob's incessant coughing and hurling. I am so tired of changing sheets and washing out barf bowls.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 3 little ones, I really do. They are the greatest joy in my life, and my biggest challenges some days. And some days, I just want to pull the covers over my head and not have to face the hardships that come with being the mom of little ones. It has been one of those weeks that I so badly wish our work situation and life situation were different, and I am so tired of being a single parent. It has been months of this now, and I am seriously worn out some days. Physically, yes, they are so busy and into everything and so messy; but emotionally it is even more wearing. How can I possibly give them all the attention, love and encouragement they need? How can I be patient and gentle and kind, keeping in mind they are just little, and will make lots of mistakes? (Don't we all?) I just appreciate my husband so much. He does so much for our family. He is my rock, and I realize it all the more when he is gone and I don't have someone to buffer my impatience and bad moods with my kids. I bet they really miss it when Dad is gone because Mom is mean and annoying!! Poor kids!

Bill 1738

2008-09-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

Senate Bill 1738 the protect our children act passed yesterday! Over half a million people wrote their senators in support of this bill.

Protect our Children Act

2008-09-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

Did anyone catch Oprah yesterday? I tape the shows, and watched it this morning. The show was very explicit, and I was horrified to know the awful truth. The show was about Internet predators, the rampant occurrences daily of traded child pornography, molestation, and rape actually video-taped by these evil individuals; crimes committed and documented against children as young as newborn babies, on up. I wept as I watched, and feel driven to speak out. As a victim of this type of abuse, and as a mother, I feel the need to do everything in my power to support all efforts in protecting children out there. This abuse is occurring in horrific numbers daily, and shared by Internet for other predators to view. The problem is multiplying. And the real problem is that most of us don't realize that these predators are our next door neighbors, our family friends, our family members. If your child is being molested it is probably by someone you know and that is the hard truth. If you haven't seen the show, go to Oprah.com and please get informed on the gravity of the situation.

A bill is going before congress this month, Senate Bill 1738 The Protect our Children Act of 2008. This is a historic bill. There has been software developed that actually tracks these predators to their homes, but the actual money has not been there to fund law enforcement to keep up with the amount of activity happening. Unless we support this bill which actually puts the money behind law enforcement to catch these predators and protect our children they cannot be rescued. "These children are out there, they are waiting to be rescued, they need an army of mothers across this country to unmask, storm the U.S. Congress and tell them to pass 1738." The bill was originally 1 billion dollars that passed of resources for law enforcement to protect children, to rescue them from predators, and put them behind bars for a very long time. We need to put pressure on our U.S. senators to pass this.

If you go to Oprah.com there is a link to click on - "pass the Protect our Children Act". You can then look up your two U.S. senators if you do not know their names, and you will be provided with their e-mail addresses, their phone #'s and office addresses. There is also a sample letter you can use; you can also add too it or write your own. Please urge them to vote yes on Bill 1738 The protect our children act. Ask them to pass this bill before they recess on September 26th. We only have a few days to act, so please do so. It is a bipartisan bill, and regardless of which party we support, we should all be able to support this in protecting our children.

Ultrasound

2008-09-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

We had our ultrasound today to find out what kind we were getting...

Drum roll please...

It's a Boy! And yes, that makes three in a row! Thank goodness I got my sweet little girl first. Heavenly Father threw me a bone on that one. I am now joining the ranks with my friend Nicki, my sister in law, and a couple fun girls in my ward at church. I resign myself to leave out the blue stuff a little longer. Only sucky thing is all my baby clothes are summer stuff because Jake and Carter were born in June and July! Doe! Oh well, another excuse to shop for cute baby stuff that Chris can't get disgruntled over. C'mon, baby clothes the second time around is never as fun as the first, let alone the third.

The 'Nichols' family curse is following me (my maiden name) and the boys seem to be piling up around me! At first I hated growing up in a family with 6 brothers all around, but as I got older I accepted it, then embraced it, and now really feel like a lucky girl and love all those dear men in my life. What would I do without them? They are all amazing men of great integrity, honest and sincere, compassionate, all are men of strong faith, and they have influenced my life greatly. They are my hero's, my best friends, and my biggest cheerleaders. I really think the reason I ended up with such an amazing husband, is because between all of them and my dad, they set the 'bar' of expectations high for how I should be treated, and what qualities I really wanted in my husband. I hope to raise boys as wonderful as my brothers. I guess I should call my mom and get some advice... never thought I would say that out loud. Oh well, Hooray for boys!

I told Chris on the way home:

"Now we have to have another baby after this one."

C: "Yeah, right."

Me: "Yeah huh! You were supposed to get me a girl this time so we could be finished! Now we have to do it again so you can get it right!"

C: "And what are you going to do when we get our fourth boy?"

Me: "Well I guess then it would just be kinda funny... because I draw the line at one last try..."

Who knows. We're still young right?!!

First Day of School!

2008-08-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

A new chapter at our house has officially begun. I now have a child in school all the live long day. I never thought this day would come, and now that it has it is kind of, well, bittersweet. Not only is one in school all day, #2 is starting school half-days. I can't believe I will only have one kid home for half the day. It was so quiet yesterday with just the boys here. Jake and I had fun during Carter's nap doing kindergarten 'homework' and we made Chocolate Chip Cookies to surprise Bailey when she got home from school. It makes me feel like I can do 4 kids. Thank goodness for the school day! It surely eases the madness. It gives my children a break from me nagging them, gives them a sense of independence, gives them a chance to miss me, and of course for me to miss them; after all absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? All you teachers, I love you!

Here is my big first grader. I forgot to take her picture before she left the house so I of course ran out to the bus stop to get one. She was kind of embarrassed.

I then of course followed the school bus to her school to make sure she knew where to go. It kind of freaked me out just sending her to a new school on the bus. I found her on the playground and made sure she knew how to get to her classroom. For which I received an eye roll and a 'Mom, I know where my class is.' And I was officially forced to let go.

I did however snap one last picture of her with her friend Miranda, who is in second grade. I was so glad she had a friend to be with on the first day to help her.

When she got home I forced her to take a couple more pictures of her Hannah Montana outfit she had to wear on her first day. It brought back memories of when I was little. Remember your 'perfect' outfit you stressed out over? This is starting entirely too early.

When she got home I excitedly asked her about her day, and she immediately pulled out her lunch box and began eating. She was not prepared for how quickly lunchtime goes, and only got through her sandwich and a couple of grapes before it was all over. She was starving. I felt bad. She then went on to tell me forlornly " Mom, I didn't make even one friend today." Me eyes still well up just thinking about it. As a mother you want your child to feel as loved as they can as they go out to face the world. I felt so sad that her little 6 year old heart was so heavy. It made me sad to hear her question her self-worth already. It broke my heart to hear her talk about how she felt lonely, and ate lunch by herself. " I don't want to go back to first grade mom!" she lamented. "I miss you, and I was gone all day!"

We discussed some things she could do to make a new friend in her class. And she informed me that she had tried already. Apparently another girl in her class was wearing the same shirt as her. Bailey told her she liked her shirt and that maybe they could be friends. In Bailey's re-iteration of the story, the girl curtly replied 'thanks. I already have lots of friends though, so I don't need you play with me.'

Where are these little 6 year old monsters being reared?! I can't believe how mean some girls are, and it starts so young! I have 6 brothers. Boys just aren't like that. I still don't get how some grown women are still like that! I hope Bailey never resorts to excluding and belittling. I felt so bad! What would you tell your little ones in this situation? I hope her sense of self-worth is never hinged on the opinions or lack of inclusion from others. I want her to be self-confident and find myself struggling to instill this sometimes; raising a little girl has been so hard for me as she grows and changes, because I find myself reliving the insecurities and discouraging feelings I also had when I was growing up. The last thing I want is for history to repeat itself; I want to protect her from having the childhood I had. What would you do?

At 10 AM I headed over for Jacob's Kindergarten orientation. We had to make a scrapbook page for the class book telling about Jacob, so we took some pictures the night before. I just love your pretty blue eyes Jake.

And here he is, all ready to go for his first day. I can't believe how fast the time goes. He was so excited.This is his teacher Mrs. Crane. Bailey had her last year, and we love her. I am so happy Jacob is in her class this year.

Here's is Jake hitting the playground real fast before going home to get Carter from the Nelson's. He is here with our neighbor, and his friend Bryce. They are in the same class. I am so glad he has a buddy to ride the school bus with.

Here is the big 2 year old, ready to wreak havoc on his first day as the center of attention. It is a good thing he's so cute. It makes his dual personality of destructo-man bearable.

Back from the Dead...

2008-08-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we made a quick decision to go and stay with my parents in Seattle. Chris works out of town currently and comes home every few weeks on a Sunday, then back off again for work. (It sucks.) I was too sick for too long and the poor kids were suffering with no parental supervision. I had been going in to get shots of Zofran everyday for a few weeks, and they are ridiculously expensive. (And on the down side, they didn't really work all that well for me.) Chris came home on a Friday night and we discussed the situation, while I cried my eyes out, and Saturday morning he called my mom to see what we could do to call in for reinforcements. Since Chris would be working out of town for another month, we decided to go to Washington for some help. We packed up the car and drove all night, getting there at 6 AM on Sunday morning. Chris flew back out that night to go to work.

Poor Carter got sick and barfed on the drive over, and Bailey and Jacob got the stomach flu the next day while Aunts, Uncles, and a slew of cousins were up visiting Grandma and Grandpa that week. Bailey was up sick all night, and of course, as if I didn't barf enough the previous 8 weeks, I got it and was sick the whole next day, and about wanted to die. Chris of course called me to inform he got it too, and left work early to spend the rest of the day sick at the hotel. Barf. Thank goodness I was at my mom's.

The next day, I woke up and was actually able to hold some food down and get out of bed, which is really not normal for my pregnancies. Not that I was complaining. But I am usually flat on the couch wanting to die until about 18-20 weeks. Because I have had a number of miscarriages, I knew something was not quite right. I had a horribly painful experience when I miscarried with my first pregnancy at 13 weeks, and if it was happening this time at 11 weeks (then) I really wanted to catch it and get some medical help. So I decided to try to make an appointment to get an ultrasound and check for viability. I was shocked when I tried to make an appointment with my OB that had delivered all of my kids. The women in the office were extremely rude and basically did not want to help me, because I lived out of state and wouldn't be there for the duration of my pregnancy. When I called back and tried to make an appointment to be seen anyways, they basically said because I did not have medical insurance, they wouldn't make me an appointment until I spoke with the billing woman, who by the way was out of town for a week and they would have her call me (which she never did). I felt totally discriminated against. I couldn't believe it. I had the same experience contacting several other offices as well. I ended up going to Steven's Hospital, where one office informed me they had a "Walk in Clinic." Wrong. It was the emergency room, which I naively took for a walk in clinic upon arrival because I was the only one there. I kind of caught on though once 8 or 9 people who showed up after me were taken back before me. I was almost ready to go ask for my money back, when they took me back to my room. I spoke to the nurse and told her I was about to leave because I really didn't want to wait hours to be seen, but she informed me I had already signed in, and if I left now, they would not refund my money because I would be leaving AMA (against medical advice). I wanted to say,'what medical advice? I have been waiting 2 hours and haven't gotten medical advice from anyone yet.' They did an ultrasound and saw a heartbeat, but there were complications. The placenta has pulled away 30 percent or so, and there was a moderate sized bleed between the placenta and uterine wall. They also said that the yolk sac was over sized for development at that point and most likely would end up in miscarriage, but if not, would cause severe abnormalities with the baby. But to go home and be on bed rest for a week until I could be seen by another physician.

It is amazing what goes through your mind when you are told you may have a baby with abnormalities. I have never done any of the blood testing you can do to check for down syndrome or any other abnormalities because we always said we would love our baby no matter what, and we would never have an abortion no matter what the problems with our child. And truth be told, we would love our child no matter what. But being told this while pregnant, I think, can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you have time to prepare yourself, time to grieve the loss of the life you expected to have for your child; on the other hand, your mind goes crazy with the unknown, thinking of how hard it will be, if you will know how to be a good mother to a child who has special needs, and how it will affect the children you have already; the life you thought you would have for your family, and selfishly, I worried about life after my kids grow up, not knowing if this child would be dependent on me indefinitely; and so on. The only comfort I felt was thinking of my good friend Jenny. She has a 5 year old daughter with a rare syndrome, and they do amazing. Taylor just melts your heart. She is such a great mom with her, her brother and sister do so well with her, and it eased my mind at the thought of how we would make it; if she could do it, we could too.

I was finally able to be seen by my mom's bishop who is an OB and took mercy on me. We scheduled an ultrasound for a few weeks out. I got a priesthood blessing, and felt some comfort that things would be fine. When I went in for my Ultrasound, they told me that they don't see this very often, but that the bleeding had completely mended itself and reabsorbed, and the placenta had completely taken over the yolk sac (Which is how it should have looked at that point) and everything looks pretty normal now. The only problem is that the placenta has pulled away some, so not to pick up children, or lift, push or pull over 10 pounds; but normal daily activity is fine. Chris and I are so relieved, and feel so blessed to have made it to this point. The nausea is a lot better now, I am only sick for parts of the day, and am totally functional now. I am so thankful the past few months are behind us! I seriously don't know if I can go through this again. Plus, you know that four weeks or so when you are in between looking chubby and pregnant? Yeah, that's me. Isn't it awful? I usually make it to 20 weeks before busting out the stretchy tummy pants, but I broke down 4 weeks early this time. Oh well, I guess that's not too bad for my fourth child.

We are finally home now - we left 6am Sat. and arrived at 11 pm that night. And although it was so good to be taken care of when I needed it most, it is nice to be back in my own home, back to life as usual. The kids are so happy to be back to sleeping in their own beds and in familiar surroundings.

Now we are back to flying by the seat of our pants with the rest of our life... the good news is, we received a call from the detective working on Chris's background investigation and he informed us we should know if we got hired by the end of August. We are hoping everything works out. And on another positive note, a family is very interested in our house and is coming to look at it tonight. So cross your fingers for us. There is hope yet.

Blah

2008-06-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry friends, it may be a while before I return to the blogosphere.... as I presently wish this period of my life were all a distant memory. I spend my days lying helplessly on the couch while toys are strewn, cereal flies, and pajama-clad uncombed hair-type children run amuk; barf bowl close by. I seriously don't know how I forget how SICK I get every time and totaly want to poke my eyes out and puke my guts out. Not that we exactly were planning on my being totaly incapasitated at this point in time. But somehow, miracle of miracles, I continue to breathe in and out, and yes, the world around me manages to go on just fine. I wish it would go on just fine a little bit faster, thus ending my misery. Yes, Woe is me.

By the way, my house is still for sale for any of you that might have friends that can appreciate the beautiful weeds outside, the free snacks on the floor, the toys to play with, the laundry room they can try out; they are even welcome to see if the dishwasher works, how well my counter-tops clean up, and yes, how comfortable the jetted tub is in the master bedroom once the ring around it has been scrubbed off. Yes, our beautiful home is awaiting their viewing pleasure...

The latest

2008-06-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Only because inquiring minds want to know...

So, we still haven't sold our house.

We still have no idea where we will even be living there. Do we rent? do we buy? No wait, if we rent we have to move twice in a couple of months. AGAIN. In the middle of the school year. No, wait, I have never even been there, so if we buy, how do I know I am getting what we will be happy with (especially because the housing market there is so crazy we will probably never be able to sell it again).

We still don't even know if we got the job we want in Arizona. Even though training starts in like, oh, 7 weeks.

Chris has been gone for over 2 and 1/2 months now, coming home for periodic 1-2 day visits, but don't worry, I will see him now for a couple of days because he is getting surgery now. They are taking out his Gallbladder on Thursday. Great!

And to top it off, we just found this out...

Yeeeeaaaahhhhh... for reals.

As if we didn't have enough going on. I should totally be freaking out (about all of it, not just the aforementioned picture). So should Chris. But strangely, we are fine. It's all gonna be fine. And we are sure of it.

Usually we don't go blabbin about our pregnancy's so early on, because I always miscarry at least once before one decides to stick for a whole 9 months. But at this point, it is really just too funny to keep quiet. By the way, the kids don't know, and we'd kinda like to keep it that way for a little while, so if you see us, or them, no spillin the beans to them, please.

My cute Ladybug

2008-05-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

Gotta love Kindergarten.

Breaking in the riding lawnmower

2008-05-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

We finally got to break in our riding lawn mower and cut the Grass for the first time since planting it last fall. Woo-hoo!

Or should I say, cut the weeds. Lets be honest here.

Holy crap, we've got an acre of weeds.

But we sure had fun playing out in the yard on the trampoline and playset while Dad buzzed around. It brought back memories from my childhood with the smell of the fresh-cut grass and the sound of the lawnmower. Those are some of my best childhood memories with my family, staying up late on those long summer days, playing in the yard, not having a care in the world.

We had a fun day together. Dad even gave everyone rides on the lawnmower. (Too bad there was no one to take a picture of Mom getting a ride on Dad's lap!) Anyway, here are some of the kids:

Winter in May

2008-05-01T07:44:00.001-07:00

We woke up this morning to this:

A chickenspot you say?

2008-05-01T07:34:00.001-07:00

Jacob: Mom, look, I gotta chickenspot.

Me: You mean a chickenpock? No Jake, I don' think you have a chickenpock.

Jacob: Yep huh. Yep I do. Look right here, a chickenspot.

I'm having a moment...

2008-04-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

Ever have periods of time pass where you feel like you are being stretched pretty thin, but know that you need to be thankful anyways and try to maintian a positive attitude just to get you through? Well, I am having a moment tonight. The positive attitude is a little shaky and I'm just starting to crumble...

Chris has been gone for two weeks, (the kids are killin me) the house is up for sale (the kids keep demolishing it) I feel really overwhelmed with my responsibilities at church; it's sorta hitting me that we are completely changing our lives again 'for reals', We still have no word on the job situation and that may take a while to hear back, and Chris just called me tonight to tell me he will be home on Saturday and Sunday, but will be leaving again for two more weeks. I just feel a little lonely in my trials at the moment. I guess I just feel so stressed out and wonder when we will be settled somewherefor once in our marriage. It feels like we have just been through the wringer for the last 6 years! I know I could complain more, but I will spare you all.

Not to sound like I am going to jump off a bridge or anything, I just know that it is fine to let down our guard sometimes, and reach out for support by letting friends know you need it.
So BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

(sniff) Ahh, now I feel better. Thanks for listening.

Happy Birthday Emily!

2008-04-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

This is My BFF and probably yours too!

Em, I have never met anyone like you. You are so much fun, the party always begins when you arrive. I love your spontaneity, your sense of humor, and your genuine love and concern for others. You really are the "BEST" friend to everyone and I want to be just like you!

Happy Birthday !!! Wish I were there to celebrate with you!

What do you say to taking chances?

2008-04-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

I am a dreamer. I am a survivor. I believe anything is possible. If you can dream it, and believe it, you can make it possible. We don't know what life holds for anyone of us. I believe what allows us to survive, and even thrive, are our core beliefs and our support system.

Moving to Blackfoot was the hugest leap of faith for us. Small miracles occurred and we took a chance not knowing what lay ahead. We uprooted our lives, and our children, and began a new life. We thought we were coming to take a chance on a new career, but what took place for our family in the last year and a half was so much more than we could have ever imagined. Moving somewhere where we didn't know anyone allowed us to rely on each other and have faith in each other; it also gave us the chance to know for ourselves the kindness, generosity, and goodness of others. Not having our regular support system close taught us to reach out to those around us for support. We have found our lives have been so richly blessed by the many families we met here. We feel our cup has overflown with friendship, humility, and love. I learned that we have more to offer others than we think we do. None of you will ever truly know how much I have been touched by your friendships; this goes out to all of you in my life past and present. You have all touched my heart and inspired me to be a better mother, a better woman, and a better friend. I know that there is a plan for each of us in our lives, that is so much bigger than we can comprehend. Our family feels inclined in a certain direction, and things seem to be falling into place in this regard. We have put our house up for sale, and will be moving to Arizona as soon as it sells. When we came to Blackfoot, we thought this was where we would be for quite some time, having no idea it was only a pit-stop, and a place for me to heal the wounds of my past.

I went to counseling while I was here, to address abuse from my childhood. Chris came for part of it as a support to me, and it is the best thing I have ever done. A heavy burden I had carried for over 25 years was lifted from my life, my marriage was greatly enriched, and I am living a truly joyful life for the first time. A life that was deserving to experience, because my old one was tainted and taken away from me so many years ago. I am so thankful, and didn't know it was possible to be free from the anxiety, depression, and insecurity that plagued me. But for anyone who is burdened by similar feelings, I want you to know that not only is it possible, you are entitled to be free from such feelings. They are not God-given. He wants us to have joy. I love my life now, and see it through a whole new set of eyes. Not as a victim, not only as a survivor, but as the dreamer I am, and a hero in my own life; surrounded by the many 'angels' I find in the friendships I make. Although it is hard to keep leaving those I come to love dearly behind, You are all apart of me, you all have enriched my life. You all are incredible people I will never forget - and if you're ever in Arizona, you know you are welcome in my home!

This seems to be my theme song, and a lesson for this girl who has always hated change, avoided change, feared change. I better learn to embrace these changes if I ever want to stay put somewhere!

'What do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumping off the edge?
never knowing if there's solid ground below, or a hand to hold, or hell to pay?
What do you say?'

I say that life it what you make it - no matter what twists, turns, or stops you make along the way. And you all have made my life so worth it.

Where's Pooh Bear when I need him?

2008-04-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

Some days I want to poke my eyes out and lock myself in my own room. This was a sealed bottle of syrup!!! Carter, you are going to be the death of me!

Granny Bunco

2008-04-23T14:30:00.001-07:00

It was Bunco night at JG's a couple of weeks ago. If you weren't there, you are invited for next time - we are always scrambling to fill all 12-16 spots on the last day anyways. I have had so much fun since she started this up a few months ago. We have had a (mostly) different group of girls almost every time now. I have never lived in an area with so many fun girls around to play with. I feel so blessed to have met so many of you - you all inspire me and touch my life by the way you live yours. You all have big hearts and such warmth.

This is most of the group - a couple of girls had to duck out early.

These are the Granny's that dressed up according to the theme. We all thought they were pretty funny,and looked so great. Some even went for that "Hot Granny" look that I will sure be aiming for when that time in my life actually arrives.

Shelby won the prize for having the traveling Bunco at the end of the Game.

I was so happy I won the prize for the most Bunco's for the night (4) because I usually win nothing. You can't tell in the picture but they are 3 brightly colored ceramic bread pan's. And yes, I am holding the traveling Bunco, because I really did have it at the end of the game, but since I was the BIG winner of the night it went to the person who had it last (Shelby you go girl! You deserved it!). But who's keeping tabs? Certainly not me. And yes, I am totally lame and did not partake in the dress-up portion of the night due to a very busy week.

Shelby and JG.

Michelle and Shelby - Showing their similar necklaces. Michelle went all out and we thought she was the Hot Granny of the night. For the rest of the events you will have to go to Shelby's blog because she keeps up on the festivities better than me. Thanks for sending me the pic's Shelby. I knew I could count on the professional to get the job done!

I'm gonna knock me out

2008-04-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

So, I gave myself a black eye. I seriously almost knocked myself out. And yes, I know I look especially hot here.

I was playing outside with the kids, and got talked into doing a flip on the trampoline by my 4 and 6 year old children. And feeling the need to deliver on my claims at knowing professional acrobatics I over confidently complied...

But everything went horribly wrong. And my brain thinking I was in my 16 year old pre-birth-of-three-children-body went for it, while my softer post baby body couldn't retain the memory needed to complete such acrobatics landed quite awkwardly smacking my knee into left cheekbone/eye socket. I for reals almost knocked myself out. I seriously couldn't move for like 2 minutes. When vision returned to seeing 3 children instead of 9, I scooped up the littlest one, went inside and applied ice for about a half hour, sure I had broken my cheekbone, yet happy my eye was still in its socket. This was yesterday, and although my face is still quite swollen, the bruising isn't too bad. Yet. It's a good thing Chris is outta town. He has an alibi. I am so lame.

New "do"

2008-04-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

So I gave Chris and the boys a haircut; well with Carter, it was more of a hair war. When all was said and done, I discovered I had cut Carter's hair so short, that I could have just used the clippers on a #4 and it would have expedited the battle. Which is what I ended up doing at the very end anyways. BAH! Chris and Jake are so easy, I got a wild hair and decided to do Bailey's as well, since the last time I cut it was before Kindergarten started last year.

Here the little monster is, all tuckered out. It's a good thing he's so cute. And the wild blond Mohawk is no more.

Jacob, you are the sweetest, cutest, sneakiest little boy, and I am so glad you are mine. I love those deep blue eyes of yours, there always seems to be a sneaky little glimmer in them...

You look so much like that handsome daddy of yours!!

I'll have you know that I don't know how to cut "girl" hair. I have observed many a haircut given by my friend Jen, and convinced myself that I could do it. Cutting Bailey's hair last year was a seriously stressful event in my life, I was so afraid I was going to ruin it, but it still turned out pretty cute. Why I forgot the sickening feeling in my stomach accompanying "girl" haircuts, I'll never know, but all hyped up and armed with scissors I got a wild hair yet again and impulsively let the scissors fly. My intent was definitely NOT to cut her pretty long hair so SHORT!!! But after the first cut it was a little too late. I had to finish then. Oh well, it's a good thing it turned out so cute! Bailey, you can pull off any hairdo! You are such a cutie! I love you!

Bailey Before

Bailey After

Look at her posing - yeah, she knows she looks good. Bailey, you're so funny!

That's how you know

2008-04-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

If any of you out there still haven't seen the movie Enchanted, you don't know what you're missing! I am a seriously tainted-by-all-things-disney hopeless romantic, and like most little girls truly believed that I would one day be rescued by prince charming, galantly riding in on a white horse, sword drawn, waiting to defend my honor. He would swoop in, save the day, swing me up by one arm onto the back of his stallion, give me the kiss I had been waiting for my whole life, and ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after. C'mon, most of you believed it too.

But of course, one day we all grow up and realize that just isn't reality, but I still believe we hold onto most of those ideals as we go through our romantic relationships. We expect deep down to be cherished more than anything, to have our honor defended, to be protected, and want to be treated like the princess we are inside.

That is why "Enchanted" struck such a chord! This movie made me laugh right out loud, and I told Chris, if he would just memorize the words to the song "That's how you know" that he would forevermore know how to make me happy. Don't you remember being 16 at a dance and hoping to get asked for a slow dance by that one boy you really liked just so he would hold you close? And wouldn't you swoon to have a song dedicated with words that are just for you? I may mock Chris when he buys a CD and tells me a certain song made him think of me, but inside I really like it; And what really rings true for me is this : "You've got to tell her you need her, not treat her like a mind reader..."

Here's a link to the clip from the movie. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRYU4cqUAUs

Come Thou Fount

2008-04-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in an earlier post how much I love the song "Come Thou Fount." It is a hymn composed by Robert Robinson in 1758 and has graced the hymnals of many different Christian Sects.

Music has always been an important part of my life. There is something about good music that can affect you right at your core. As I read the words (posted below) I feel so much gratitude and love for my Father in Heaven and His Son. I feel so completely indebted for what His sacrifice means for all of us, and the magnitude of love that has been, and is poured out in our behalf. He knows us personally, and as we come to understand him and all he has done for us better, we recognize the scope of that great love. The words in this song really touch me as I contemplate my own history and trials my family has endured; as well as the life changing decisions we face at this time. No matter what, I know we are not alone on this earth. I look forward to General Conference this weekend where we can listen to words of a Prophet and his apostles.

Here is a link on youtube of the song being performed by the Tabernacle Choir.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uslytyVrWFw

Come Thou Fount

1. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

2. Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

3. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

4. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Eight is Great!!!!!

2008-03-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

Eight years and three kids later, you still are and always will be the love of my life, among other things...

A totaly hot stud muffin (He really can't help it)

Worlds greatest Dad

And most definitely my best friend.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

I'm so glad you picked me!

Note to self:take more pictures of us together.

me and my "Time Out For Women" Peeps

2008-03-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

Pictured left to right: Hottie Hilary, Awesome Amy, (Hilary's sister Jaquel? sorry, it was the first time we met, but she is way cute), Julicious(pretend I'm saying DElicious) Joti, Moi, and Sexy Sarah - Just some of the fun girls in my ward. We are eating lunch here at Chili's - it was yum.

This happened forever ago, btw, and I love you ladies just as much as my homies. We all met up and went together, and usually I really enjoy TOFW, but this year was a little bit of a let down for me. The best part was definitely being out with the girls, although I did enjoy a few of the speakers. The highlight for me was singing "Come thou fount of every blessing" a hymn that isn't in our hymnals at church - The words really touched me and seemed to encompass my life up to this point.

But I have to say, that two days with such fun girls was definitely worth sitting through a few slow spots in very small hard chairs! I definitely need to come up with a better excuse to get out with my friends!

Not pictured are Lori and Rachel who came on Friday night but couldn't on Saturday! You were missed! And if you weren't there with us, you are invited for next year! The more the merrier!

Me and my homies

2008-02-27T14:04:00.000-08:00

Shelby, Amy, Jenny, and Jenny

Me and some of my girls went out a couple weeks ago to see "27 dresses" and then to Olive Garden for some delicious food. Well, mostly delicious food. I know what I like, and therefore pretty much know before I go to any of my "regular" restaurants what I will be ordering. I like to go with my fav's because I can never go wrong, and I won't be kicking myself later for wasting an opportune mealtime. I do not like to waste those. They are precious moments in my life. So I of course ordered the Chicken Parmesan which is large enough for two, and I get to take 1/2 home for lunch the next day (YUM!) Shelby and Amy however split the Eggplant Parmesan, and they weren't too happy after that first bite. Duh. Ladies, I could have told you anything with 'Eggplant' in the title is going to be barf. But the restaurant was very nice and took their meal off of their ticket - gotta love restaurants that are so accommodating!! Jenny G. then proceeded to do mock lime/salt shots with her virgin strawberry daiquiri, reminiscing back to her wild teen years - Jen you are so funny, we all had a good laugh at that. I always have fun with you girls! Thanks for such a fun night!!

And by the way, she doesn't really do this in real life. She is a super-fun, super-clean, super-hot mama of three that likes to keep it sober. Only virgins for this girl. Daiquiri's that is.

One of the funniest parts of the night was when Jen was very insistent she needed change for her dinner, thinking she was getting like 5$ back or something. When the waitress brought back 4 pennies we almost died laughing.

Oh, by the way, "27 Dresses" was a very cute movie with the most climactic moment spent with the two main characters belting out the song 'Bennie and the Jets' on the top of the bar - it was a witty, funny love story and we all enjoyed it a lot. I looked over towards the end of the movie and Jenny and Amy were actually crying! You girls.

Whoops

2008-02-06T15:47:00.001-08:00

Whoops.

This is what happens when Mom is half asleep on the couch downstairs and it is supposed to be "quiet time." Older brothers and sisters decide to do art projects, and then decide to let the napping child out of his crib. Apparently they didn't think he was tired.

By the way, these markers aren't so much the washable kind.

It's a good thing he's cute. People will be more inclined to look past the blue lips and hands for the next couple of weeks.

Twilight

2008-02-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention one thing in my extremely long list of posts today. We were all sick this week - Bailey missed three days of school, all three kids were up every night, they thought poor Carter had RSV, but luckily, everything is looking up. However, due to the fact that I was holding sick children all day, my house went to pot, dishes piled, laundry strewn, and I emersed my self in the Stephanie Meyer's series. They were so dang good! I read all three books this week and could not put them down. I am now officially obsessed and so so so sad I have to wait until August for the fourth book to come out!

I am also so worried that the movie will not do the books justice. I can only hope. I found this video someone made from utube on a fan site. They took clips from various movies and made it look like a trailer for her series. It is so beautifully done - Chris even went out and bought the CD that has the song "18th floor balcony" because we both liked it so much. I really hope you watch and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-if9FEaiok

Back in the blogging saddle

2008-02-04T15:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we all know there is a writers strike going on somewhere, screwing up all my die hard TV watching nights with Greys Anatomy, Housewives, October Road, One Tree Hill, CSI, Medium, (I could go on but I am embarassing myself) so lets just chalk up my absence to my support of those poor underpaid writers. Due to harrasing phone calls, comments, and death threats (I knew my friends love and miss me (sniff) thanks girls) I decided it was high time to get back in the blogging saddle!! I miss all my blogging buddies, and yes, the validation received by those much appreciated comments!! Please, don't hold back! I love you all!

So you say its your birthday (drrrnrrnrnrnrnr) hey, it's my birthday too!

One of my good friends called to sing me that song this morning, and yes, today is the mark of the last year of my youth. My last chance to prove yet again that I can be hot in my 20's, just as all of the movies in popular culture display, of the hot, successful, witty, in-shape 20-something woman. And that is what I walk around thinking I am, until every so often I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and reality sets in. I am a 29 year old mother of three (with the spare tire and stretch marks to prove it) who spends her days wiping bums, scrubbing floors, folding clothes, making meals, and every so often checking out of my day to day routine to see what my DVR beholds for my viewing pleasure. Don't get me wrong. I love my life. It is a good one, no, a GREAT one! I love being a mom, I love being a wife to the hottest babe there ever was, I love my sweet babies, I have the worlds greatest friends (Yes, ALL of you!) and my life is so so so blessed.

So I thought I would make some new-years resolutions, (okay, it's my second chance to start over this year, since I totaly screwed myself with those lofty weight loss goals I set for January by gaining five pounds instead. But hey, before you judge me, I had several pivotal emotional breakdowns during the month of January that could only be consoled by bowl after bowl of M&M's).

1. I am going to express more gratitude this year.

2. I have such great friends, I am going to be a better friend.

3. I will do everything in my power to heal the wounds of my past, and live a more joyful life.

4. I will eat healthier, exercise more, and be lookin fine, while I am still 29...

Happy Birthday to me!
P.S. The only reason I have been able to post the following like 10 posts after this one is because my dear new visiting teacher showed up with home baked bread in tow, and took my children home with her. In addition to the 4 (5? no I think 4) she already has. She just moved here by the way, bless her heart.

Not to mention, I truly do have the greatest friends, thanks for all your phone calls, well wished happy birthdays, lunches planned together, and the 'girls night out' awaiting. My heart is so warmed by all the love! You all are so kind and I admire you all so much! Thank you, thank you!

I don't have any sisters of my own, and am so thankful to have made so many over the course of my life!

Super bowl party

2008-02-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

Any excuse for a party! Okay, so I did have to mentally prepare myself for the four hour marathon of a football game that I am not particularly interested in, but truth be told, I didn't actually watch any of it. We spent the afternoon with these guys:

These are our friends the Ball's. Aren't they cute?

The boys in the ZONE

Me and BB

Bailey, Jake, Carter, Jaxon and Cannon Ball (Yes, Cannon Ball). The kids

had way too much fun for their own good. Bailey and Jake

LOVE Jaxon and Cannon. They are some cute kids!

We of course ate too much food. It was good though. And I spent my time neglecting my friend all the while making these for my card club:

Wedding Bells

2008-02-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

We went to Salt Lake last weekend for these two love birds..

Aren't they too cute?

My handsome little brother and me. I love you my little Rabi.

His beautiful bride, Jen. I love you too Jen.

The whole fam damily in front of Mt. Timpanogas temple,

which is absolutely BEAUTIFUL by the way. Wow, we don't

get too many pictures with all of us together.

BFF's

2008-02-04T15:20:00.000-08:00

While in Utah for Dave's wedding, we got to see some of our BFF's from washington, the Yancey's! We love you guys! They took care of our three holy terrors while we went to Dave and Jen's sealing. We always have a good time with the Yancey's, its like coming home. They were our neighbors in our first apartment when we were all newlyweds. We couldn't believe that we had members of our church living right next door! Holy cow! Now all of my neighbors are in my ward.

I'll have you know, she is one of the cutest, funnest, funniest girls I know. She always makes my hair look cute, she knows how to decorate, and she always smells good. I love you Jen!

The two little buddies Chris and Dale. They are so funny together.

One of my fav. stories with the Yancey's happened a long time ago when we were neighbors. It was Chris's birthday, and I had bought like two bags of clothes for him from Old Navy, and had nowhere to hide it from him in our little apartment. So I of course asked Jen if she could hide them at her house for me. Well, Dale saw two bags of men's clothes in their spare bedroom and asked who they were for. Jen of course said, "Oh, those? They are for Chris." And Dale was all "What?!" and Jen was all, "Yeah, you know, for his birthday." And Dale was all "WHAT?!" And then Jen just started laughing when it finally occured to her that Dale thought that SHE had bought all of the clothes for Chris herself. HA HA HA! I laugh about this everytime it comes up!

Dale and Jen, we just love you guys.

Happy Birthday Bailey!

2008-02-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday !

So this one is 6!!

Happy Birthday Bailey Anne! You are such a joy to me. It seems like you were placed in my arms just yesterday. I longed for you. I dreamed of having a sweet baby girl, but I never would have guessed it would be this good. You have an infectious smile, a warm personality, a gentle spirit, a strong sense of right and wrong, and a valiant heart. You are such a great big sister. You are so helpful to mommy. You are so patient, and fun loving, and I admire you so much. You are such a blessing to my life, to our home and to all you encounter. I am so lucky to be your Mom!!! I love you so much!

love, Mom

Bunko!

2008-02-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

It was girls night at JG's and we had a Bunko par-tay, let me tell you. So hey, where were you?

Thanks for putting this together Jen. We needed a fun party girl like you to begin it all!! We all had such a great time together, and now we are never going away...

Me and Jenny looking especially hot in this particular photo

(I am starting to think that I have alot of friends with the same name as me)

Me blowing on the dice, because coercion helps you win, don't ya know?

All of the fun girls that came, in two consecutive shots.

These are the cute prizes JG got - lots of valentines day decorations - good job JG.

We missed you if you didn't come! We are going to do it every month, so if you weren't here, I'm inviting you now, so you better come next time!

Latest card

2008-02-04T15:17:00.000-08:00

This was the card I made for January's card exchange.

Tubing

2008-02-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

We went tubing with my brothers over Christmas in Logan Utah. About 10 minutes from my brothers, their is this housing development with beautiful homes, and their own neighborhood park. We all had so much fun together. Bailey and Jake braving it at the top of the hill

My crazy little brother Dave actually went down this hill, but the picture does not do it justice.

Our family

My big brother Rich, stacy and 3 of the 5 of their kids

My sister in law Brianna and baby Tiara (missing, my brother Aaron and 2 more of their kids)

Me and my sweet big baby Carter

Dave and Jen, posing engagement style

This guy would not wake up for about 20 minutes. I even layed him on top of the snow, but to no avail. He likes his zzzzz's. Plus, he couldn't put his arms down, so maybe that was the real culprit.

I love seeing my brothers and sister in laws. I have a ton of CUTE neices and nephews, but I really can't post each picture individually. But I still love you kiddo's.

After Christmas Haul

2008-02-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

So I have never actually done the after christmas thing, but after the serious haul I made this year, I will be hitting the after christmas rush forevermore. Me and JG got up at the dang crack of dawn to some serious snow on the ground. Chris didn't want me to go, but there was no stopping the shopping monster within. So I rolled out of my driveway at 5:15 AM with the snow a-comin down, and picked up Jen. I couldn't even pull in her driveway because there would have been no escaping. Any how, long story short, here are a few of the pictures of my house finally decorated AFTER Christmas from my thrify purchases:

Okay, so I'm gonna stop with the photos, because now it just seems like I'm bragging. Sorry. But I got such a great deal on stuff, and I was in dire need of real grown-up decorations. All of my buckets were from the days of newlywed life, and it was high time to bid them farewell. I did get gifts for all of my activity day girls for the year for only $1.44. I was so dang proud of myself.

Because I was a first timer, I had to call the afterchristmasqueen herself for advice. One of my BFF's Emily had lots of great advice on what stores to hit. We shopped by phone together, so we were together in spirit. JG and I had my minivan packed to the brim, so had to call it quits. We had so much fun, and I highly recommend this experience to all.

Card Exchange

2007-12-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

This is my card for this month for the card exchange. I used my Cricut again - if I knew how to put a little link on that word I would. I just love that machine!

Lady with the Aligator Purse

2007-12-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Mother, mother, I am ill

Call the doctor over the hill,
in came the doctor, in came the nurse,

in came the lady with the alligator purse...

Bailey had her first play at school this past week. It was so cute! She was the 'lady with the alligator purse, and I am so sad I didn't get a better picture of her full costume, which had huge crazy purple hair, and rather large glasses that wouldn't stay on her face. I was so impressed with how well all the kids did, and I just love her teachers. They put in so much effort to do this play. Love ya Mrs. Crane, Miss Lori, Miss Chris!

Alias

2007-12-12T17:14:00.000-08:00

My friend Shelby posted this and it was funny to read. In all of my other circles, I am otherwise known as...

1. MY ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)- Ellie Toyota. Wow how lame am I? This just proves I could never be a rock star.

2.MY GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)-Baby ruth chocolate chip. Not very intimidating.

3. MY “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
J-coo

4. MY DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)-Pink-dog

5. MY SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)-Christine Edmonds. Hey thats kindof hot. Or kind of old lady-ish come to think of it. Hey, maybe old man milton thinks it's hot.

6. MY STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)-coo-je. This is so nerdy.

7. MY SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)-"The green lemonade."

8. MY NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Ralph verne Carl

9. MY STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)-
Heavenly chocolate'. I guess if I were a black stripper. Just proves I could never be a stripper either.

10.MY WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )- Ann Brent. Dang, now my cover is blown if I actually ever have to go into witness protection. That is a good cover name!

11. MY TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)- Rautenberg Rome

12. MY SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) - Christmas hydrangia.

13. MY CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)-
Grape-hoodie

14. MY HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree-) granola magnolia. Okay, I really ate fruit loops for breakfast, but I eat granola sometimes and that just sounded better.

15. MY ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)-The Scrapbooking Rain Tour (Groovy!)

In Captivity

2007-12-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

Here sits our lonely tree. I broke down and bought the mondo octagon gate due to one very busy 18 month old who will remain nameless. I thought I was outsmarting his roadrunner-like pace and super-stretchy-arms and whatever super-hero qualities he seems to be hiding from me, but to no avail. Super busy baby can climb inside of the gate, but that was before discovering that he could slide the gate to reach his own new private collection of ammunition (Christmas balls) to throw at the great big green target (afore mentioned tree in captivity). Did I mention my right eye has a twitch?

roadrunner with super hero powers

Every year since having the three musketeers, I have tried to make tree trimming night a fun family night together, in hopes of creating the same magical memories I had with my family as a child. This year was especially exciting for me because Bailey and Jake are old enough now to really remember this Christmas. We had decided to put up our tree the night before we left to Utah for thanksgiving so that when we got home it would be shining in all its Christmasy spirit and glory when we returned ready to start our Christmas season. This year I had grand expectations, and just a little bit too much on my plate it turns out.

As if packing for a trip with three small children (okay, just taking care of 3 small children) isn't chaotic enough, I wanted to finish getting packages together to take to Utah with me (which included baked goods and candies), I had started this whole 12 days of Christmas project to do with my 30 or so 8-11 year olds at church (which for starters included 6, no kidding 6 hours of cutting tags with my Cricut cutter) and of course I wanted a clean house for tree decorating night so we could get out the video camera and take pictures without toys and laundry running amuk (Carter loves to drag laundry all over, and socks, lots and lots of socks). And maybe this still doesn't seem undoable, but there are no words to fully explain the storm that brewed in my head.

Not to sound like I think I am the greatest, but I am often pretty impressed with myself when it comes to multitasking and time management and get frustrated when it all doesn't work out how I planned. Well, I think the motherboard in my brain shorted out. It got fried. Too many details for one mama to keep up there. And I was so sad that our fun night didn't go as planned. For one thing, the kids ran around for close to two hours repeatedly asking me if they could put the "ordnamets" on the tree yet. You see, I was making batch after batch of lollipops, and various other stuff that I must have blocked from my memory. They were so patient. We finally got to the decorating part, and promised that we would all have a sleep over party in the living room that night by the tree. We were supposed to drink hot chocolate, watch a Christmas movie, sing Christmas songs, and read a Christmas book. Together. Well, the kids did all of it, minus mom and dad, who were running around in the mess of it until 12:30 that night when Bailey came into our room and asked for probably the 20th time if we were going to come in for the sleepover party now that the movie was over. Yes, Bailey, we will be there in a minute. We are liars. They fell asleep, and so did we in exhaustion - in our own bed. Bailey was so, so disappointed in the morning when she woke up and saw we never came in. I feel so bad! I ruined her tree night memories, and what's worse, she will remember for reals this year!!!

Our little devil

Our little angel

My personal super hero. Isn't he handsome? even lying there under that tree, rugged and taking charge. He should have his own calendar. Sorry ladies, this ones all mine.

I really did it to myself this time. I literally have walked around in a daze until this past week, that is one reason I haven't posted in so long! I know that I cannot be everything to everyone and still have fuel left over to put in my own tank. I definitely paid the price this time for trying to "do it all." I am learning through my own life lessons, that it is okay to set limits on what you can do with your time. I just had a real reality check this time around, and in the future, I plan to do things differently.

Thanksgiving a month later

2007-12-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

We seriously contemplated going out to eat for thanksgiving dinner this year. We had finally decided we would probably stay in and have a little feast with just the five of us. We were actually really looking forward to a quiet turkey day, where we could just relax and decorate our tree. Usually Turkey day consists of 30 plus people, and with half of those being small children, it can get pretty chaotic, no matter who's side of the family we are visiting. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love that Chris and I have big families. There is lots of love, lots of fun, and plenty of stories to tell, and when we all get together, we usually share all of the above.

But this year, because of the distance in between us and our respective families, we now had "options" and it was fun to think of the possibilities! Our good friends Jen and Dale Yancey (who live in Utah) called and talked us into thanksgiving with their family, so we ended up going there.

A little background on Jen and Dale: They were our neighbors in our first little apartment when we were newlyweds in Everett Washington. They were newlyweds too. Chris and I found some of our BFF's for the past almost 8 years now, and our belly's have ached from laughing our guts out ever since. Jen and I call Chris and Dale "the girlfriends" because they talk to eachother on the phone more than Jen and I do. We are not phone talkers. In fact, most if not 90 percent of our nights out with the Yancey's were coordinated by Chris and Dale themselves. We almost died a little inside when they moved to Utah (Where Jen is from) but recovered when we decided to move only 4 hours away from them less than 1 year later. We love you Jen and Dale!

We had a delicious meal at Jen's Aunt Trina's house, and went to her Grandma's house later for a little meet and greet.

Dale's 30th birthday was the day before, and Jen had gotten him a Yellow Lab puppy they named Oscar. Dale even got him a sofa to sleep on in the kitchen. I almost pee'd my pants when I saw him loungin on his little doggie pull out bed. He is livin the good life with the Yancey's as owners. Bailey and Jacob wanted to take him home with us to play with our dogs Brandi and Buddy. Did I mention that the little stuffed animal that Oscar carried around is a minnieme version of himself that was once Dale's childhood stuffed Dog? Cute.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of the four of us. I always kick myself for that. Next time I swear I will. I did however get some cute ones of Dale reading with the kids. He is going to be such a good Dad someday. Bailey, Jake, and Carter LOVE Jen and Dale.

The day after we all went to Provo to see Enchanted. We met up with my brother and sister in law. The movie was fun for all ages, and even Chris liked the catchy music in the movie. I enjoyed seeing a little bit of McDreamy. After the movie I enjoyed some much missed shopping while the kids played with Dale and Chris in the play area, and that is a sad story in itself.

Poor Jacob. As most of you know, he has some spontaneous barfing difficulties, and it can be unleashed anytime, anywhere, and if I am anywhere in the viscinity, my mommy barfsensor starts beeping and I can cut any conversation or activity short to catch the barf before it hits the floor. How sad for me, really. It is an acquired skill. But Daddy's barfsensor is not as highly developed as my own. Apparently, they were in this massive playarea, populated by many children while their parents basked in the frenzy of the day-after-thanksgiving shopping, and Jacob lost it all over the center of the play area. Chris panicked, scooped him up, and took off. He called me and asked if I thought he should attempt cleaning it or run away, and when I told him to find some janitorial people to clean it up, he was relieved at the thought. He did however make Dale hang out around the corner with the perpetrator while he reported the crime. He told them "hey, some kid just threw up all over the middle of the play area..." right as three other huffy mother's over heard him and threw in their angry two cents "yeah, we were just coming to tell you about the disgusting mess!" Such is the life of two parents with one barfing child. What can ya do?

Isn't Carter Cute?

All in all, we had fun, ate good food (Thanks Red Robin, we miss you) and we are glad that we went!

Girls Night Out

2007-11-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

Pictured left to right: Me, Amy, Jenny G., Shelby

(Okay, I wrote this a couple of weeks ago but didn't post it until I got the pictures.)

This past weekend I had my first official "girls night out" since moving here. It made me a little sentimental about all of the fun GNO's spent with my long lost BFF's from Washington - you all know who you are - and I miss you guys (sniff) But it was so much fun and long overdue!

We went to Johnny Carino's an italian restaurant in Idaho Falls - YUM - and had quite an enjoyable time in the company of adults minus the fuss, muss, chaos, and mess of all of our little ones. I hadn't been there before and it was delicious.

The true reason for our evening out was to celebrate Amy's birthday! Happy Birthday Amy! You are one of the kindest and friendliest girls!

By the end of the evening my head hurt from laughing, and I got to know three fun girls a whole lot better. And you girls are fun.

My favorite one liners said by Amy, that coming out of her mouth are more hilarious than I have ever heard another person say: "Let's be honest here..." followed by something so honest you almost spit your drink out, and "I'm not going to lie to ya..."

Oh, if you could only hear it come out of her mouth. Ahh, good times.

Engaged!

2007-11-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official. This 26 year old menace to society is finally off the market! That's right ladies. This eye-candy is officially spoken for and we all couldn't be happier!

This is David, one of my little brothers. David is a super-fun, super-funny, super loveable and adorable guy and I have been wondering when he would meet mrs. right! This is Jen. The love of his life. He just proposed this last week and it is now official for January 26, 2008 in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple. Jen, you are too cute and David, you are so lucky. I love you both and am so happy for the two of you! Congratulations!

Card exchange

2007-11-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

I belong to a card exchange group in my ward. We don't get together or anything - we just have a theme for each month and then give our cards to one designated person who then drops off the batch to everyone once they are in. I love it, love it. I have gotten some of the cutest cards, and always have one whenever I need one. This month we had to make a Christmas tag instead of a card and here are mine. I think they turned out pretty cute. The picture below is just the back of the tags. I made them using my Cricut machine. I love that dang cricut it makes to cutest stuff and I am so addicted to it.

Goin for broke

2007-11-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

She's going for broke. The second one popped out tonight. This is her letter to the toothfairy, It was past bedtime and I didn't have the patience to let her write it herself. I am a mean mom :( I feel bad now.

Farewell Calvin Klein

2007-11-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

And, a great pair of Calvin Klein's bites the dust. So I ripped my fat pants. NO not because I am so large and in charge that the seams split out the butt. I know that is how it sounded. But sadly, my only pair of jeans that fits (since I STILL haven't lost 20 pounds from having my last child 18 months ago, yes 18 it is sad) yes my ONLY pair of jeans that I was so desperately attached to because I am in denial and unwilling to purchase more (because I will lose those dang pounds just you see). I seriously almost cried. Purchasing jeans has been a very traumatic part of my life. I have flashbacks from the tween to teen years just thinking about it. I am 5'4" tall. That is exactly between petite length and regular length which means yes, sadly, petite is totally high water and regular is like 4 inches too long, and it just has never been a joyful experience. Except for this one time when I went shopping with my friend Nicki. I had finally lost the pounds after having children 1& 2 consecutively. Yeah, then I got pregnant 2 months later.

It all happened a couple of days ago... I was hurriedly putting away the dishes and had two different cupboards ajar and happened to catch my bum on the corner of one and those comfy Calvin's caught their demise.

I was not happy that date night had to turn into a jean shopping extravaganza and I think once I informed Chris of that info. he had to go in the other room to hide his own tears. He hates to go shopping with me.

But, yes ladies, the Lord answers prayers because we went straight to Macy's in the good old jean dept. there and low and behold, they still had the EXACT same pair I had purchased 3 years ago! It was as if a spot light and heavenly concourses of angels sang as I walked closer to that rack of pure curve hugging just in the right places, big enough in the waist yet roomy enough in the thunderthighage area yet long enough with a pair of high heeled boots to make me look like I am curvy and all of 5'7" (you ladies with height don't know how blessed you truly are)! Hallelujah! And thank you Calvin Klein and Macy's for all you have done for me. Date night was saved and my faith in finding a pair of jeans to adequately adorn my stout legs was restored!

Snickerdoodles if your good

2007-11-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

I watched the Oprah show this week when the Osmond family was on. It was heartwarming and fun, and their family is amazing. They are before my time, so I knew of them, but of course didn't participate in any of the adoration and Osmond-mania that has followed them by their loyal fans for decades. I was touched to see their posterity gather and especially moved when I saw the 6 brothers singing with Marie on stage.

This got me feeling sentimental about my parents and the posterity they started. Growing up we had a lot of music in our home. Some of my fondest memories were spent singing together on family night, at Christmas time, or in the car on trips here or there. I love music and how it has such power to uplift our hearts and bring joy in the room. I have such admiration for my brothers and have many fun memories with them.

Going to church on Sunday was definitely rowdy. We took up pretty much an entire bench and what I remember most is brothers (okay I wasn't innocent and definitely contributed to said rowdiness) playing bloody knuckles,(I didn't participate in THAT) thumb wars, pinching each other, and good old fashioned "punched ya last" - of course this was all done inconspicuously low in our laps out of the view of most other benches. We were always amazed later to hear people telling our parents how they just can't believe how well behaved their 7 children were during Sacrament meeting. Because my parents were always mortified that we were so obnoxious in their immediate vicinity despite their weekly talks to us about appropriate behavior and reverence expected in the appropriate places. Every week my Dad would finally stoop to what we all stoop to at some time or another as parents - blatant bribery.

"If you guys would just be good for the rest of Sacrament meeting, (he would whisper, and then it would be shared through the grape vine) I'll make snicker doodles when we get home!"

This would motivate us for another 5, 10, 15 minutes for as long as our respective attention spans would allow before the bloody knuckles would recommence, but Dad being the softy, and treat lover that he is would always cave, and we made ourselves sick off of delicious snicker doodles most Sundays. He wasn't home very much, and in fact worked 2 jobs most of my life. He has often expressed sadness about how much he missed of us growing up and how he can't believe we have grown, but he definitely knew how to make the time he did have with us very memorable! My dad is not the master of organization however and would completely demolish our entire kitchen in the baking process, and then be too sick from cookies to clean it up afterwards. He drove my poor mother crazy each week!

I attribute my love of baking yummy comfort food to my own home environment, and the many memories I have from holidays and all those fun Sunday afternoons spent baking together. And I think of my parents quite often most Sundays after church, when we are gathered in our own kitchen, baking our own version of "if you can just be good through sacrament meeting..." But we make Chocolate Chip cookies.

Thanks Mom and Dad for loving us and creating such wonderful memories. We love you!

The whole barrel of Monkey's

2007-11-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

Halloween was as always, eventful. We all went to the kindergarten school in the morning for the big parade.

This is Bailey with her friend Ry behind her in line. She claims he keeps calling her "Lover girl" ohhhh, the drama of kindergarten.

This is Bailey's teacher Mrs. Crane dressed as Mrs. Wishy Washy (A book they read) Bailey thought that she was so hilarious

Bailey Dying to go Trick or treating

You don't even know how hard it is for Jacob to keep a straight face in a picture

Okay so his monkey pants are just a tad high-water. They were all monkey's last year too. Mom was too cheap to spring for new costumes this year, and since they mostly still fit... But isn't my baby monkey too sweet?

the kids with their loot

The houses are so dang far apart here that Jacob was dying after about 10 houses and wanted to quit! Bailey just kept complaining "but my buckets not full yet!!" She is a die hard trick or treater. Lovin that candy just like her mama (sniff)

Our friends The Ball's took a picture of our family for us - when she sends it to me I will post it.

By the way

2007-11-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

By the way, I am now tagging Sarah, Lori Ann and Jotien (Jenny G. you too so hurry up with your blog :)

I have known Jotien for a while now. She is a super-fun super-cute super-mom of 6 kids in our ward. She said Hi to us our first Sunday there (though she will probably never remember that because she is one of the friendliest people I have ever met!) But, Jotien thanks for making me feel so welcome and you didn't even know it!

I met Sarah through a mutual friend of ours and the three of us ended up going to a Time out for Women in Pocatello. Okay, Sarah, you are hilarious, I mean seriously. Sarah is a beach blonde hottie from California and we bonded through our actual ties to what civilization really is and in wondering how the heck we married country boys. She has three cute kids and her youngest, Jack (who is dang cute by the way) is in Bailey's kindergarten class! So fun! Sarah, you are so fun!

I have seen Lori Ann several times and couldn't figure out how I knew her - until she came to a get together at Jotien's this weekend. Duh. She works at the kindergarten school and I have fully met her before when I helped in Bailey's class once. Okay, Lori Ann you are a hoot and I am so glad I met you. Lori Ann has three girls. Three. Okay I fully have good friends with three boys. Maybe I can arrange a hook up sometime in the far future!

Jenny G. (There are alot of Jenny's around here and it is so wierd having good friends with the same name as yours) Jenny G. is my neighbor and good friend. She took me under her wing when we moved here and I am so glad she did!! Jenny, you are one fun girl!

so girls, tag you're it.

I'm it

2007-11-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Em tagged me a couple days ago. I am guessing I am supposed to complete a list about myself and tag others. So far I have read Em and Nicki's. Here is mine...

1. I absolutely love... to hear from my friends. I am terrible at keeping in touch, but I sooooooo appreciate it when I get a phone call (or comments on my blog! I know I am lame) or a kind note. I am very sentimental and kind words are very cherished and much remembered!!

2. I don't care if... this is a hard one. I have been contemplating it for a while now. I am going to agree with Emily. I don't care if it rains. In fact, I really miss it now that I live in Idaho!! It is so dang windy here I can't even put my decorations on my front porch! So annoying! But I think the point was to pick something I don't care about. I miss the rain and how clean and green it makes everything.

3. I like to...listen to music when I am feeling blue. I love the power music creates to uplift my spirits! Here's a shout out to all those with the talent to create it!

4. I play... on the trampoline with my kids and quite often pee my pants a little. Okay that may be to much information for some of you, but I can't help it! I had 3 babies in 4 years. c'mon now.

5. I have a horrible habit of... letting mount washmore collect. I have decided that I kinda like doing ten loads of laundry in one day. I can watch T.V., listen to music and fold all the live long day. And the best part: I only have to put it all away ONCE a week. Hallelujah!

6. I will never... ever ever bungee jump, sky dive, or do any other activity that could result in my untimely death. I am not an adventure seeker, but rather like to be comfortable, safe, secure on the ground, and know what is going to happen next.

I tag... tiffany, and um... hey, I don't have any friends that blog here left to tag! Boo hoo! Jenny G. your next with your blog so then you are it.

Calling all toothfairies

2007-10-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Well folks, it's official. Bailey has lost her first front tooth. That makes 3 this year! Holy Cow!

Here she is today. It was very loose so she set out on a mission

Biting on an apple wasn't as successful as imagined. It hurt but was a brave effort. We finally resorted to dental floss tied around it and shimmied back and forth, and vuala! Out it popped.

ahhh... the awkward toothless phase has only just begun. It wasn't so bad when the bottom two came out. That front tooth is a little traumatic though. Great Job Bailey! You were so brave! I love you!

Super saturday

2007-10-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Our ward had Super Saturday on the 20th. I made this magnet board, and magnets. They are super easy to make and Cute huh?

One of the bad things about moving elsewhere. Bugs. What the heck is this? All I have to say is Gross. Where are the bugs I know? I like the bugs I know. I know it is only Idaho and not africa or something, but this bug is not a spider, but looks like one and has wings and spots.

sweet tooth

2007-10-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a stressful couple of weeks for us, and Chris has a contract to finish a job in ten days, thus, had to work the first Sunday since our moving out here. So of course, I skipped church because although I may have braved it in Washington before Carter was mobile, I have surrendered to the facts that yes, my children are unruly and I am willing to be annoyed with the unruliness of it all in the comfort of my own home, minus the 2 hour rush and painstaking effort of getting ready and to church on time; minus the blood sweat and tears inflicted by high heels toting a 25 pound-can't-stay-still-for-one-minute 16 month old, minus the irritation and headache caused by a 4 year old who will remained nameless.

I feel justified if you can't tell.

But to tell you the truth, things have been stressful for the Cook family the past couple of weeks, and my normal routine has felt impossible to accomplish. Just couldn't do it. The past two weeks, I haven't worked out. I haven't gone to bed at the time I tell myself I should in order to wake up for said workout. I have even broke the cardinal rule of no food after established time in the evening and have found myself eating zoned out in front of the DVR.

And I woke up this morning in need of comfort. And what says come on over for some comfort more than some chocolate chip cookies? Well, if you have been to my house you would know the Cook's bake chocolate cookies on a regular basis. They are pretty much a staple at our house. Milk, eggs, cereal, chocolate chips. Staple.

So all day, in the back of my mind, the cookies were literally beckoning. And by this afternoon, I had finally talked myself into baking a healthier version - oatmeal raisin. They are at least a little healthy right? So I whipped em up at nap time.

A word to the wise. Don't make cookies with unsalted butter. They are barf.

oh well, I guess I really didn't need cookies anyway.

Did I mention Carter is driving me CRAZY?

Yes, he can now climb up on our kitchen table. His most joyous accomplishment to date. He is so proud of himself. He annoyingly scoots out all of the chairs across the house and climbs up on whatever else he can get on as well. Did I mention one of my pet peeves is when the kids leave the chairs scooted out from the table? Well it is. It looks so messy. Yes I know there is macaroni under the table but the chairs being visually askew is SO annoying. I am re scooting them in after the craft making child all the live long day. Now I am having to accept this from yet another child. Did I mention I am developing a twitch?

I'm back!

2007-10-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hello friends - I am blogging again. I am a little unfamiliar with this new site, so work with me here as I post from now on. Yes, it is time to return to share all about my family and my life. Some of my great friends have gotten cute new sites and inspired me, and it has been well over a year now since I have posted, and figured it was time to return.

This is us in a nutshell: There is me - Jenny Cook a 28 year old mom of 3 hilarious children. Bailey - 5, Jacob - 4, and Carter 16 months. I got married to the handsomest guy around - Chris aka "the professional" in 2000 and we have been through alot in our 7.5 years together. 3 kids, 4 miscarriages, 5 jobs,6 homes, and moved our family a heck of a long ways from where we once called home in Everett Washington. We now reside in a small town in Idaho and sometimes wonder just how in the world we ended up moving from a big city to a small farming community with neighbors that have cows. (pee-yew)

I have the best husband around. Not to brag or anything. He is tall dark and handsome, and we joke that he is "the professional" because it seems as far as handy work goes he can and has done just about everything. He just turned 30 this year. All joking aside, I really feel like I am one of the lucky girls. He helps me wherever I need help. It just seems he gets better every year. He is a great husband, a really fun Dad, and one of the hardest working guys I have ever met. And yes, every once in a while I still get butterflies in my stomache when I am with him. Who could ask for anything better?

Bailey is our angelic child. Thank goodness she got to our family first! She is kind and gentle, eager to please and loves all things girly, adventurous and crafty. She started kindergarten this year and is lovin it!

Jacob is in a nutshell, a troublemaker. He is very sneaky, and likes to cause trouble, but will do just about anything to get you to laugh - and yes we usually do when it comes down to it. He is hilarious and silly, but hates all things adventurous and is very cautious. We just barely got the kid to finally sit on a swing. He has moments that I truly think he is the sweetest boy around, and is just dying for praise and approval. I love this kid.

Carter is our little tank. He has the chubbiet cheeks of all my children and has a get out of my way attitude. The kid can push Bailey and Jake out of the way if they are in between him and a cookie. He is my first child that likes to climb things and is driving me crazy. He gets into everything. I have locks and gates all over the house, but he still manages to scale the gates and pick the locks. He is very sweet and silly, and we love the chub outa him.

And then there is me. I am a girl with 6 brothers. I'm not interested in gossip or playing cruel games the way alot of women do. I love how men get mad, then get over it. I prefer to talk about the problem however, then find a solution. I am living the life I always wanted. I dreamt of being a mom, and although it has it's hard days, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. (except for the daily longing for adult conversation and time out with my girlfriends and husband of course.) But I am doing what I always dreamed of and that makes me happy. Did I ever guess my life would be like it is at this point in time? No way. I never thought we would live where we do, have the profession Chris does, and I could never imagine what life with 3 little kids would be like either. A 3 ring circus most days.

Although I love my life, it has actually been the hardest year of my life so far. Sometimes I have actually thought I wouldn't survive it. But here I am still breathing in and out, and yes I am a survivor. This entry is long enough and sometime I will feel inclined to share some more.

So here we are - the little Cook clan. We are a young family on an new life adventure, just trying to do our best and figure it all out. Until next time...