Young Women's General Broadcast

I am so behind. And this is going to be a long post so bear with me. On March 30th we took a group of our Young Women to Salt Lake for the General Broadcast. We walked around Temple Square and did some shopping and ate. It was so fun. And the broadcast was great of course.

 (For my own sake so that I don't forget from left to right is Mercedes Staley, Sister Tomlinson, Kaela Mecham, me, Whitney Laing, Megan Stephenson, Courtnee Barbierie, Taylor Barbierie, Sister Newman, and kneeling is Makayla Squires)

This is the third year I've gotten to go on this trip with the young women, the first year as an actual leader. Mark and I have always looked forward to the tiny break. This year we almost didn't get to go together though. The night before Jonas came down with a fever. I hoped it was a fluke but he woke up and was hot the morning we were supposed to leave too. I was beside myself and had no idea what to do because he had zero other symptoms. I talked to my sisters, Becky and Miss, who were going to be taking our kids for the day and long story short, they decided that since he had no other symptoms I should still go with Mark and they would just take care of him for me. It was the hardest thing to leave him! But before we left his medicine kicked in and he didn't have a fever, he ate two pancakes for breakfast and was acting totally normal.

So throughout the day I was checking with my sisters and the poor guy got really lethargic and wasn't being himself after all. I felt bad because it was a done deal and I couldn't really come back but they took such good care of him. And Weston and Saydi had the GREATEST time with their aunties and cousins! They sent me some pictures while we were away that I absolutely must share. First they had a blast at Aunt Miss' jumping on the trampoline.

 It looks worse than it is. =)

 I had no idea this kid had such mad skills but he is Mr. Unafraid when it comes to trying new things. Apparently we need a trampoline of our own.

 Then Aunt Bea came to our house with her boys and Maylee and she let the kids make their own pizzas.

 They were so proud and snarfed them down since they had made them themselves. Maybe I need to have them make dinner every night so they will eat it!

 This girl and her faces. Cracks me right up.

 Then Aunt Bea helped them plant jelly beans that grew into suckers over night. They were thrilled!

Words can not express the gratitude I felt for my sisters this day. I needed to be where I was and my sisters didn't just make that happen, they took care of my kids as good (or better, more likely) than I would have. They made such great memories for my kids and that is so important to me. I was so appreciative.

On the way home from Utah Miss called to tell me that my dad was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He had passed out after going to bed and my mom and Becky couldn't get him to wake up. I was so worried but again, there was nothing I could do so I just waited and waited for more information. It was a long night. What ended up happening was that my dad wasn't using his oxygen machine at night for his sleep apnea. His low oxygen levels mixed with the medicines he was taking made his blood acidic. He told Becky later that he felt himself slipping away and all he could do was hope that my mom and Becky would find him but he was worried he was going to die there in his bed. 

I was so overwhelmed by this whole ordeal. My dad has had health problems since he was six weeks old and he has fought a good fight but I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I was relieved that it was something that could be fixed. Mark and I were supposed to speak on the Resurrection the next day in church and it really got me thinking about what I really believe. If I had to say goodbye to my dad the night before, could I really go to church and share with people that we would all get to live again? Did I really believe that? Ultimately I discovered that with all my heart, yes, I do believe that. I would have been devastated to say goodbye to my dad for the rest of my earthly life, but it would have just been "see ya later" not really "goodbye". I'm grateful for that knowledge.

It was a whirlwind of a day and I was so emotionally drained from worrying about Jonas all day and then my dad all night that I had to have a mental health day on Monday but we made it! It was a great weekend and I made great memories. Both with the people I was with and with the people who were with my children.

Easter

Better late than never, right? We had a good Easter. We got back from a trip to Salt Lake (details coming soon) the night before around 11:30 so we were pretty tired but still had a good holiday. I always keep Easter simple as far as gifts but this year was especially meager because it was so chaotic the week before and I felt a little bad about that. The kids of course didn't mind though.

  Excited about their kites. Which didn't work and were destroyed 30 minutes after being opened. Oh well.

 Cute kids ready for church. Mark and I had to speak so that was a little chaotic too but Mark gave the best talk I've ever heard and it was a great Sunday. Saydi fell  asleep in sacrament which she never does and Jonas had been sick the day before so we left after that. 

 Last year Aunt Bea put together an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos and they loved it so much that she did it again this year. They adore her and had so much fun at Grandma and Grandpa's looking for eggs and having a yummy dinner.

And the week before Easter a few of us got together and dyed eggs. We used Kool-Aid and I will never go back! It was awesome.

We had a really great day. And I feel like my kids understood this year that Easter was about Jesus. Although there was a little confusion as to how the Easter bunny played into the whole thing. I had the following conversation with Weston on Easter morning:
Me: Who is Easter about?
Wes: Jesus
Me: That's right. We have Easter because Jesus died and was resurrected.
Wes: And then He turned into the Easter bunny?
Hilarious. I love that boy. He is always thinking. I will post soon with details about the day before and that will be a big one because I have lots of good pictures, thanks to my sisters.

Miscellaneous

I really need to do a post of Easter and our trip to Salt Lake for the Young Women's General Broadcast but I am still collecting pictures. So here is some miscellaneous stuff that I don't want to forget about.

After 7 months in our area Elder Clegg got transferred. We love this guy!

 Some of Weston's recent school work. Side note: I don't think I ever mentioned on the blog that we took Saydi out of preschool in January. She started really making a fuss about going and said she didn't want to. I wasn't about to force her and make school become something she hates already so we took her out and will try again this coming year. She says she wants to so we will see!

 Playing in the leaves while daddy cleaned out the flower beds.

  

Jonas has become quite attached to stuffed animals lately. He prefers this bear or the bunny in next picture. That one is especially his favorite.

 And his other favorite thing, watching shows on mommy's kindle in the morning while I try to wake myself up. He assumed this position on his own and it made me giggle. Cute boy.

I love the way my kids will randomly assign themselves seats right next to each other.

 Or on top of each other. They are the best of friends and I am so grateful for that.

News!

Well, I have been terrible at keeping up the blog lately. But I have a good reason. And it is this:

Baby number four will be arriving around the middle-ish of September. We are very excited. I haven't been too terribly sick but there have been many days that I have been stuck on the couch because my tummy was unhappy. The most noticeable symptom has just been my absolute lack of motivation and energy. Honestly, some days I feel like this baby is sucking the life force out of me. =) But now that the first trimester is wrapped up I am starting to come out of the fog. It is weird how one week you can feel utterly hopeless and like this is going to be your life for the rest of eternity and then the next week the clouds start parting and you start feeling human again. Pregnancy is weird. And incredible. So yeah, a pretty good reason to slack on the journaling, I think!

Here are some other random pictures to remind myself that life really has continued on, even if I feel like we have been stuck in a time warp for the last three months.

 They loved playing with cloud dough (8 cups flour + 1 cup baby oil)

And shaving cream too.

 Saydi was channeling Michael Jackson the other day and had to eat her breakfast with her gloves on.

 I love it when I am busy doing other things and walk by to find my kids sitting like this of their own accord. Happens all the time. They love each other so much.

 Mark is buried under there somewhere.

 Our home made hammocks were a huge hit. We will be doing this again soon.

And this guy lost his first tooth! I couldn't believe it. He is growing up faster than I am ready for. I register him for kindergarten this week. :'(

So, I will probably be better about this now that I am feeling halfway human again. At least I hope so!

Flashback

I was going through my downloaded pictures this morning and found some from our Norris reunion (Marlene's side) that I never posted. Bear in mind that we were camping so I am a little scary but pictures of our whole family are rare so I am putting them up anyway. =) I love this one of Marlene and Jerry. She is like her kids and you rarely see her smile this big in a picture. Love them.

 Every single one of her kids and their birth kids. Good stuff.

 This picture kind of makes me laugh. I'm not sure why Mark is sporting the redneck goatee; I won't even say what I think about how I look; Weston looks like he is about to be sick; Saydi has a dirty face; and Jonas...well, that is just how Jonas always looks. ;)

I hate to admit it but looking at these pictures does make me look forward to warmer days. A LITTLE. 

So Far This Year...

Well, 2013 is off to a rocky start. Mark's recovery from his gallbladder surgery didn't go as well as we hoped and he just barely got back to work yesterday. The morning of his surgery Jonas woke up throwing up and had diarrhea. Saydi was soon to follow so while Mark was flat in bed after his surgery I had two barfing kids. It was a little overwhelming! We got better for a while and now the kids all have some kind of virus and let me tell ya, we are sick to death of wiping noses! So, it's been an interesting month and we are hoping it is just the remnants of 2012 wrapping up rather than an omen of what is to come in 2013. Anyway! Last year I didn't do a post for each kid and what they are up to so I will start the year off with that instead. I got my blog book in the mail the other day and I was so grateful to be able to look back and see how my kids had changed and what they had learned.

Weston: This guy is so smart. He has great handwriting and loves puzzles. He can put them together with no help in no time flat. He loves to play the Wii and is amazing at figuring out how to do things on his own, sometimes even figuring things out that daddy couldn't! He is so helpful, obedient, kind and thoughtful. And as usual, still the best big brother I have ever seen. He loves to play outside and do outdoor things. I have been amazed at how responsible he is with his glasses. He takes such good care of them without even being reminded. He is truly an old soul. He weighs 41 pounds (53%) and is 45.5 inches tall (93%). We love this boy!

Saydi: This girl keeps us on our toes. She has a mind of her own and I think when she is older that will be a wonderful thing. It can make things a little difficult now though! Saydi always mentions things that she thinks might make Jesus sad like throwing fits or being mean and if she would just remember that before doing those things we would be in tip top shape. ;) She is a wonderful sister and is so kind to Jonas, always making sure he has a toy or something to play with. She counts really well and knows probably half of her alphabet. She likes boy things and girl things equally. The other day she was riding her Barbie scooter while wearing Weston's ninja costume; pretty much the perfect summation of her!She weighs about 31 pounds and is pretty tall for her age. She is so special and unique and I don't know what we would do without her.

Jonas: This boy is such a wonderful blend of both Weston and Saydi. It is so fun to see both sidse of them in him. He can be very silly and particular like Saydi and is also very obedient like Weston. Most days he cleans up toys better than Weston and Saydi! He says thank you, please, excuse me, love you, backpack, Diego, cheese, drink, and pretty much anything that you ask him to repeat! Same with animal noises. As long as you do it first he will do it right back. He is a copy cat for sure. If I am cooking he has to have a bowl and a whisk. When I get ready he has to sit on the counter and pretend to do what I am doing. And when the kids color, play with play dough, or do anything else he has to be right there doing it too! He is officially a big boy. He LOVES outside and the older two come in long before he wants to. He is a great eater, even though he is tiny. He weighs 23 pounds (35%) and is 33 inches tall (70%) but his little head is only 17 inches (4%)! I sure love this little guy and can hardly believe he is 19 months old already.

My kids are all best friends. We have our moments and arguments but there is much more love and friendship between them than any animosity that arises. They make me laugh every day and are such good kids. They really are very obedient and polite for their ages. I'm so grateful for every single one of them and the individuality the each bring to our family.