My Cutie Jarom

About once a week 2 year old Jarom and I stop at the gas station on the way back from dropping off the kids at school to get either a steamer (steamed flavored milk) or a bug juice. It's been a fun little thing to do just me and him. (Although it's probably not the best habit for my waist or my pocketbook, but hey)Only problem is he wants to go there every day not just once a week! But I had to share our last little visit because I thought it was so cute. We walked into the gas station and headed over to the drink station and there were a bunch of guys there getting their morning coffee. Jarom waved his hand and said hi. One of the guys said hi back and asked if he was there to get his morning coffee too. Jarom got this look on his face, scrunched up his nose and replied "Not coffee, COCOA!". The guys just laughed and said he didn't need the caffeine anyway! I was so proud of my little boy though! And it was of course adorable.

Being Constructive in Construction

For the last three weeks, we have heard nothing but the lovely sound of a truck backing up. ALL THE TIME. Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Are you annoyed yet? I sure am. They are currently tearing up the entire lot behind us. Yep. They spent two weeks on the hill by our house closing off either street at will, and I have spent the last two weeks playing "which street is open". I tolerated it just fine until one day I went up the hill that was open to take the kiddos to school and TEN MINUTES LATER I came back the same way only to find they had closed it. ARGHHHHHH!!!! And no, not just street over detour, you have to go ALL the way around to THE OTHER HILL to get down to my house. Yep. They are putting in a new sewer system under the lot behind us. Lucky us. But there have been some upsides to our chaos behind us. The man who owns the lot behind us decided to put in a privacy fence. Which means that *WE* get a privacy fence behind us! YAY! we already have a chain link fence, but this is going to give us even more curb appeal and privacy in our yard, so yay! I'm trying to see the positive. Anyway. So this week they have begun to dig in the lot behind us and have been digging large trenches and putting in pipe and filling it in. I figure I can either be a pill about it or just make it fun and tolerable, so I decided that I would have some fun with it. So after school today I told the kids that I had a special surprise for them and that they needed to come out back to see it. They were SOOO excited. Emmalee couldn't quit exclaiming that she'd NEVER been that close to big diggers like that before! They spent 20 minutes just staring in wonder at the big machines and the big holes they were making, shreiking with excitement when it would dump dirt and pick up big objects. Blake was even inspired to dig in his sandbox with his toys. It turned out great. They wanted me to take their picture in front of it and everything. And I must admit, it was pretty cool to watch the big machines do what they do. But here's to hoping they're done soon! Gotta love construction!

My Kitchen is RED!!!!!Yippeee!

That's right. Red. hee hee hee... Jealous much? I *LOVE* it.

Bye-bye soccer!

It came and went. It had numerous cancelations and interesting games in the freezing cold and wind. Soccer is officially over! In a way, I'm SOOOOOOOO GLAD! Simply because the sheer schedule of the whole thing was starting to be just too much. But at the same time I am SOOOO sad! I'm no longer coach. Sigh. Oh well. We ended the season with a doubleheader, and man were those kiddos tired! Wore them out. But I did have fun putting together a little award for them all to take home. Wanna see? Here you go!
I thought they were way cute. I love my cricut.... The kiddos on my team gave me a hug and all the parents thanked me for coaching and all that. All in all, it was a very satisfying opportunity.
One little girl on my team summed it up perfectly. She gave me a big hug and then went back over to her parents, tears flowing down her cheeks. And so I asked if she was okay. And her dad looked over and told me that she didn't realize the season was all over. She was happy about getting to play and sad it was ending. My thoughts EXACTLY! I'd love to coach again next year, but we'll have to see where everything is at next year. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Go Rattlesnakes!

It's official. I'm a soccer mom. I'll admit it. Just without the minivan. No minivan for me, no way! My SUV will work just fine thanks. But totally soccer mom nonetheless. I have a little team and everything! The city of Cody has a youth soccer program here. It's a wonderful program. For $25 you can sign up your child to play soccer for 6 weeks. They get a t-shirt and everything. And YOU and your kids get 6 weeks of action packed games and practices! The program runs off of volunteer coaches. And I'm one of them! Yep. Okay, okay, I must admit, I wasn't PLANNING on being a soccer coach this year. Yes, I was PERSUADED into it. It took a little pushing. Let me explain. I signed up my kiddos for soccer and checked the little box on there that said I could be a helper. There were two boxes, one for coach, and one for helper. Yup checked helper. And they ended up short a few coaches. So they called me and coaxed me into stepping up and being a coach for my son's team. So I relented. Alright, I'll do it. The minute I did, I thought "WHAT DID I JUST GET MYSELF INTO? I'VE NEVER PLAYED SOCCER BEFORE!" But seriously I'm SOOOOO glad I did. This has been such a fun experience! And I'm learning a lot about soccer too. I did USED to be an athlete ya know! YES, it has completely taken over my schedule, and YES it has taken over my spin class, and YES it is exhausting. But it has been so much fun! I absolutely LOVE the fact that these kids call me coach. I LOVE how I can play and have fun with my son one on one. And I LOVE the free sweatshirt I got for it too! :) Our little team is called the Rattlesnakes. The kids picked it out. Sounds good to me! We took a vote, and that one won. Close 2nd was Blue Jays which I wish I would have pushed a little more. Our shirts are blue and we have three kids whose name starts with the letter J! Oh well! I let them all pick and that's what they voted for. I really think they're having fun too. Here's my little team. It's minus 2 players, one who didn't show for pics and one that has decided for the time being he doesn't want to play. I'm hoping he'll change his mind later:).

8 kindergarteners have a LOT of energy! It's so fun to get in there and play with them. I definitely get my workout! Wish us luck in the October weather! Go rattlesnakes!

Okay, seriously? It's been 2 years!!!?!?

I mean, really? Are you kidding me? Wait, a minute, yep. It has to be! I'm looking at my two year old fast asleep on the floor. I suppose it could be true then. It has been two years since I saw my brother Ray! He's coming home TOMORROW! Yay! The last time we saw him we sent him off to Florida on his mission. He got to see his new nephew Jarom when he was just 3 weeks old! So off he went! We got some fun pictures, a letter here and there, and every week my dad forwarded his emails to us. We've kept in contact honestly probably a little better since he left! I hear every week how he's doing and get to tune him in to us as well. I think I'll miss that a little! Although I'm sure we will still email and visit and everything, it's just so strange. Has it really been two years already? The mere definition of "home" has changed as well. No one lives at home with my dad anymore! They've all left. And my dad is moving to Utah now. So utterly strange to think that there won't really be a "gathering" spot in Poky anymore. It'll be harder to get everyone together because we're all spread out now. It has been a particularly crazy last three years for our family. Three years ago my brothers were still in high school and my sisters were just chillin' and working and testing out college. My mom was very sick with her cancer and so was Ryan's dad. I was married with 2 kids just trying to make ends meet! It is amazing how time flies and drags both at the same time. It has been such an incredibly sad and also exciting and happy time all at once. Although both Ryan's dad and my mother both passed away, my brother left for a mission, and my two sisters have both been married in the temple. It really is a testament to me that even though hard times come, that faith and perseverance pay off. It also shows me that the wonderful example of my mother has left a lasting impact on her children. We're very proud of Ray for serving his mission and so excited to see him. And we're excited for Jarom to get to know his uncle.

Can I have a little change please?

I think I need to rename August. Seriously. Why don't they instead call it "New-gust"? Everything starts over new, and on my internal calendar (you know how in your head you see the months of the year on like this eliptical looking 3-d game board--hmmm, maybe just me), that really, the beginning of the year should logistically be August, and the week should start with Monday, not Sunday? Maybe it's just me, but that's totally how I'm seeing it this year. And August has been ALL ABOUT change, and starting new! I just got a new haircut, a new calling in church, and I'm starting a new exercise class at the rec center-spin class! School starts soon and my kiddos will be in new classes and it will be all new to me to just have Jarom at home this year. My baby boy Blake is going to be in Kindergarten this year! Our neighbor is putting up a big privacy fence along the whole back side of our property this year, way nice, just hassle getting it there, but hey! It's a privacy fence! YAY! And it's new! And.... we've finally decided that it might just be time... to start trying for another baby. Everything else is changing, let's just throw that in too! JK! We have been tossing around the idea for some time now and we've decided that it is time. My baby is almost two now. Yup, but seriously we're excited, and I'm just hoping that all these new changes that are going on will bring about good things. I'm excited for my new calling. They have put me in as the Enrichment Leader for RS, so I get to plan all the main homemaking meetings for the year. I'm way excited to be in there and getting to be in RS again, but I am quite sad to be leaving primary. I have been in there nearly 4 years now, and although I knew that at some point change WOULD come, I still wasn't expecting it so soon! But they have already put me to work with my new calling and I still have primary things to finish! So I'm working 2 jobs at the moment! I'm excited to pass it on to the new primary president. She will do a great job, and she's a wonderful friend, so I have no qualms about passing the torch. I do feel a tad disappointed that I didn't get to do everything I wanted to while I was in primary, and I think you always feel like you could have done more, but I am proud of my time in there and what I was able to accomplish while I was there. And talk about a big load of stress off my shoulders. I've always heard that the only thing that is constant is change. Which I totally believe! So in lieu of that, here's to change!

Worst Parent Moment

Kids really know how to make a parent feel like dirt. Yup. I found this note on my nightstand table the other day and had to share.

It was from my oldest daughter Emmalee. The day before the kids were driving me insane and I asked Emmalee to go put some toy away because I had stepped on it and hurt my foot. Of course she ignored me and I yelled at her pretty good. I've been trying to figure out how to get her to listen lately, and she's awfully sensitive--my little drama queen. So she got upset and left this note for me. So we had a long talk about how running away is not a good idea and that even though mom might yell at you, that she still loves you very much. Man, it stinks to be a parent sometimes!

Forgotten Updates!

SO I was reading back through my blog today and noticed I haven't updated a few things, so here goes! We did get our house painted, and so I figured I better add the updated pic, since our house doesn't look like the pic I posted on here before anymore! Check it out.
I did my sprint triathalon on July 14th! Finished it, dead last, but finished it! Got through the 500 yard swim, 13 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. Yup, only took me 2 hours and 10 minutes. Ugh, I was really aiming for under 2 hours, but oh well! I'm down by 15 pounds now too! Whoo-hoo!

Coming up next...

I had to share this little tidbit, because I found it quite funny. Hopefully you'll find it as humorous! I think my soon-to-be 5 year old boy has been watching too much tv lately. Ugh. Being the age he is, he's having a hard time distinguishing between the days of the week, tomorrow, yesterday, next week, etc. The last few weeks he's been asking about our upcoming daily and weekly events and referring to it as "what's coming up next mom?" Trained by television anyone? Sheesh.

Heather's crazy ideas

So I've been tossing around this idea for like months on end. It has literally been an uphill battle to stay motivated to keep working out and getting back into shape. So I had this brilliant idea! Crazy, but brilliant! Let's make Heather do a triathalon! YAY! Yup. Okay, maybe not a full out triathalon, but I decided to do a MINI triathalon they are putting on in July through the rec center. It's a 500 yard swim, a 13 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. Yup. That'll keep me motivated. I've been going back and forth on the idea of participating in it, and despite my lovely last three weeks of terrible workouts, I've decided to go for it anyway. So here's to hoping I can make it through! I know I can do the run, because I've been running like crazy for months. I've been training to get through the swim, (been about 4 times and done the swim), and even though I look like a giant whale that is flubbering through the water--yup I'm a goober, I can't put my head under the water when I swim, I can swim the entire 500 yards (10 back and forth laps) only stopping once to catch my breath! YAY! SO that only leaves the bike. Ugh. I stink at biking. Really really stink! ARgh! But I managed to do a 6 mile bike yesterday, and felt like I could have done a few more miles. So maybe I'll be ready soon. I'm gonna push and push for these next 3 weeks and maybe I'll be just "crazy" enough to make it through the whole thing. That's the goal, make it through the whole thing. Not by any means win it or even get an awesome time, just to finish it! Yep! So wish me luck. Here's to crazy!

An even busier two weeks-yep!

Honestly I have to laugh that I called those last two weeks "busy" weeks! Yikes!~ The last two weeks have been WAY busier! In case you couldn't tell by the lack of posts on here! So let's scoot back two weeks! Two weeks ago my dad and my brother and their two dogs came up to Cody to stay with us getting ready for my sister Cora's wedding.

The kids had a hard time dealing with the dogs- mostly just bruno, they were scared of. Emmalee even decided she needed "protective gear" to be near them!

Oh well.We took Cora through the temple that wednesday. This involved a drive to Billings Montana (2 hours away) and 5 and a half hours in the temple itself. It was a wonderful day. Busy, but wonderful. We spent a few extra hours in the temple because her fiance was late for the session. But it all worked out. Honestly it was nice to just be able to be someplace where my kids weren't screaming in my ears, and asking for something every two seconds. So 5 and a half hours of temple rest time was wonderful. Her fiance made it for the last session of the day, and all was well. We went to eat at Applebee's after that because we were starved! (10 p.m.) and they were still open! YAY! That was way fun. Saturday was wedding day. We headed back up to Billings for the wedding in the morning and had a luncheon afterward. The ceremony was beautiful and we are so proud of and excited for Cora and Frank!

Billions of pictures later and a stop to Target for tights for Emmalee and we were off to Cowley Wyoming for the reception. Frank's family and our family helped get everything all set up for the outdoor reception at his mom Julie Ann's house. It was such a beautiful morning all bright and sunny, but it soon turned into a windy mess. It was a struggle keeping everything on the ground including the tables! But it didn't rain! We were worried it would rain because it had rained everyday for like over 3 weeks straight. We had a great turnout there, although people didn't stay long because of the weather! Oh well. She had a beautiful cake

and it was a fun reception anyway. And the bride was beautiful. :) Blake and Emmalee were junior groomsman and junior bridesmaid along with Frank's nephew and niece.

They looked so cute in their little outfits. Emmalee didn't feel real well the whole time though.

We found out why later. After the reception we headed back to Cody with my dad and brother and my sister and her husband. So we had a full house! And yet an empty one too! After everyone left on Sunday, we had a house full of just us! Cora's been living with us for the last 5 months, so that was really strange and yet stress relieving at the same time. We took Emmalee to the doctor Monday morning because she just was not getting any better (she'd had this cough for two weeks and been tired, but no on else was getting sick) and found out she had bronchial pneaumonia! Which explained the no one else getting sick thing (not contagious) and also explained why she wasn't getting any better! So we got her on an antibiotic. Between Monday and Thursday I did a million loads of laundry and dishes and dealt with three kiddos, one that was sick, and tried frantically to get everything ready for the Poky reception. Thursday was way busy, running to the store, packing, watching kids, and baking sheet cakes! We drove down on Thursday night and stayed in Ashton at Ryan's grandmother's ranch house. Then we headed down to Poky. Along the way we spotted a truck pulled off on the side of the road. We looked over to see what the problem was and low and behold it was Cora and Frank! So we flipped back around and pulled over to help. Frank's brother was already there, but we thought we'd better stop as well. Turns out the fuel pump had gone bad in the truck. So we towed the truck into town to a mechanic (ironic I know with a family of mechanics--time issue) and Frank's brother pulled the trailer of 4 wheelers behind him. Once we had the truck settled at the mechanic we all piled into the 2 vehicles we had and made our way to Poky. We got to the hotel and got all checked in and ready for the reception and then made our way over to the church. We had been told there would be a funeral earlier that day (noon) but that they would be out of there in time for us to set up (3 or 4). So imagine our surprise when we walked in to find that the funeral dinner was just STARTING at 4. The funeral had started at 2 not noon! We ended up sharing the kitchen until they were gone and setting up everything just 45 minutes before the reception! But all in all, the reception went fine. We really didn't get a lot of people show up (about 50) and so we had a ton of leftover refreshments. In fact I have about 6 bottles of ginger ale and 4 bottles of white grape juice sitting on my counter still, and my dad has like 3 gallons of ice cream in his freezer! But it was fun. I got to see some relatives I haven't seen in a while, and the kids got to run around and be crazy. Yup. So that was all the crazy busy wedding weeks stuff. Maybe it wasn't as crazy busy as I thought, but to me, the stress and headache of doing my normal routine (kids, keeping house, primary, etc.) is compounded when I add things to it! A wedding, a sick kid, houseguests, and traveling. But all is well! We survived! We did it! Cora's all married off, and we are back to our routine at the house. Well, until Thursday anyway! Then we'll head into the next round of busy. I think we're just in for a busy summer!

Busy Two Weeks

We’ve been so busy the last two weeks I thought I’d post what we’ve been up to! It has been CRAZY around here! We’ve been doing projects, camping, and made an Idaho trip. Yeehaw! So Here goes!

We graduated Blake from Preschool. Here he is with his teacher Miss Lori and with the other boys from his class.

We got a big package in the mail for Emmalee! It was her replacement toy from Hasbro that they sent after the present we got her for her birthday didn’t come with any connectors to put it together. We originally got her the rose petal cottage (clearance version), and they sent this instead. Awesome upgrade! She was so excited.

We dressed up in Ryan’s classroom décor and did the Mexican hat dance.

We went camping with cousins.

We tried out the new slip ‘n slide.

We painted the house green with an awesome paint sprayer. The kids helped too!

We drove to Idaho in the truck.

Jarom sat on the table and ate cookies.

We took pictures of significant others. Frank and Cora, Jon and Shirlee, and Me and Ryan.

We had a girly bridal breakfast with my sisters Cora and Shirlee and her friends Courtney and Brittany.
We watched Allen sing in the choir and walk across the stage for graduation.

The boys fell asleep listening to the school board lady drone on and on. Allen got his diploma! YAY!

Adventures in Parenthood

So there was a ladybug. Yup, a ladybug. Unfortunately it was on Emmalee's menu at the restaurant. And so begins the story of our latest eating out experience with children. Yup, we decided to take all three on our grand adventure with us to Bubba's because all the sitters were at either youth conference or state honor choir. Uh huh. Darn it all. SO we took a family dinner instead. You my think we're crazy but we believe that it is possible to eat out with kids every once in a while, you just have to roll with the punches that come along with it! Inevitably there will be a spill. The kids will not sit down the whole time. The baby will not stay in the high chair the entire time. And the kids will not eat even half their meal because it is murphy's law, I swear to it! But it is possible! We actually had a fairly tolerable time this time. There was a spill, kids did not stay put the whole time, but they didn't irritate our neighboring eaters too horribly bad and we got a funny story out of it as well. So back to the ladybug. The waitress came to take our order and Emmalee wouldn't focus on what she wanted to eat because the ladybug was on her menu. And so dad wiped off the ladybug and Emmalee freaked out that he had "killed" the ladybug. But alas, the lady bug had survived, it was on the table! The waitress had found it. She handed it back to Emmalee calling it a "good luck" symbol and Emmalee of course freaked out again because it was still on her menu where the waitress had placed it. Emmalee coaxed it off the menu onto the table whereupon Blake decided he wanted to squish it and was chided not to, but alas Jarom reached in and did the job for him. Emmalee balled again because the ladybug was squished, but lo and behold, the ladybug was alive! So mom scooped it up into her hand and declared that Emmalee should follow her outside where they could "free" the ladybug to his rightful home. The ladybug was returned to it's natural environment and all was well with the world again. Isn't it fun to eat out with kids?

To Be a Kid

My baby Jarom (okay, he's not such a baby, he's 20 months old!) has been falling asleep in funny places lately. So I thought I'd share a few.

1. In his food.

2. On the floor.

3. On his sister's bed.

4. On the stairs.

5. On top of the end table downstairs.

6. On his changing table.

7. standing up by the couch

8. in the windowsill

9. in the shopping cart at walmart

10. On mama's shoulder (which is funny because he falls asleep more on daddy!)

I like to occasionally catch a few pics when he does. Here goes:

New Roof or new project?

I really hate how you do a really fun project that makes a big difference visually, but then it points out the obvious "other" projects even more. It's like that commercial for some home improvement store where the lady is fixing her light switch and gets it all done and is satisfied with it and turns it on and sees a crack in the ceiling, a drippy faucet, and paint peeling! I feel like that ALL the time! ALL the time! Which is why I am forever doing "projects". So we got our new roof on. Awesome, love it, looks great, so happy it's done. Except now it has painfully pointed out that I need a new paint job on my house. ugh. And of course some "curb appeal" as well. Yup. So on to the next project... But we are excited the roof is done and we think it looks great. And it's a good thing our insurance paid for someone to come in and do it for us, because otherwise it would still be a "project"! But here's a pic. Enjoy.