Ten on Tuesday

1. flooding - We have had a ton of rain this past week. we have learned that when we have too much rain too quickly our drain cannot keep up. But on the positive side our pallets were high enough up and once the rain stops our drain works fine.

2. Fender bender - Chris was in a car accident on his way to work on Friday. A lady rear ended him. His neck was sore on Friday. His car will be getting a brand new bumper next Monday :)

3. I finally found a new "place." when I was growing up whenever I needed a place to clear my head etc I would always go to the Hill Cumorah. Thanks to a friend I now have one here in Des Moines. Gotta love new favorite places.

4. Hail in June? The weather here has been crazy!!! it hailed 2 times in one day. It was big hail and it hurt when I got hit by it :)

5. Kid fit - This week Will and Annmarie started their free class at the Y. The run in the gym for 40 min every day. Love it!

6. Library reading program - I've been searching for new books for Will to read to encourage him in his reading. Well I guess the prize of a flashlight should have been all I needed. He read 5 hours in about 8 days. For him this is huge! So happy.

7. Jeffrey's date night.  He wanted to go "golfing." the local sports store has 2  little putting isles. Then they went and tired out some shot guns that were just Jeffrey's size. I would have loved to have seen Chris's face. He had to be in heaven.

8. Singing in the car. The kids class sent home a fitness bingo paper and one of the things was singing in the car. So last night we were driving home with  the raido blaring. We were all singing some Abba and I've got a dream. It was so much fun. we were the ghetto car with really loud music coming out of it. Everyone was singing fro the top of their lungs. It was awesome.

9. Being flexible - this has been a crazy week. The thing I learned the most was even when we have goals for the day it is OK if we don't get them done because life or other things happened.

10. today I got to see our newest gummy bear and see its heart beating :)

Ten on Tuesday

1.      School is out! I never thought I would be excited about this but I am. No more early morning hassle (well we still go to the Y but that can be pushed back). I am so happy to have Will at home. Yes there tends to be more noise but he is much more helpful at home and I’m loving it.

2.      Jed’s GI appointment. Monday we went to the follow up visit from Jed’s scope and being on his meds for about 2 months now. Sadly we have to continue the meds, but they are working which I guess is what I should focus on. That was the good part of the appointment. I went with all 4 kids. What was I thinking!!! One child was climbing and jumping on me while I was trying to talk to the dr. another one was running crazy around the room. I hope to never have to take extra bodies to a doctor’s appointment ever again.

3.      Chris got an A- in one of his classes this semester. This is huge!!!! I cannot express how proud of him I am. For those who don’t know Law school is graded on a curve. So most students get B- C+. So this grade is awesome!!! Chris has done an excellent job at school.

4.      With Friday being Will’s last day of school we decided to let him choose a place to go out to dinner as a family. First he choose McDonalds, then after some coaxing he picked Red Robin. The kids actually did pretty good. Other that 20 bathroom trips. But for the first time in years going out to eat they did good. It probably helped that our neighbor was the waiter, and red robin is loud.

5.      1^st Sunday lesson. Once every 3 months I get to teach on whatever subject I feel I should teach in Relief Society. I am so thankful for this opportunity to learn so much. I know that I learn so much more that the ladies that I teach. I’m thankful they put up with me and my ramblings.

6.      Date night. We have been so lucky to be able to continue this. It is so nice to have a chance to go to the grocery store, eat some dinner and watch a Psych episode, oh yeah and talk all without the worries of our kids. I know you are all envious of the fantastic dates we have. I am so thankful for the friends I have that allow me to leave my kids with them and spend some quality time with the love of my life.

7.      Gray’s lake. Saturday afternoon we went running/bike riding around the lake. Will road his while Chris ran. He did really good and they ran/biked almost 6 miles. I had 1 bike and 3 kids. Jeffrey and Annmarie took turns on the bike and Jed quickly fell asleep, it must have been my wonderful running J After the kids went and put their feet in the lake and then Will ended up falling into the lake. Other than having to come home totally wet he was just fine.

8.      Child date nights continued. Chris and Annmarie went to the store. Fancy date I know. I was asking Chris if he noticed a difference in himself or the kids. He said he noticed that Annmarie was clingier with him after their date. This right there is all the reason I need to keep this new habit up.

9.      Monday we ate 3 strawberries from our garden. I forgot how much I love fresh fruit. Our garden looks like it is doing well. Time will tell. I would post photos of it but I cannot find our camera. Hopefully this will be found sooner rather than later. So you all can see how beautiful our garden is.

10.  Weekly goals – I did really good with the laundry until Sunday. This always happens. I’ve decided that I am going to mainly focus on daily goals. So each day I will pick 4-5 goals. Going to the gym will probably be there most times to give myself an easy check mark. But this way I can tailor what needs to be done on a daily basis.

ten on tuesday

1. Chris's daddy child date night. We have been talking about this for a while. The kids need a little bit more individual attention and with Chris out of school for a little be we thought it we be smart to try. Will and Chris went to an Iowa Barnstormers (arena football) game Friday night. They had a great time. The other kids are excited for their date with daddy.

2. date night. I am so glad that I have friends here who are willing to switch watching kids so that we can go on dates. Life is so much better when I get a chance to see my hubby and talk with him without being interrupted by children.

3. Watching amazing soccer! loved that regular Fox showed the UEFA finals. it is so nice to see soccer that is played well. It was really weird that I recognized so many players because of the world up. Looks like I might have to go see the Iowa Menace play (our soccer team its like AAA)

4. Jed. . . he can now climb off the top bunk. We got rid of the ladders a long long time ago. This was to encourage our kids not not climb up and make it harder for them to climb down. Jed has actually taken longer than I thought he would to learn this. He is so proud of himself. Whenever I put him down for a nap (usually because he is so cranky) he gets down and comes out and says "mom I'm happy!" funny kid.

5. BBQ - Chris decided he was going to invite the Elders Quorum (men's church group) to our house for Memorial day. I was a little worried how this was going to work out. It turned into a family affair. We had a great time. It was so nice to sit around and chat with friends. The kids loved Croquet. They also played some soccer, with a few men. The women mostly sat around and . . . yes chatted. It was so nice. Thanks Chris for a great idea.

6. My good Friend Jana and her family stopped at our house last week as they drove out to their new home. Her husband just graduated from Med school and they moved to Rochester NY!!!! They made it to their new home 2 days later. Which in and of its self was a bunch of small miracles!

7. Field day - Will got 2 field days. The reason. They started the first one and then the rains came. so it was postponed until Monday. The sad part was we went on Monday but he could only stay for about 45 min. He had to have another tooth pulled (I think this is going to be reoccurring) and I didn't want him to miss field day on Friday so I made the appointment for Monday. . . guess that backfired a bit huh.

 I love how tight he had his arm on his back! he was not going to cheat :)

8. I found a nest on our front porch! it has 4 eggs in it. I'm so excited to have nature so close to us!

9. Chris finished his first week of his internship. He gets to wear a suit and tie every day. He looks awesome!! we are in need of a few new ties for him. . . looks like another goodwill run is coming. Unless any of you have ties you want to donate. his thoughts on his first week are . . . he had to were a suit everyday. gotta love that :)



10. my goal for the week - do laundry everyday and put it away daily. I think I have a little too much of a brother of mine in me. I usually fold the laundry then leave it in the laundry basket. This really is a big goal for me.

Ten blessings on tuesday

This week I have been stuck by how much the lord has been blessing us since we’ve moved here. Here are 10 things I’ve noticed and have been thankful for.

1.      Drake – this sounds really funny but. We have been so blessed to live here, go to school here. Etc. They have been wonderful landlords. They have let us plant a garden (see photos) and we have even made money off our property (see #2)

2.      Earning money as a grad student. Chris has not been working during this past year of school and this has made things a little bit harder than normal. We were recently blessed with him getting part time work at the Law Library (3 days a week). While it isn’t much this is really huge for our family. The 2^nd money making adventure we have been blessed with is because we live a stone’s throw from the track/football stadium when they have huge meets like Drake Relay’s, or last weekend’s state HS track and Field meet, and next month’s NCAA meet. We can charge people to park in our driveway. This has been a most unexpected and very nice source of income. 

3.      The internet. When we moved here we got a home phone and internet. Well since we technically live on Drake campus (or close enough) we are so lucky to get their wireless internet. We were talking to our neighbor the other day and found out they got horrible internet form drake so they got their own. Heavenly Father has blessed us with receiving a strong enough connection for our needs. Which in turn saves us 40+ a month

4.      Shampoo and conditioner. This one sounds really funny but I am a believer of it. I have not purchased a new bottle of Shampoo or conditioner since we moved here. The same ones have stayed in our shower day after day and kid over use of kid over use. This is truly amazing to me and I am so thankful for this small blessing.

5.      Chris getting an amazing internship here in Iowa. Right after the 2^nd semester started Chris was offered the amazing internship to work with an Appellate Court Judge in AZ. We were so excited for him but we knew that we all could not afford to go. While we were happy for him we were sad that we would be split up this summer. About a month or so ago he found out he got an internship with the Governor here in Iowa. The capital building is about 15 min from our house. We are so thankful to have had 2 wonderful opportunities for him to learn and grow at. But we are even more thankful that we could stay together as a family this summer.

6.      Having callings that keep us busy. We thought when we moved here they would give us callings that took little to no time. Well that is not exactly the case. Chris is in Elders Quorum presidency and I am in the Relief Society presidency. Even though these callings keep us a little busier than we might like some days. We can certainly attest to the fact that when we fulfill our callings to the best of our ability everything else falls into place. 

7.      Jed’s EE – when we moved here I thought the move will be great for Jed he will be “cured” well this did not happen. But what happened was that we found a GI doctor and Allergist who actually listened to us and made sure we know what this disease is and how to treat it. In March Jed was scoped again and then at the end of the month he started his treatment (drinking 2 little vials of Pulmacort) a day. Since that day he has only throw up one time when he was sick with the stomach bug. This is a huge blessing for us and for him.

8.      Missionaries – since we live in a small branch we have the opportunity to feed the missionaries quite regularly. This is wonderful because my kids love them and they bring such a great spirit into our home.

9.      Date nights – When we moved here this was a worry of mine. I am a firm believer that you and your spouse go on weekly dates things work better for everyone in the house. Almost immediately we made friends with people who will swap kids with us, or want to watch our kids. This has continued up until today and we are a much stronger couple and a happier family because of this

10.  The best blessing we could receive while we are here is the continued knowledge that Heavenly Father really is in Charge. If we listen to him we will be lead to do what is right. 

I know many of these may sound silly or unimportant to you but they have made a huge difference in our life here in Des Moines.

Ten on Tuesday

1. a garden. yesterday and today we planted our garden. Thankfully we have great friends who own a rototillers and let us barrow it. Thank you to Drake for letting us tear up part of the back yard and planting a garden. Thank you to all we called to ask questions about how do we plant etc. We are hoping for something to grow. Although we got 10 tomato plants. . . is that too many? guess we will have lots of salsa and other tomato things canned if we do.


2. Chris is done for the semester!!! yeah we are so happy to have him home. Friday he headed down to Navuoo to go to the temple down there and had a good time. he has been working hard the last few days.

3. Personal training. . . If you've ever read this blog you know I love me a good workout from a trainer. Well it seems Chris has one for the week anyway :) I have also said that if I ever had to go back to work I would be a personal trainer. So Chris has benefited, or is my ginnie pig. He and I have had a hard time walking, doing stairs and bending down. So hopefully I can make a difference in the life of Chris and I. If I do who knows maybe I'll pursue this path.

4. Today we went to Will's school and watch a movie on dinosaurs in a mini dome. The kids loved it. So glad for free things like that.

5. My goal from last Tues. I worked out 5 times in the last 7 days.

6. Friday night I went out with some girls and ate great food and come back to my house and watched Return to me. Such a great movie! Such a great night. love having time with the girls.


7.  We took the kids to the dentist this week and guess what. . . No cavities. Yeah!!!!

8. tonight we put the kids to bed early tonight so we could watch the season finale of NCIS. this is the only show we still watch. love it. I'm really hoping that no one on the main team die.

9. Chris told Jeffrey to give me a wet kiss one morning. Jeffrey proceeded to give me a normal kiss than decided that he was going to spit on me. I guess that is what a wet kiss is to him. Chris couldn't stop laughing for over a min. Then tried to tell him that was a bad choice. needless to say I think this was not as effective in it should have been. Chris is still laughing about it even as I type.

10. my goal for this week is to read my scriptures very day. It seems easy on the week days but the weekends it gets hard. Wish me luck!

Ten on Tuesday

1.      1 test left. Chris has 1 more test on Thursday than he has completed his first year of law school. So proud of him and all the hard hard work he has put into school this year. 

2.      Spring – I have always said that Fall is my favorite time of the year. This Spring I might have changed my mind. The blooming of flowers, trees etc had made me realize how beautiful this season is. Maybe I’m much more appreciative because of the long cold winter. But something has made me more thankful for the beauty that Spring is.

3.      Rochester. . . no not NY but MN. I took the youngest 3 kids with me to visit some friends from when I lived in AZ. Julie and Cylynn. It was so much fun to see old friends. I loved that there was no awkward moments and that to me they haven’t changed. I think that’s why I have the friends I have, is because we will always be the same. We are hoping to head back up to MN sometime soon, this time with the whole family. 

4.      Ear infections. We have been very lucky to have very few of these in our house over the past 6 plus years. Well Sunday night Jeffrey woke up at 11pm and was not doing well. I put him back to bed (I was so tired that I didn’t really notice how hurting he was another mother of the year moment). He was back in at 11:30 I went and tried to lay by him in bed. He was tossing and turning and kept telling me his jaw hurt. By 12:30 I decided to give him pain meds, and he fell asleep on my in my recliner. Then by 3:15 he was back awake and in more pain. Needless to say when we went to the Doctors Monday morning she did not need long to tell me what was wrong. She said his ear drum is at the point of bursting. AS of Tuesday morning it has not yet burst and he is on antibiotics. Annmarie got to look in his ear too. The Doctor was so kind. Love doctor like that. Thankful for modern medicine and kind doctors.

5.      AC – so I figured that we could go without AC until at least June hoping July. But yesterday it was about 85 in our house with really high humidity. I broke down and turned it on at night. It is supposed to be in the 90’s today with high humidity again. So it will probably be on again tonight but then if is going off. I was really looking forward to spending less on my electric bill these few months.

6.      Bosch – so I’ve got this new (to me) whole wheat bread receipe (it has grape juice in it) and love it so much but it either has to be made by hand on in a bosch. Well I’ve been searching craigslist, ebay etc and found 2 but didn’t get either. Then I remembered that I had a sibling that I gave my mom’s old one too and decided hey why don’t I call and see if they are using it. Well they were not. And they are sending it to me! So excited instead of spending a few hundred on a new/used one I get one for free. Thanks Jill and Rob for being so kind to send it to me.

7.      Since Chris was going to get me a bosch for mother’s day but no longer needed to he decided to get me a new MP3 player for mother’s day. I have gone to the dark side. I got an IPod. It has been wonderful I just have to figure out how to get all my music off my home computer and onto the laptop then out of media player then on to my Ipod. Oh yeah I got angry birds on it. . . so addicting. Anyone know any good Aps for the kids? Or for me?

8.      Mother’s day was wonderful. I stayed in bed, had breakfast in bed. Got to drive myself to Church (alone) wore a dress that I’ve only worn to a wedding. And got to spend the afternoon with my hubby and kids. I thankful for a wonderful husband who treats me right. Plus I got a box of Chocolate covered strawberries. They were massive and tasted so wonderful!

the box from the strawberries

 

 

the Instructions - Close and lock door. hide behind Large piece of furniture. Quietly open box. Savor and Enjoy! This box was so funny.

9.      Annmarie’s quilt . . . well I got 5 of the 9 rows sewn together. If life turns back to normal hopefully I will have it finished by next Tuesday. If I get it done sooner I will post photos. 

10.  My goal for the coming week – is to go to the gym or exercise 6 times before I post again. This is my goal because since my half I have not made it all that frequently to the gym. With kids that have been sick it makes it easy to not exercise. But I really need to try out my new running shoes. Plus when I don’t exercise I’m much more lazy.

Seven for Sunday

Once again copying my sister.

In case you were wondering I have the world’s best mother. I’m sure there are at least 9 other people in the world who would agree with me. So here are 7 thoughts about her.

1.      My mom could always make me laugh. While growing up I would sometimes get a little  upset about somethings. She always had a way of making me smile and laugh while I wanted to cry or be upset. 

2.      She was always serving. Whether it was making cinnamon rolls for women in the ward on their birthday, making my breakfast after seminary and before school, going on 4^th year, summitteer, watching my children so I can go on a date with Chris, or just listening to my rants. She is/was always serving. Hopefully someday I can be like that, or as close to it as possible.

3.      Teaching me important things. Teaching me that wearing cut off jeans, old t-shirts and old shoes is ok. While I was more embarrassed about this as a teenager today not so much. What this taught me was that clothes don’t matter what matters is what you do with your life. I have never met anyone who has met my mother who has not said kind things. 

4.      Being a hostess does not mean changing who you are. While she has had this role more recently than she would like, I can still remember times from High School and my wedding that have stuck out to me. Whenever we had people over for dinner we would always say a prayer. Even if it was my whole basketball team from school. She would let you have pretty much the lay of the land. If you were in our house you were welcome to go most anywhere (Bedrooms, and upstairs if you were a boy were strictly of limits), She liked people to feel comfortable. 

5.      You can do it. As a mother I have often wondered how my mom cold have done it, when I struggle on a daily basis it seems. She tells me her secrets, Sesame Street, and not keeping a spotless house. She has never once told me I’m doing it wrong. She has always been nothing more than encouraging and loving in how we raise 4 of her many grandchildren. 

6.      It’s ok to cry (sometimes). During some difficult financial times while I was growing up I vividly remember my mom getting off the phone with their bank. She was so upset and was almost yelling (ok probably just a stern voice that I got all too often) I saw her crying as she left the room. As an adult I’m grateful that I knew my mom cried when things got hard. Because it doesn't mean that I'm week when I cry when things are hard.

7.      Lastly I know that my mom loved me and each of my siblings more than we can ever know. I know that she still cries with me today when bad things happen. I know she is worried about me and my friends the ones she has met many many times (and camped with) and the ones she has met for a few minutes or has only heard me talk about. This woman is such a wonderful example of Love to me that I’m lucky to have her in my life. Someday I hope to be half the woman she has been and continues to be and will be even in the life after. 

Thanks mom, thanks for being the best example a person could ever ask for.

Ten on Tuesday

1.      Drake Relays – so every year Drake host’s this invitational that includes High School track athletes form Iowa, College athletes from all over (I heard Utah, Notre Dame, Ohio St, Illinois, etc) plus Olympic track stars. While we did not attend we got our first experience of what it is like to live near a college campus. ASU was different, we lived .5 miles away but were surrounded my members of our church. Here we are surrounded by many college boys. Most undergrads and a good portion of drake athletes. Needless to say the races brought lots of excitement to the area. We live about 100 yards from the stadium. Classes were canceled on Friday, and the partying began at about 10am on Friday. The one positive of the kids starting to party so early is that they were actually pretty quiet by night time. Friday and Saturday were pretty much the same. There were fireworks, a huge military plane that dropped out Navy parachuter’s on Friday and Saturday. That was the most awesome thing I’ve seen in a while. Over all, the atmosphere was lots of fun. We are some very kind neighbors (grad students) who let the kids play with them. While some other not so smart neighbors who offered Jeffrey a drink. Needless to say a smarter person said “dude his mom is right there.” 

2.      Saturday morning Chris was kind enough to join me in running the Drake on the Road half marathon. I signed up with the intent to actually have a goal and motivate myself to keep running. Well sick kids, vacation etc did not help my “training.” Chris offered to run with me, with me not run the race and leave me in the dust. This was huge for me. We ran Saturday morning while a good friend watched our kids. Chris was great. I would not have finished within 30 min of my actual time without him. He made me keep going even though I wanted to give up. He endured my wine and poor breathing and he still loves me. My favorite memories are when he would say Breathe! I guess I don’t breathe quite right when I run. Maybe that’s why I’m so slow. Then Kristol brought my kids out to see us with in the last mile. It was so nice to see them. Chris and I also wore our Ragnar shirts (because those are our only running shirts), it was so nice to hear about 6 people yell “Go Ragnar” I thought no one here had heard about it, guess I was wrong. Plus it encouraged me to keep going. Needless to say after the race Chris said he wanted to do the Des Moines Marathon in October. So he will be doing that one without me. I forgot to add. I told him a few times I felt like I was going to puke so I needed to walk. He told me more than 3 times "you can walk when you puke."

 

3.      The Heart and The Fist – by Eric Greatens.  I saw an interview with the author on the today show and wanted to read this book. He is a former Rhodes scholar turned Navy SEAL. I started reading last week. Yesterday I got into the parts about his SEAL training and missions. It was so ironic since there was the killing of Osama Bin Laden Sunday night, and it was done by a special forces unit. After reading on Monday the Hell week that they SEAL’s go through I am in true amazement of these hero’s in our lives. Not just the special forces, but all those that serve this wonderful country. From my Granddad, Dad, Brother, sister-in-law in the military, to those who work for the military or in the intelligence area. Thanks for your wonderful devotion to this great nation. I have truly enjoyed this book and would encourage you all to grab it from the Library and read it. Even if you only read the SEAL training section.

4.      Family Home Evening – Last night we took the kids and walked about .25 mile and went and played catch and hit whiffle balls in a soccer field. This is huge for a few reasons. First I love that it was warm enough to go out and do this we are not used to spring taking so long to spring. Second we did this as a family. With Chris starting finals yesterday he has been studying studying studying. It was so nice to spend an hour playing as a family. It made me long for next Thursday afternoon (when he is done). Plus the kids slept great last night too.

5.      Finals – as mentioned above it has been a long semester. We are so glad that Finals are here. Chris has worked hard all semester long. Hopefully this will pay off in the finals. The bummer about finals here is twofold. First they are your only grade in the class. There are no other grades except this one. Second they are graded on a curve. This can be good and bad hopefully this helps us out and doesn’t hinder us.

6.      How does one prep for the first final and the one they are the most worried about. . . Pull out the DVD of the 2001 World Series. Watch the bottom of the 7^th inning and get goose bumps. Hopefully it worked!

7.      So we have flowers!! They are tulips and something else. What I love most is that they grow on their own. I weeded the area around 1 side the other day and was so happy to see the beautiful flowers growing and starting to bloom. I love love love flowers and the fact that I do nothing and they grow is the best part.

8.      The Harry Potter 7 part II trailer came out this past week. It made me sooooooo excited to see it. July 15^th needs to come now! I am actually kind of excited about some of the movies this summer. Other than Harry Potter there is Transformers, and hoping that Cowboys and Aliens gets a PG-13 rating. 

9.      Today we are going to register Annmarie for Kindergarten. Am I really old enough to have 2 kids in school? She is so excited and cannot wait. I will be so sad that she will not be around to help out at home. Other than her emotional outbreaks I will really miss her help, and her smile and her wonderful compassion.

10. My goal for this coming week is to finish sewing the top of Annmarie’s quilt. I’m posting this here so that I will have some amount of reporting necessary. Hopefully I will find my camera (hence no photos) so that I can take a photo of it. Plus I’m visiting some college friends on Friday and need some photos of them too. Can't wait!