When does it become worth it??

The quote goes, "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it."

Do I have to die first??

We are alive here in Utah. I actually have a tone of pictures to share and stories to tell, however I am currently stuck in the world of dial up. That and I can't find the cable to download the pictures off of my camera. Just one of many things that are MIA. I will try really hard to be more positive the next time I write.
To give you a glimps of what has happened since I last wrote; We went to legoland, the wild animal park, the beach (4 times), the tide pools, BBQ'd with friends, a wild, crazy, and extremily fun last book club, the park, packed up and left.
We got here and the next day it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, we celebrated Hailey's birthday, and it snowed, and snowed, the kids went to their first day of school here, and it snowed and was cold, my grandmother died, and Riley got punched in the mouth at school.
A lot to write about and I will, another day when I can say it in a better way.

Life's Tough Decisions

I have been putting off writing this post for almost a week now. I think I was trying to come to grips with the life changing decision Ryan and I have made for our family. We have decided it is in our families best interest to move to Utah. Now I always thought that if I got the chance to move "home" I would be so excited...well, I'm not. I think this has been the most difficult decision Ryan and I have had to make for our family so far. There was a lot of fasting, praying, and going to the temple. Although I know and have peace that this is the right decision it doesn't make it any easier. I am going to miss sooooo much!! What I am going to miss the most are the wonderful people who have made themselves a part of my life. They are priceless. I have never had such great friends. I don't even know how to tell them how much I love them and will miss them. There are not words to describe my feelings. sniff, sniff!!

We told the kids on Monday night. I was interested to see what their response would be. Ryan told them that we were moving to Utah and with out pause these were their responses (as I remember them) Riley- Cheering and really excited Hailey- "OH, I am going to miss my friends, can I have a kitty?" Sydney- "Can I have a baby chick?" Carley- Excited because everyone else was. With in five minutes Riley and Hailey were fighting about who gets to feed Grandpa's baby calves, and making plans on how to improve the tree house, and Sydney was making sure she could take her blanky and her animals. They are all so excited.

Every time I get down I go talk to the kids and feed off of their excitement. This will be a great adventure for them. I just need to find joy in the journey. I probably won't be posting much for a while due to frantic packing, and fitting in all our last wishes. When we get settled I will fill you in on the beginning of the next chapter in our lives.

Fun Friday

I have known for a while that Legoland was free the last hour of operation. You can drive right in and walk right in. Although I have known these things for some reason I have not take advantage of it. Well today that all changed. When I got home from picking Riley up from school I packed up all the kids and we went to Legoland. We had a blast!! We were a little late getting there due to lack of planning. For some reason I am doing things VERY spontaniously this week. We only had half an hour in the park, but that was enough for a lot of fun.

We started out with fairy tale brook. Sydney was loving every minute of it. Carley wasn't so sure. To Hailey and Riley this was old news, but still fun. They are both old enough to remember when we had season passes. Oh the good old days!!



Look at Carley's cute little face. Doesn't it just scream WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME MOM??? Poor little thing.

Next we visited the safari ride. Carley wasn't big enough to go on this one, but I don't think she minded. Riley got to ride it twice, onece for each of his sisters. I love how he takes care of them when we are on an outing like this. I gave him the camera, and we got some pretty fun pictures.

Isn't Riley a great photographer?!!

After that we had time for one more ride. Hailey and Riley both really wanted to go on the dinosaur roller coaster, so we headed over there. I was really hoping that Sydney was going to be tall enough to ride. If she wasn't we were going to have a melt down. She was so excited. The top of her head hit the right bar, and we were in business. Hailey cried the first time she rode this roller coaster because she was scared. I was interested to see how Sydney would react. My little adventurer, snuggled between her older brother and sister couldn't have been happier. Since they were the last ride of the day the operator let them go around one extra time. They all had a lot of fun.



Waiting to go. Sydney was so excited.



Catching them as they zoomed by.



My favorite picture of the week. Sydney getting off the roller coaster and letting me know how much fun she had.

When we got back to the car I said, "Anyone who had a good time say OH YEA!!" I think you could have heard them from where ever you are if you had known to listen. We are defently going to have to do that again. In the words of Sydney, "It was todiwy FUN!!" She todiwy wants to do it again.

After all that we came home and had a picnic dinner. I put an old blanket out on the floor and we had pizza and chips while we watched Alvin and the Chipmonks. It was a very fun Friday!!

Chef Sydney

Tonight I impulsively decided to have Sydney be in charge of making dinner. She chose what we ate and helped with all of the preparations. We had spaghetti, asparagus, Greek salad, and raspberry lemonade. It was really yummy!! She had a BLAST!! Every time I called her Chef Sydney she would giggle. She especially liked it when everyone thanked her for the yummy dinner. It was a lot of fun. I need to do things like this more often.

Making the noodles.

Putting the salad together




The Juice. I told her to smile, and this is what she came up with. She is SO much like Ryan in her facial expressions. Never a dull moment!!



The final product!! Bravo Chef Sydney!!

Valentines

We didn't do a whole lot for Love Day this year. Ryan's birthday is so close to it, and with everything else going on we kinda skipped it. The kids didn't skip it though. The Monday before V-Day we used to put together all the kids valentine cards. I thought this would be a quick fun activity. Two hours later when the kids still weren't done and it was bed time, that thought was long gone. When there are at least 32 kids in each class and two to three teachers it takes FOREVER to fill out all those little cards. I was really glad we got a head start. The kids finished up over the next few days and had fun exchanging them with their friends at school. Sydney was really excited. This was her first Love Day in school. She couldn't wait to give her teacher the card she made for her. It was cute. Happy Valentines Day everyone. I know I am a little late, but we are still in February, so it still counts!!!

The Museum of Music

On Thursday I got to go on a field trip with Riley. I was in charge of a group of six boys and one girl. Ceci, Riley, Jackson, Henry, Christian, Riley D., and Jesus. I know poor girl, but she was a tough cookie and handled it well. I told her she could help me with the boys and be my little bouncer. It was kind of fun. I made sure the boys always let her go first. They didn't think that was too fair, but I thought it was great. I told them that they may thank me for teaching them how to treat a lady someday. We rode a bus to the Carlsbad Museum of Music. After we got there we went into a room with the two other groups from Riley's class and made paper plate tambourines. It got really loud really fast. I was relieved when they collected them before we left the room and told them that they would get them back at the end of the day. The next room we went in had a drum for everyone. Our guide talked to the kids about tempo. She chose a few kids to come up and "conduct" everyone. When they put their hands up we were supposed to go really fast, when they put them down we were supposed to go really slow. Riley and Jackson were chosen from my group. When the kids were done the museum guide asked for an adult to take a turn. I was taking a picture at this point and not paying much attention, but when I heard the other adults coming up with excuses for not going up I had to put an end to it. It was fun taking a turn. I made one side of the room go fast while the other was slow. I know, tricky hun. It takes great skill to do what I do I tell ya. LOL!! After that we went on a lengthy, and slightly boring (don't tell the kids I said that ), tour of the museum. We went through 100 years of music history. The kids learned the charleston, and the swing. When our guide was showing the kids the swing she grabbed a few girls that were in her vicinity and started dancing with them. Riley was the closest boy. Realizing that he was going to be her next partner if he stayed where he was he quickly ran to the other side of the room. I wish I had video of it. I'm sure he broke some kind of record for quickest evasion. After our tour we got back on the bus. It was fun to spend the morning with Riley and meet some of his friends that I had only known by name. Now I have faces, they better watch out.

Blue and Gold

The first week of February Riley participated in his first Blue and Gold banquet as a scout. As part of our ward Blue and Gold they have each of the boys make a dessert and auction it off. They use the money toward scout camp. Having been in primary for many years I was really excited to work with Riley and make something fun to auction off. When I found out the theme was "The Old West", I started finding fun cakes we could make. Cakes that looked like boots, horses, cows, etc. I was so excited!! One day when Riley got home from school I asked him what kind of cake he thought he would like to make and told him I had some ideas that I had found on the Internet. He informed me that he didn't want to make a cake, he wanted to make dirt. Well, okay. So much for all of my years of planning and excitement. We made dirt. We had a lot of fun with it, and got the whole family involved. Riley and I crushed the cookies while Ryan and the girls mixed up the creamy filling. We put it together in a sand bucket. In each layer we included worms and rocks (chocolate covered cherries), and finished it off with a shovel in the top. It just goes to show that no matter what ideas and plans you have for your kids, they get to make their own choices. Even if it means you get to eat dirt.

Riley with his "Dirt", awards earned, and his painting of a cowboy.
Great painting bud!!

Ryan's Birthday!!

Ryan's birthday was on the 12th. We started out the morning with a breakfast of bisects and gravy in bed. --I have pictures of this but have been forbidden to share.-- That evening we had Ryan's long time friend Jon over to share a Feta Pita bake dinner with us, Ryan's choice of dinner. Followed by the once a year -once a year because that is how often I make it- cake. The cake is death by chocolate. Gotta love it. There were so many candles on it that the chocolate on the top started to melt. Then the kids and I gave him cards, and they went to bed. Then the fun began, and sadly I don't have any pictures of it. His WII buddies started showing up for game night. --what were you thinking happened??!-- It was a great turn out, and they played to the wee hours of the morning. Happy Birthday Honey!! I hope it was a good one.

Pay It Forward

My blogging friend flipflopmama, is having a fun little game on her blog. I'm playing along.

So this is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this (my) post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch...You knew there would be didn't you? Post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift.

Difference In Style

It is said that women use twice as many words a day than men do. Well, it has been brought to my attention that we must write twice as many too. Ryan says my last post was "too wordy." After looking at it again I'm sure he is right. In my defense I don't want to forget anything. Since I kinda use my blog as my journal I am allowed to be as wordy as I want. Right?!!
I thought I would give you a chance to see which style you like the most. My version of our trip to Utah has already been posted. Here is Ryan's version...

We went to Utah.

Let me know which one you like the best.

Quick Trip

Last weekend Becky and Weston blessed their new little boy Holland. Ryan and I had been planning on making a quick trip for the blessing before Ryan lost his job. After the job loss he didn't feel like it would be possible financially to make the trip. I really wanted to go for a few reasons 1. I felt like it was really important to support Becky and Weston. 2. I knew that Ryan would feel bad for a long time if he didn't go. and 3. Who wants to miss out on holding fun new little babies?! I was pretty resigned to the fact that we wouldn't be going when out of the blue Ryan said, LETS GO!! This was Friday morning, and I thought GREAT, only one problem. I was throwing one of the ladies I VT a baby shower on Saturday morning. We would have to leave after the shower meaning we would have to drive late into the night. Oh well, you do what you gotta do, right?! Well when Ryan got home from taking the kids to school he said the car was acting funny. He quickly took it over to our mechanic and found out that our transmission is starting to go out. GREAT!! Now we couldn't go again. We had gotten every one's hopes up, we told Becky and Weston we were coming, we told the kids we were going, and now we had to let them down. I knew there was going to be a lot of crying and fit throwing. Well Ryan called Becky and told her the sad news. I think she was pretty sad because she called back a little later and told Ryan that they would like to rent us a car so we could come. After a little talking we decided to take them up on their offer and we were ready to hit the road again.
We left our house about 12:45 pm on Saturday and got to Weston and Becky's about 1:15 am. I'm glad Ryan is such a great driver. The kids did pretty good considering they had to sit in the car for 12 hours. We stopped in St. George about 7:30, got the kids ice cream, and let them play in the McDonalds play area for about an hour to wear them out. -- Yes, I let my kids play in a McDonalds play area. I'm sure that I will have to have counseling at some point to help me come to grips with that one. For those of you who don't know, I have a bit of a McDonalds phobia. I did draw the line the next day when Ryan tried to put some of the kids in the same clothes they had worn when they played there. I told him I had to wash them before they could be worn again.-- When we got back in the car they crashed for the rest of the trip. It was pretty nice. I was very grateful that Weston and Becky's church didn't start until 2:30pm. If we didn't have kids we would have been able to sleep in. LOL!!
We did a quick hair job on Becky and got everyone ready. Weston gave Holland a wonderful blessing. The family dinner after was a lot of fun too. It was good to see Ryan's aunts Kathy and Caroline. We hadn't seen them for many years. It is always fun to get together with the Fullers. They are a wonderful family!! My kids love playing with Tamera's kids. I am a little surprised that the clubhouse is still standing after our kids got done with it. They had a lot of fun. I am so grateful we got to be there. We already miss so many things being so far away.
The kids LOVE Holland!! There was more than one fight over who's turn it was to hold him. Carley was especially attached to him. She would cry and get very upset if you tried to take him from her, and if someone else was holding him she was begging for him. Riley was really excited to have another boy cousin.

On Monday morning we left Weston and Becky's mid morning after a wonderful breakfast, --Ryan still raves about it Becky!!-- and headed out to Mountain Home to surprise Brittany. Everyone but her knew we were coming. I like surprises and thought this would be a fun one to pull off. When we got to the Mountain Home turn off I called Brittany and asked her what she was up to. She said she was playing with Tasha and the boys, Tanner and Jackson, (Tasha had gone up to "visit" Brittany so she could be there when we got there, and to give Brittany a reason to get herself and the baby ready). I hid a chuckle and said, "I want to come play." --I knew she wouldn't think anything of it and would play along because we play this game often.-- Brittany, without skipping a beat or suspecting anything, said, "Okay come on over." Again trying really hard not to laugh, I said, "Okay, I'll be there in a minute." She said she would call me when Tasha and the boys left and we got off the phone. I was really excited. When I closed the car door Brittany heard it and started complaining about more people coming to see her and the baby. --She doesn't like a lot of people around her new little one, and who can blame her.-- She looked out the window, looked back at Tasha, who I imagine is about to burst by this time, and said, "You have got to be freaking kidding me!!" She burst out the door and said, "You have got to be kidding me!! What are you doing here?!!" I looked hurt and said, "You said I could come over." It was great!!! I had a lot of fun with it. It was a lot of fun to see them too.
Tessa is SO tiny, and has SO much hair. She has as much hair as Carley does and Carley has been working on hers for almost two years now. Tanner and Jackson have grown a ton. Especially Jackson. All the kids had fun playing. True to form Sydney and Tanner enjoyed their love hate relationship. One minute they are playing great, the next they are fighting and hitting. Maybe someday they will just play nicely. Riley and Hailey had a LOT of fun being able to run outside and play. They don't get to do that here. They hardly fought at all. They would go outside, be gone for hours, and play nicely together. It was great. I hope someday they can have that at their own house. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of them outside because I spent all my time holding Tessa. My Mom made a birthday cake for Ryan so they could share in the celebration of his birthday. It was YUMMY!! That night after all the kids were in bed we stayed up WAY too late playing cards. It was a lot of fun. No one really wanted to go to bed, but we all knew we would be in a lot of trouble if we didn't. We hit the sack about 2:00am and thanks to our kids were back up and moving somewhere between 5-7:30. I'm glad my kids are a little older so I got to sleep in until 7:30. After we raided my Mom's pantry and paid a visit to Grandpa and Grandma Lindsay we hit the road again.
It was good to be able to see everyone even if it was only for a day. It was well worth the time and money we spent on it. We would do it again in a second. Either we will get a job or we won't, we may run out of money at some point, but we will never run out of the memories we made on a quick trip to Utah. Thanks everyone for your help and support!!

Her WOMAN tooth is in!!

About a week ago Hailey was complaining that her tooth hurt. I looked at it and saw that the gums behind her front bottom teeth were swollen. We had a talk about brushing better, and I got some floss to make sure there wasn't anything stuck in there. When I went to floss her around her tooth I discovered the real problem, her tooth was lose. Why didn't I think of that before?! Well, because she is my little girl and she isn't supposed to be old enough to have a lose tooth.

Over the next week she kept wiggling it, but we didn't worry about it too much. There is no rushing these things, especially when Mom doesn't want it to happen. On Tuesday of this week she asked me to wiggle her tooth for her and see how lose it was. When I went to wiggle it I saw that her WOMAN tooth, that is what our hygienist calls them, had already come in behind her baby teeth. Well that wouldn't do. I told her to wiggle her tooth all day and that it was going to have to come out that night.

That evening we all gathered around to get Hailey's tooth out. I pulled out the pliers and went to work. (I pulled out Riley's first tooth this way too. I think we are going to have to make it a tradition.) She cried more about opening her mouth to let me put the pliers in then she did when I actually pulled the tooth. She didn't even realize it was out. Sydney and Carley, trying to be supportive little sisters, kept opening their mouths trying to convice me they had teeth that needed pulling too. I told Carley that she needed to grow some teeth before I could pull any out.

Hailey was really excited the next morning when she woke me up bright and early, well not so bright, it was too early to be bright, to show me the money the tooth fairy had left for her. My little girl is growing up.

Picking my kids nose

Yes, I have been picking my kids nose. With tweezers, no less. I guess when they decide to stick a googlie eye up their nose, and you have no desire to visit urgent care on a Saturday afternoon, these are the things you do. I'm really glad I was able to get it out. You are never going to live this down SYDNEY!!! Does that really surprise anyone?!!

First Day of Preschool

Sydney went to her first day of Preschool with out me today....and she LOVED it. She cried when I picked her up. --Isn't it supposed to be the other way around.-- She loved playing on the swings and seeing her friends again. She can't wait to go back. That is what we like to hear, even if it is for the toys. LOL!!

My PreSchool

About April of last year I got a letter from Hailey's preschool letting me know that the teacher was going to be retiring and they would no longer be offering a high school preschool. The preschool was set up as an advanced childhood development class for the high school students. Mrs. Bankhead had been teaching for, I think, 23 years and was wonderful!! Each preschool student had a high school student assigned to them as their teacher under the supervision of Mrs. Bankhead. The kids loved it. They loved their teachers, the one on one attention, and a field trip to the wild animal park or the zoo each semester. I loved it. I loved their teachers, I loved that it was only an hour and a half, and I loved that it was only $50.00. You couldn't beat it. It was the best.

I was really sad when I realized that Sydney wasn't going to get this same experience. I looked around at the other preschools in the area and quickly realized a couple things, 1. They all required that she be there for a minimum of three hours. Sydney is a Nov. baby. When she started preschool she would only be two. That felt like a long time for a two year old to be gone. 2. They were all at least triple the price. That just didn't fit into the budget. What to do!? After a little thinking and talking to friends at the park, I decided that I was going to be her preschool teacher. I have done Joy School before, I have worked in primary FOREVER, and I have been a Mom for 8 years. Hopefully through all these experiences I learned a thing or two about teaching 2-4 year olds the basics of a school setting. After making this decision I talked to Mrs. Bankhead and asked for advise, I talked to a kindergarten teacher in my home town, and I talked to my cousin Buffy who had run a preschool for the last five years. With all these words of advise and referrals to many resources I set out to find students and get my lesson plans together. To be quite honest I didn't have to "find" any students. Once you let the word out in a LDS community that you are going to be doing something like this it doesn't take long for people to sign up. When preschool started I had five students. I was so excited and a little nervous about how it would all work. The kids were wonderful. Soon we were up to our elbows, literally, in paint, glue, crayons, markers, and construction paper. We were singing songs about everything from the days of the week to Christmas. We learned how to hold pencils and scissors, how to write from left to right, and our shapes and our colors. Somewhere in the middle of all the chaos and learning I realized I LOVED what I was doing. I was always thinking about My Preschool and how I could make it better, how I could help my students learn better. I loved My Preschoolers too. I loved their cute little faces, the silly things they would bring to share, and how much they loved me back. One of the best days was near the beginning of Dec. when I had the kids do a worksheet where they had to use about four of the skills we had been working on all semester. They had to sit in their seats, they had to listen to directions, they had to find the color of marker I told them to, and they had to color the shape I told them to. All of them could do it. I was so excited I told everyone who would listen about it. I got a lot of strange looks that said, "AND...." It didn't impress too many people, but to me it was AMAZING!!

About the end of November I started to get a feeling that I needed to ask one of the other moms to take over in the new year. I would always push it away. Why would I want to do that?! I loved what I was doing. I had big plans, crafts, and ideas set up for the next semester. The day Ryan came home and let me know he had been laid off I finally saw the WHY. I don't know what is going to happen in the next few months, but I do know that My Preschoolers will be in capable hands and won't have to be jostled around in the middle of the semester. I know that their transition will be easier because they will start out with her after a break and will be excited to learn more. Even though I know the WHY, and know that My Preschoolers will be fine. I am going to miss them a lot. I already miss them. When Sydney first found out I wasn't going to be her teacher anymore, she cried. I wanted to cry too. I LOVE My Preshool, and My Preschoolers! Thank you to the parents for sharing their kids with me. A big thank you to the kids for coming to play. Riley, Annika, Rebecca, Shon, and Sydney.

My Sunbeam and Her First Talk

December 28, 2008 Last day of nursery for Sydney.

OOH!!

Last Sunday was Sydney's first day in Primary as a Sunbeam!! Sydney was sad all week. She kept telling me she was going to nursery not primary. She did not want to move up from nursery. She was perfectly happy in there with the treats and the toys. I was a little surprised that she wasn't more excited. I never anticipated that this would be such a hard move for her. She is my tough girl who can do anything. She even cried and clung to me when I dropped her off last week. For any of you who know my children very well this is very unusual behavior for our family. Usually they barely wave at me as they run off to play with or sit by their friends. By the end of church she was completely happy and didn't want to leave primary. Our primary leaders are so smart. They give the sunbeams a little beanie baby to hold and keep quiet to help them sit still and be quiet themselves. For Sydney this is the stuff of genius!! She loves babies and stuffed animals. She cried at the end of primary last week because she had to leave her baby lamb there. What a tough day!! It was wonderful this week though. She couldn't wait to get there so she could hold her baby lamb again. Back to my tough girl who can handle anything....

January 4, 2009 First day of Sunbeams for Sydney.

....speaking of handling anything, today Hailey was supposed to give a talk in primary. Admittedly I did not prepare her as much as I usually do. I usually work on it with them so it is in their own words and have them practice it a few times so they are comfortable with it. Well this week I dropped the ball and Ryan did the talk this morning with a little help from Hailey. She didn't get to go over it and was a little nervous about it. I thought it would be fine. This is where mistake number two comes in. I was thinking it would be fine because it wouldn't have phased Riley. Well, Hailey isn't Riley. My first clue that everything may not go as planned was when she refused to sit up front. Instead she wanted me to hold her. When it came time for her to give the talk she clung to me and Ryan had to pull her off and push her up the isle. When they got to the front she planted her feet a few feet away from the podium, folded her arms, and wouldn't move. Ryan tried bribing, coxing, anything he could think of, she wouldn't move. At this point I got a brilliant idea. I walked up to the font and asked her if she wanted Sydney to help her. She said she would do it if Sydney helped. Sydney was happy to help. Good, things seemed to be looking up. Well then Hailey refused to do the talking, she only wanted to hold up the pictures. Sydney my new little sunbeam who cried the week before because she didn't want to go to primary was supposed to give a talk the second week she was there, YEAH RIGHT!! At this point I was willing to try anything so I held Sydney up, she is about 6 inches too short for the podium even with the little step stool, and started whispering in her ear. She did beautifully!! She held onto the mike with one little hand and her beanie baby with the other. Hailey held up the pictures and Sydney gave the talk. What team work, and what a nice little sister to be willing to help her big sister. Who knew Sydney would be giving a talk her second week in primary. I guess it goes to show she really is my girl who can handle anything, as long as she has a beanie baby to hold!!

Sweet Sisters!!