Mema

Okay so I am going to brag for a little while. I have a wonderful mother. She adores being a grandmother and she adores my kids!! (For no other reason that would make me love anyone-adore my kids you are good in my book!) Anyway when she found out she was going to be a grandma she searched and searched for the name she wanted to be called. Grandma Miller was already taken by my grandmother so she wanted her own identity. So she heard a little girl call her grandmother "mema". And so it began. My kids call her Mema!

I miss living near my mom. She loves to shop and go out to eat and I inherited that from her. She really is a great friend- of course we have our moments but for the most part I don't know how I have lived away from her this long.

Her last visit here her and Sydney started doing "Friends Forever" they hook their little pinkies and say "Friends forever!" Sydney loved it and would do it the whole weekend she was here. My mom is awesome with doing things for my kids that makes their childhood memorable and fun.

Her biggest sacrifice ever will be this time next year. If all goes well she and my dad will move here and make me so very happy, I can't even express it. But I know it will be a huge sacrifice for her and because of that it shows her love even more.

The Dresses

Alright I better set the record straight about these dresses. Aren't they absolutely adorable. My favorite is the purses that go with them!! So fun. So for the last couple of years my wonderful friend and neighbor says lets make Easter dresses and like with all of her suggestions I say, "Okay!" So luckily for me she is super talented and patient and either teaches me so kindly or takes the dress away from me and says, "Let me do that part."
So as for Sydney's dress I did do most of it. I cut out both dresses and purses. On Sydney's I sewed and gathered everything but she took over and put the two pieces together so that I could make lunch for our kids and start on Kaitlyn's dress!
Same for Kaitlyn she did the putting them together. But as for the purses I ran out of time before my family got here and totally screwed up Kaitlyn's trying to go too fast, so Jodi did those!! And being the great friend that she is would never say anything if I took all the credit for making them. I love that about Jodi. But I am learning and I love sewing with her. It also seems like such a wonderful accomplishment. Dresses stay sewed dishes do not stay washed!!

So thank you Jodi for being an awesome teacher. I love doing it even when I am saying all sorts of bad things about you as I am gathering! I do love it and I can't wait till you call and tell me what I am tackling next. And of course I will say, "Okay!"

Easter Weekend

We had such a fantastic time with Mema and Papa being in town for Easter. The kids couldn't get enough of their grandparents. We went to the park and played and they saw tons of movies. When we lived in the same town Mema and Papa always took the kids to the movies so when they come to visit a lot of movies are seen! Connor wasn't so sure about these people who wanted to hug and cuddle him all the time. But after a few dozen M&M's from Mema and tickles from Papa he started to smile and get excited to see them when they walked in. But no need to worry Mema and Papa it is only a matter of time before he too is smitten and in love with you guys!!
We had so much fun. We decorated Easter Eggs together. Everyone got into it. Even Connor and Papa. Papa decorated one elaborate egg. As for Connor he began coloring on the egg and then decided it was better just to eat it!
I couldn't get Connor to cooperate for a big family picture so this is as close as I got on Easter morning. (by the way those cute dresses the girls have on I made--but that's another blog)
I had an absolute wonderful holiday. Anytime I can spend it with my family I am happy. I just wish my two brothers could have been there. Overall the holiday was wonderful!

As for my brother I love you Christopher and my prayers are with you right now!! Everything will be all right!

They're Here!!

Mema and Papa are here!!!

Yeah!!!

My Syd

My little Sydney has a few anxieties in life. One of them would me mommy leaving the house. We have a routine we go through when I leave. I must kiss her goodbye, then hug her goodbye, then say goodbye (only after she says it), then she will tell me that she will miss me and I must repeat that and if all the stars are aligned correctly I will then be allowed to leave the house.

Now to help with her anxiety I often don't let her know I am going until it is time for me to leave. But the other night I was getting ready to go to a church meeting and she figured out I was leaving. I still had an hour before I had to be there but she started bombarding me with wanting to know when I was leaving. I let her know it wasn't for quite a while and I promise not to leave without telling her. ( I would never leave without telling her that would be a huge mistake!)

Well she followed me around for awhile asking about every 30 seconds if I was leaving now. Then all of a sudden she was gone. I went to go downstairs and found her at the garage door legs spread and arms spread across the door barricading the way. (Not that I can't lift her 27 pound body) but she was doing her best to block my way. I told her I was just going downstairs and there was no reason to stand there and wait for me. But when I came back up she was still there. I went back to my room to finish getting ready and when I went to leave the above picture is what I found. She hadn't given up her post but she had fallen asleep! She looked so cute it was hard to leave knowing how hard she worked to keep me here. But I woke her up gave her a kiss and a hug and told her I loved her and would miss her and she went back to sleep on the couch.

Wow how I love this little girl and all of her little quirks!

Great News!

I got a letter in the mail this weekend that made me so happy! It was from my student loan company. The letter informed me that my student loan debt has been forgiven. The letter stated due to the fact that I have always diligently paid on my student loan they are going to forgive the remainder of the loan. Isn't that awesome!! I was so excited. I had paid my loan down to around $800 but still that is so great that I don't have to pay the rest. So I can now say for the first time that I no longer have a student loan. My education was worth the money but it is nice to say it is over now!!

I'm Tired!!

Remember the days when you would be tired so you would just take a nap, or sleep in till noon? My favorite thing in college was to wake up on a Saturday roll over and pick up a good book and read then sleep some more. Just completely waste the day! How I miss those days right now!! It seems that I rarely get to sleep through the night let alone find time in the day to sleep! This is an awesome picture of Connor falling asleep outside my bathroom door, right smack in the middle of my dirty clothes pile. How I wish I too could just lay down on that mountain of dirty laundry and go to sleep.

My little sister in law who is in college came and spent some time with us over the holidays. She was explaining to me how exhausted she was and how busy she had been the last couple of weeks. I remember being tired in college and crashing for exams-- but what she doesn't get is that she gets make up sleep. She then spent the next two weeks of vacation sleeping. I just want some make up sleep!! But don't get me wrong I do not be grudge her that sleep. Someday soon she will be a mommy too and be wishing for some sleep. So for now sleep on little sister sleep on!

He Can Walk

Here it is. We have been trying all week to capture this on video. Our Connor can walk. He still prefers to crawl but he is trying more and more each day. Also please note that his body is free of the measels!! What a beautiful Sunday!

A Wonderful Winter Day

I had so much fun yesterday with my kids. I took Britton, Chandler and Kaitlyn up to Soldier Hollow to go cross-country skiing and sledding. We had a great day. Look at this wonderful view that alone was a nice day.
The first thing we did was go skiing. I was nervous none of us have ever been cross country skiing before. I was impressed how well everyone did. Chandler and Britton took to it so easily. Britton was great at leading the way to go. Chandler could go down the hills like a wild man and still stay on his feet. I wish I could say the same! As for Kaitlyn she did great the only problem she had was going uphill she didn't weigh enough and sometimes she would just slide back down. My arms are still sore from stopping her.
Now this is the life. We went sledding where you sit on the sled and they pull you up the hill and then you slide down. I will never sled the other way again!! And there are no trees to run into! This is Kaitlyn kicking back enjoying herself as she is pulled up the hill.
I had a really fun time. It is days like this that you remember to have fun with the kids and not just be the mom all the time. I loved it!

This is one of the last runs the kids did this day. They discovered how to hold onto each other and go down the hill as a group.

Heavenly Father Please Protect My Family

Every year Monte and I put money aside from our tax return to increase our food storage. This year I decided we also needed to make 72 hour kits. What a job!! Today while grocery shopping I started tackling this job. Lets just say by the time I left Walmart it was hard to tell that Connor was even in the grocery cart and Kaitlyn was begging to leave.

So 72 hour kits for 7 people is not an easy task. I think I should have tried putting it together a little bit at a time. But my family will survive in 72 hours (maybe not pleasantly) but we will survive. So as of tonight they are all in backpacks on my bedroom floor. Now I am making a list of how I would improve them when the bug hits me again. But for those of you who know Monte I did this endeavor SPREAD SHEET FREE!! (That is until he finds out I made them and then goes back and creates a spread sheet! You got to love him)

But now I am praying that Heavenly Father notices my faithfulness and never makes us use them!!

My Over Achiever!

So last night when I put Connor to bed I noticed that he had a few bumps by his ear. I started wondering if maybe he was having an allergic reaction to something. Then this morning he woke up with bumps all over his body and I freaked. I called the doctor's office and they informed me because he had the chicken pox shot 11 days ago it may be chicken pox so I better bring him in this morning. Great Chicken Pox just what I need.

But don't worry he doesn't have the chicken pox he has MEASLES!!!! Our doctor informed us only about 1 in a 100 kids get the measles from the MMR shot. He exclaims, "What an over achiever you are Connor!!" So for all of you good friends that have been with Connor in the last few day he is NOT contagious. He just looks bad.

I feel so bad for him. But he is still smiling and laughing and playing so we are just blessed that we have vaccination that make the measles this instead of what they use to be. Have a great weekend we know we will.