What we've been doing

The past couple of weeks have been hanging out with our besties, the LeFevres!  Last week we went to Rigby lake.  We rented a canoe from the college and took some sandwiches and snacks and went to the lake to just lounge about for the day.  Of course, I always forget to take pictures...  Landon and Justin took the kids out on the lake with the canoe several times and Erin and I even made our way on our own.  We figured out that neither one of us is very good at navigating a canoe.  But it was really fun!  We spent most of the time just sitting under the umbrella chatting, but when we got really hot, we went in the water to cool off.  Boy, did it cool us off!  That water was cold!  But we got used to it after a while.  The kids spent most of the time in the water or in the canoe.  Except for Lorelai who preferred playing in the sand...  Later, after everyone had showered, eaten a quick dinner, and got settled, we all met up again at G's Dairy for some ice creams and they came to our house to play a mean game of Dominos, which the women, I am happy to say, dominated!

Yesterday was our next adventure.  We went up to Mack's Inn resort up past Island Park to go tubing.  We had this very idealized picture in our minds of what tubing would be...  a lazy day spent lying in the tubes going down the river without a care in the world, maybe getting into a splash fight along the way...  This is not what tubing is in Idaho!  First, when we got there at about 11:00 am, it was only 60 degrees and looked rather over cast.  There was a chance of showers, which made us nervous, but we decided we had driven all the way up there, so we will just do it!  We were all in our swimsuits and a little chilly- but we figured it would warm up.  We took the shuttle up to the top of the river and were given the tubes and off we go, right?  Wrong!!!  The kids did pretty well, getting into the tubes, no real drama.  But right off the bat, Justin was trying to get into his tube and he fell in the water, all the way!  Now, the water was not very deep, maybe 2 feet at the most, but it was ice cold.  No...  colder than you think.  I am talking hypothermia cold.  So cold that he was gasping for breath.  I thought he was literally going to have a heart attack, right there at the boat dock.  But he finally caught his breath, got in his tube, got Lorelai's tube tied to his tube and off he went.  Now it was my turn.  I got in with no real problems except that I could not believe I was doing this because that water was so freakin' cold!  I got maybe 100 yards down the river when I got totally land locked.  The water was too shallow, and I did not steer well enough to stay out of the really shallow part, so I got out of the tube and walked.  I was wearing my crocs in the water, which I thought was the perfect shoe for this occasion, but I had so many rocks in my shoes, I could hardly walk!  I finally got to a point where I thought I could easily get in my tube.  I tried to sit and BAM!!!  I went over!  Completely under water, I was all alone, everyone was way ahead of me, and I truly thought that I might die.  I thought for sure I was going to drown in 2 feet of water in the Snake River.  The water was so cold, it took my breath away. I was gasping for breath.  Now I knew how Justin had felt just minutes earlier!  There is no way to control the gasping.  It is a natural instinct.  Nothing can stop it.  I was so confused that I was floundering around in the water, trying to stand up, but my legs were numb and I thought that everyone was so far ahead of me, I would never catch up... or my dead body would float by them as they were tubing down the river and they would just have to wait until they got to the bottom of the river to do anything about it...  by then, my kids would be a mess!  But, I finally got up and decided to walk a little further.  Justin had seen me fall and stopped his tube and waited for me to get to him.  At that point, we tied our tubes together.  The kids had all tied their tubes to Erin's tube and Landon was going it alone.  I felt much better being tied to Justin and Lorelai.  Soon the river got a little deeper, and we no longer had to keep getting out to get off of the sandbars...  the sun was shining, and it became a nice trip!  We got used to the cold water and all sang and told jokes and watched some funny old ladies who were kayaking and drinking beer.  We looked for beaver dams and searched for moose, (never saw one) and generally had a really enjoyable time!  Lorelai did great until about the last half hour.  By then, she was done.  She was hungry and had to go potty... (She would not go in the tube, no matter how many times we tried to convince her.)  We were on the river from about 11:30 to almost 3.  It was a long trip, but pretty great!  We will definitely go again next year, but Justin and I will do a canoe, next time.  Afterward, we all changed and made our way down to Big Jud's in Ashton where we ate 1 lb burgers, yummy fries and o-rings and the kids got ice cream.  By the time we got home, we were all exhausted.  We all took showers and put on our jammies.  I think I was asleep by 10! That is some kind of record for me.

And now, we gotta think of what to do next week!  Our last week of summer!  ;)

Summer is passing us by!

The summer is whizzing by and I feel like I can't slow it down!  I had such big plans and before you know it, those plans will not have happened because the summer just sped by. 
Right now we are in the middle of swimming lessons...  I am counting down my last days of work for the semester...  Justin has been counting down the days to the end of the semester since the first day it started...  So I feel like things are kind of on hold until next Friday when Graduation is all over and Justin and I can finally plan some family time with the kids! 
Caroline is getting so big!  I think she is in the middle of a growth spurt!  Her feet have grown 1 and 1/2 sizes just since school was out.  Hilton got a big boy hair cut so that he doesn't look like Justin Beiber anymore...  his words...  And Lorelai is acting a lot older too.  She is talking more clearly and has become much more opinionated lately.
So, for now, I will sign off until we can get to the good part of the summer!  The part when we all get to do fun things together.  I want to go to the zoo.  That is my top priority!  Until then... see ya soon.

I just don't have time to blog

I am busy!  It is summer!  I like to spend as much time outside as possible because the summer time here only lasts about 3 days.  We are almost done with those 3 days...  :) 
Our days consists of morning chores, then going to the free school lunch, then we do something fun like either go to the splash park, go to the new awesome pool, do a little shopping, go to the summer movie, or summer bowling or the kids play with friends while I work in the yard, clean the house, or read a book.  I have been lazy about making dinner...  Summer is a great time for salads and such.  Justin promises that we will get a grill this summer!!!  I can't wait for that.  The dogs laze out in the sun or the shade, depending on their mood.  It is great!  This is our first entire summer in our house and we are loving taking care of the yard!  We are now in the process of taking up all the bark and we are going to replace it with river rock.  It is going to look so nice, in addition to being better so the dogs don't spread the bark around all over...  We haven't taken any trips and really have no plans to do so.  But 4th of July we are going to  go to the parade and go roast hot dogs at a local park!  It should be lots of fun!   Not to mention, of course the fireworks at night!  Summer is fun, and we are taking advantage of the short time it lasts here...

This is a test to see if I can blog from my phone!

Long anticipated update...

I know it has been forever since I have updated this blog.  I wish there were a way for me to do it from my phone, maybe there is...  but I would probably update everyday if that were possible!
The summer is finally here!  My kids are at an age where they can all play outside without my being out there with them constantly!  It has been crummy weather here, so far, so they spend a lot of time indoors.  This makes for a lot of fighting.  But it is nice to have the freedom to go where ever I want whenever I want...  if we ever went anywhere. 
Yesterday we went to the PTO summer movie, Shrek Forever After...  it was silly and lame, but it gave us something to do on a cold, cloudy day.  And you can't beat free! 
We have big plans for the summer.  We are going to be doing lots of fun things if the weather ever warms up!  We have a new pool/water park opening the end of the month which we are anticipating!  But if it is as cold as it is right now...  who knows when we will get there.
We want to go see the Bodies exhibit in Idaho Falls.  It shows the insides of real human bodies...  Hilton is fascinated by this and can't wait to go!  We are planning a trip to the zoo...  We would love to go up to Missoula this summer sometime...   just to visit our old stomping grounds.  We also want to go up to Yellowstone and see the water falls at some point.  Not to mention all of our plans to hang out with our awesome friends this summer!
In the mean time... we just have to wait out the crummy weather...  be grateful for the rain... be grateful we don't need air conditioning...  and find things to do that do not require us to be outdoors, like going bowling, going to the movies, going to the library...
Can't wait for some fun times this summer!

One battle won

So many people have responded to my Warriors post, that I feel like I need a follow-up.  Nothing in my life has changed in the last few days...  well not much...  I will get to that in a minute...

I have been thinking a lot about what I wrote about in the last couple of days.  I have been wracking my brain with ways to try to be a better mother and more patient and more spiritual.  I really thought it would be easier.  I have always know about free-agency.  I have always known that everyone has the opportunity to make their own choices.  But I also have always had that scripture in the back of my mind that says, train up a child the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.  I think that is in Proverbs 22.  Anyway, that is what I have always been taught and have counted on.  I thought that if I just made sure that we were reading our scriptures having family prayers, having Family Home Evening that my children would be good, obedient children who would do what I ask, when I ask.  I know that is a little unrealistic, but I was at least pretty sure they would not kill each other...   now I am not so sure.

I remember arguing, okay fighting, with Chris and Tina.  I remember beating them up!  But I did not think my kids would behave this way to one another.  I wonder, daily what I have done to make my children so contentious!  I know, I am not exactly the best about speaking calmly and collectedly when I am upset, but I expect a lot more from them.  They are the chosen generation.  My children should come out of the womb able to negotiate calmly and without force or physical violence.  No.  I was way wrong about this one. 

I will tell you a little bit of success that we have had this week.  Monday night I had planned a big FHE lesson complete with scriptures and an activity and I was going to be the best mom ever.  The kids were going to be amazed by my spirituality...  as was my husband.  But when I got home from picking up Justin from school, it was late, 6:00pm, the kids had not eaten yet, and I was bombarded with yelling, screaming and fighting children.  Caroline was mad that Hilton was not respecting her authority as the babysitter and Hilton thought Caroline was taking the position of a dictatorial proletariat.  (Those were not his exact words...)  There was crying, there was screaming, there was some hitting and kicking and I had had it.  I had just written this post about my beautiful warriors that day, but I wanted them to be warriors for the truth.  I wanted them to be warriors for righteousness.  I wanted them to be warriors for peace...  I did not want them to be warriors in a civil war in our own home.  So what did I do?  I screamed!!!  I screamed at the top of my lungs!!!  I told everyone to sit down!!!  We were going to have FHE right then and there.  I took a few deep breaths and asked my very in control, very calm husband to say the prayer.  And then we had a discussion about having a home where the spirit can reside.  We talked about how the Spirit will leave our home when we are yelling and screaming and fighting.  Hilton was a little confused since he was just baptized and understood that he now had the gift of the Holy Ghost and did not understand how or why He would leave.  At first, Hilton just laid on the floor mumbling under his breath, occasionally kicking one of us...  But by the end, he had decided it was worth participating.  Caroline cried a little because she knew she had been the cause of a lot of contention lately.  Even Lorelai said she knew the house is happy when the Holy Ghost is here.  I feel like it was a great discussion and a way better lesson than the one I had prepared about responsibility...  (Which I am saving for next week.)  And in the past few days, there has been less contention in our home.  There has been a lot less drama.  The kids are working really hard to keep the Spirit here.  Last night Caroline was yelling about something and Hilton said, "The Holy Ghost is going to leave our house if we keep yelling."  Boy did that shut her up!  Lorelai has been praying at every meal that her brother and sister will be nice to keep the Holy Ghost in our home.  It has only been a couple of days, but it has been nice.


And I read the responses from all of my friends...  and I see that I am really not alone.  I know I said this in the last post, but sometimes I really don't believe it.  I think that I have got to be the worst mom ever.  I read other friends' blogs about all of the fun activities they did with their kids and the clothes they made them and the amazing organic meals they make them and the well-thought out and planned Family Home Evenings they have and how smart their kids are being in this AP class and that advanced program and how their children are reading to them while they are nursing them and how they are doing formula's for NASA on the side and being potty trained before they can walk...  I think that I am definitely the worst mother ever.  My daughter still needs me to wipe her bottom every time she goes potty...  she still sucks a binki!!!  We are having leftovers for dinner tonight...  I have a pile of clean laundry on my bed right now that needs to be folded.  Our downstairs has toys and pillows everywhere and our upstairs looks like FAO Schwartz threw up in it...  Our dog needs to be bathed, we are almost out of milk, my hair is a mess because I did not dry it after I washed it, I am wearing sweats, I ate a Totino's pizza for lunch, I would much rather be reading a book than getting dinner ready right now and I am sitting here writing this blog... 

But I have found out that I am not alone in all of this.  Whether you have 3 kids or 7 kids, if you are a mom, you totally get it!  You know that it is really hard to raise children right now.  You know that you want them to be righteous, Christians who are independent thinkers, but who are obedient to the commandments.  You know that you want them to be compassionate and good and polite.  But you also want them to stand up for truth and righteousness and not anyone push them around and tell them they are wrong for their opinions even if they are a little conservative or a little liberal.  I want my kids to be the ones who look for the people out there who are outsiders and who need a friend, and I want them to say, "I am going to be nice to them.  I am going to accept them."  This is what I want.  This is what I know all of you want.  Or at least some version of this. 

I am going to work at it.  I feel like I won a small battle Monday night.  But the war is far from over. 

Warriors

I keep saying I am going to send my daughter to the gypsies, and I am pretty sure that if I had their phone number, I really would...  Caroline has become a beast in her 12th year.  She will be 12 in October and will be entering Young Women and I just keep thinking, it will get better.  She will start being a polite, obedient daughter.  She will not whine and cry when I ask her to do something.  She will not pop off with some smart remark when I do something that does not please her.  She will conform to my way of thinking...  I am not thinking that I am delusional.

Saturday there was a Relief Society meeting with Sister Julie B. Beck at the I-Center.  It was for South Eastern Idaho.  I think 70 Stakes were invited.  I had to usher for it...  so I went.  There were almost 10,000 in attendance!  Almost all women!  It was a wonderful meeting and I feel like I got a lot out of what she had to say.  One thing struck me, well, a lot more than one thing, in fact...  but this one thing pertains to this particular post...  she said that Heavenly Father is not sending down the polite, obedient, submissive spirits to live in these times.  The spirits He is sending to earth have got to be warriors.  They have to be strong, independent thinkers.  They have to be the ones who are going to fight!  So when we ask why our children are so strong-willed and disobedient and obstinate, this is why.  I should be grateful for my difficult children.  She did say that we are the ones that have to teach them, to train them.  We are basically the boot camp drill sargents in a manner of speaking.  We need to whip them into shape.  Not in the same way they do at boot camp, but with love, compassion and with the Spirit as our guide.  But, I tell you what, it is getting harder and harder every day. 

I have good kids.  They are very well-behaved and polite in public.  To others, they would never dream of being the brats that they are at home.  But that really doesn't help me here...  I want my home to be a heaven on earth as the song goes, and it feels more like a war zone.   But listening to Sister Beck helped me to feel like maybe I am not alone.  Not everyone has this all figured out.  I just need to hang in there and make sure I am giving my children the tools they need to live righteous lives in unrighteous times.  The Lord is not apologizing for the times we are living in.  The greatest prophesies are coming to pass right now, around us.  He knew and knows everything that is happening and will happen...  and He is not telling us how sorry He is, because it has to happen.  But he needs his warriors on this earth for the big battle.  And my role is to teach His warriors.  That is a daunting task.  Our children need to be armed with an arsenal!  They have to have the truth in them before it can come out of them.  Who is the one to put it there?  Mom.  That is me. 

As the Mommy, I create the climate in my home where the Spirit can dwell.  That is terribly frightening to me.  I wish I were a better mom, a better person, a better member of the church.  I feel ill-prepared for this job.  I am trying to arm my children with no weapons myself and that scares me to death. 

But I will press forward and do my best.  If I yell...  (which I do, a lot,) I will have to try to remember that the Spirit speaks with a still-small voice.  And when I cry because I feel like I can't do it anymore, I just have to hang in there and remember I am not alone.  There are lots of us out there. 

So, here's to you mom's... get your warriors ready...  it's time for boot camp.

Our 8 year old!

I have not been great about blogging lately.  It is the darn iphone.  I do most of my computering on it, so I really don't even think about blogging! 

But I did want to blog about my beautiful boy who turned 8 last weekend!  Hilton had his birthday and baptism on the same day.  He was a little worried that it would not be a fun day because we had to go to church...  (Yeah, I know I should be teaching him that church is fun and great and everything...)  Anyway, we proved him wrong by doing all kinds of fun and cool things.  First, his Grandma Bates came up from Utah to celebrate with us!  And then his Aunt Ginny and Uncle Rich came up with his cousins, Elizabeth and Ethan!!  We had a great dinner with them Friday night and then the day of the baptism came and it was so wonderful to have some family there with us.  Our ward had 3 kids being baptized, so there were a lot of people there, but it is not the same as having family there to share this with you.  Uncle Rich was able to be a witness to the baptism and to be in the circle when Hilton was confirmed.  Justin gave an absolutely amazing blessing, as he always does.  (Even if he was crying through most of it...)  I really don't think there was a dry eye in the room.  After that we went bowling!  Hilton invited 3 friends to come with him.  Anthony, Tristan, and Joe.  We all bowled, ate pizza and cake and were silly for hours!  We discovered Uncle Rich and Aunt Ginny's hidden talents for bowling, but I think Ethan out-bowled us all!  (He is 2.)  After that, we went ice skating at the golf course.  Ethan and Elizabeth were not too keen on the idea, and Ginny decided to keep a dry bum...  But Rich and all the kids went skating as Justin and I walked around on the ice with Lorelai.  Ice skating here is not what you might expect.  They basically just have a liner on the golf course which they flood and put lights around it.  For $2 you get skate rental and an all-day skate pass.  It is a cheap, fun activity for the kids...  the ice isn't in the best of shape...  but hey, what can you expect for $2? 

After all of the fun of the day everyone was exhausted.  So we all pretty much just went home and crashed.  Later that evening we went over to Rich and Ginny's Hotel room for a bit to just hang out and visit with them for a bit.  When we got home it was late, but we were all hungry so we went to Original Thai for dinner.  This was quite a treat for the kids because we usually go without them cause it can be a little pricey...  But they love the fried rice and the thai dumplings, so they were really excited to go!  I did take pictures, and I will post them soon...  I just need to find the cord to hook up the camera to the computer.

Hilton is an amazing boy.  I love him dearly and am so grateful to have him in my life.  He is full of energy.  He is smart.  He is loving.  He is inquisitive.  And he has his own mind.  Sometimes this might be a pain to his parents, but I know that as he gets older, this is going to be a very important attribute for him to have.  He made his own decision about being baptized.  We made it clear to him that he did not have to be baptized.  I am sure he won't remember that when he is a rebellious teenager, so I am writing it down on the permanent record!  He wanted to be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  I am very proud of him for that.  He is a great friend to people.  He is polite and has very good manners.  (At least outside of our home.)  He can be a good brother when he wants to be.  Congratulations, Hilton!  turning  8 is a big step in your life!  Just one of many you will take.   I am proud of you and I love you!

Back to my roots?

I decided to go a little darker.  I have felt like my blond was too blond-ish.  It was getting brassy and feeling greasy.  I did not like how it was looking or making me feel, so I decided to go darker.  Closer to my own roots with a little strawberry mixed in.  I have naturally dark blond hair.  It is mossy and boring and not shiny... just dull. So I decided that I wanted to spice things up a little. Justin put his two cents in. He wanted me to go as red as Joan from Mad Men.  But, I wasn't quite ready for that yet. Maybe next time. This is a little more strawberry blond, but I feel like my hair is a little shinier and a little healthier and I feel like I am shade-appropriate for the winter weather.

Does it feel the same way to you as it does to me, that as soon as Christmas is over, that winter should be over as well?  I must tell you that I love the winter.  I love the snow.  I love the cold.  I love bundling up in a blanket and reading a book or watching my shows during the day, when it is a little dark outside from the cloud cover.  I always worry when it is January and the temperatures start to rise... even just a couple of degrees above freezing.  My thoughts say, "No!  We haven't had enough winter yet!"  I know I am in the minority in these thoughts, but what can I say?  The winter makes me happy!  Some people love the hot sun shining and wearing shorts and going to the lake and swimming in the pool all day long.  I guess, I love those things too... but I would much rather be inside looking out the window at the snow flakes falling... guessing how many inches we will get this time. 

So when winter comes, I want my hair to be a little darker, like the sky outside, like my rooms inside my home, like my thoughts...  Give me a good zombie thriller, or murder mystery to read in the winter and I am good for at least an afternoon... 

Yes, a New Post!!!!

I know, it has been way too long.  I have been much too busy!  But it is now a new year, and I have nothing to do... so I will update you with all of the boring little details of our lives in this tiny town we call home.

Let's see, the semester is over.  I finished teaching my class and managed not to fail anyone.  I was supposed to teach again this semester and then again in the Spring, but due to budget cuts, they will not be offering my class for a while so I have a break!  I don't know if I want to teach again...  it might be more trouble than it is worth, but for now, I am happy just not teaching. 

This semester I am back to working in the ticket office, which I love!!!  It is so fun for me to work among people and to get to boss people around and tell them where to go and what to do and pretend I know more than them...  it makes me happy!

I have found that I have way too many interests.  There are so many things that I would like to learn to do and then when I do learn to do them, I find that I really like doing them so it means I have tons of hobbies and not enough time in which to do them all.  I guess I have the time, but I just don't have the initiative to figure out which are the most important to me at the time and choose a specific one to do so I end up doing nothing...  well, not nothing... but not as much as I would like.  But I did put together a quilt for Lorelai!  I will post a picture of it later...  but I still have to do the binding on it.  She kind of stole it before it was all finished.  She loves it.  It is made of scraps of that minki material which is super-soft.  Lorelai likes soft things.  Who doesn't, right?  But I think hers is more than the average obsession.  She likes to have soft things against her skin and is very particular about the things she wears.  She will only wear one dress to church.  She has several, but unless I want an all out war, I have to let her wear her red velvet twirl dress with the bow.  It is the only one she will wear.  She absolutely will not wear jeans.  Refuses!!!  She won't even wear pants.  She will only wear leggings.  This presents a problem in cold Idaho.  But we have learned to get past it.  She loves velour leggings the most, so I try to indulge her when possible.  Although why she cares what she is wearing is beyond me since she usually ends up in a tutu or her Repunzel costume minutes after she gets dressed anyway...  But they have to be worn over her clothes so that the costume doesn't touch her skin.  My child is normal...  right?

Okay, I have to end this post, but I will continue my rant later...  you have not heard the last from me, my friends!