Missouri Musings

Some favorite scans

2012-01-28T15:42:00.003-06:00

A report Brynlie wrote about the trip she took to Utah a couple years ago. I loved all the descriptions! This girl has the greatest memory ever.

Our Christmas card

Why I'm grateful for health insurance! A fairly simple hospital procedure cost over $14,000!

A recent note from my Grandma Palmer

An adorable thank you note to Santa, from Lindsey:

Dear Santa Thank you for The amarican Girl doll with a tea set but I olmost broke the tiny chair when I sat on it my Boodie hurt

Lindsey's teacher made these comments on her recent report card:

"Lindsey has a perfect grade card! She is independent on all language arts and math objectives. She is reading a DRA level 16, above grade level. She is proud of her work and always completes it in a timely manner. Lindsey's favorite thing about school is recess and she loves to swing. She is well liked by her classmates. She has been an excellent helper in the classroom".

Life is good

2012-01-28T14:51:00.000-06:00

The temple dates were announced! The Open House will be in April, with the Cultural Presentation on May 5th (that Brevan gets to participate in!) and the official dedication on May 6th. So exciting!!

This week, I taught my last preschool class for the year. It was so much fun to do "homeschool preschool" with Logan, and I'm hoping some moms will want to do it again next year! For the last class at our house, I set up an obstacle course in the basement, helped them finger paint, put together scrapbooks for the kids, and showed them how to make cereal necklaces. Super fun times. I measured and weighed all the kids in the class, as part of the scrapbook. Logan weighed 40 pounds and was 44 inches tall, putting him at about 60th percentile on weight and 80th percentile on height. Next week, the preschoolers start class at the High School Preschool.

Lindsey started playing basketball on an Upwards basketball team, and is so much fun to watch! She's quite the amazing little point guard, and is announced as "Lindsey Quick Feet Ellefsen" at the beginning of every game. In today's game, she scored 4 baskets, including one for the other team (haha) and one from so far away that the crowd called it a 7-year-old 3-pointer. She has such intense concentration when she plays sports, and I just giggle with delight when watching her. Well, giggling sounds like I'm quiet, which I'm not. I jump up and down and scream the whole time.

Trips are planned! Bryn and I leave for Texas in 13 days, then Ryan and I are jetting off to Puerto Rico in March, then the annual girl trip with my mom and sisters will be to Las Vegas in April. I love this time of year when I feel like a world traveler! For some reason, all the trips seem to happen at around the same time every year.

Yesterday I canned 53 bottles of chicken! It was a two day project because I cooked 15 whole chickens on Thursday, de-boned them all that evening and bottled them yesterday. I'm enjoying the whole canning process so much that I'm going to start pressure cooking more items. I'm quite impressed with myself!

The treadmill is being put to good use. After a month of eating better and exercising, I have not managed to lose any inches or pounds, but feel much better physically. Ryan, on the other hand, has lost 10 pounds already, without really trying hard at all. Dang men.

Brevan is enjoying his Chess Club, where he gets beat by 6-year-old girls on a regular basis. He loves the instructor and is excited to join a league when these classes end.

I have read some great books this year with my Book Club. The last couple we've read, "Rebecca" and "Unbroken" were both amazing.

I head back to the urologist office this week. Ryan heads off to Maine for business.

We are alive, well, and busy. Life is good!

Unusual January

2012-01-20T16:00:00.000-06:00

This has been the warmest fall/winter I have ever experienced, so we have tried to take advantage of the sunshine. Last Sunday I took the kids on a walk so we could feed the hundreds of geese that hang around the neighborhood lake. We brought a couple loaves of bread, but the geese immediately flew away when they saw us coming. Since we were already out in the nice weather, we decided to keep on walking. I got out my camera and took these pictures of the kids.

Brevan complained repeatedly about being forced to enjoy nature. He told me there were bugs on the rocks, bird poop in the grass and nasty mold on the trees. After he refused to touch a tree for a picture, I told him, "The moss on the tree is not gross, it's called NATURE! Not only will I touch it, but I will LICK it right now as proof!"

So I did, as the kids looked on and gagged. It's so easy to gross them out.

2012-01-20T15:38:00.000-06:00

If this girl is smart, she will use her adorable smile to get everything she wants for the next little while. Add in the cute lisp and I can't resist.

2012-01-13T17:01:00.003-06:00

10 Things About Today I Am Grateful For:

We are all healthy
I wasted time by watching some seriously funny Youtube videos
The house is generally clean
I get to go on a date with a hot guy tonight
Listening to Brevan practice the piano
I didn't get out of my pajamas until 3 in the afternoon
Brenda called me just so we could re-live our giggling session from Book Club last night
I've been planning my trip to Texas with Bryn and my annual getaway with Ryan
I'm wearing my favorite jeans
It's a Friday! (the 13th)

10 Places I Am Grateful For

The Oregon Coast
The temple
The beautiful, but simply decorated, church house we meet in every week
The mountains in Utah. Oh how I miss them.
Panera Bread
TJMaxx
Target
My warm bed
The lake
All the places in Europe I will visit someday

10 Modern Inventions I Am Grateful For:

Showers
Cars
Phones
Toilets
Electricity
Computers
Microwaves
Epidurals
Flat-iron hair straighteners
Oxycodone, Morphine, Demerol . . .

10 Foods I Am Grateful For:

Chocolate
Bread
Fanta Orange Soda
Chicken
Cereal
Honey Crisp Apples
Sugar Cookies
Asparagus
Clam Chowder
More chocolate

10 Things About the Gospel I Am Grateful For:

A living prophet
The Book of Mormon
An amazing Bishop
The ability to serve others and learn charity
Personal revelation
A temple where I can make covenants with God
The New Testament that helps me get to know Jesus Christ
Sweet Primary teachers that help my children learn the gospel
The Priesthood
The Spirit that is undeniable

Gratitude Challenge

2012-01-13T11:14:00.002-06:00

10 Physical Abilities I Am Grateful For:

Walking/running so I don't have to be confined to a wheelchair or bed
Hearing my children laugh
Speaking so I can tell other people my opinions . . .haha!
Tasting so chocolate can make me happy
Driving so I can be independent and let my kids be involved in all their activities
Sleeping. I've always thought insomnia sounds like the worst thing ever. I've never had it.
Laughing! Last night I laughed so hard at Book Club that I cried.
Seeing the beautiful world around me
Singing so I can annoy my kids so badly
Uh, using the bathroom. After my brief incontinent issue, and being in the recovery room next to a girl who had just had surgery to remove most of her intestines (thus leaving her with a colostomy bag for the rest of her life), I am extremely grateful that all that "stuff" in me knows it's job and does it.

10 Material Possessions I Am Grateful For:

My white-trash van.
The computer that relieves my stress by letting me blog.
This warm and comfortable house that is fun to decorate.
Ryan's amazing job
Airplanes that take me to fun places I wouldn't usually get to see
Delicious, healthy, clean food
Books that also take me away (in my mind) to fun places I wouldn't usually get to see
Cute clothes that make me feel better about my wrinkled, flabby body
My soft, warm bed with clean sheets and lots of blankets
The TV that can be an awesome waste of time

10 Living People I Am Grateful For (oh, this is going to be hard to only include 10):

My Mom, who overcame a rough childhood to raise 4 responsible, honest, independent children
My Dad, who has always been the best listener
Ryan, my sweety that I met exactly 16 years ago today!!
Tiffany, my favorite person to "therapize" with!
Kara, who would drop everything anytime I needed her and makes me laugh so hard I pee myself
My Brenda, who still struggles to know why she was guided to move to Missouri, even though I think it's obvious that God knew I needed her in my life.
Brevan, who is so patient with being my guinea pig.
Brynlie, who loves to shop with me and is so kind and mature.
Lindsey, who makes me smile every time I see her, and has such a sensitive and tender heart.
Logan, who has the cutest laugh in the world and lets me baby him.

10 Deceased People I Am Grateful For:

First and foremost, Jesus Christ. Although he still lives.
Joseph Smith, Jr.
Gordon B. Hinckley
Marjorie Hinckley
My Grandma Springer
The Founding Fathers (all of them are going to count as one!)
All the heroes of the past wars
Alma the Younger
Eve
Emma Smith

10 Things About Nature I Am Grateful For:

The sun that warms me
The stars that twinkle and make the world feel magical at night
The bright colors of the flowers in the spring
The striking colors of the leaves in the fall
The lake I get to boat on in the summer
The ocean waves that help me ponder the eternities
Trees that remember to obey the powerful One who created them every time the seasons change
Animals - yes, I'm not an animal person, but I can appreciate their existence!
Thunder, lightning and strong rain that make the world feel new again
The human body - it's a wonder anyone stays alive with all the things that have to work properly.

I will finish my list later, when my littlest boy doesn't need me to read him books! :)

2012-01-13T10:30:00.000-06:00

I'm completely phone-dumb. I consider a phone something to speak on and text with - which means I've come a long way since the days I wouldn't even text! It brings up the question as to why I own an iPhone, which could probably drive my kids to school if I programmed it right. I was just told that my Voice Mailbox is full on my phone, so no one can leave a message. I thought this was odd considering I didn't know I have Voice Mail. Oops - sorry everyone.

As I was driving Brevan and Will to school this morning, I told them I was having an issue with my iPhone. They immediately both put down their own iPhones and asked what problem I had. I told them I had taken a bunch of pictures in the past few months and had no idea how to get them from the phone to the computer. They gave me the worst "You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me." look I've ever gotten, and told me I just needed to plug my phone into the computer. Then they grabbed my phone, and preceded to tell me how pathetic I am to still be using the SAME RINGTONE THAT WAS ON THE PHONE WHEN I GOT IT. Heaven forbid.

So I'm a big loser. Good thing I don't care. Although I did have a rude awakening yesterday when the following situation occurred:

Me, singing along to a rock song Brevan was playing outloud on his phone: {thought} I'm such a cool mom. Look at me singing along to my teenage son's music. Not only does it mean I'm young and hip, but I bet I teach my kids the lyrics by pronouncing them so clearly! Other kids must be so jealous of my kids because they have such a fun mom.

Brevan: Mom, seriously, will you stop singing? You are ruining the song.

Brynlie: {eyes rolling pretty dramatically, turns to Brevan and says}: Oh my gosh, I know. I swear she has to ruin every song. And that weird dance thing she does with her head when she listens to music while driving? It's SOOO embarassing.

Ouch.

Anyway, now that I figured out how to get my pictures off my phone, here are some snapshots from the past few months that haven't been added to the blog yet.

While sitting in Stake Conference, our Stake President told all the children in the room to draw a picture of Moroni and hand it him as soon as the meeting was over. Brynlie immediately sketched this picture in less than 5 minutes. She's so talented!

One day I noticed that all my boys were wearing Nike shirts at the same time, so I had to capture it on film. They are such handsome guys!

I took the next couple pictures while eating lunch with the girls in the school cafeteria.

This picture was taken a couple weeks ago when I took Lindsey on a "date" to Red Robin and the new Chipmunks movie at the theater. She had to bring her new doll, Lilly, along with us.

I took this picture on New Years Eve, when it was already 64 degrees! It actually warmed up to 67 later in the day. The warm fall/winter weather had continued until this week, when we finally feel like it's winter.

I took this picture last Saturday, when Brevan helped with the Special Olympics basketball activity all day. He had been working with this cute little dude, Dylan, for the past month. After we left, Brevan got tears in his eyes and talked about how much he enjoyed the whole experience. I'm so proud of this sweet guy.

Fire Power

2012-01-13T09:57:00.001-06:00

It seems there have been so many disasters this past year, but a couple have really hit close to home. First of all, the house directly across the street from our "old" house in Kearney caught on fire just before Christmas and was a complete loss. Luckily, our house (which we still own) was not affected (although the street was evacuated for quite a while) and no one was hurt. You can see how close the house was to ours in this picture, which I took of the boys a couple years ago.

Their kitchen . . .

Looking inside the house from the front door. It was so strange to see their roof completely gone.

And their family room. So heartbreaking for them.

Then this past weekend, we were shocked to hear that the clubhouse at the Liberty Hills Country Club, which we have belonged to for the past few years, had caught on fire. Somehow the fire departments that responded actually ran out of water and had to let it burn to the ground. This is a picture taken before the fire.

Brevan and I took these pictures at the site the morning after the fire. My kids are very sad and concerned about having a pool to swim in this summer. As well as golfing and swimming, we have attended a few weddings at the clubhouse.

It's amazing to witness the power of fire.

Other holiday happenings

2012-01-08T20:42:00.003-06:00

We had a family UNO tournament, which lasted for 5 days. The first player to get 500 points was the winner. No surprise that Ryan won it all, but we all had a great time.
I got a bit addicted to a free Scrabble app on my phone, since I was spending so much time lying down. Nothing makes me quite as proud as beating a computer at Scrabble.
I watched every stinking movie that was on TV. I can hardly stand to sit on the couch anymore, because it feels so good to be up and moving around!
We did a lot of cleaning and organizing as a family. The kid's bedrooms are so organized, even an OCD person would be impressed.
Ryan and I watched "The Pacific" series, which I had bought him for Christmas. Then we borrowed the entire "Band of Brothers" series, and watched that, too. They are so well done, and I was fascinated with learning the small details about the war. They do have some very inappropriate scenes, however, so they are definitely not for everyone.
On News Year Eve I was in bed reading a book by 9:00 pm. How's that for boring and old? I was asleep soon afterward, but woke up about 11:30 so I could watch Brynlie and Brevan do a little celebrating at midnight.
We ate out A LOT (which explains some of the recent weight gain) and had a lot of fun as a family. We saw a few movies in the theater, did some shopping, and enjoyed playing with our new Christmas presents.
Ryan cooked almost every meal, which means we ate meat every day!
Ryan went to the dr. to discuss his deformed finger that he messed up playing football on Thanksgiving. I also put my hand in the bathroom drawer one day and accidentally took a huge chunk off one of my fingers when it ran over a razor. Then Lindsey got an infection on one of her fingers and had a hard time sleeping because she was in pain. Then Brevan bit his fingernails too short and had an in-grown nail on one his fingers. Then Brynlie cut her thumb really badly on a piece of glass attached to a picture frame. Logan has managed to avoid the Ellefsen Finger Curse.
The kids had plenty of Friend Time.

Brevan continued to help out with the Special Olympics. On the day I took these pictures, Clayton (in the black jacket) was hanging out with Brevan at our house at the time the basketball practice started, so he went along also. They were able to work with Jack this day, who is our Bishop's son.

This is Mrs. Nutter, one of the best teachers of all time. She is Brevan's biggest fan (besides his parents, of course)! She has such a fun personality!

The boys even had some time to shoot baskets on their own.

Now we are back in the swing of things, with school, after-school activities, and normal bedtimes. Although I loved having the kids home during winter break, I have to admit that I'm really enjoying having us on a schedule.

Mini-vacay

2012-01-08T20:03:00.002-06:00

We had our kids vote on whether they would like individual Christmas gifts from their Springer grandparents or money for us to take a mini-vacation like we've done other years. The unanimous vote was for a short vacation!

This year we decided to stay at a nice hotel that is attached to the Crowne Center in Kansas City, because there are so many fun activities nearby. Brynlie had recently read the book "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," so she was excited when I realized the play was showing at The Union Station in KC. On the morning of Wednesday, the 28th, we packed our overnight bags and all went to see the play. I was so excited when the script was exactly the same as the play I'd been in when I was 12! We all really enjoyed the play, and the girls were excited to meet "Imogine" when it was over.

We took some pictures of our family inside the beautiful Union Station. I was doped up on strong pain meds, but was still in so much back pain.

I had to hold on to Ryan in order to stand up by this point. My back did not appreciate sitting in the theater seats for a couple hours. I was walking hunched over and was excited to go check in to the hotel so I could relax again.

The kids were excited to swim in this outdoor heated pool that was on the roof of the hotel. Who would have thought they would be swimming outside in December? We went to lunch at an incredible Mexican restaurant that was in a Latin area of town. I absolutely loved being around all the Latin people, and trying to understand their Spanish conversations. I wish I could move our family to a Latin country for a while so my kids could learn to love the people as much as I do!

For dinner we walked through the mall to Fritz's, which is the kid's favorite downtown restaurant because the food is delivered on trains. Logan was in heaven!

After seeing many of the fun displays in the mall, we headed across the street so Ryan could take the kids ice skating. I was so sad to have to miss out, but I was barely able to move, even though I'd laid down for many hours before we headed over. After standing in line for a while, Ryan came back and said it was too crowded so he would bring the kids back on the weekend to do the ice skating. The day he took them (New Years Eve) was 66 degrees! How's that for some awesome outdoor ice skating in December? This warm winter has been great, but I have to admit I'm ready for a good snowstorm now.

We took the kids to a play area by the ice skating rink where the kids played hide-and-seek and ran around together until they were worn out.

Brynlie had just hurt her head and was angry I made her pose for a picture. I'm such a mean mom to not comfort her first! Haha!

After a good night's rest, we took the kids to a free play area in the mall. The three youngest had a great time climbing and sliding on all the life-size crayons . . .

. . .but Brevan was more excited about listening to music with his new noise-cancelling headphones. It's so funny to have kids in such different stages, because it's very difficult to find activities they all enjoy.

Next we drove to an entertainment center called PowerPlay, where the kids played to their hearts content for many hours. It was the activity the kids were most excited about doing with Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas money!

We are big fans of "mini-vacations" because we get to spend uninterrupted time as a family, and we feel like we've been gone longer than just a couple days. Thanks for the fun present, Mom and Dad!

Poem titled "The Two Mothers"

2012-01-06T13:34:00.002-06:00

Long time ago, so I have been told,
Two angels once met on streets paved with gold.
"By the stars in your crown, "said the one to the other
"I see that on earth, you too, were a mother.

And by the blue-tinted halo you wear
You, too, have known sorrow and deepest despair."
"ah, yes," she replied, "I once had a son,
A sweet little lad, full of laughter and fun."

"But tell of your child." "oh, I knew I was blessed
From the moment I first held him close to my breast,
And my heart almost burst with the joy of that day."
"Ah, yes," said the other, "I felt the same way."

The former continued: "The first steps he took-
So eager and breathless; the sweet startled look
Which came over his face-he trusted me so."
"Ah, yes, " said the other, "How well do I know."

"But soon he had grown to a tall handsome boy,
So stalwart and kind-and it gave me so much joy
To have him just walk down the street by my side."
"Ah yes," said the other, "I felt the same pride."

"How often I shielded and spared him from pain
and when he for others was so cruelly slain.
When they crucified him-and they spat in his face,
How gladly would I have hung there in his place!"

A moment of silence-" oh, then you are she-
The mother of Christ:; and she fell on one knee.
But the blessed one raised her up, drawing her near,
And kissed from the cheek of the woman, a tear.

"Tell me the name of the son you love so,
That I may share with your grief and your woe."
She lifted her eyes, looking straight at the other,
"He was Judas Iscariot; I am his mother."

This poem was read in Sacrament meeting on Christmas Day. It was a good reminder to me that we can never judge another person based on the decisions their loved ones make; whether good or bad.

2012-01-05T22:43:00.001-06:00

Well, I have Christmas updated on the blog. There is still so much more to write and say, but I will need to end for tonight so I can get to bed. We are all still adjusting to being back on a normal schedule, where we can't stay up until midnight or 1:00, then sleep in until 9:00.

To finish the story of my great ordeal, on the day before Christmas my lower back started aching. I was able to keep it at bay with lots of ibuprofen, but it continued to worsen the next few days. By Monday, I wasn't able to get out of bed and was back on the strongest pain relievers I had been given for my kidney pain, plus 800 mg of ibuprofen every 4 hours. I wasn't sleeping and was feeling frustrated that I had just overcome intense pain and was now dealing with more intense pain. Tuesday wasn't any better, and by Wednesday I was in constant tears. We left on Wednesday morning for Kansas City, where we spent a couple days in a hotel as a family, doing many of the nearby activities. I will upload pictures from those days later. I spent most of the mini-vacation laying on the hotel bed while my family left to have fun. It was very unlike me, and I hated feeling like a complainer after having just had to excuse myself from activities because of my kidney surgery.

By Friday I was able to keep the pain at a reasonable level by hardly moving at all and doing some physical therapy on myself. With it being a holiday weekend, my Family Practice doctor was out of town and unavailable until Tuesday. At my appt on Tuesday morning, the doctor walked in the room and said he was having a crazy day so far. I told them that was very unfortunate, because I had a lot to discuss with him! He patiently listened to all my whining about the surgery mistakes, gave me some good advice, then listened while I talked about my back issues. I had been convinced that I had a disc that had slipped in my back, because of the Springer family history of bad backs. The doctor did some x-rays and tests, and really thinks I dodged a bullet this time and that the back pain was a result of my being in so much pain with the kidney stones the previous week. He said I had been clenching my muscles so tightly and bending over in pain, so it threw my back out. What do you know, I think he was right because I feel a million times better now.

In other important news, my Grandpa Palmer (my Mother's step-father) is dying of leukemia and I haven't been able to see him because I live so far away. My parents and both sisters drove to Washington last week and spent many days helping my Grandma and taking care of my Grandpa. I love him and I've been wishing I had put more effort into learning his favorite piano songs during all those years I took lessons. He always wanted me to play "Oh My Father" for him, because he loved the song so much. I read the words to that song this past week, and my heart ached. The first and fourth verses were especially poignant right now.

O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side?

When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

My family tells me that Grandpa is at peace with dying. I don't know his religious views, but he knows he has led a good life and deserves a happy afterlife, which I'm positive he will enjoy. He has lived in the shadows for most of his lifetime, and I hope he knows the love his family has for him.

And in other news, I have to give a shout out to my hard-working husband. Because of his dedication and vision, he was PROMOTED TO VICE-PRESIDENT AT WORK TODAY. I'm so proud of him! He earned it and has proven himself during the past many years.

So after getting through my holiday health crisis, I've realized a few things:

1) I'm not very patient with chronic pain

2) It was such a blessing to have this happen during the 2 weeks when Ryan wasn't traveling and the kids weren't needing to be taken back and forth to school and activities.

3) I will have extreme anxiety every time I walk into a urologist office from now on.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-05T22:19:00.000-06:00

Santa came! And I was so excited! Although I was in a fog from all the medications, I couldn't help get in the spirit of the day! I have always had a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve, even as an adult. I usually wake up very early and shower before the kids are allowed to come downstairs. This year they begged us to let them come downstairs at 6:00, but Ryan was thinking 7:00 sounded good. We all compromised on 6:30, but I was awake and in the shower at 5:00 because I could hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet upstairs.

Logan had apparently had an accident in the night, and Lindsey had cleaned him up and gotten him changed into new jammies. What a sweet big sister! The three youngest slept in Brynlie's bed together, and Brevan slept in Logan's room upstairs next to them. These are the shiny faces I found when I walked upstairs at 6:29 to tell the kids it was present time! Lindsey was holding the alarm clock and carefully waiting for that last minute to pass.

After seeing what Santa had brought, we all got ready for church. I have to say that I LOVED having Christmas on a Sunday this year! Our church was shortened to only Sacrament at 10:00, and the kids were so excited about the fun day that they were ready an hour early and we had a little time to open presents under the tree. First the kids gave each other their gifts, which was probably my favorite moment. I love seeing the thought they put into choosing gifts for their siblings. Then each kid was able to open one gift from me and Ryan. Every year I change up the way I label the presents, so no one has any idea which gifts are theirs until I call out a number of random word that is written on the package. I fooled them again this year, and they had to go on the hunt for each present!

Church was incredible. Honestly, it was so perfect to see the Santa gifts, go to church and feel an incredible Spirit, then come home and continue with the unwrapping. The songs and thoughts that were shared in church were very timely and I will probably share some of my thoughts on them another time. After church, the kids changed into comfortable, clean pajamas for the rest of the relaxing day.

A shirt with the beloved MineCraft pictures. This boy loves the MineCraft games (which I lovingly call MindCrap).

Lindsey starts basketball next week, and was super excited about this Justice outfit!

I love the smile on this sweet guy's face!

Alright, I have to admit that this was my favorite gift to give. Partly because I knew Brynlie would LOVE it, but also because it was really a gift to myself, too! Brynlie opened an envelope and read a letter that told her to pack her bags because she was flying to Texas with her favorite Mom to spend 3 fun-filled days shopping, eating, and most importantly going to see the Broadway musical "Wicked," which she has been dying to see! She is doing a year-long Beyond Basics project on Broadway plays, and was absolutely ecstatic when she read the letter!

But the fabulous reaction we got from Brynlie was immediately lessened when our beautiful Lindsey ran out of the room crying that she didn't get to go. We sat on the stairs and talked to her for about 10 minutes before she bravely stopped her tears and tried to be happy. Then we helped her remain calm by stuffing her mouth with candy and letting her listen to the songs on her new MP3 player.

Even though we stopped SEVERAL times to have the kids clean up the mess, this was the final result when the presents were all open.

So besides the fact that I was in incredible pain, was very tired, and can't remember much of the day, it was a great Christmas! We spoke on the phone to Scott's family and our parents later that evening, and I had some twinges of longing to be out west for the holidays.

Logan's top 5 gifts:
Pirate ship
Batman Wii game
Indiana Jones Wii game
Lots of action figures
LeapPad

Lindsey's top 5 gifts:
American Girl doll
12 outfits for her doll
Basketball outfit
Boots
pink MP3 player

Brynlie's top 5 gifts:
Trip to Texas to see Wicked
American Girl doll
Lots of candy making stuff
Art supplies
iPod

Brevan's top 5 gifts:
Noise-cancelling earphones
Game-making books and CD's
Minecraft shirt
Chess set and admission to chess lessons
iHome charger and alarm clock

Ryan's top 5 gifts:
The calendar Lindsey made for him
The camping sandwich cooker Brevan gave him
The pen Brynlie gave him
The candybar Logan gave him
The clothes and DVD's I gave him

Ali's top 5 gifts:
The calendar Lindsey gave me
The super soft blanket Brevan gave me
The art project Brynlie made for me
The candybar Logan gave me
The awesome treadmill Ryan gave me

Christmas Eve

2012-01-05T21:36:00.003-06:00

I guess I will start at the beginning, since I have so much to catch up on. Honestly, Christmas break is all a big blur to me. After I last updated the blog, I was highly doped up on strong pain meds for many days while I got my kidney pain under control. Although it was a WONDERFUL feeling to have the pain managed, I'm sad that it left me feeling so loopy. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Christmas, and it makes me so sad that I wasn't able to make the holiday as exciting and fun as usual. I'm hoping my kids didn't notice too much of a difference, but I still feel so sad that the Christmas decorations have all been put away and I don't feel like we've even had Christmas yet.

We had our usual Family Home Evening on Christmas Eve, where we sang songs, read the scriptures and talked about our Savior's birth. Then the kids received their Christmas Eve presents - new pajamas, a photo book filled with pictures of them throughout the year, and a new ornament to hang on the tree. All the ornaments were purchased in a store on the Oregon Coast this past summer, so the kids have something to remember the fun vacation.

Brevan wanted me to re-create a photo I took last year, where he looked at Logan's new photo book while wearing their matching pajamas.

The reindeer had quite the treat this year, with a gift of carrots and a bowl of water.

These notes were written by Lindsey, and placed with the cookies. They say: "Santa eat all the cookies please. Take one of two or all of them." Then Lindsey and Logan each drew a picture of themselves.

Lindsey's letter to Santa this year: "Dear Santa, Injoy your cookies. We have ben verry good. I want an amaracin girl doll please!!"

And Brynlie's letter to Santa this year: "Dear Mr. Claus, I have been very good! I deserve what I want because I am really nice! Near the end of this summer I baked cookies and brownies, then I bought soda and finally donated about $120 to the people in Joplin after their tornado. Anyways, let me tell you what I want. I would really love a laptop. I would preferably like the lapbook I think it's called. But your Santa. You know who to get it. Also, I would like an iPod Nano. And, if you would, I have been hoping that you could get me lots of art supplies for my stocking. I won't forget the cookies and milk. Oh! And I'll leave the reindeer some fresh carrots and water. Thanks a lot! I hope you have a merry, merry Christmas, Santa Claus! Sincerely, Brynlie. PS - I would also like a white desk! I've been really good! Sort of! PPS - I also want American Girl doll stuff!

What an ordeal

2011-12-23T11:34:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's Friday, and that Christmas Eve is tomorrow! This whole week feels like a dream. A dream with extreme pain.

This was the plan for my surgery:

Remove the large stone in my ureter.
Break up the largest stone in my right kidney with lasers.
Insert a foot-long stent to help the broken up stone drain out.

This is what was actually accomplished in the procedure:

Look for the stone in the ureter that the doctor was sure was there. It wasn't. I'd either passed it already or "maybe it wasn't actually there." Really?
Decide against breaking up the large stone in the kidney, so I will have to get lithotripsy (another surgical procedure done) sometime soon. The doctor didn't even try to break it up because he "didn't realize it was so large." They couldn't tell this from the CT's and IVP I'd recently had done?
Insert a stent. Not sure why since nothing was accomplished to make it necessary.
Remove a small stone from the kidney to be evaluated. This was a good thing.

After being home for a couple hours, I noticed that my bed was soaked. Yeah, disgusting. No one had told me I would be completely incontinent. That was just a bundle of fun for the next couple days.

I was sent home with Vicadin, which didn't even come close to helping the pain. I think I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but I was in the most intense pain of my life.

During the day on Wednesday, I called the doctor office no less than 10 times trying to get a stronger medication and find out why I wasn't able to control my bladder. The nurse kept telling me the doctor was busy so they would call me back later. By late afternoon, I was in such horrible pain I was considering going to the ER, because my doctor wasn't taking me seriously. The nurse finally told me over the phone to pull out the stent myself (which was supposed to stay in place for at least a week before being removed in an office visit), since the doctor had probably placed it wrong, causing my pain and incontinence. That was a fun adventure. After going through that hell, I thought death sounded like a good option. Ryan got the doctor on the phone and demanded a stronger medication for me, but was told that he should just take me to the ER if I wanted stronger meds. Ryan was a bit ticked off by this point, and told them he would be at their office within a half-hour and expected them to find a solution for me that didn't involve seeing an ER doctor just because my own doctor was too incompetent to fulfill his own responsibilities. The nurse met him in the waiting room with a prescription for Percocet - the only drug I am allergic to. The doctor hadn't even bothered to check my chart before prescribing it. Ryan apparently went unglued. After using a few choice words about all the mistakes that had been made, Ryan left the office with a prescription for Oxycodone. And I've been a happier girl ever since.

The pain is manageable now, and I've actually gotten some rest. I've been well taken care of by awesome friends and neighbors who keep bringing over food.

I'm determined today to get back in to the Christmas mode and enjoy the next few days.

2011-12-19T12:31:00.001-06:00

We all learn to handle a certain amount of stress, and when the stress becomes too much we talk about being overwhelmed. Then there's that level past overwhelmed called "the breaking point." That's where I was last week. Ryan had traveled for most of the month, including a trip last week to Albuquerque that ended up being 2 days longer than planned (meaning that in one week, he had missed a piano recital, a dance performance, a big meeting at the Middle School to discuss Brevan's needs, and 3 choir performances). My kidney pain was worsening, and my anxiety about the upcoming surgery was spiking. The kids had about a million activities every day, so I was living my life on the road. And to top it all off, the kids decided to argue about everything the past couple weeks - sometimes they actually argued about arguing. Whew.

So it was Tuesday evening, and I was trying to keep my cool. Doing that whole "smiling on the outside and screaming on the inside" thing. The girls had their big choir performance that evening, and there was much drama in the house. Brynlie completely fell apart because the shirt she had to wear in the performance was itchy. Since she didn't have anything else clean that would look festive, we had to be creative to find a solution. MUCH tears were shed during this time (and not only by Bryn). As soon as that crisis was resolved, the foot stomping and whining hit new levels because I would no longer have time to curl her hair. Then Lindsey joined the ~~crying~~ screaming when she couldn't find any matching black shoes. She could only find 2 black shoes - that didn't match and both fit on the left foot. By this point, I just started walking to the van. I told the girls that the time to help them solve their problems had passed and we were already late, so they better find a solution because I was leaving. I briefly considered hitting the open highway for a few hours, finding a cheap hotel room, and sleeping until Christmas.

So here is the solution Lindsey came up with, which I was completely fine with under the circumstances. Notice the shoe on her left foot that is being held together with black electric tape. It also had a heel on it, unlike the other left shoe on her right foot, so she walked crooked.

But my girls were able to pull themselves together and dry their tears long enough to sing beautifully and pull off a near-perfect performance.

Lindsey decided having no shoes was a better option than broken, uncomfortable shoes.

Fast forward a few days until Ryan made it back home. After I spent a day decompressing and venting all my stress to Ryan, life fell back into place. By the weekend, it was life as normal and we had some great times together as a family. On Friday, we started a tradition that Ryan remembers doing with his family when he was a kid. We bought a couple nice wreaths, got $100 in one dollar bills from the bank, and made Money Wreaths to give to needy families. The kids tied each dollar bill on the wreaths with curling ribbon. Then we had a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to direct us to a couple families that we could help this Christmas. At each house, I would hide with all the kids (the Napier girls came with us, too) behind a tree or car while Ryan would ring the doorbell and run. We would watch the family's reaction to the gift, then run to the van before they could see who left them the wreath. The kids were all excited and we had some spiritual moments as we tried to listen to the Spirit together and decide who Heavenly Father wanted us to help.

I made cookies on Saturday, some to take to a party that evening and some to give to our friends and neighbors. I have the YUMMIEST recipes for Spicy Oatmeal Raisin and Gingersnap cookies.

A few days after we put out all the Christmas decorations last month, I walked by this nativity set and saw the star hung on the wall with tape. It has made me smile literally every time I've seen it for the past month. I found my sweet Lindsey had been the one to add the missing star.

This picture doesn't show how beautiful this nativity set is, but my mother-in-law gave this to me last Christmas, so this is the first year I put it on display. It is gorgeous! I started collection nativity sets a few years ago.

Yesterday we had the Simmons and Napiers come over for a Christmas dinner and cookie decorating. The creative kids planned a Nativity Play, which they presented after dinner. Parker wasn't thrilled about being Joseph, so he was definitely the most comical part of the play. While the other actors sang beautiful Christmas carols and acted out the scene in the stable, Parker kept yelling "Push!" to Mary, so the baby Jesus could arrive. Haha! He even drew a beard on his face with marker. I wonder if that got scrubbed off before he left for school this morning??

The kids all made these cute snowman cookies, but we forgot to add the green scarf around the snowman's neck.

The boys, of course, had to be a little more creative and make theirs with 12 arms and 6 eyeballs!

Now all the presents are wrapped, bills are paid, laundry is done, groceries are stocked up, and the house is being thoroughly cleaned. Tomorrow is surgery day and I want to be able to relax for the next many days, instead of worrying about anything. After being in pain for the past couple weeks, I'm actually kind of welcoming surgery, so I can begin to feel better. Plus it's a great excuse to watch lots of movies and read lots of books over this Christmas break!

2 weeks until Christmas!

2011-12-11T19:29:00.001-06:00

Good thing I have pictures to remember some of the things we've done in the past couple weeks. For lack of time, I will give a quick update of the main events!

is involved with Science Olympiad this year, which keeps him after school a couple days a week to prepare for the once-a-month competitions with other schools.

is also volunteering with the Special Olympics on Tuesdays and Thursdays, where he helps some Downs Syndrome kids learn basketball so they can compete in a January event.

has continued to have some struggles (what middle-schooler doesn't, though?) but has matured by leaps and bounds this year. He has some amazing school administrators that care for him and want desperately to help him succeed.

Continues to get STRAIGHT A's. Not even one A-. What a brilliant boy.

Attended the Nauvoo Temple yesterday with the other teenagers in our ward.

Spoke in Sacrament today about his experience in the temple yesterday. There's a funny story here that I just have to include. Our Brevan is like a little professor, and he uses words that most adults don't even understand. When preparing his talk late last night, he wrote some of the FUNNIEST things (which weren't meant to be funny, so I know I sound awful. But seriously. This just has to be recorded) Some excerpts: "As I took the fateful steps towards the holy ground . . .even the most rambunctious of young children hushed up . . ." (although Brevan is one of the youngest teenagers that attended), ". . .I felt a strong sense of being as a pioneer of old, who toiled and troubled many hard hours to build the glorious temple . . .I will honestly say that as the brethren and sisters step into the font, the presence of God descends like a warm cloak upon the breasts of the baptised women and men." OK, by this point Ryan and I were literally rolling on the floor in tears because we were laughing so hard. Did he seriously just say something about women's breasts? Oh my. Now to continue with one more excerpt: "I beg and implore of thee to go forth, and invite thy neighbor unto the open house of the temple." Holy Hannah, it's a good thing we heard his rough draft and did MUCH editing before he presented his thoughts today. This is definitely going to be an Ellefsen Classic Story!

Brynlie:

has performed with the Upbeat Music Company twice already this week - at a nursing home and a school craft fair. The big Christmas choir event is this Tuesday.
has hit the teenage years a bit earlier than I'd planned, so she can go from crying to giggling in 10 seconds flat. So far the difference I've seen in a pre-teen boy as opposed to a pre-teen girl is that boys hate their parents, whereas girls think their parents hate them! Brynlie actually ran away for an hour in the freezing cold last weekend because she decided we did not love her enough. Please tell me I was not this emotional when I was going through puberty. But there's so much cuteness and sweetness that it makes up for all the moments that she confuses the life out of us.
Performed a song/dance with Madelyn and Jillian at our ward Christmas party. They are such darling girls, and have decided to start a band called "Towers of Power" since they are all tall!
Is doing her year-long report on Broadway Musicals this year, since she has become fascinated with all things Broadway lately.
Is doing awesome in school, even though she thinks math is hard and no fun.
enjoys learning to cook. As I type, she is making pork chops, rolls and corn for dinner. Yum!

Lindsey:

is also performing with the Upbeat Music Company in all their holiday events. She loves to be on stage, and loves learning the songs!
also sang her heart out with the other 1st graders in the Kearney Elementary Christmas program.
Starts basketball this week, and is excited her daddy will be the coach!
Attended a Girl Scout meeting this past week with a friend. Afterward she asked why I won't let her join, and I told her the church has Activity Days when she turns 8, which is free and has no cookie sales!
Has earned money this year to buy every family member a Christmas present. She can't wait to wrap them and see our happy faces!

Logan:

loves preschool with his buddies, especially when it's at our house like it was this past week! We learned about the letters U and V, and did some fun winter activities.
Has learned so much in the past few months! He now knows his letters, can spell some simple words, and can even add and subtract. Ryan loves to ask him to add numbers such as 11 + 4, because he can actually give us the correct answer. What a smartypants!
Hates wearing a tie and thinks church is the worst invention ever. Every Sunday morning he throws himself on the ground and sobs when we tell him it's time to get ready for church! Haha!

Ryan:

has started a new company within his current company. It's big news and very time-consuming, but he couldn't be happier (besides the fact that he's been living out of a suitcase for the past couple months) because his "brain child" is off and running.
I'm trying hard to think of anything he's done lately besides work and play with the kids, but I'm coming up short! I love this guy so much and can't wait until business slows down a bit so he can spend more time at home.
his buddies, Nate and Brian Hughes, stayed with us this past weekend. They are the best guests ever, because they love to play with the kids and make us all laugh. Ryan and I are planning a couples trip with them and their wives in the spring. Brian and his wife, Sandy, were married just one day after us, so we are all celebrating our 15th anniversary in February!

Me:

Well the biggest (but worst) news is that my kidney issues are more severe than I'd hoped and thought. I've been in and out of urologists and radiologists offices lately, finding out that my right kidney (the one that was reconstructed when I was 10) has deteriorated quite a bit, and I have so many stones in BOTH kidneys that (to quote the doctor), "it looks like someone took a white marker and polka-dotted your x-rays." 2 of the largest stones are impacted, including one that is almost completely blocking my right ureter. On the 20th of this month, I have to go to the hospital for surgery to remove the blockage, clear the surrounding infection and insert stints. Ouch and yuck. But the bigger concern is that my kidneys (especially the right one) are not functioning well and will most likely require more reconstruction following this surgery. I have to admit, I'm scared. I think all the surgeries I endured as a kid traumatized me, because the scariest part of surgery to me is being put to sleep. I HATE not having any control over my own body. I've been having nightmares about the surgery all week, and I just hope everything goes well so I can enjoy Christmas. I'm tired of having a constant UTI and dealing with kidney pain.
I planned a fun Jeopardy game for the combined YM and YW activity this past week. I think it went really well, and the kids had a lot of fun!
We adopted a family for Christmas through the awesome local charity again, but we decided we wanted to also do a different service this year where our kids could be more involved. It's been nice to see the kids get involved in serving others so the focus has been off Santa and presents a little bit.

Here are some of the pictures of the past couple weeks!

Brynlie and her cute friends, after performing for the ward party.

Zumba night with my cute Young Women!

Brevan, showing off his skills at the robotics open house. I was very impressed!

I think there's actually a song about this, isn't there? "You better not pout, I'm telling you why . . ." I guess Lindsey wants coal for Christmas! She asked Santa for an American Girl doll, but was angry that her friend had asked for one too.

Logan's first year sitting on Santa's lap without crying! But he was too shy to say anything. Santa asked him numerous times what he wanted for Christmas, and finally asked Logan, "How about a really loud drum set??" Dang Santa. That is NOT going to happen, but now Logan keeps telling us that's what Santa is bringing him!

Brynlie sat right on Santa's lap and said, "I want a real SPACESHIP!" Silly girl. It's just not so much fun once the secret is out.

Even Ryan and I got to sit on the big guy's lap! We asked for happy children that don't argue. Think we will get our wish?

Christine and I took our oldest daughters shopping at Zona Rosa one night. First we got dinner, then took the girls to Justice and Old Navy. While in Old Navy, they tried on clothes off the adult racks and pranced around the store acting like they were headed to a Prom. They even put the glitter high-heels on their Christmas wish lists! Not a chance Bryn is getting them.

I had to include this picture, even though it didn't turn out well. If you look very closely, you can see tire tracks that go in a diagonal line across our front lawn. Ryan and I have a little tradition when we take separate cars to church. When church is over, each of us will take a couple kids in our vehicle and race to see who can get home the fastest. At times this has caused us to do lots of passing each other, but more often it means doing things like cutting across the grass at the last minute, which is what I did on this day. Me and the girls rolled down the window in the van and yelled "Haha, suckers!" to the boys in the truck. The girls have always found a way to win! Last time we won when I casually drove home behind Ryan so he wouldn't think I was racing him, then when he turned to go into his parking space in the garage, I cut him off and quickly parked in his spot. The girls and I ran in the house, and sang a song to the tune of "She's a maniac" that went like this: "She's a maniac, maniac in her van. And she's gonna get home faster than her man! She's a maniac, maniac in the car. And she's driving fast cuz she's a superstar!!" We even presented a little dance with our jingle. We are such a strange family.

Some pictures from Lindsey's school choir performance. I love that my girls go to such a small elementary, where they get so much attention. This is the entire 1st grade - both classes!

There's my little blonde cutie on the top row. She was proud to be tall enough to be one of the backrow kids!

I also had to take some pictures of other kids that made me smile. Such as this little guy, who refused to sing and stared at his feet the entire performance. Or the girl behind him who had to stand on the end because her "Santa" dress was too poofy.

Or how about this guy, who didn't stop moving the entire time, even after knocking other children off the riser. All that testosterone was causing him to swing his arms in every direction. But at least he was singing!

I took this picture of Lindsey after the performance, with one of her best friends, Shanna.

When I taught preschool last Thursday, we did a lot of snowman activities. These jumbo marshmallow snowmen were the biggest hit with the kids!

I took the kids to the "Snowflake Festival" at their school this past Friday. At least this time Lindsey didn't scowl while on Santa's lap!

Today was Brevan's piano recital at a beautiful church in Liberty. He has improved so much and always amazes me (and his teacher) with how quickly he picks up melodies. He hates to use piano books because he can play by ear so well.

He played his first song perfectly, but messed up a few times in his second song. He was very disappointed in himself, so I had to tell him about all the times I messed up in recitals while taking lessons as a kid.

I tried to get a good picture of the kids after the recital, but they were angry that I was keeping them away from the refreshments. Can you believe how tall Brevan is now? Ryan wasn't able to attend the concert because he left on a business trip right after Brevan spoke in sacrament.

I can smell delicious pork chops in the kitchen, so I will have to end there for tonight!

Angels

2011-12-04T22:21:00.001-06:00

Although I was given the gift of the Holy Ghost as my constant companion when I was 8 years old, it has taken much of my life to realize the incredible blessing of the Spirit. I believe I felt the Spirit many times in my youth, but it is amazing how much more real and intense those feelings have become over time. I don't remember ever feeling the "Christmas spirit" as much as I do this year. I have spent hours each day listening to the scriptures or General Conference talks on my iPhone, and the Spirit has literally flooded me.

Tonight I've been preparing the questions for a Jeopardy game I will play with our ward's youth on Wednesday night. One of the categories I am including in the game is "Heavenly Messengers." While researching this topic tonight, I came upon some awesome stories and was able to reflect on many of the angelic events spoken of in the scriptures. I found some quotes from apostles that I want to include here, because they are timely and are wonderful reminders to me of the times I've been keenly aware of angels assisting me - both heavenly and earthly.

This first quote is from a talk given by Elder Merrill J. Bateman in December, 2007.

What is the lesson for us today as we enter a new Christmasseason? Who will minister to those in need? Who are the angels that willprepare the way for His return? I have noticed that during the early stages ofa dispensation, angelic ministers come from the other side of the veil, but astime elapses and the number of faithful members increases, more is expected ofthose in mortality. For example, when a new country is opened to the gospel,missionaries learn that many have been prepared in miraculous ways to receivethe gospel, and miracles occur with some frequency to advance the work. Once acore of members is established, however, the Lord’s assistance changes as Heprovides opportunities for the members to become the miracle workers.

Consequently,miracles during this Christmas season require our faith and works. As we singthe hymns of Christmas and speak of angels sent to earth to witness theSavior’s birth in the meridian of time, may we rise to the occasion andminister to those in need in our day. May we be reminded of our promises to“bear one another’s burdens, … to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfortthose that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at alltimes and in all things, and in all places … and be numbered with those of thefirst resurrection, that [we] may have eternal life" (Mosiah 18:8-9).

I bearwitness that Christmas is a season for angels. As they ministered to the Saviorand others in the “meridian of time,” may we, as angels of mercy, minister toother families and to those in need in the “fulness of times” so that theLord’s work may move forward.

There have been times I've pondered why the scriptures are full of instances where angels attended people here on earth. Although I've never been so bold as to wonder why I haven't SEEN an actual angel, it's interesting to wonder at times if these "miracles" still happen. I love the explanation about how angels are especially needed during the early stages of a new dispensation. This makes so much sense! Adam and Eve were in constant communication with the heavens, because they needed more guidance and instruction from the Lord. The early Saints of this dispensation had many angelic visitations because they needed to be especially strong during the tough trials they would endure. I don't feel any need for a heavenly visitation, although I have had some very sacred moments when I've felt their presence. I can honestly say that I have been blessed with real angels in my life - ones I can call on the phone who will drop anything to help me.

These next quotes are from a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in October, 2008, titled "The Ministry of Angels".

Usually such beings are not seen. Sometimesthey are. But seen or unseen they are always near. Sometimes their assignmentsare very grand and have significance for the whole world. Sometimes themessages are more private. Occasionally the angelic purpose is to warn. Butmost often it is to comfort, to provide some form of merciful attention,guidance in difficult times.

Inthe course of life all of us spend time in “dark and dreary”places,wildernesses, circumstances of sorrow or fear or discouragement . . .But Itestify that angels are still sent to help us, even as they were sent to helpAdam and Eve, to help the prophets, and indeed to help the Savior of the worldHimself. Matthew records in his gospel that after Satan had tempted Christ inthe wilderness “angels came and ministered unto him.” Even the Son of God, aGod Himself, had need for heavenly comfort during His sojourn in mortality. Andso such ministrations will be to the righteous until the end of time.

I have spoken here of heavenly help,of angels dispatched to bless us in time of need. But when we speak of thosewho are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all angels arefrom the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here,now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods. Some of them gavebirth to us, and in my case, one of them consented to marry me. Indeed heavennever seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindnessand devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comesto mind.

My beloved brothers and sisters, I testify of angels, both theheavenly and the mortal kind. In doing so I am testifying that God never leavesus alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. “[N]or willhe, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be oneman [or woman or child] upon the face thereof to be saved.” On occasions,global or personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out fromheaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. Often enough that distress canbe of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching andassisting. And always there are those angels who come and go all around us,seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal.

May we all believe more readily in,and have more gratitude for, the Lord’s promise as contained in one ofPresident Monson’s favorite scriptures: “I will go before your face. I will beon your right hand and on your left, … my Spirit shall be in your [heart], andmine angels round about you, to bear you up.” In the process of praying forthose angels to attend us, may we all try to be a little more angelicourselves.”

In caseI haven't stated it publicly lately, I want to record it here. The scriptures -the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and all the words of ourmodern-day prophets and apostles - are true. Although I enjoy the stories theyhold, I am most grateful for the way the Spirit can completely sweep into mylife when I surround myself with their teachings. No earthly therapist or drugcould ever bring me the peace I can access through the Spirit.

2011-11-27T17:51:00.001-06:00

Where to start? It's been a busy month, but I'm hoping that most of the hustle and bustle is over so we can enjoy the next month of holiday-ness!

Brevan was the only kid at school to get a perfect score on his math test a couple weeks ago, and Lindsey won the "Star Student" award last month. Brynlie got sick at school a couple days before Thanksgiving, so I got to pick her up and have a jammie day with her. We watched lots of movies while wrapping ourselves in warm blankets. She was that perfect amount of sick (I sound evil here, being excited for my child to be sick), where she didn't feel well enough to be at school, but wasn't sick enough to worry me much. The older my kids get, the more I appreciate those rare times where they actually acknowledge that they need me.

I spent oodles (is that a real word?) of time making photo books for my kids. I make them each a book they can keep that shows pictures of them throughout the last year. It always sounds so fun until I get going and realize that it's going to take much more time than originally planned on. Especially since our computer crashed in May, so it was a real pain to try to retrieve all the old pictures. Hopefully my kids will appreciate those books someday.

All the Christmas decorations were put up the weekend before Thanksgiving! I get so excited to have the house look festive, and in my opinion Thanksgiving is just a big kick-off dinner for Christmas! We had quite an eventful Thanksgiving at our house. A couple hours after Ryan and Brevan left to play in a Turkey Bowl, Ryan called me from the emergency room at Liberty Hospital. He had been playing quarterback and didn't understand why he couldn't catch the ball anymore. He took of his glove and his middle finger fell BACKWARD. After x-rays, it was determined that he had broken the finger and torn the ligaments. They set the bones back in place and put a manly-looking brace on his hand. He made it home in time for the big meal, and is still insisting that his old man hips and knees hurt much more than the broken finger after playing a game of football!

We had the Simmons, the local elders and the Watkins over for Thanksgiving dinner. The food was delicious and the company was even better. A wild game of Apples to Apples was played until the poor 12-year-old neighbor girl suddenly announced she didn't feel well so she walked into the family room where she proceeded to puke all over our white carpet. After having just eaten half a blueberry pie. The poor girl was mortified and I've made Brevan swear on his future firstborn child that he will not go to school and tell anyone about the incident. The carpet was cleaned the next day, but still has a purple-ish hue, so new carpet may be in the near future. Maybe someday that sweet girl and her mother (who is equally humiliated) will find the whole event as comical as I do!

All the Christmas shopping is done! That includes all extended family, friends and co-workers. I'm proud of myself for *mostly* sticking to a budget this year. I think gift-giving is so fun that I never like to give myself a limit, but I did my best this year! Now hopefully I won't fall completely off my budget bandwagon when I see the deals in the next month.

Did all my kids smell so delicious when they were 4 years old? My Logan is camped out on my lap, and I can't stop smelling him and giving him slobbery kisses. He's going through a very shy stage, where he has to whisper everything in our ears all day. It would get annoying if he wasn't always making us laugh with the silly things he says! After I finished typing that last sentence, he whispered, "Mommy, I love you 100 and 100 and 100!" Please don't ever let him grow up and become a stinky, ornery teenager.

Will my girls ever get comfortable with their personality differences and stop arguing? They have become masters at mumbling snide comments to each other in passing. I often make them face each other and repeat these words (while they mumble the extra comments): "I love you, my favorite sister in the whole wide world [even though you are my only sister, so you are also the worst]. I'm sorry I yell at you and treat you like dirt [even though you deserve it because you drive me crazy]. I will not argue with you for the rest of the day [unless you do something really stupid again]. If I start to argue again, Mom has the right to sing "Love at Home" as loudly as possible." And then I do, because nothing stops my kids arguments faster than me screaming "TIME DOES SOFTLY SWEETLY GLIDE, WHEN THERE'S LOVE AT HOME!!" It makes them bond in their annoyance with me, and I figure at least they're bonding, right?

School Pictures of my favorite girls

2011-11-12T20:49:00.001-06:00

Lindsey - 1st grade

When she brought these pictures home, I asked her why she wasn't smiling very big. One thing our Lindsey is great at is being happy and smiling! She told me she had been doing her usual smile, and the photographer had told her not to smile so big. Silly photographer, we want to see that smile that brings so much happiness to us every day!

Except on rare occasions, I let my girls completely pick out their own outfits every morning. I think it helps them learn independence, even when they often pick out some very . . .interesting . . .outfits. On picture day, I have a rule that they can't wear a shirt with words, because I think it looks too distracting. Lindsey picked this shirt and dress combo that I bought at a garage sale for Brynlie about 4 years ago. Haha! Lindsey is completely fine with grabbing some jeans and any random shirt from her closet every morning. I love how low-maintenance my pig-tailed beauty is.

Brynlie - 4th grade

Bryn is having a much better year, and has made some good friends. Isn't she starting to look so grown up? One of the things I love the very most about my Bryn is that she is in no hurry to grow up. She still plays Barbies, house and dolls every day and isn't interested in trying to be a teenager like many girls her age. She always dresses modestly, and says the sweetest, most sincere words in her prayers.

And in case anyone is wondering why I haven't included a school picture of Brevan, it's because he never gave me the photo package envelope, because it was lost in the black hole he calls a backpack. He had no idea it was even in there, but he kept forgetting to ask for another one every day before picture morning. Oh well, I guess we will be getting his pictures taken somewhere else!

A few other pictures that make me smile

2011-11-12T20:33:00.001-06:00

When I took Brynlie shopping on her birthday, she picked out this funny shirt. She looks so cute when she wears it!

And of course, my little blondie couldn't let the big sister have all the fun when I had a camera in my hand!

This past Wednesday, I took Logan to Jill's house and spent the whole day with my favorite 1st grader and her classmates. We rode a bus into downtown KC to see the musical Seussical, eat lunch at the fun Crown Center mall, and spend a couple hours at Kaleidoscope. It was so much fun to spend time with my little cutie, and get to know her best friends better. I was in charge of these 3 sweet things: Lindsey, Lilly and Carly.

A FABULOUS Spa Party

2011-11-12T19:55:00.001-06:00

My fabulous 10-year-old also had a birthday party on 11-11-11. Too bad she wasn't turning 11! She had decided weeks earlier that she wanted a spa party, but it took me a while to have the motivation to plan it after pulling off the huge party for Ryan!

As I mentioned in a previous post, it was a rather bad week. To top it all off, I got sick on Wednesday and have felt like death warmed over since then. I did my best to get everything accomplished and ready for the parties, but I was completely worn out by the time Bryn's party started at 4:00 yesterday. You'd think I wouldn't be whining so much when all I have is a head cold, but it's crazy how much it has knocked me down. Apparently it's also frying my brain, because I have been downright loony the past few days. To name a few: I bought a zucchini instead of a cucumber, I took another man's cart at the grocery store (leaving my purse and all other grocery items in my actual cart in the produce section), and while talking to Ryan and having Lindsey interrupt me, I turned to her, said "shut up" and went back to my conversation. As far as I can remember, I have never said that to one of my children because we don't allow that phrase to be spoken in our home. I swear there must have been a little devil on my shoulder because I could not figure out why Ryan, Bryn and Lindsey all gave me a shocked look. For the life of me, I could have sworn I'd nicely told her wait while I finished talking to her Dad. I'm losing it.

Anyway, back to the party. My awesome Brenda knew I was at the end of my rope, so she came over to the house to help me with the party. Ryan was running Brevan's party while I was in charge of Brynlie's, but I had completely underestimated how horrible I would feel and how much work it would be to pull off a fun spa party for giggly 4th grade girls.

The gift bags were filled with fun goodies like pedicure kits, loofas, fuzzy socks, stickers, pens that looked like lipstick, hairbands, chapstick, nail files and nail stickers.

While I prepared dinner and tried to force my mind to work, Brenda got the girls busy making bath fizzies. She is the greatest resource for . . . .pretty much everything. The girls had fun molding the fizzies that smelled like peppermint.

Then it was time for some serious relaxation. Each girl had their own foot tub, full of hot water, spearmint-scented epsom salt, rubbery balls that soothed the bottom of their feet, and a floating soap rose. I played soothing music (which was actually MoTab because I couldn't find anything else - haha), turned off the lights and let the girls ~~relax~~ giggle like crazy. Since my mind was so cloudy, I completely forgot to have them use their pedicure kits to trim their nails and get their feet extra soft, but after letting them soak their feet, they applied foot cream and put on their new fuzzy socks.

Then it was time for face masks. The girls looked so cute and serene with the cucumbers on their eyes!

After washing their faces, it was time for dinner. I made this yummy punch before checking the recipe and seeing that it made enough for FIFTY servings. I hope I get my brain back soon.

Brynlie did not want to do anything usual for dinner, such as pizza. She decided to have me make Navajo tacos, so each of the girls could add their own toppings to their scone. It was much more fun and original than pizza!

After dinner, the girls played in the basement and had so much fun that I never called them up to make bracelets, which was the plan. After about an hour, the girls reminded me that the presents hadn't been opened. Oops! I got a picture of Brynlie with each of her besties. This is the beautiful Megan.

Sweet Brooke

Miss Jilllian Jade

Marvelous Madelyn

A new girl in our neighborhood, Sydney

And adorable Sophie

By the end of the party, I was feeling so sick that I had to will myself not to start crying until after all the moms picked up their daughters! Luckily, I don't think the girls noticed because they were having too much fun together. The party was a big success, and I was asleep before 9 pm! A special thanks goes to Brenda, who not only stayed for the whole party to help out, but cleaned up my kitchen afterward. Happy birthday, cute Brynlie girl!

He's an official teenager now

2011-11-12T18:48:00.001-06:00

Somehow, I've become the mother of a teenager. Not sure how that's possible since I'm only 21. I realized on the evening before Brevan's birthday (November 1st) that it had been exactly 15 years since Ryan proposed to me. Then the next day, Brevan's birthday, would be the beginning of 15 years of raising teenagers. How exciting, sad, unbelievable and scary to begin a new chapter of life. Heaven help me make it through the next 15 years in one piece. I haven't decided if those moms who tell me they "LOVED" raising teenagers are lying or if their teenagers wore them down so badly that they lost all common sense. Either way, I hope it's a grand, adventurous ride!

On Brevan's birthday, last Wednesday the 2nd, I let him play hookie from school and hang out with me. I dropped the girls off at school, took Logan to a friend's house to play for the day, and headed into Kansas City with my 13-year-old. First stop was Barnes and Noble. Oh how I love that my Brevan wanted to hang out in the bookstore for many hours. Nothing quite compares to the smell when you walk into that store - steaming hot chocolate wafting from the cafe, mixed with starch white pages of brand-new books waiting to be explored. Ahhh, it's paradise. See one of those little windows on the second level of the store? I sat at a small table under one of those windows for over an hour while I drank my hot chocolate and snacked on muffins. Brevan bought himself several books, including The Scarlett Letter, The Last of the Mohicans, and and The Arabian Nights. I bought Jane Eyre and some Christmas presents. I guess me and my boy were really in the mood for classics that day.

After the bookstore, we walked around the corner to the Apple Store, where we worked on getting Brevan's phone fixed. I had never been in the Apple Store before, so it was thoroughly impressive! I'm not a techie, but it was a whole lot of fun to play on their Macs. I could not believe how crowded the store was in the middle of a workday.

After picking up Logan, we headed to a favorite Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. Then Brevan chose homemade hamburgers and fries for dinner. Our present to Brevan was the new Windows operating system that allows him to create games and make fancy Power Point presentations. He got books from both sets of grandparents, and then handed out presents to the rest of the family, which he had purchased earlier in the week. He hadn't yet given Lindsey, Brynlie or Ryan their birthday presents, so he promised them a gift before his birthday . . .haha! He got Ryan and iTunes gift card, and new Moxie dolls for both the girls.

One of my children actually let me make them a cake! That's unusual, since they always want to pick out a decorated cake at the bakery. I researched some recipes before making Brevan this chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I assume it was good, but never actually tried it since Brevan's birthday it two days after Halloween, when the thought of sugar makes me sick. Here he is making a wish and blowing the candles!

One day while eating dinner, we decided to have Brevan and Brynlie's birthday parties on the same day - 11/11/11 - pretty cool day for a party, right? It was perfect since school got out 2 hours early and Lindsey was already attending another birthday party for her friend. Brevan invited 5 of his buddies from church, and Ryan took them (and Logan) to a place called Maze Craze. They went through James Bond-like laser mazes, mirror mazes, and played a hardcore game of laser tag. Before taking off, they sat down to enjoy cupcakes at the table I'd already decorated for Brynlie's party. It was pretty funny to see a bunch of teenage boys huddled around a tablecloth that said "Another year of FABULOUS!" all over it.

I just love each one of these boys. They are such good friends and wonderful examples to my son. From left to right: Clayton C., Will, Tanner, Clayton A., Brevan and Shane (who just joined the church a few months ago).

2011-11-12T18:35:00.001-06:00

It's been a rough week. But at least it's over! And there were so many fun times in the middle of all the stress, so I will get my blog all caught up. Some people hate to blog because they think they are being "fake" by mostly only blogging the good times. I don't feel that way at all. We're always going to remember the hard times - that's a given. But I don't ever want to forget the good times! I figure the good will always outweigh the bad if we keep a positive attitude. Plus, it's been a good week of soul-searching, which can never be a bad thing if it's helping me become a better person. And with a supportive husband (who may travel more than I would like), a handsome 13-year-old who trusts me (and is testing my patience as my first teenager), a brilliant and talented 10-year-old (who has mastered the eye-rolling), a vibrant and bubbly 7-year-old (who needs to learn to let others be the center of attention sometimes) and the snuggliest, softest, sweetest, shyest 4-year-old (who is also stubborn) I couldn't be more blessed. But I am because I have friends that I love beyond belief.

Halloween Festivities

2011-10-31T20:53:00.000-05:00

We have been celebrating Halloween for almost a week now! It started last week with Logan's preschool Halloween party at our house. I know I've already said it, but I just love this group of kids. They are so much fun to play with, and I planned some fun activities for the special day.

This is Grant, a.k.a. Transformer Dude

This is Sarah, a.k.a. the "Scaredy Cat" or Logan's first crush (he's got it BAD for this cute girl).

Dominick, a.k.a. The Dragon Who Got Too Hot In His Costume.

Thomas, a.k.a. Glow In The Dark, Muscle Ironman. He is without a doubt the comedian of the bunch.

Camden, a.k.a. Luigi from Super Mario Brothers (but his hat is taking a break while he does his artwork).

And of course, my favorite little guy, Logan, a.k.a. Darth Vader Without a Mask, Cape or Belt Because We Couldn't Find Them Anywhere.

On Friday the girl's had their school Halloween parties. Dont' ask me why they decided to have the parties on Friday when they still had school today (Monday) which is the real Halloween. I was super ticked off last week when I got a note home saying the new school policy is that "no children - infants, toddlers, middle-schoolers - NO children whatsoever" are allowed to tag along with their parent for the school party. After already being told this year that I can't volunteer (because I would have Logan with me) or attend lunch with my girls in the cafeteria (because of Logan), I was fuming when I wasn't even allowed to take Logan with me to the parties that I had offered to help with. As you can probably tell from the previous post titled "In My Opinion," I was a little on edge last week. I've had a lot of issues with the school system lately, but that's a post for another day. Anyway, I wasn't about to be told that I couldn't attend the parties at my children's school because I was a stay-at-home-mom and had chosen to spend my time and energy on ALL MY CHILDREN, so I went anyway.

After the school parties, I took all the kids downtown Kearney for the trick-or-treating to all the stores. I love living in a small town for reasons like this. It's so fun to see many of my friends and neighbors in town as we parade our kids around to show off their costumes and collect candy. We met up with Napiers and Simmons for some fun time with our best friends.

It didn't matter that I started making dinner and preparing for tonight's festivities HOURS before the kids even got home from school. The evening was still stressful, getting everyone stuffed with some semi-healthy food, in their costumes and out the door for trick-or-treating. I made "mummies" (hot dogs, wrapped in bread dough with mustard eyes) and Curry Pumpkin Soup for dinner. The mummies were a big hit. The soup, not so much. I actually got many comments such as "this is the grossest thing I've ever tasted!" Oh well, it was fun to make something festive and original. And for the record, I didn't think it tasted half bad.

Along with all the other events, we had to squeeze in time to carve pumpkins. Ideally we would have done this days ago, but Ryan traveling all last week, kid sporting activities on Saturday and entertaining the missionaries at our house all day Sunday prevented us from getting this done before tonight. It was a rushed event before the kids got dressed up and started begging for candy, but they had fun nonetheless.

And got super sticky!

Isn't this the most handsome Darth Vader you ever saw? I wish you could see the mean face he is pulling, which is why his eyes are squinted!

The sweetest leopard you will ever meet. Lindsey picked out this costume in a magazine a couple months ago. I had all the kid's costumes purchased before summer was even over.

Brynlie also picked out her costume by herself - she's a darling Latin Dancer!

Brevan has complained no less than 50 times that I don't allow him to trick-or-treat anymore. I figure if he has $200 sitting in his piggy bank, he can buy his own dang candy and shouldn't be stealing the holiday from the cute kids! Guess I'm ornery, and he will probably grow up and allow his kids to trick-or-treat until they leave for college. Then he can tell stories about his Mean Old Mama. He stuck Logan's candy bag on his head for the annual Halloween picture.

The kids headed out to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood with Ryan about 6 pm. They stopped by the Brown's house to say hello to Mia, who is severely disabled, and to pick up Diamond, who is only physically disabled. This is cute Mia, with her angel mother, Sheri.

Pictured below is Diamond, who rode her wheelchair around the neighborhood with my kids. I was very happy they included her in their fun evening.

Off they go with the Napier kiddos!

And now here I sit, almost 9 pm and the kids are still out ringing doorbells with their Daddy. I've gotten the blog completely up to date, and spent the past couple hours answering the door to find princesses, goblins, and all sorts of superheroes on my doorstep!

Sporty Girl

2011-10-31T20:13:00.003-05:00

Our favorite little sports star, Lindsey, had a fun, difficult, disappointing and great soccer season. She moved up a level this time and became frustrated that the game was suddenly so much harder to play! She didn't have a very knowledgeable coach this time, so it was a rough season for most the girls on her team. This kid has HEART though, and she LOVES playing sports. You put her on any field or court and she shines. I think this season was a good learning opportunity for her, because she was getting a little too used to having sports come easily for her. She worked her little rear-end off, but never did get a goal in any of the games. We found out at the end of the season that many of the other teams had been cheating by letting much older girls (9-year-olds in 3rd grade) play on their team. No wonder this cute "Snow Angels" team didn't have the most stellar season. But we are so proud of our little soccer star, who will start basketball in January.

Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-31T20:04:00.000-05:00

Our delightful 10-year-old

2011-10-31T19:52:00.000-05:00

Here I sit on Halloween night, updating the blog while Ryan takes all the kids trick-or-treating. I stayed home to pass out candy, but we don't seem to be getting a lot of traffic. Apparently our country neighborhood is not nearly as enticing as the candy that will be distributed inside the city limits tonight.

A couple weeks ago I got a babysitter for Logan and spent the day with Brynlie and her classmates on a field trip to Watkins Woolen Mill, the only mill in the United States that still has all the equipment from the days when it employed much of the county in the mid-1800's. It was far more interesting than I was expecting, with the best part being how enthralled Brynlie is with historical sites. She carefully observed every inch of the old house, which reminded her of her favorite place to visit, Nauvoo.

My favorite part of the tour was this old bookshelf with many books that are original to the home. I wanted to smell those old books and run my fingers through the crisp pages!

After a fun day together on the field trip, I had to take Bryn to the most un-fun place around . . .the dentist.

Then she had to go directly to play in a volleyball game. It wasn't her best game ever, since she was still a bit loopy from the laughing gas and starting to feel the pain in her mouth. It was SO fun to watch Bryn learn volleyball this season! And even more fun to see the excitement Ryan had for teaching these cute girls! Brynlie is excited to play volleyball again next season, and hopes to someday be as good as her cousin, Ashlyn!

How's that for a close score? The "Frightening Fairies" (the team name) pulled out a win!

This little guy got rather bored during the games and would find creative ways to entertain himself.

Not a great picture, but one of the greatest moments of the whole season. Ryan called time-out when cute little McKell FINALLY got a serve over the net for the first time all season! They ran up to each other and fist-bumped while the whole team (and crowd of parents!) cheered!

Our favorite Megan, getting ready for the ball to come her way.

A time-out to get the girls motivated. Ryan: "Come on, we need to get some momentum! Do you girls know what momentum means?" One of the Frightening Fairies: "Is it things you keep because they are special to you?" Ryan: "No, that's mementos. Anyone else know?" A different Frightening Fairy: "Is it like a statue?" Ryan: "No, that would be a monument. How about I just explain what momentum means . . ."

Getting ready to serve that ball over the net . . .

I took this picture at the last game, when they took 3rd place in the tournament! Way to go, girls!

This week I spent an evening watching Brynlie in her two dance classes, Hip Hop 3 and Jazz 3. She is quite the talented dancer, but gets so shy in class that she spends much of her time biting her lip and making sure she is in the back row where she can't be easily seen!

I already posted about the fun day I had with Bryn on her birthday. I took this picture of the girls the next morning, when they wanted to show off one of their new outfits (because of course I had to buy Lindsey a new outfit if I was buying some for Brynlie). How cute does the front porch look with all the autumn decorations?

I took this picture of Bryn and Madelyn on the night of Bryn's actual birthday. I had Madelyn and Chloe come over to eat pizza and watch a movie with the rest of us, even though it was a school night. It made Bryn feel better, since she was disappointed that we didn't have her actual birthday celebration until Ryan got back in town the next day.

And the following pictures we taken the next evening, when the celebration actually occurred. The first present to be opened was from Lindsey. It was a homemade card that was very appreciated.

These awesome pens and journals were from her Springer grandparents. Brynlie could draw, color and write stories all day long if we let her.

This adorable hat was made by Grandma Ellefsen, and matches Bryn's coat perfectly!

I can't believe my sweet baby girl is 10. Someone make her stop growing up.

In My Opinion

2011-10-29T22:50:00.004-05:00

1. Famous singers such as Kesha, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are female forms of the devil, and it really annoys me that they sing such disgusting lyrics. A beautiful college freshman, who I love, posted this on Facebook the other day:

"Dear Katy Perry,
Last Friday Night my friends and I had a campfire under the stars, roasted marshmallows for smores, told ridiculous stories, and everyone cried from laughter.
Sincerely, teenagers who can have a good time and remember it the next day".

Best. Status. Update. Ever. And I'm so glad there are kids that still know how to have fun without being promiscuous and using the clutch of alcohol.

2. I really hate that there is no such thing as a "romantic comedy" anymore. All the movies that I hope will fit into this category turn out to be just another lust-fest. Hollywood wants me to think it's just-oh-so-cute to watch people cheat on screen. I'm really sad that my kids won't get to experience the awesomeness of a great new romantic comedy. What are they going to take their dates to watch at the theater? I miss the movies and TV shows where two unattached people met and fell in love. I think I will go watch "Jane Eyre" again (which is also the book we are reading for Book Club this month).

3. Extremely narrow-minded people bug the living daylights out of me. In the past two days I've been involved in conversations that have made me feel like ripping my hair out. The color/religion/political stance of others is of no concern to me. I do not care if white, black, brown, green or blue people live in the house next to me. I want my children to befriend those who are Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Mormon, Buddhist, Muslim or any other religion. I fully expect that some of my best friends will have completely different opinions about politics. Diversity is what makes life interesting. I hope you feel comfortable around me if you have a body full of tattoos, if you made serious mistakes in the past, if you have no children, if you have 20 children, if you smell like cigarettes or if you have a "dysfunctional family" (which we all have, by the way). You won't agree with all my decisions, and I won't agree with all of yours, but let's stop the judging and criticizing.

4. I believe the Founding Fathers were led by God to establish the laws in this free country, and we should uphold them at all times if we don't want to experience the negative consequences. It makes me physically sick that the Pledge of Allegiance isn't heard in my son's school. I think of those who are out fighting for the freedoms we experience every day, and am filled with such intense pride. We Americans take our lives for granted, and I have a feeling we will experience some very hard times in order to appreciate the freedoms we already have.

Alright, I will get off my soapbox now.

The joys and pain my heart can feel

2011-10-26T22:33:00.000-05:00

I hate when my child is hurting. It makes me see a small glimpse of how Heavenly Father feels when we experience trials. Nothing is more heartbreaking to me than seeing my child in emotional pain. If I had one wish in the world it would be to have my kids become mature and responsible without ever experiencing the cruel world. My oldest son opened up to me tonight, and I'm positive it will be one of those nights as a mother when I don't seem to sleep at all because my heart is so heavy.

Our next-door neighbor's house was burglarized yesterday. In the middle of the day, in plain sight out my back windows, while I was home and teaching preschool. Apparently there have been many break-ins around here lately. I was incredibly terrified yesterday when I got home from picking up the kids and saw a policeman waiting for me in the driveway. Time went in slow motion and I was certain I was being told that my husband had been in an accident. Although very relieved when I got the actual news, I've been on high alert since then. My doors are all locked, the lights are on all day and night, and I notice every vehicle that drives past my house. But the houses that are being vandalized are all dead-bolted, secured, and even have dogs! I made a call to a security system company today, and an alarm is being installed ASAP. In the meantime, all four kids have been sleeping in our room. I can claim it's because they might get scared, but in all honesty, I want them close to me!

Today was my darling Brynlie's birthday. She's a decade old! I love that sweet girl so much and we had a great day together. I checked her out of school about 11, and took her (with Logan in tow) to a restaurant for lunch, to another restaurant for dessert, to Justice, Claire's, Crazy8 and TJMaxx for some super cute outfits, and a quick stop at the gas station on the way home for more junk food. Then tonight we had pizza and soda while watching "Judy Moody's Not Bummer Summer." Madelyn and Chloe Napier came over to see the movie, too, and my heart melted when I saw all 4 girls (Bryn, Lindsey, Madelyn and Chloe) cuddling under one blanket on the couch. We've been blessed to know some amazing families here in Missouri.

Preparing to teach preschool is a lot of work, but teaching those cuties is the highlight of my month. I get to do the preschool Halloween party for all the preschoolers tomorrow, and I have some fun things planned. I can't wait to see them all in their costumes!

Bryn's volleyball team, coached by Ryan, ended the season with a 3rd place win!

Lindsey's soccer season is almost over, and the tournament is this Saturday. She is excited to try basketball once soccer ends.

Brevan joined Science Olympiad again this year, and is looking forward to the competitions.

Logan is the cutest, funniest little guy ever, and I just love that he can't say his "R"s. The sentences he comes up with make me grin from ear to ear. I have been treasuring every moment I get to spend with him these last couple years before he heads off to elementary. Today he told me that when "Bwynlie was sad dee othew night, I laid in bed by hew and cuddewed hew and sang hew thwee yuyabies {lullabies}. She stopped cwying and felt bettew, so I kissed hew and went to sleep by hew." I could cover him in gravy and sop him up with a biscuit.

All the kids (and me) had dentist appointments recently. No cavities for me or the boys! Don't ask me how Brevan never has cavities because that boy seriously struggles to care about oral hygiene. Both girls had a cavity in the same place, and both got laughing gas and their teeth fixed last week. Lindsey imagined a boy waving at her from a merry-go-round the whole time. Bryn didn't get enough gas and was very aware of the procedure and pain. Poor thing, but a good lesson to floss her teeth every day!

Ryan and I drove to Omaha for his actual birthday last Friday. It was a wonderful, perfect day to spend with my Honey, since we had so many hours of talk time (it's a 3-hour drive each way). While in the temple grounds, we toured the Winter Quarters cemetery. The lists and lists of children and adults who died and were buried that winter was heart-wrenching. I can only hope I would be strong enough to carry on when faced with the same trial. I'm hoping Heavenly Father fully understands the agreement I have with him - he doesn't let my husband or children die and I will try to not complain about any trials that come my way. It's OK to bargain with God, right???

I ate alligator last week. It was at a Cajun restaurant when we were driving home from the temple. I felt pretty cool, but worried about the poor alligator who had to suffer. Funny I never think that when eating a pig, chicken or cow every day of my life.

The three oldest kids had parent-teacher conferences last week, and this is how they went:

Brevan got a note home that week that said his teachers are all so impressed with his work this year that they didn't even need to meet with me. I thought that was awesome and yet annoying. I still wanted to meet with them and hear all the goods things they've seen from him this year. I don't think conferences should just be about the issues of each student. But I thoroughly praised him for his STRAIGHT A's! What a great 7th grader!

Brynlie's teacher said many things that went like this: "Brynlie is an incredible student. She is such a talented writer! She actually challenges me because I realize I need to improve the way I write sentences for the class. Keep her writing, because she could honestly be an author someday! It's so exciting to see all her creativity and positive attitude in the classroom." Brynlie's Beyond Basics teacher said, "Brynlie seems so much happier this year! She's still shy, but always smiling and trying to include the students who are lonely or feeling left out. Her recent project was the favorite of many students in the class!" On an assignment to describe how her year is going, she wrote these things: "I've learned I'm shy but confident. I'm always prepared and trust myself in situations, although I'm not completely open and sometimes regret how conversations go. I would really like to work on that." Seriously, what 4th grader describes herself that way???

Lindsey's teacher said this, "Lindsey is so animated, enjoyable, obedient and funny! She's also super smart and creative so she will definitely be another Beyond Basics kid for you. She is reading years ahead of a typical 1st grader. She is an example to all the other kids who just adore and emulate her every move. She is a born leader!"

I guess all I can say is . . .don't hate me because my children are brilliant! :)

While writing this post, I've been making 6 dozen Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. Some for preschool tomorrow, and some for a birthday lunch I'm having at my house for my friend, Shelly. My house smells DELICIOUS.

I went on a field trip to Watkins Mill with Brynlie's class last week. I will also upload those pictures soon.

Young Women's is keeping me busy, but going well! I have really been enjoying getting to know and love those girls. I honestly have the best group of Miamaids of all time. I had no idea 14 and 15 year old girls could be so enjoyable!

The van has been in the shop for the past few days. I got the call today to come pick it up. The total? $1400. New tires, breaks, break pads, belts that were shot, alignment something-or-other, oil issues, and blah blah blah. Merry Christmas to me. I get my old, used van back with my Christmas budget.

The first week of November is Stake Conference in our brand new Stake Center that's in the parking lot of the brand new Kansas City temple! It's so exciting! The dedication of the Stake Center will occur that same weekend, and the temple is set to be finished in the spring. I'm trying my hardest to be one of the people who volunteers at the open house. What an amazing experience that would be!

Well, cookies are done and I'm so tired I can barely see the screen. The next few days are full of numerous Halloween festivities, so there will be many more pictures to upload once I finally have a chance to sit down again.

Ciao for now!

We had a BLAST (from the past)!

2011-10-22T15:41:00.001-05:00

These pictures were all taken by my friend, Aimee, while she was at the party. I was a little too busy to take any pictures! I also had another friend, Erin, who videotaped much of the evening for me.

I had picked up the tables and chairs from the church a couple days earlier (with a lie as to why I needed to use Ryan's truck) and hid them behind our back garage. Since the kids were off school that day, Ryan was in slow motion in the morning, hanging out with everyone instead of rushing off to work. I had to act calm and move slowly when I really wanted to boot him out the door and get going with the million things that needed to be done! As soon as he finally left, me and the kids yelled "PARTY TIME!" and went into fast mode. The kids were a huge help this day! I could not have accomplished everything without them. I also had a couple friends invite Logan and Lindsey over to play that day, so they were out of the way and the rest of us could focus.

After running to Liberty for balloons, ice and the cupcakes, I finished assembling everything in the basement and finally jumped in the shower an hour before the guests would arrive. I had been super patient and happy up to this point, but the stress suddenly kicked in. I still had to finish the Cowboy Caviar, and the rest of the food was going to be delivered soon. Luckily, Brad and Brenda showed up early to deal with the caterers, get the salad finished, and begin to welcome guests. I was still in my bathroom finishing my awesome hair and applying the turquoise eyeliner and eyeshadow!

This is how I looked that evening . . .hideous! But it was so much fun! I bet I used half a gallon of hairspray.

This is Nate and Stephanie Hughes. They flew all the way in from Utah just to be at Ryan's party! Nate and Ryan have gotten to be very close friends over the past few years, after meeting through work. Nate and Steph actually flew to Kansas City the day before the party, and came up with a fantastic lie that went something like this:

Nate (calling Ryan): Hey, dude. I'm a half-hour away from you.
Ryan: Uh . . .OK. You're in Missouri?
Nate: Yep! Remember how me and Steph were headed to Georgia this weekend for her friend's wedding? Well, our short layover in KC turned into a long layover because our plane is having mechanical problems. We were given the option to leave very late tonight or catch a flight out tomorrow morning. We figured we'd chill in KC tonight, and hopefully spend some time with you and Ali! What's on your agenda for the evening, and how easily can you get out of it so you can hang out with the coolest couple around?

I then got a phone call from Ryan (in which I acted calm, and like I had NO idea that this was coming!). He told me the whole story, and I acted happy but concerned about all the kid activities we would need to rearrange for the evening (which, of course, I had already done). It was so fun to hear the excitement in Ryan's voice, and watch him laugh with one of his best friend's all night. The Hughes took us out to eat at Piropo's (yes, after buying plane tickets, hotel and rental car, they wouldn't even allow us to pay for dinner)! We laughed and laughed for hours, before having them back at the house for a while and saying goodbye late at night. Little did Ryan know he would spending much more time with them the next day . . .

Other guests who began to arrive at the house:

Neal and Sheri Brown

Shawn and Barbara Haney (and Ilona)

Blaine and Amy Steele

Linda Roberts, Jenny Reno and Karla Jameson (check out the 80's gear)!

Paul Jameson, Neal Reno (who kept flipping his mullet hair all night - haha!) and Jim Roberts. Lookin' good in the shades.

Some of Ryan's work friends - Kristen Lundgren (his assistant), Kelli Hisle, Joe and Jessica Ervie

Kristen, Carrie and Kelli

Jen and Marc Varone (I love Jen's Atari shirt and belt), Shelly and Shawn Morrison

Josh and Christine Napier

Erin and Kevin Martineau

Pam Marion - BEST OUTFIT OF THE NIGHT - hands down! This was actually STILL IN THE BACK OF HER CLOSET from the 80's! Oh my word, that jumpsuit is the funniest thing I've ever seen and I can't help but bust up laughing every time I see these pictures!

Chris and Sherrye Meador ( I guess Sherrye was a little tired!)

Brad and Brenda Simmons

I loved Brenda's Punky Brewster-style hairdo! It was so great to see Brenda laughing and having a good time after the rough month she's had.

Aimee (the photographer!) and Bryan Patterson

Steve (Bishop/Ryan's boss) and Kim Thorne

Here I am nervously checking out the window for Ryan's truck. He kept calling me on his way home from golfing (Steve had taken him golfing for the afternoon to make sure he didn't get home until after the guests arrived), and mentioned that he was stopping by his work because he left his laptop there. Grrr! So all of us had to wait longer while the workaholic got his laptop. Bryn, Lindsey and Madelyn Napier were all outside directing the guests and waiting for Ryan. They had told Ryan that the had a "small surprise for him the family room" when he got home, so they were going to meet him in the street and he had to enter the house with his eyes closed. The only glitch in the evening happened right now because the girls were directing the traffic to the wrong cul-de-sac, which made all the guests walk right by the drainage ditch we've been digging in our yard to help the flow of the natural stream underneath our house. Of course after all that hard yard work I'd done for weeks, the guests all got to walk in the ONE area of the yard that looks awful!! Oh well.

He's arrived and in the garage! I was carefully listening for him to walk in the door.

Here he comes! Everyone was being silent, and he had his eyes closed for his "small surprise" from the girls.

His reaction when we all yelled "surprise!" He actually got overwhelmed and started backing up to the door!

I planted a big, red lipstick kiss right on his cheek and then all the guests started singing "Happy Birthday."

I then took him to our room where his whole outfit was waiting for him. Here he is in all his 80's glory!

Haha! I still LOVE this jumpsuit! I might make this my screensaver, so I can laugh every morning!

Then we took him down to the basement and began the party! First everyone sat and ate the yummy food and talked for about an hour, while classic MTV videos from the 80's played on the large TV.

After dinner, we started the first of several "Jeopardy" games, with 80's questions. I had compiled the questions, then hired Will Napier (13-year-old brilliant neighbor) to turn them into a Jeopardy-style Power Point game. I bought these cool buzzers online that let 6 people play and buzz in when they knew the answer.

This is brilliant Will.

Brevan was the other half of the hired help duo. He helped Will with all the technology aspects of the evening.

I was the game show host while Will ran the technology.

Christine helped the game by keeping score. I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of the prizes I gave away during the game. There were pillows with pictures of mixed tapes, mouse pads that said "I love hair bands," glasses that were etched with 80's themes, and lots of shirts - one that said "I'm what Willis was talking about" (from Different Strokes), another one that said "Commodore 64" (a game system from the 80's), a baby onesie that said "I want Charles in charge of me" (from the show "Charles in Charge), and a few with pictures of 80's bands (such as Run DMC) on the front.

After the trivia games, the dance-off began! We had a couple Just Dance Wii games and collected all the songs from the 80's. The guests were required to follow the moves on the dancers on the screen, while they got points and played against a few other players at the same time. First up, me and Ryan danced against our Bishop and Jen Varone!

Next up, Shawn and Barbara against Tina and Jeff Bingham!

We didn't get pictures of all the dancers, but here are some other shots of Karla, Josh, Christine and Dan Stuart shaking their booties!

Then Ryan and I went up against Nate and Steph!

Ryan's mullet took a break on the table while he was dancing!

After a chant of "jumpsuit!!" went through the room, we got Pam and Kim to dance against Will and Brevan. The young boys beat the "older" ladies, but I'm sure they didn't have as much fun!

The next many pictures show Kevin, Emily, Blaine and Jeanine showing us their best moves!

After everyone was sufficiently tired, we devoured cupcakes and soda while watching more MTV videos and chatting with good friends. It was the best party ever!

Party Prep

2011-10-20T23:18:00.002-05:00

I've had almost a week to recuperate from the chaos, so I'm going to finally get some pictures posted! I honestly went through a bit of a depression once the party weekend was over, and it took me quite a few days to have enough energy to accomplish much. I absolutely love to plan events, and enjoy the list-making, planning and preparation of the big day. I think I function better when I have a goal in mind and work to accomplish all the to-do's before my time-line. This party was probably the biggest event I've pulled off, though, so I was very drained by the end of the weekend and required a couple days of staying in my jammies and reading mindless books.

I can't explain how much FUN it was to LIE and LIE and LIE for weeks prior to the party! I had many moments when I was just dying to blurt out some exciting detail of the event, but then had to turn the news into a lie when speaking to Ryan. Life has been so boring and normal since I had to start being honest again!

I spent many weeks cleaning the entire house from top to bottom. I even did things like organize the pantry, clean the windows, wipe all the walls, scrub the light fixtures and trim down the bushes in the yard. It was no small undertaking, but it's so nice to have it all done! As for decorations, I planned out how many tables (for future reference - 7) and chairs would fit nicely in the basement, then borrowed them from the church. I had several people ask why I chose an 80's theme. I just thought it would be fun to relive those extravagant days, and Ryan is pretty stuck in the 80's as far as music goes. Plus, Ryan graduated in 1989 so he was really living the 80's through all his teenage years. And I have to add that I always thought it would be fun to throw an 80's party because it was just the best decade EVER!

For center pieces, I bought some popcorn buckets, put tissue paper inside, and stuffed them with an 80's movie and theater-sized candy. Then I sprinkled more candy around the bucket and added a few neon balloons to each table. The centerpieces doubled as prizes.

I made this sign after coming up with the idea of a Pacman theme. I have to admit that I think it turned out pretty dang cute. This picture doesn't do it justice, because the letters were puffy and glittery, and I even added googly eyes to the Pacman and ghosts. Then I put up a small table and filled the shelves with pictures and memorabilia from Ryan's life.

I had Updike Barbecue cater the event. I ordered enough beef brisket, pulled pork, jalapeno corn and baked beans to feed 100. Everything was a huge hit, but we have been eating barbecue leftovers all week! I also ordered 150 cupcakes from a new store in town called "Cloud Nine Cupcakes." They were so excited for the large order that they ordered in these cute Pacman molds and made white chocolate figures to add to the tops of the cupcakes. I ordered seven flavors, and they were all HEAVENLY.

I also made a quadruple batch of Tiff's Cowboy Caviar, and got rave reviews from many guests. My only disappointment was that half the avocados I bought were rotten, and I believe that avocados are the BEST part!

I went online weeks before the big party and ordered several large posters to hang on the walls that added to the 80's theme. Then I bought a bunch of frames at Walmart and hung them all over the basement. Again, I'm going to toot my own horn on this one. The posters looked so good and really added to the decorations in the room.

I made three versions of "Ryan's 80's obsessions" to give to guests. It was quite difficult to go through all the 80's songs on Ryan's iTunes and only pick 50 of the best! I made about 20 copies of each version, and laid them out on a table for guests to sort through.

These are some of the pictures I framed and mementos I displayed. I love the tiny Ryan shirt, torn-up teddy bear and blue blessing outfit. I also opened several of his yearbooks to pages that displayed his accomplishments in high school.

I borrowed some frames from Christine, but ended up purchasing quite a few so I could more easily display all the photos. There are some pretty embarrassing ones in there where Ryan is showing off his muscles back in the day!

Besides these things in the basement, I borrowed an Atari that was being played upstairs. I will add all the rest of the party details in the next post! For now, I need to head to bed because Ryan and I are spending his actual 40th birthday at the Omaha temple tomorrow.

Wasting Time

2011-10-07T08:58:00.001-05:00

I have so much to do. I actually filled up the entire front and back of a piece of paper with all my "to-do's" that have to be done this week. So why am I sitting at my computer? Sometimes having too much to do overwhelms me and I just have no idea where to start.

It's been an emotional week. "My" sweet Brenda has been suffering through a horrible miscarriage the past few weeks, and it just kept getting worse. After losing so much blood that she was passing out and having seizures, she had surgery to remove the remaining part of the fetus. It's not exactly how she was hoping this pregnancy would turn out. She's been wanting that little baby for 5 years, so I was completely heartbroken for her. Now she's being told it will take weeks for her to gain back her energy after such extensive blood loss. Trials suck.

Conference was great, but not as relaxing as I had hoped! Although I had a plethora of delicious food, activities, pillows and blankets, the two youngest children were just not interested in the whole event! It was wonderful to see Brevan take so much out of Conference though, because he's been struggling with some personal issues lately. At least I can always go back and listen to the talks again when I don't have children arguing and whining non-stop.

Food is ordered. Brisket, pulled pork, baked beans and jalapeno corn to feed 100 people.

Cupcakes are ordered. 3 flavors, all designed in a Pac-man theme, to total 150.

All decorations have been purchased and are (almost) ready to be hung quickly next Friday.

One of Ryan's best friends, Nate Hughes, and his wife have purchased airline tickets and will be in KC on Thursday so they can help surprise Ryan.

7 tables and 65 chairs have been obtained.

Tablecloths and centerpieces are ready to go.

DVD of old-school MTV videos from the 80's has been created.

Digital trivia games almost finished being created by my awesome 13-year-old neighbor, Will.

"Just Dance" with 80's songs being assembled for the dance-off.

Prizes have been carefully selected and are ready to make their debut.

I better get back to that long list. But look at everything I've accomplished so far! Yay me!

Mismatch Day

2011-10-03T08:41:00.003-05:00

Check out the outfits and hairstyles the girls have today to celebrate Spirit Week! Their hairdo's crack me up. And I love that they didn't even wear matching socks or shoes!

Our new daughter

2011-10-02T14:36:00.000-05:00

This is Alexa, who the girls consider their cool older sister. She is the niece of some of our good friends out in Utah, Deron and Mindy. Her family was a bit concerned when Alexa left the sanctity of friends and family in Utah to head to Missouri, where she has a scholorship to play basketball at William Jewel College. We couldn't be happier to have her spend time with us when she is missing the "family environment!" She is an incredible girl, who loves to play with the kids. She is spending General Conference weekend with us, since she obviously can't access the broadcast in her small dorm room. We've been eating some yummy grub! A big brunch of potato bacon casserole, banana crumb muffins and scrambled eggs. Apple crisp, ice cream, and chips with 3-2-1 dip for an afternoon snack, then a large Thai dinner tonight. Mmmmmm.

I took these pictures a few minutes ago, while Alexa taught the girls a few of her basketball moves on Logan's little hoop! Bryn and Lindsey have changed their clothes no less than 10 times today. In this picture, it looks like Lindsey is in swimming gear and Brynlie is a football-playing basketball girl.

Invites are sent and the outfits are purchased

2011-09-26T10:03:00.000-05:00

And now, to present my outfit, purchased mostly off ebay and etsy:

One Madonna shirt . . .

. . .one pair of acid-washed skinny jeans with zippers at the ankles. . .

. . . some obnoxious, neon beads . . .

. . . these enormous neon star earrings . . .

. . . a belt with various colored triangles . . .

. . . and some sweet triangle shoes to match the belt.

I also purchased a huge black bow to put in my hair after it is crimped, teased, and aqua-netted. The make-up will consist of lots of turquoise.

And now, for the outfit Ryan will be forced to wear . . .

. . . these pleated jeans . . . yes, that's a Guess logo you see on the butt . . .and he will need to peg the bottom of them . . .

. . .a Motley Crue t-shirt, stating that the 80's were the "Decade of Decadence". . .

. . .some old school Converse high-tops . . .

. . . a jean jacket . . .

. . . with lots of these pins attached to the jacket . . .

. . . and to top it all off, this awesome wig, bought in a blonde color to mimic that actual mullet Ryan was sporting in the 80's.

Sunday's are God's gifts to moms as a "day of rest"

2011-09-26T09:45:00.001-05:00

I don't have a "real" job - at least not one outside of the home. So I'm sure many working moms would assume my life is fairly slow-paced. But my goodness, I feel like my life is anything but slow. This week I drove kids to and from 2 different schools, to 2 dance classes, 2 soccer practices, 1 soccer game, 3 volleyball practices, to choir, to piano, to the orthodontist twice, to Scouts and to Activity Days. I also fed the missionaries on Monday, visit-taught a couple awesome girls, planned out 3 months worth of activities with the Miamaids, collected and printed out 100 of the best quotes I could find for my cute YW (since there were 100 days left in the year), planned and carried out Lindsey's birthday party, spent countless hours planning Ryan's big party, and taught preschool at my house to 5 adorable 4-year-olds on Tuesday and Thursday. Although I believe I should always be "anxiously engaged" in good activities, this week did me in. By Saturday, I had a massive headache and spent most of the day on the couch (after an early morning volleyball practice and watching Lindsey play in her soccer game). I actually watched 3 movies! 2 of them were rented from Redbox 11 days ago, and I hadn't had any time to sit and watch them since then. I didn't attend the Relief Society Broadcast on Saturday night, because my body was just refusing to get off the couch, so I plan to watch it online.

Lindsey's teacher is very nice, but is brand-new to the teaching world. She just graduated from college in May and was married in June, so she has no children. I'm trying to be patient when she calls me EVERY DANG WEEK for some "issue" she wants to tell me about.

Exhibit A:

Mrs. Oldham: Hi Mrs. Ellefsen, I want to make you aware that Lindsey came to my desk today at 10:30 and said she is hungry and that you didn't feed her breakfast. She actually seems hungry a lot at that time of day.

Me: She said I didn't FEED her breakfast? I make breakfast for her every morning, but she refuses to eat it because she says she isn't hungry yet. I'm sure she IS hungry by 10:30, but let me assure you that I DO offer her breakfast every morning!

Exhibit B:

Mrs. Oldham: Mrs. Ellefsen? Lindsey wore sandals to school today and we have P.E. in an hour.

Me: Oh, well she knows what days she has P.E., so she must have just forgotten to take her tennis shoes.

Mrs. Oldham: Well, could you please bring them to the school?

Me: Uhhh . . .no? I'm shopping in Liberty, and won't be able to make it back in time.

Mrs. Oldham: Oh, well I just knew you were a stay-at-home mom, so I thought you would be able to. I just worry that Lindsey will get hurt if she tries to run around in her sandals.

Me: I guess that will help her remember to take her tennis shoes in the future, right?

Exhibit C:

Mrs. Oldham: Hi, I just wanted to let you know that Lindsey didn't have a jacket today and she was kind of cold on the playground.

Me: Oh, OK. I will remind her to bring a jacket tomorrow. But some days she just doesn't want to take one, and I don't force her. I figure if she's cold enough, she will take one.

Exhibit D:

Mrs. Oldham: Mrs. Ellefsen? I want to make you aware of an incident that occurred today. I told the class to quiet down and listen, but Lindsey and Carly kept giggling and I had to warn them to quiet down.

Me: . . . .OK, so did she quiet down after that?

Mrs. Oldham: Yes, she did. But I just wanted you to know.

Me: . . . . Um, OK. I will talk to her about it when she gets home.

GOOD GRIEF! Is this teacher going to start calling me every time Lindsey doesn't eat all her vegetables in the cafeteria? Has she ever been around children before? I'm thinking she needs to take a Love and Logic class, so she stops thinking I'm the worst mom ever because I won't drop everything and take Lindsey's shoes to school. She seems to mention me being a stay-at-home-mom an awful lot. Does she think I spend my days washing windows and waiting for the phone to ring so I can run out and solve every problem my kids encounter? I sound pretty negative right now, and I don't mean to. It's honestly making me laugh that this lady keeps calling! I just can't wait until she's been teaching for 20 years and has raised a couple kids. She will think back to that first year of teaching and be humiliated at the things that concerned her.

Well, after a relaxing Sunday, I'm ready to tackle another week! I really am so glad my kids are involved in activities that make them happy and showcase their talents. And I have to admit that teaching preschool was just as fun as I imagined!

Party for our cute 7-year-old

2011-09-26T09:08:00.001-05:00

Lindsey invited 9 friends to her birthday party, but only 7 were able to attend. Good thing, because watching 7 little 7-year-olds, plus the rest of my kids, at a waterpark was a bit stressful! I had underestimated my ability to chase all the children in all the directions they wanted to go. Luckily, one of the other moms came along, Ryan was able to get off work early, and I assigned Brevan and Will Napier to be my helpers. The party was a huge success and I think all the girls had a great time! There were no tears all night, which is a good sign with these emotional little princesses!

Since school got out early last Friday, we started the party at 3:00 with present opening and treats at our house. I took a picture of Lindsey with each of her friend's with the present they gave her. I always like to include a picture in the thank you note I have my kids write for each friend.

London Picklo

Chloe Napier

Lilly Morgan

Jorja Simmons

Sarah and Shanna Lopez

Carly Watkins

Acting shy while we sing "Happy Birthday."

She didn't quite get all those huge candles blown out. Guess her wish won't come true!

After cake and ice cream, we loaded all the kids into the van and truck and headed out to Coco Keys, an indoor waterpark similar to Great Wolf Lodge. We also picked up another of Lindsey's friends, Emily Kabel, along the way. All the girls (minus London, who had to leave early), just before heading in to the waterpark.

I didn't take many pictures while in the waterpark, since I was super busy making sure no one was drowning.

After spending many hours at the waterpark, we headed back to our house for pizza, soda, and more treats. The party ended about 9:00 p.m., and I'm sure all the kids slept very well that night!

I love the sewer man, my baby boy starts school, my baby girl turns 7, celebrating a criminal and a monumental day for my 2nd favorite Logan

2011-09-18T21:27:00.001-05:00

First of all, the Big Stink Disaster was fixed last Monday after a very kind sewer man checked his work phone on Sunday evening and felt badly for us. He called many times that night, walking us through figuring out what was wrong, then was on our doorstep early in the morning to reassure us that all was well now. Come to find out, we have a sewer breaker which had been tripped a few weeks ago when we kept having "brown outs" for a couple days. Since the breaker was tripped, the sewer was not pumping, and we ended up with a . . .mess . . .on the side lawn. I have to admit it's pretty comical now! Could life get any more gross than having your family's poop all over your yard? At least the grass should grow really nicely in that "fertilized" area, right?

Next up, my baby started preschool on Tuesday. I can't say how happy I am that I pulled him out of his expensive preschool and decided to do a co-op preschool with some of his best buddies. He is loving the familiarity of having school at his friend's houses, and the small group of kids doesn't overwhelm him. This week I get to teach the 5 little cuties, so I've been busy planning some fun activities and lessons for the kids. It actually borders on pathetic how excited I am!

Honestly, this kid is spoiled rotten because he has the sweetest little face and voice ever. How can I not just give in to his every demand?

My Lindseybell turned 7 this week! She enjoyed every minute of being the star of the day! I took treats to her class at school, and it was so funny to see her in that environment. She soaked up every bit of the extra attention! I had to laugh out loud when I was walking in the hallway with her and she giggled at a kindergartner walking next to her. She then turned to me and said, "oh my gosh, Mom! Look how cute and little the kindergartners are!" Apparently she became much older and wiser in the few months since she was a "cute little kindergartner!"

When Keri was here a few weeks ago, Lindsey informed her that she wanted a new bracelet, and half demanded that Keri get it for her. Every time Lindsey would see Keri in a room, she would put her fingers in a circle and mouth the word "bracelet." This girl is a hoot. She was very happy to get a new bracelet and necklace from us for her birthday, along with the girly slippers and the Just Dance Wii game.

This is Lindsey's look of pure joy as she realized Grandma Springer had sent her just what she wanted . . .a new umbrella! Let's see if she can make it at least a week before breaking this one.

I love the gap in her bottom row of teeth. I love how her hair is a mess because she doesn't stop doing cartwheels and flips all day long. I love that she got a kick out of the trick sparkler candles I put on her cake. I love that she was thrilled I got her a store-bought cake with flowers and words on the top. I love that the back of her shirt says "Sunshine." I love that she was so excited for her birthday that we had to celebrate it a day early. I love that she had a million and two friends she wanted to invite to her party that will be next Friday (we settled on 9 friends). I love this sweet and energetic girl so much!

Lindsey's actual birthday was yesterday, and boy was it a busy day. We woke up early to get ready for the Jesse James parade, where both the girls rode on a float with their choir group. We Kearney-Liberty folk like to celebrate the famous criminal because he was born here. Any excuse for a party and parade, I guess. The girls are both loving choir again this year! My camera has been acting funny lately, so none of the pictures turned out exactly how I wanted, and the date is stamped on many of them.

We had been so worried that the parade would be ruined due to the forecast of rainshowers, but the rain held off until literally the minute we finished the parade route, and we all ran to our cars as fast as we could!

After the parade, Lindsey wanted to eat lunch at The Olive Garden as a birthday celebration. 3 plates of spaghetti, 1 plate of macaroni and cheese, some mediocre dishes that Ryan and I ordered, and a whole lot of money later, we will not be making the mistake of taking the kids there again anytime soon. I could have made them huge plates of spaghetti and mac&cheese for about a tenth of the price.

While on the way to the restaurant, Logan fell asleep sitting next to Ryan in the front seat of the truck. Logan likes to rub things while falling asleep, and this time it was Ryan's thumb, since Ryan had his hand over Logan's knee. It was one of the cutest sights I've ever seen.

Lindsey begged and begged and BEGGED to have the waitresses sing "Happy Birthday" to her, then she acted all shy when they actually did. Whatever, kid. We all know it was a show because there isn't a shy bone in her body.

On the evening of Lindsey's birthday, we attended Logan Simmon's baptism. Brynlie, Madelyn and Jillian sang "Nephi's Courage" as one of the musical numbers, and Lindsey, Jorja and Chloe sang "We'll Bring the World His Truth" as the second musical number. Needless to say, both groups of pretty girls were adorable and did a fabulous job.

"My" Brenda with her proud boy!

It's embarrassing to be a Cougar fan after last night's game against Utah. I was so upset I dreamed about it all night long. What an absolute waste of three hours. It was like watching a peewee football team play a college team.

In other pointless news, I've decided it's super fun to wear heals, so I've bought a couple pair lately. I still twist my ankles and fall at least once a day and have actual blisters on both feet, but it's worth it for the new additions to the wardrobe. My friend Jill went shopping with me last weekend and helped me pick out some very classy outfits. Who would have ever thought I'd enjoy being girly in my old age?

Party planning is going well and taking most of the available space in my brain. I sure hope I can pull off the big party for my better half without him finding out. I underestimated how hard it would be to make everything a surprise!

I'd better head upstairs where there are 4 dirty faces waiting for kisses so they can drift off to sleep. As much as I love Sunday, it's depressing to think about the next day being Monday. Here we go again with all the fun craziness a new week brings!

So far, this week literally stinks

2011-09-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

We've noticed a strange smell in the yard the past couple days. Today we realized the sewer is leaking all over the west side of the house. Could anything be more disgusting? A couple days ago I told Ryan there were strange white things all over the side yard. We've now realized it was clumps of toilet paper. We've left many messages on the sewer company's answering machine, and are desperate for them to get here tomorrow and fix the issue. The only problem is, I have jury duty tomorrow and will be unavailable the entire day while I sit in a courtroom. Ryan is also unavailable, as he is heading to San Diego on a business trip.

Do the home-ownership problems ever go away? I'm coveting those years of renting, when someone else had to deal with all the issues. Until we can get someone here (bless you, sewer workers, for doing your gross job), we can't flush any toilets. I will not go into further details, as I'm getting nauseated writing this.

The newlyweds on the Oregon Coast

2011-09-11T18:49:00.000-05:00

When Ryan and I flew the kids out to Oregon last month, we were reminiscing about the many times we had visited that coast and stayed in the Miller's beach house in the past. I scanned a few pictures from the first time my family visited the beautiful beach house on the Oregon Coast in August of 1997. Ryan and I had only been married for 6 months, and were still in the newlywed stage where we couldn't let go of each other's hands. How cute and young were we?

My family in 1997, before the addition of Scott's wife Ann and ELEVEN more children, including my brood of four! Cute little Brandon was so handsome, Ashlyn kept her thumb in her mouth for most of the day, and Bailey and Aubrey were brand-new.

In honor of 9/11/01

2011-09-11T18:38:00.001-05:00

It's incredible to think an entire decade has passed since the horrible events of 9/11/01. I was in the last trimester of my pregnancy with Brynlie. Ryan had left to his teaching job before me and Brevan woke up. He called after listening to the radio on his way to work and finding out that both towers had been hit by planes. He told me to turn on the TV to watch the coverage. I sat in pajamas and watched Katie Couric break down on The Today Show as one of the towers started to crumble. I kept my hand over my mouth as tears streamed down my face. I watched coverage of the disaster non-stop for the next few days, as I pondered why I was bringing another child into this terrifying world. Brevan asked me several times why I was crying, and I told him I was sad that other little kids' mommies and daddies weren't going to ever come home from work again and give them hugs.

Ryan and I visited Manhattan two years later, in October of 2003. I scanned the scrapbook pages of that vacation, including the pictures from visiting Ground Zero. I was going through a very blonde stage, so the color of my hair is pretty shocking! What was I thinking with the bleached look? But I am envious of my body that was 30 pounds lighter and had no wrinkles. My, how 8 years and 2 more children can wreak havoc on a body! The vacation was one of the best Ryan and I have ever taken together.

2011-09-07T22:46:00.001-05:00

Life moves on and it often feels like a marathon! We've been living the good life, and trying to enjoy every minute of the numerous activities our kids are involved with that keep our schedules busy.

Brevan started piano again and actually likes to practice. His teacher is very impressed with his abilities, because he has a natural talent for music. Brevan also stays busy with Scouts and playing on his new iPhone. That lucky boy is far more technologically advanced than his old parents, so he has downloaded about a million aps that do everything imaginable. We are proud that Brevan earned half the money for the phone, plus all the money for the extras.

Brynlie is taking 2 dance classes this year - Jazz 3 and Hiphop 3. She is also involved in the community choir group, Activity Days, and volleyball. Ryan has agreed to be her volleyball coach, and was able to get a couple of her friends on the team.

Lindsey started soccer this week, and seems to be having even more fun than last season! It is so fun to watch her assertiveness on the field. She is also involved in the community choir, and will ride on a float in the upcoming Jesse James parade.

Logan is my little buddy that hangs out with me during the day. The sweet guy is getting more individual attention than any of my other kids ever had, since he has no competition! We like to read books, fight with lightsabers, cook, go on walks, and watch movies together.

A few weeks ago Brevan spent the day with some other local kids having an airsoft gun war. It's a big deal around here, and I just try to keep my mouth shut and let Brevan get in touch with his testosterone side. The picture below cracks me up though, because while all the boys aimed their guns at the camera, Brevan hid under a hat (bottom row, right side).

The girls have been excited about new hairstyles lately. Unless I pull their hair up in a fancy way, I've been using a curling iron or straightener on it every day. How's that for dedication?

Brynlie lived her dream the other night when she attended the Selena Gomez concert with her BFF, Megan. Lori had purchased tickets to the concert a couple months earlier, but only informed Megan that the two of the them were going. On Megan's birthday a few days before the concert, Lori informed Megan that she had actually purchased an extra ticket so Megan could invite a friend. Brynlie was ECSTATIC when Megan called and invited her. Lori had the girls design a poster, took them to dinner at Ihop, let them scream and dance to their hearts content at the concert, and even bought them each a concert t-shirt to wear to school the next day. It was a dream come true, since Brynlie's favorite singer/actor is Selena Gomez!

Keri and Brett got in town last Thursday and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. We had SO much fun with them while they were in town! I can't believe I didn't take pictures of our fun activities, so I had to take a quick picture the night before they left. They are both in their pajamas and are cooking dinner. Oh well, it's better than no picture at all! During the time they were here, we went boating a couple times (including once when a rainstorm suddenly blew in and left us drenched on the boat). Both me and Brevan finally got up on the wakeboard! Now we need to learn what to do once we are up, since we both get scared and end up falling. Keri and Brett are expert wakeboarders and had a great time. One day Keri and I got pedicures/manicures, another day we went shopping at my favorite new store - a jewelry store named Charming Charlies, we got sweaty exercising to a workout video together (Keri is a workout buff and taught me many good tips), and we spent hours talking and talking and talking. Brett and Ryan went golfing together a couple times, and we all ate out constantly. We experienced the best barbecue, Mexican and Italian cuisine we could find, as well as many more fattening and delicious meals. Although Keri and Brett missed their kids while spending 5 days hanging out with ours, I think they had a fun and relaxing time. We are having a hard time getting back to normal life now that they are gone!

Notalotta time to blog

2011-08-30T22:41:00.002-05:00

Up early, getting to bed late. Lot's of interesting events have taken place, but I haven't been good at documenting them this week.

I had an impromptu birthday lunch at my house for Brenda.
Ryan and I went on a date to dinner and golfing with Christine and Josh.
I pulled off a very fun and successful "Spa Night" with the Young Women.
All the kid's cute Halloween costumes are purchased.
We have a mouse in our storage room that will not be tricked into a trap.
Ryan's sister Keri and her husband Brett are coming to town on Thursday and staying for 5 days.
$6000 later the boat is finally fixed from when Ryan took the Deacons to the lake and ran over a concrete block that was in the water.
I'm addicted to the show Design Star on HGTV (thank you, Tiff, for introducing me!).
The kids all received priesthood blessings from Ryan this past Sunday.
I've done an overhaul on the house and have been an organizing freak.
I spent yesterday at The Legends Outlet Mall/Nebraska Furniture Mart with a few friends who helped me pick out new furniture for Brevan's room.
I decided to pull Logan out of preschool this year and do a playgroup/preschool from home with 3 of his best buddies. I won't have as much free time, but he will be happier and we will save a ton of money.
I bought new bedding and decorations for Lindsey's bedroom.
I've had some incredibly spiritual experiences lately.
The kids are all doing fabulously in school.
Brevan is loving the Aspergers Tween group he attends a couple times a month.
Our evening schedules are getting remarkably busy again.
We're considering getting a dog sometime in the next year.
And last but definitely not least because it's taking up the majority of my time lately . . .I'm planning a little (OK, not little - more like really big) surprise (shhh) party for my Honey's 40th birthday. It's going to have a 1980's theme, and is going to be a blast.

Oh, and this article in Consumer Reports . . .

Liberty, MO one of the best small towns in USA

I love my town!

Obituary for Shawn Barnes

2011-08-25T17:08:00.005-05:00

I decided to add Elder Barnes obituary directly to my blog, so I could print it in a blog book.

Shawn Barnes

June 29, 1988-August 15, 2011

PLAIN CITY –On August 15, 2011, in the arms of his sweetheart and surrounded by family members at his childhood home, Shawn, our beloved son, husband, father and brother passed peacefully into the arms of his Heavenly Father after a valiant 8 month battle with Leukemia.

He left behind his loving wife, Erin, and their beautiful ten-day old son, Shawn Lucas. He also left behind two wonderful families, who love him dearly and have been eternally joined as one. They are the families of Dave and Penny Barnes of Plain City and Mark and LuAnn Jenkins of North Ogden, along with countless other family, friends and loved ones. Shawn is truly loved, with his warm and tender smile and loving ways, we will miss him very much. There will be a hole in our hearts until we meet again.

Shawn Justin Barnes, 23, was born June 29, 1988 to David L. and Penny (Baker) Barnes of Plain City.

Shawn was blessed with many talents. He was so loving and kind to everyone. He gained a strong testimony of the Savior and lived his life like Him.

The next to youngest of eight children, Shawn had a very happy childhood. He loved working hard, with his dad, mom, brothers and sisters, hauling hay on the family farm.

Shawn was respectful and honored his parents. Their teachings along with those of grandparents and church leaders meant everything to him. Shawn's happy countenance was infectious. He helped everyone around him enjoy life.

Shawn's family life was filled with camping, hunting, fly-fishing, horses, skiing and playing many sports. Shawn was incredibly competitive in all of his sports and activities but this competitiveness was always balanced with kindness. He is talented yet humble and he has a genuine love and concern for his family as he cared for others much more than himself. His sweet smile and sense of humor have made him the joy of every party.

Shawn watched everything his dad did and wanted to be like him. Being gifted in science and math, he was well on his way to becoming a mechanical engineer just like his father. Shawn adored his sisters and revered his brothers and loved his nieces and nephews. His brothers and sisters played a big part in his love for sports, coaching him in basketball and volleyball. Shawn loved coaching and cheering on his little brother, Isaiah, in sports and everything he did. He graduated from Fremont High School and Seminary. He enjoyed playing on the football, basketball and track teams. Later he went on to play for Weber State's Club Volleyball team.

Shawn is a wonderful example of a righteous servant of his Father in Heaven. He worked diligently and received his Eagle Scout Award and prepared himself throughout his youth to serve as a LDS missionary.

Shawn loved learning and attended institute and college at WSU.

There he met and quickly fell in love with Erin Jenkins of North Ogden. Immediately they knew their love was eternal. They spent every moment together as they attended classes and he prepared to serve his mission.

He was called to the Independence Missouri mission where he, for two years, had many beautiful experiences loving the people and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. His sweetheart, Erin, faithfully supported him while he served.

He returned from the mission field on July 14, 2009 and they were engaged just 5 days later. On September 10, 2009, they were married for time and all eternity in the Bountiful Utah Temple. Erin is the love of his life; his heart and mind were fully devoted to her from the first day they met. Erin's family immediately embraced Shawn as one of their own and loved him dearly.

Shawn and Erin loved spending time with their families playing sports, games, boating and camping.

After marriage, they lived in the Harrisville 9th ward where he and Erin served as Sunbeam teachers and he also served as the 11-year-old scout leader. They were loved by the children as well as the youth.

Shawn and Erin have a beautiful relationship. They are an amazing example to their families and to all who know them of loving and cherishing every moment together. Over the last 8 months Shawn spent more than half of that time at LDS hospital with Erin by his side taking care of him. During this time Shawn and Erin were incredible examples of Christ-like love.

On August 5th, 2011, Shawn and Erin were blessed with a beautiful baby boy. They enjoyed 10 wonderful days together with their precious son, Shawn Lucas Barnes. We are all grateful to have witnessed the sacred event of "Big" Shawn taking "Little" Shawn in his hands and giving him a name and a blessing. We will all be blessed to remember Big Shawn's legacy and life by having Little Shawn with us every day.

As we have made this journey we have felt Christ-like love and have the deepest gratitude to all those who have cared, supported and prayed for Shawn, Erin and our families. Throughout his battle at LDS hospital, he was lovingly cared for and many doctors and nurses became dear friends. Thanks to Machel Knowles and the caretakers at McKay Dee Hospital who were incredibly gracious and accommodating for the special circumstances surrounding Little Shawn's birth.

Shawn is survived by his wife Erin, baby son Shawn Lucas Barnes, parents Dave and Penny (Baker) Barnes, siblings, Jared (JaNae Blacker) Barnes, Tammy (Michael) McKean, Jennifer (Benjamin) Bailey, Melanie (Kelly) Cooper, Riley (Stephanie Red) Barnes, Isaiah Dustin Barnes, Grandfather, Daurel H. Barnes and many caring aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by his sister Shauna Lee Barnes, grandparents Dean and Vivian (Thomas) Baker, and Carol (Poulson) Barnes.

Although his life seemed short, Shawn righteously fulfilled his mission here on earth.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 19, 2011 at the Plain City Stake Center, 4630 W. 2150 N.

A viewing will be held at Myers Ogden Mortuary, 845 Washington Blvd. on Thursday, August 18, 2011 from 5-8 p.m. and at the church prior to the service from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

God be with you 'til we meet again

2011-08-22T09:07:00.000-05:00

Our hearts are aching as we remember this incredible elder that spent much time with us in our home. Our prayers and thoughts are with his family.

Obituary for Elder Barnes

2011-08-19T17:36:00.004-05:00

I can't wait to try THIS on Brynlie's dresser (which was my dresser when I was a little girl but is still in great shape)!

I went on a team-up with the missionaries today. We taught a nice lady who is trying her hardest to be a good mother to the 4 children she has with her alcoholic ex-husband. Her 12-year-old son cuts himself and threatens suicide daily, her house is infested with fleas (and who knows what else), she has no running water in the house, and her 7-year-old daughter is battling leukemia. She smoked half a packet of cigarettes while she told us how grateful she is to have a roof over her head. She spent many YEARS living in a tent with her children. They would rotate living in local campsites for 15 days at time, since that's the legal limit of time allowed. We talked for over an hour about the joy that comes from living the gospel, and I personally challenged her to come to church this week. She doesn't have a car, so I offered to pick up her family.

Needless to say, my funk is over. Heavenly Father gave me the tender mercy of an amazing opportunity today. I'm feeling rather humiliated about my venting session yesterday.

I have no idea if my children will turn out to be happy, intelligent, independent, responsible, confident adults. But I'm doing the best I can, and that has to count for something.

It's just been one of those weeks

2011-08-18T12:18:00.006-05:00

The last few days have not been my best. I'm not sure what happened, but I feel completely out-of-control of everything in my life. The house is a wreck, I let Logan go directly to the video games in the morning, I've eaten Doritos and Oreos for breakfast two days in a row, and I'm tired beyond belief.

I hate feeling out of control. And I really hate change; always have. The kids went back to school this week and I've been in a depressed funk ever since. I really miss them and I don't like that I have to send them out into the world where I can't control their stress levels and make sure everyone is being nice to them. I'm a pathetic parent. I could talk to anyone for hours about my belief that parents should raise their children to be independent and responsible, but am I following my own belief system? No! If my kids feel overly stressed or get their feelings hurt, I jump right in and try to solve their problems. On the one hand, I think kids need to deal with a major amount of disappointment because it helps build character. On the other hand, I feel so protective of them and I don't want the world to ruin their sweet spirits. So where's that invisible perfect-mother line that I should be walking, where I do the proper amount of discipline while still helping my children become mature by making their own decisions? And what about respect? Some parents would argue that "respect is earned," meaning that their children can be treated with respect when they are acting appropriately. Other parents believe that everyone should be treated with respect at all times. I believe in the second approach, but some view that as babying my kids.

I'm feeling like a big old failure. What's strange is that my kids are doing fine, for the most part. Brevan is not impressed with the public school experience this year, but nothing really bad has happened. I think it's just been a hard adjustment for him, and he's frustrated with the chaos of it all. That shouldn't be a big deal, considering most middle school kids aren't exactly fond of school. But I hate seeing the disappointment on his face everyday when he walks in the door. Brynlie loves her teacher, but has already witnessed some girl drama, and is afraid she will be involved in it again this year. Lindsey is . . .Lindsey. My pure ball of sunshine whose only complaint is that sometimes school is boring because she is so smart. Logan is still home with me (until preschool starts in a few weeks), and it's a darn good thing because I think I would just spend my days in bed if he was gone right now, too.

What has happened to me? I've always rolled my eyes at those women who don't know what to do with themselves when their kids are all in school. I've always sworn I will NEVER be one of those "pathetic" moms who lose their identity and put their children before everything else in life, including themselves and their husband. Am I becoming that?

It's funny that the longer I am a mom, the less I realize I know. You'd think I would feel more knowledgeable over time, but instead I'm left scratching my head and wondering what happened to all the good theories I used to have on being a wife and mother. I'm at a loss right now.

So anyway, now that I've depressed anyone reading this, here are the good highlights from this completely confusing week.

Last week was "Back to School" night, where the kids got to meet their teachers and put their supplies in their desks. Lindsey is starting 1st grade with a brand-new teacher, Mrs. Oldham, who just graduated from college in May. She seems like a sweet lady, but was very nervous at the Open House. I'm sure she will do great, especially because my Lindsey loves everyone.

Brynlie started 4th grade and has a male teacher, which I love! His name is Mr. Sorens, and Brynlie is really liking him so far.

Brevan would not let me take any pictures on Back to School night, but I took this picture of him on the first day of school, this past Tuesday. I've decided to drive him to school every morning, since the bus is very full by the time he gets on. He hates riding the bus home after school because he hears so much bad language and is "confused by how boys treat each other," but I can't be everywhere at once. I'm just praying he adjusts to the crazy school schedule and the year goes fairly smoothly for him.

The girls also started school on Tuesday. Much thought and preparation was put into Brynlie's First Day of School Outfit. Lindsey, however, got up and put on a new shirt and some shorts since "denim is great because it matches everything!" The girls had me curl their hair, so they would look extra pretty on the first day.

Last Saturday was movie night with my Book Club girls. We did fun activities with each other this summer instead of discussing certain books, since everyone's schedule was pretty busy. Last month we had a blast at a BBQ/pool party in Karen's backyard, and this month we went to the fancy theater to see the movie "The Help." We all loved the book when we read it together last year, and the movie did not disappoint!

These pictures make me laugh so hard when I see them! Could I have taken any worse pictures of my group of book junkies? Christine is completely ignoring me, Aimee's eyes are closed and Brenda . . .I'm not sure what's going on there.

And in this picture, Karen looks drunk and Brianne thinks I'm a zombie! Haha! We had so much fun together this night, except for the fact that my car got hit by the idiot driver who parked next to me. Instead of calling the cops (which Ryan and many other husbands informed me later I should have done), I wrote a somewhat ornery letter and left it on their seat (because they weren't smart enough to lock their doors) next to the open booze in their cupholder.

This is my good friend, Jill. I'm not sure she could look bad in a picture if she tried.

On Monday, we wanted to celebrate the last day of summer by hanging out poolside for many hours. The weather man changed our plans when it ended up raining all day, so plan B was to head to a movie theater. Brevan called a couple boys in the ward, Tanner and Clayton, and they saw the last Harry Potter movie while I took the other kids to "Smurfs" at the same theater. It was a successful day of junk food and laughing.

I took this picture on the way home from the movie. I have the sweetest kids ever. I just hope I don't mess them up too badly while maneuvering my way through motherhood. I better start putting money aside for all the therapy they will need to get over their issues with me.

Heading home!

2011-08-16T17:02:00.000-05:00

After a close call where we barely made it to the airport on time, we were able to relax on the plane ride home! We had a very short layover in Salt Lake, and got to Missouri about midnight. Ryan picked us up from the airport and we didn't get to bed until almost 2 am, which really didn't seem all that late considering we'd been on west coast time for the past couple weeks. I had to wake the kids up at 11:00 the next day!

What a little dork! He was pretending that the seatbelt was choking him and making people nervous!

An angel was sent to me on the second plane ride, because the kindest lady sat next to Lindsey and played with her the whole time. By the time we landed, Lindsey had fallen in love with the lady and wanted to adopt her as a Missouri grandma.

The day after getting home from vacation was spent moping around that our vacation was over. How depressing to come home on "Back to School" night. Can't summer last forever?

Wickedly Wicked

2011-08-16T16:48:00.000-05:00

Aubrey introduced my girls to the world of musicals! My girls have become completely obsessed with the songs from Wicked, so they put on a show for us, singing to the song "Popular." Aubrey is a very talented performer in musical theater.

Exploring Portland

2011-08-16T16:44:00.000-05:00

I have always loved big cities, and Portland did not disappoint! I find it fascinating to be around all the people, enjoy different cultures and marvel at all the tall buildings when I visit a new city. I've decided Kansas City is entirely too boring - or maybe it's just that I've already explored it so much. Portland has the COOLEST thing right in the center of town! There are blocks and blocks of these food carts set up right next to each other, and there is literally every flavor and ethnicity of food! Is it sad for me to admit that this was one of my favorite activities of the whole trip? It's a good thing I don't live in Portland because I'd be hitting those food carts very regularly.

Lindsey thought the street entertainer was so good that she thought it was a recording when she heard him singing. I gave her some money to put in the man's jar.

In case you are ever in Portland and are wondering how far it is to . . .Timbuktu . . .this sign will tell you!

Logan was being grumpy for a minute and threw a little fit behind this wall. What a cute little temper tantrum!

Frozen treats and sunshine

2011-08-16T16:30:00.001-05:00

After spending a week at the beach house and saying goodbye to Ryan's family, we headed back to Vancouver. Ryan and Brevan flew back to Missouri on Monday, but me and the other three kids enjoyed some extra days with the Porters! We were introduced to Yo2Go, watched movies, played in the sunshine, read (and Tiff fully supported my book addiction!), explored Portland, and ate all the delicious food Tiff kept making. Logan savored his time with Joseph and all the video games and the girls loved playing Barbies with Bailey and doing art projects with Aubrey. I enjoyed every minute of my conversations with Tiffany!

Ocean views

2011-08-16T16:22:00.000-05:00

We spent the majority of our time in Oregon relaxing, eating and enjoying the ocean views. Ryan says I was actually a bit anti-social at times because I did so much reading! I finished 4 books, which seems like a successful vacation in my opinion, but I'm afraid Ryan may burn my library card if I take that many books on our next trip!

Logan still loves to do "ready, get set, go" whenever we tell him to start walking.

This is one of the newer homes in the neighborhood. Ryan and I have a dream of owning a beach house in this area one day. It's just sad that we live so far away! Who knows, maybe we will end up back out west someday . . .

The kids have fun in the pool, on the tennis court, playing ping pong and beating each other at board games. Erin and Bonnie spent much of their time playing board games with Brevan, which made him a super happy guy. I took pictures of them involved in the games, but I can't find them on my memory card now. That's pretty amazing, since I came home with 459 pictures, even though I seem to have lost quite a few somehow!

This is "our" beach house, tucked back in the woods and only a one minute walk from the ocean. Ryan and I felt nostalgic the whole week we stayed here, because we have so many fond memories of our vacations here over the years.

We stayed up late. We slept in late. We took naps whenever the opportunity arose. It was a perfect vacation at the ocean!