My cute imaginative son...

So today, Kyle came in from a walk in the park with Kaylee and he said "I have a secret to tell you." I said "What is that?" He said "I am going to go to outer space." I said "How are you going to do that?" He said "We are going to build a rocket ship so we can fly away to outer space." I said "Who is going with you?" He said "Tristan, and Chandler, and me, and Kaylee." He was so matter of fact and certain that he could do this. I said, "I would love to see you do that son." I thought it was a cute story to share.

American Idol...

Sorry, guys I just HAVE to post this. Most of you know I am a huge American Idol fan. Well, last night I was so moved by this 17 year old kid from Utah. He is just awesome. Here is his performance last night of John Lennon's Imagine.

When will it ever end?

I cannot believe it. Another week and more sickness. Tiffany has Strep yet again. This is the second time this month, the 4th time this season. She was out of school yesterday and half of today. Jake was home yesterday with a fever and sore throat. His Strep test was negative however and so was his check for ear infections. So far the ears are clear. I give it a couple of days and we will be back for another check. He has a cough too which always seems to end up with ear infections. Then to top it all off, today just as I was getting ready to take Tiffany back to school, Kaylee's school called to tell me she was sick. She was shaky, had a stomach ache and a fever. She has been puking all afternoon. That means three kids sick in two days with three different illnesses. This is CRAZY!!!!! As another friend said the other day on her blog, I am sick of having sick kids. When will it ever end?

What a great weekend!!!

Well we had great weekend here. It was a special time in our house as Ryan our third child turned eight years old and was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are so proud of his decision to be baptized. It was a great service. Tiffany gave a talk about baptism and I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. We were joined by several of our friends and family. Many of our family members who live far away were not able to be here with us and they were deeply missed. Here are a couple of pictures of Ryan on his special day.

This is my dad, Kay and Ryan just before the baptism. Doesn't he look sharp?

It was a also a special weekend because my dad came to be here for Ryan's baptism. He brought his fiance, Kay and we had a great opportunity to get to know her better. I had thought that it might feel a little bit awkward or weird to have my dad here with another woman, but it was wonderfully comfortable. I hope Kay felt it as we did. Kay fits in with our family quite nicely. I was amazed to see how fun the relationship is between her and my father. When I was growing up, my father was always very playful...he would pick on me and tease me a bit. It was always in fun. It is interesting to watch him and Kay and how that playfulness plays between them. It is wonderful to see her dish it right back at him. One thing is for sure, he won't get away with much between them. She is quick witted and funny and will keep him in check.

On Thursday evening when my dad and Kay first arrived at our house, they were greeted at the door by Jacob. He looked at Kay and said "I hear you're going to be my grandma." It was so cute and made me smile. I am so glad that even though my mom is gone, my children will have someone to help fill that void. Thank you Kay for adopting us.

On Friday morning we, Dad, Kay, Kyle and I, went for a walk in the sculpture garden across the street from our house. The other kids were all in school. It was a relaxed walk and we enjoyed the sculptures throughout the park. Kyle was hilarious though. He wanted his picture taken with almost every statue. Here are some cute pics.

On Friday afternoon we took a drive up into the mountains. We had a nice walk through town looking at the shops, then drove as far as we could up the mountains. The roads were closed beyond due to snow. We enjoyed the views and the company. We made it back into town just in time for the kids to get home from school.

Friday Night Kyle decided it was his turn to be up sick. I don't know if it was all the junk he ate while we were in the car in Friday afternoon or if the stomach bug the rest of us had on Monday finally got to him, but he was up most of the night (and I with him). I made a bed for him out of blankets on the master bedroom floor. Since his bedroom is upstairs and the master is on the main floor, I thought it would be better to have him not only close to me, but also close to the toilet and on a tile floor was a bonus. He was still feeling a bit ill early on Saturday, but perked up by evening.

Saturday morning we celebrated Ryan's birthday with a big breakfast and presents. He was ecstatic to receive his Nintendo DS, a game, and some clothes. For his extra special day for his baptism, he also got a set of scriptures from his Sims Grandparents, and a really nice towel with his name and baptism date embroidered on it from Kay. It amazes me that he is 8 years old. His baptism was held in the afternoon and we went out to dinner after. We had a large group for dinner as Pete and Mel and their kids joined us as well. We went to Red Robin and Ryan was thrilled when the servers came and sang Happy Birthday to him. After our dinner we went back to the house for cake and ice cream and Kari (Mike's sister) joined us for that too.

After our cake, the kids went off to play and the adults visited and laughed and laughed and laughed. It was a great time telling stories about our families, reminiscing, and even poking fun of each other. All in fun of course. I feel like over this weekend I got to know Kay and her family quite well. I look forward to meeting the rest of her family next month. One big bonus that comes from dad getting married to Kay. I will be getting a step brother and 4 step sisters. I always wanted more sisters(and another brother is okay too)!!! I know it may not be the same as if we were all young and living in the same home, but I do look forward to the chance to make some new friends. Having met 2 of Kay's daughters a few months ago, I certainly look forward to meeting the rest.

Well, I suppose this post is getting really long, so I will close here...until next time.

Sick kids again....

Well, we had a great weekend. We had the fun opportunity to have one of Mike's buddies from college come to visit us with 3 of his boys. We had a great time reminiscing with Bret and the kids had a blast hanging out together. We were blessed to have gorgeous weather on Saturday, it was about 54 degrees, and the kids played in the park almost the whole day. It was really nice to have them visit with us for a change. We have stayed with them in Alpine, Ut. on several occassions. Next time we are hoping that Bret will bring his wife and 4 other children with him.

Today, I am frustrated and not feeling all that well. We seem to have a bit of a stomach bug going through our family. Jake woke up about 12:30 this morning and was throwing up. It wasn't long before Mike and I were both feeling uneasy (though, I had been feeling kind of yucky for a bit already, I had just attributed it to my normal digestive difficulties, ugh!) and Tiff came home after only about an hour of school today. It figures that they would get sick today of all days. You see, Mike has the day off work. We thought we would have a really nice day together with Kyle and then Jake in the afternoon. We were going to go to breakfast and do some shopping for Ryan's birthday that is this Saturday. Well it is just my luck that the family would be sick today and we would have to scrap our plans. I am hoping to feel well enough later that I can still go and get some of the shopping done today, because it is going to be a crazy week. I feel like we have been sick constantly lately. Between the strep Tiffany has had 3 times this winter already, and the multiple ear infections for Jake, the colds and now this stomach thing, it seems like at least someone has been sick everyday for weeks. Just when I think it is getting better, something else comes along.

On a better note, our dog , Mandy is doing great. The antibiotics have done their job and her infection seems to be all cleard up. She is getting back to her normal self though she seems to be a bit more clingy(if a dog can be considered so). She is always on my heels or next to me on the couch. It's almost like she is afraid I will leave her. She is a great dog and really is a big part of our family. I am glad she is doing better.

We are very excited to have my dad and his fiance, Kay, coming to visit this weekend for Ryan's baptism. It is so hard for me to believe that he is turning 8 years old. It truly amazes me how quickly the time flies by. Anyway, we are thrilled to have my dad coming to visit and to get to spend a bit more time getting to know Kay. It's kind of weird to think of my dad getting married and living with a woman other than my mom. But I am so happy that he has found someone to share the rest of his life with. They have known eachother for a very long time and have been very good friends. It is nice to know that he will have someone to ease the lonliness and someone who can understand and sympathize with his feelings of loss. Kay lost her husband about 4 years ago so she understands. The two of them will be able to lift eachother up during sad times and support eachother. We are looking forward to their wedding in March.

Well, I guess that is enough rambling for today.

HUGE decision made!

Hello all, I just wanted to share that I have made a huge decision. I am closing my candle business. I have sold candles in some respect for 8 of the last 10 years. I am sure I will miss it, but I have decided that my time is more wisely spent with my family. The business has been a bit slow over the last year and I just can't justify taking more time from my family in order to spend the time necessary to build it up again. If anyone is interested, I am having a huge sale on my inventory. Everything must go and I am discounting everything 30%. If you want to shop my online store click here http://www.cachetbysweetheartscents.com. If you live locally you are welcome to shop my in home store (about $6000 worth of candles right now), just give me a call.

This is a big decision for me and one I have struggled with for about 6 months, but with the decision made, I feel relief. That must be a good sign.

If you know anyone who likes candles, please share my info. I want to get all the candles sold as soon as possible so I can get my investment back (and pay some bills). Thank you to all my friends and family who have helped to support my business over the years.

Random Ramblings

We had a nice weekend here at the house. It was a beautiful day on Saturday and the kids enjoyed some time at the park and also a nice bike ride. It made me very anxious for Spring to get here. We went out for lunch on Saturday too. Where did we go you might ask. Where else...McDonalds. Really it is about the only place where parents of five can take their family and have a semi peaceful meal. The kids play in the playplace until their food comes, they scarf it down and then they are off to play again. It may not be the best food, and thankfully we don't do it often, but it was fun anyway to take them out.

We don't eat out very often. The expense of it alone is reason enough for me to cook every night. Aside from that, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to cook! I especially enjoy cooking now in my big kitchen in our new house. It is so nice to spread out and have room for everything. It is a shame for one who loves to cook as I do though to have children that don't like to eat much more than hot dogs, hamburger, pizza, mac and cheese, and ramen noodles. I swear, if I let them they would eat these things every night. Instead, I cook dinners only to have my children turn their noses up at even the most basic of meals. Sometimes it is truly maddening. It is the occasional nights of children saying "This is the best dinner ever!" that encourage me to push on in hopes that one day I will have children who can truly appreciate a good home cooked meal.

Friday night I had the chance to go to a baby shower and then to a jewelry party with my sister in law Melanie. We were also joined by our friend Alyssa and we had a great time. It was so nice to be away from the house for a while and just to visit with friends. And boy did we laugh. I swear I almost wet my pants on at least 3 different occasion because I was laughing so hard. Sorry, that may be a little gross to say, but after having 5 kids it is definitely a concern whenever I sneeze, cough, or laugh. I mean really when I have to cross my legs to keep control, you know there is a problem. I'm sure many other moms out there can sympathize with me on this one. Anyway, we had a great time just being out together and are looking forward to another girls night very soon and being joined by other friends as well.

I think all of my posts so far have had a comment on my dog Mandy, so why not keep it up with this one. We were back at the vet today!!! It is almost 2 weeks since her surgery and last night I noticed some swelling at one end of her incision scar. This morning the swelling was worse, hard, and had a big red spot on it. So I called the vet and they said to bring her in. It turns out she has an infection. They had to lance and drain it and they put her on antibiotics. My poor little dog, I feel so bad for her.

Well, I guess that's it for today. Until next time....

Things here on the home front are pretty good. We made a trip to the doctor this week for Tiffany, she has strep throat again. This is the third time this season already. I am beginning to think it is time to go to the ENT to talk about tonsils coming out. Thankfully she recovers quickly as soon as she gets antibiotics. In addition, Jake has already had 3 ear infections this season and it is his first winter season since losing his ear tubes. The problem there is that he also allergic to lots of antibiotics, so we have to use the heavy stuff and I hate to see him on them so frequently. We may just make it a double appointment and surgery for both the kids if necessary over Spring Break. I will be calling later today to set up the appointments with the doctor.

I got the call from our Vet yesterday. It turns out that Mandy did have a cancerous mammery gland tumor. She feels confident that she got it all though and that Mandy shouldn't have any further problems. She said the cancer is not one known to metasticize. So while it was disconcerting to know that Mandy had cancer, I was glad to know that it will likely not be a concern. Mandy is healing well and seems to be getting back to normal now just a week post surgery.

The rest of us are doing well. Mike is busy at work and very happy to have his new Assistant Project Manager that started this week. Kayleeis doing great in school and having a lot of fun wither her friends and her cousin. She is looking forward to the Valentine's Dance that will be held this Friday. Jacob is busy as always, but he is doing well in school and is working hard on learning to read.

Kyle is struggling a bit with separation anxiety. It is strange to me since he is almost 4, but since the move, and then the shuffling of bedrooms, I think his world still feels a bit unsettled. He cries for just a couple of minutes when I leave him at preschool each time. It is really hard to leave him crying, but his teacher says it lasts for less than 2 minutes. She tells me it is just a show for me. I hope he gets over it soon though because I hate it. He is also struggling with sleeping at night. We have never had a child who slept with us at night, but somehow, I wake up about 3 mornings a week to him in our bed. He just climbs right in and goes back to sleep between Mike and I. I think it is getting better and certainly not as frequent as it used to be.

I have had a bit of a rough day today. I think I am just super hormonal or something today because I have cried at least twice already this morning. I don't even know what got me going. I have been thinking about mom and missing her today but it is not a "special day" or anything so I don't know what it is. I miss her all the time, but I don't cry about it as much anymore. It mist be the hormones. Well, I guess that is all for today, I need to get bak to the house work. Until later....

Tribute to a Beloved Prophet

Here is a very moving Tribute to our Beloved Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley who passed away this past week. He was an amazing man and touched so many lives. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

The Kids at VS Park last October

Here is a digi scrap page I did from a day when we went up the canyon this fall. It was a really fun day and beautiful as the leaves were just beginning to change.