The 3 Gifts of Christmas

So in the hustle and craziness of moving and trying to get our home set up and fit in Christmas activities and whatnot here and there, I have been really pondering on Christmas and how to tie it in more with it's true meaning.  I try to do lots of fun and good things with my kids each year and it is always a really fun time of year and each Christmas is a wonderful day.  But this year I am wanting to make Christmas even more meaningful.  I want to start something that could make an already wonderful day into an even more wonderful day, with more depth.  I want the actual day to also reach back more into it's original meaning, the birth of our Savior.
Now I am a lover of Santa and the magic of Christmas.  I love the Christmas season!  We are not deleting any of that wonderfulness.  Jon is a lover of presents!  He is a youngest child and had and has MANY toys.  Christmas is always huge at our house and it is really fun.  But I don't like that we save up all these great gifts and have almost too much on Christmas day (please no comments on how you feel that we have too many toys or gifts as well, I am completely aware of this fact).  I want to make it more special I guess.
So I was listening to President Eyring's Christmas devotional talk again for my scripture study on Friday and I felt touched by his meaningful and heartfelt gifts.  I don't have time to make something amazing this year.  I don't have time to do all the things I want to do for everyone.  It is so hard to fit in what you want to do and what you feel is most important.  I sat there thinking (well actually I was unpacking and listening and thinking all at the same time) and I remembered hearing about the 3 gifts of Christmas.  I had heard about this from some friends at a play-group about a year ago.  I really didn't catch much of what was said as I was watching my adventurous 1 year old (and I thought she was adventurous then--yikes, now she is just fearless)!  I just remember that there were 3 gifts; a spiritual gift, a physical gift, and a fun gift.  I remember thinking that I never have specifically thought of giving a spiritual gift.  I hadn't really thought of spreading out the gift giving/thinking that way at all and I thought it sounded really neat. 
So I decided to google this and see if I came up with anything.  And yes I did!  I really liked what I found and it was even more neat than what I had remembered because it ties in so well with the true meaning of Christmas, without making it feel like we are trying to make Christmas into family home evening lesson or a Sacrament meeting.  I know, you are all waiting to hear what it is, but I will make a disclaimer here first that most of the families that do this only give 3 gifts TOTAL.  Some do not believe in Santa and some do not even believe in giving big gifts for the 3 gifts.  I also know that there is NO WAY ON EARTH that Jon would agree to only giving 3 gifts total (and only one that is a toy-like gift) for Christmas.  I don't really quite agree with that either, but to each their own, and I think it's a really neat tradition.
Okay, so here is what it is:

The three gifts of Christmas symbolize the three gifts the Wise Men brought to Jesus: 

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

Gold symbolizes something precious and greatly desired by the receiver.

Frankincense was an incense used on the altars of the temple, so frankincense will symbolize our spiritual growth-a gift that will strengthen our spirits and souls.

Myrrh was used medicinally.  This will symbolize our physical needs.

The more I thought about this, the more I loved it.  Now it was on to convincing Jon--I sent him an email so he could ponder on it through the day and we could talk about it later.  He was hilarious in his response as he usually is and stated that there was no way we were only going to give 3 gifts total to each child (as I suspected he would say).  So I made it better by a compromise, at least to just try this out.  The kids each will get 3 sets of the 3 gifts of Christmas, plus Santa will come, plus presents from Grandparents and cousins will still be under the tree, aka: there will still be plenty of presents.  And he agreed!  

So tonight we are having an FHE to discuss this.  I am working on how to present it and how to have the kids draw each others names and whatnot.  

I am actually superly excited about some of the ideas I have had!  I have always wanted to frame the Christ with the Children picture for my kids' rooms.  So I plan to make frames out of (I know, I am funny) the dark stained slats under the kids bunkbeds that broke (and we replaced, but I kept the wood because I knew I could make some kind of frame or something with it) for two of the large Christ with the Children pictures for my spiritual gift to the kids.  I had a bunch of other good ideas-a mini Book of Mormon, a CD/download for you higher-tech (could go lots of places with that-I would for sure count Les Mes as a spiritual gift), a good book, a mini-primary children's songbook, a special CTR piece of jewelry, etc.  For Myrhh-that's my personal favorite kind of gift-clothes, make-up, oh and did I mention clothes?  And of course gold seems so obvious, but now I want that gift to be more special-something that the reciever really wants-one really special item from me rather than a bunch of fun items.  

This will be fun and I plan to make special re-usable tags to go on the gifts that say what they symbolize, so I better get going on that.  Oh, dear, I have to unpack my sewing and craft stuff first-yikes-maybe the tags won't be re-usable this year!  Better get with it!  Have a Merry Christmas!!

After I did some research on these items and prepared our FHE a few weeks ago, I learned so much and so I am adding to my blog post here to just share a little more about these items-just quickly about what I remember-I will try to add more detail later, but no promises.  Gold-like the life of Christ-always the standard to follow-I learned a lot about how gold mixes with other metals and substances and it could really tie into having a change of heart and having the pure love of Christ.  I learned that Frankincense was not only used in the altars of the temple for incense, but for the animal sacrifices that represented Christ's sacrifice for us.  Myrrh was used at Christ's death as they prepared his body for the tomb.  Also used for medicinal purposes-Christ is the ultimate healer.  Anyway, I learned a lot about all three things and it was fun to talk with the kids about what they meant and the kids came up with neat ideas for their gifts for each other!

 

My Recipe's

So I have been realizing that I get recipes off of the computer quite often.  I also have people ask me to send them a recipe every so often.  I saw a blog where a mother put her recipes-for her more than anyone else-just to put them all in one place, pretty much her own personal cookbook.  I thought, "What a great idea!!".  So now I am giving it a try.  I think I will like having all of my recipes in one place.  I am working on figuring out how to organize them since each time you post, it just puts it on the home page.  I made other pages and I am just copying the recipes to those at the same time that I post one.  I will have to play with it a bit to figure out exactly how I want it organized, but I am excited to put all my recipes in one place!  Now I just need an ipad or a smartphone to have in the kitchen with me when I cook--ha ha!!

Amy Edna's Recipes

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Halloween!

Our ward had a super fun halloween party in a neighbors backyard a few days before halloween.  They had a chili contest, cornbread, scones, hotdogs, cotton candy, tons of fun booths for kids with prizes and a bounce house and haunted garage.  It was super fun!  Jon and I didn't dress up-which is not our style, but generally when we go to things like that most adults don't dress up and we just hadn't had time to think about it.  This was a time we wished we had because almost everyone was dressed up!  It was awesome!  We didn't recognize many of the people at first!  Anyway, the kids had a great time and it was really fun to see so many adults enjoying themselves as well!  Our kids were ecstatic to dress up, of course!  I had been super slacking on halloween and so focused on other things.  I realized a couple of days before this big party that I needed to figure out what we were doing for halloween.  Aubrey wanted to be Mario or Luigi.  Jonathan wanted to be pretty much any super hero.  Mariah wanted to be a scary guy, she called it, "the shadow", and wanted a black robe with a hood, and long white scary teeth.  Well, I thought we could at least run to Ross and/or some second-hand stores and find things we could turn into costumes.  So we went to Ross.  Right on the front store rack there was about 10 costumes.  In those costumes was a black robe with a hood and a bumblebee costume/mask-both superly cheap and the right sizes, amazing that out of the few that were there, we found exactly what we were looking for!  PERFECT!  We looked around for a costume for Aubrey and found some green pants--we figured we could make those into pants like Luigi.  We bought our stuff and left.  We hopped over to another store and saw a picture of Mario and Luigi and much to our surprise they both have blue overalls with colored shirts (we were thinking their overalls were the colored thing, not the shirts).  Then we saw a Mario costume for sale--not much more than the green pants.  I was sold.  We bought the costume, returned the pants and we were ready for halloween!  The kids were ecstatic and I really felt like it was a tender mercy that we were able to get exactly what they wanted for super cheap and in less than one hour!

We went to grab pumpkins on Monday night.  We went to a farm, picked them out, and headed home.  The kids drew their ideas on their pumpkins and we helped them carve them.  Aubrey did hers all on her own and we were way impressed!  Mariah, as usual was absolutely grossed out by the inside and wouldn't touch it.  We were mean and made her touch it though-ha ha.  They all turned out really cute!

On halloween night Amelia would not put on her costume.  She was so upset about it.  We gave her a sucker to sooth her while putting it on.  She was still pretty upset, but we wanted to give it a try.  At the first door she watched the other kids and followed them and was pretty pleased to get a piece of candy in the bag we had given her.  By the third door she loved her costume, was jumping up and down and beyond excited to be trick-or-treating!  It was really so adorable!  She would just jump up and down when people would put a piece of candy in her bag.  She even started saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you".  It was really fun to trick-or-treat here.  So many of the neighbors were in groups in their drive-ways and had pot-luck and had made it a neighborhood party.  Then they would sit in chairs with their candy to hand out in one of their driveways while people came around.  It just was a really nice and fun atmosphere!  Plus we got SO SO much candy with the homes being so much closer together than in Utah!!  One house had candy dishes with skeletons or ghosts and whatnot on them.  When you would reach for candy, the skeleton/ghost, would snap down ou your hand.  It gave Mariah a really big scare!  She threw the candy she was grabbing really far and screamed.  The owner really got a kick out it, and so did we, actually!  Amelia was more fascinated with anyones pet dogs than candy if there was a dog around.  She would yell out, "goggie!!" and pet it and even let them lick her on the face!  She is for sure our animal lover!  It was really fun to go around together as a family!   It was really fun to see so many friends and neighbors out as well--just a fun night!  We all had a super fun time!

Fall Break

The kids have a full week of fall break here.  I was very excited to not get up quite so early each day (so lazy I know, but true)!  Anyway, I would have probably gone up to visit Grandma, but we had done that two weeks previous.  I let each of the kids plan a dinner to make with me for one of the days (they love love cooking with me) and also they got to each pick a treat to make with me one of the days.  Aubrey  is getting really good at cooking and pretty much made her meal all on her own (and passed off an Activity Days goal doing so).  

It is still pretty hot here, but I am so anxious to enjoy the outdoors and have my kids enjoy the outdoors (probably partly due to feeling crowded and messy when we are home all day).  So we went on a bike ride to the preserve.  It's about 1.5 miles away just to get to it, so I wondered how my kids would do.  It was actually really fun and they did great.  Jonathan got pretty tired on the ride home, but we ended up going about 5 miles total, so he really did awesome.  It took us a while to actually find the ponds that were full right now, so we didn't get to see much at the preserve before it got too hot.  But on our way to the preserve we go through the irrigated/farm animal lots and see horses, cows, chickens.  That always excites my kids.  There is a particular lot that has pigs, mules, tortoises, goats, sheep, and lots of birds and other small animals.  The kids loved petting the mules and goats and for the first time we got to actually see a tortoise super close and it was eating watermelon.  That was pretty neat!  They also love to see the huge fish in the canal and gather shells along the edge of the canal (don't ask why there are shells, I have no idea, but there are).

The next day we just took it easy, wore pj's, did some sewing and our own projects or whatever we wanted.  So we headed out, all of us on our bikes, in matching yellow shirts.  We wanted to also go to the library and get some books and DVD's (the library is just past the preserve).  We looked at the area on a map before we left this time and had a better idea of how to get to where we wanted to go.  We found that there is a nice lake right next to the library (between the library and the preserve)!  We saw so many birds and we also saw several bunnies and a turtle!  Aubrey and Mariah also got to get their own library cards-which they were so excited about!  The kids did really well again on their bikes and I really enjoyed being out with them all on our bikes enjoying the outdoors!

Bike Ride with Amelia

Amelia and I finally went on a bike ride again!  It was our first since last spring because it just got too hot to go, not to mention all the craziness through the summer!  (This picture is actually from last spring, she has grown a couple of inches, but still fit just fine in the seat).  She was so excited as I got the bike ready, put her helmet on and buckled her into her seat!  I love the seat because we can talk and point and I can hear her and see her excitement!  We went up to the trail and someone was "walking" their horse, sitting in a buggy!  It was pretty fun to see and to pass a horse and buggy on the trail-that's not something you see everyday!  We got off the trail and went over into an area of irrigated homes and horse property.  It was so green and pretty and refreshing and there was a nice breeze in the air!  Amelia LOVED it and would wave to animals, telling them hi and goodbye ("bye cow" "HORSEY!!!"  "Hi doggy").  We stopped at a park and she went down the slides a bit before we headed back home.  It was so cute and one of those moments when you feel like a good mom while having a really pleasant time yourself.

Oh, and this was after we came home-Mill walking around in some of my super high heels!  She did pretty good, though I could tell it was quite the workout for those little legs!  Sorry for the sideways picture-not sure how to remedy that yet!

Life is never dull!

So I came close to death a few weeks ago, not really, but it sounded good.  But it really has made me think.  The crazy thing is that I didn't realize that I was in that much trouble.  The pain came on gradually and I learned to live with it-not realizing just how bad it was.  Life is really like that too.  I think sometimes we let something eat at us and we don't let go.  We don't realize how much it is affecting us and can kill us in some way.  If you let it go too long, it could leave scars.  And now I have 3 new scars.  I know, so, so cheesy.
Some things just change you-for better or for worse.  I hope to let this change me for the better.  I couldn't believe all of the kindness and service and thoughts and prayers that were given in my behalf.  I spent the first day out of surgery answering floods of texts/calls from friends, family, and neighbors that wanted to know if I was okay and what could they do to help.  I had to turn down so many sweet offers of kindness because I had so many.  I have so many thank-yous to give and have shed tears of gratitude from the love and kindness I have felt from others.  I want to be a gracious giver and sincerely serve others as so many did to me. 
I will now share the story, but as is my usual style, it is lengthy and detailed and may be too personal for you, so I have in all fairness warned you.
So it all began in July.  The kids and I went to Utah for the month, Jon would be joining us for the last week and we would head home the first Sunday of August, just in time for school to start (this was our way of handling our first summer in Arizona-ha ha).  Soon after arriving in Utah, I found out I was expecting, only I found out because I was having abnormal bleeding.  I knew from the start that things were going to be rocky.  The HCG tests came out odd-the number that should double only went up a little each day, but it was still going up.  The number should also have been much higher than it was for how far along I should have been.  The doctor checked to see if he could see anything and did see what looked like a normal pregnancy, but it was too early to see a fetus or heartbeat.  He scheduled another appointment a few weeks out to recheck things.
So it was a few weeks of waiting and wondering what was going on, meanwhile I was continuing to have abnormal and sporadic bleeding.  Jon flew out a few days earlier than planned for the appointment so that he could be there with me to check and see what could be determined.  The doctor wasn't my regular dr-(mine was on vacation).  He thought the order for another ultrasound was silly and said the numbers from before were too low to see anything and everything might be just fine-I just needed to be patient and that I should just try to forget about it for another 2 weeks and see a Dr when I got to AZ.  I was not pleased because I had been waiting, assuming this would be resolved or at least we would learn more, but we didn't.  4 days later I miscarried.  It was the last day of the month.  We would be heading home in not too long and I was ready to be done with all of this.
After getting home from Arizona, I started feeling pains on my right side every so often.  I didn't think much of it-assuming it might be after-pains from the miscarriage.  The bleeding was slowing down and I was ready to move on, I tried to get into my regular routine of going running in the morning, working out and then getting the kids off to school.  It was much harder than usual and I felt so out of shape.
Not a week later the side pain got intense and the bleeding did too.  The nurse from the Utah office happened to call me that day to check on me.  I told her what was going on and she said that I needed to find a Dr. in Arizona (I didn't have one yet).  She said to take another pregnancy test the following Tuesday (2 weeks after the miscarriage) if I was still bleeding.  She said if the test was positive that was not good and I needed to see a dr immediately or even go to the ER and have them do an ultrasound to see what was going on.
Tuesday came around and the test came out positive.  I had been asking around for referrals for a Dr. and wasn't getting any great ones (I wanted someone to refer me to their dr because they thought they were an amazing dr).  I remembered this really nice sister in my ward that I had met just before going to Utah that was a nurse and she had mentioned how she went to the best OBGYN.  So I gave her a call and she gave me a couple of names of Dr.'s-one was even LDS (which I like to have if I can and if I think he is really good too, of course).  So I called.  There wasn't any new patient openings for any of the names she gave me for several weeks.  But someone had just canceled their appointment with Dr. Wilson (the LDS one) for the following morning and they gave that spot to me.
I told him my whole story and he proceeded to do an ultrasound.  He did not like what he saw.  My pelivs and around my uterus was full of fluid-likely blood.  He had their ultrasound technician come in and they looked at me for quite a while and even looked up in my upper organs to see if I had fluid that high (which I didn't).  He could see some fluid in my uterus, but not much else.  He was concerned that I likely had a topical pregnancy and that could mean surgery-infact with the amount of fluid I had, it could mean immediate surgery.  But, if I wasn't in too much pain and could wait a few days to answer some concerns, I could opt to do that.  He was concerned about a few things-obviously all the fluid.  But he was also slightly concerned that I possibly had a new pregnancy and that was what the HCG reading was-since it is incredibly rare that you have twins-one in the uterus and one out, and that is what it appeared to be (having miscarried the one in the uterus 2 weeks previous).  He wanted me to take an HCG test (which his nurse did right then and there) to see what the number was at and then if I could wait 48 hours and do another test and see him afterward, then he could determine some things before doing surgery.
I was alright with waiting (I really didn't want to have surgery unless it was for sure that I needed it).  He told me to be very cautious and if I was in tons of pain or if I felt certain things, I was to call immediately and head to the ER and he would meet me there.  That was quite disconcerting.  It was a long 2 days, though he had his nurse call me the next day to check up on me and then I would be seeing him the following day.  I did feel pain and I was worried and stressed about the whole thing.  I had been in pain for weeks now, but I didn't feel like I was in enough pain to warrant going to the ER.  My appointment was for Friday afternoon.  Jon met me there and Dr. Wilson was still waiting on the HCG.  He checked me and saw nothing in my uterus, but still saw tons of fluid everywhere in my lower abdomen.  He got the results and the number had gone down.  That was a very good sign-infact he was very pleased.  He said that meant that there wasn't a living fetus and that it was ectopic and at this point, since the number was going down, as long as I wasn't in too much pain or having the signs he had told me to watch for, then I didn't have to have surgery and it could resolve itself.  I did have the option to go into surgery right away as well and get it removed and done with, but then I for sure would lose my fallopian tube and have to recover from the surgery.  So we all discussed and opted to wait it out.  I was to take an HCG test the following week to see how much the number had gone down and was to continue to do so until the number was 0.
I was greatly relieved and so glad it was finally resolving and we knew what was going on.  We went home.  That evening my side pain got worse.  I figured that was normal and didn't worry much about it.  That's just how I am-as long as the pain is normal for the situation, I am okay with it, generally.  The next day I wasn't hurting as much so I was excited about that.  That night-more pain on my right side.  Sunday morning I wasn't hurting as much and was pleased that I was on the road to recovery.  That changed early afternoon.  The pain got worse and I felt really sick to my stomach.  It only continued to get worse.  I could only just sit on the couch.  Jon told me to call the Dr, but I didn't want to bother him over the weekend and I was sure that this was just normal and my body was just working at getting rid of all the blood.  Before bed, one of my kids barely bumped into my stomach.  It was excruciating.  I told Jon I would call the Dr. first thing in the morning.  That night it was really hurting, and I really wondered if it was my appendix.  Infact, I was sure it must be.  I wondered if we should go in to the ER, but I really didn't want to and decided that if I fell asleep, I wasn't in enough pain to go in.  I fell asleep a while later.
That morning I got the kids off to school and hobbled around getting things done-shined the bathrooms, did all the laundry, and just kept busy.  I knew I should call my Dr, but was afraid to for some reason.  I finally called that afternoon and left a message.  He called me back on his cell phone, asked me a few questions about my pain and told me he was very concerned and that his nurse was on the office line scheduling my surgery for that evening and that he was making it so that I could bypass the ER and head straight into surgery and to get there asap.
I was extremely shocked.  I called some friends who were so kind and willing to take my kids for the night (on a school night too).  So I got the kids packed up and ready to go while Jon hurried home to come drop kids off and take me to the hospital.  We were also able to get a hold of a friend to come help Jon administer to me just before we left.
My stomach was so tender and so bloated.  When we saw Dr. Wilson I told him that it just might burst when he cut into it.  They got me all prepped and into surgery.  I told Dr. Wilson that I was sure it was my appendix.  The next thing I remember was coming to afterward.  Dr. Wilson came over and told me it was a huge mess and that he couldn't believe I had held out so long.  I asked if it was my appendix and he said that he couldn't even see my appendix because it was such a mess in there and it was obvious what the problem was-and it wasn't my appendix.  It was my right fallopian tube.  There was a fetus/placenta and whatnot in the right tube and it had grown so much that it had stretched out the tube and then burst at the bottom of the tube.  If it had burst at the top of the tube, I would have hemorrhaged, but this was a slower, less explosive burst.  The tube should be about the size of a finger, but it was about the diameter of an arm and was covering up the left side completely and bleeding all inside of me.  He was just grateful that I came in and that he got it out.  Jon and I were grateful too!  I already felt so much better than I had in a long time-even with the incisions.  I just hadn't realized how much pain I had been in until the pain was gone.
I am so grateful for all of the prayers and kind acts from so many!  My parents came out and helped take care of (and made me rest) which was so nice!  And it was nice to have them here and see where we live and whatnot.  I had so many kind acts from others-bringing us cookies, bread, notes, and sending me texts, calling, and just letting me know that they were there for me.  It was so sweet to have so much love during a hard time in my life.  It's been almost 3 weeks now and I am so anxious to get back in shape and be a good mom again, and go for a good run!

Summer just flew by!

I haven't posted in forever-but that's pretty normal for me.  So much has happened in the past few months!  Jay's wedding was incredible!  I loved going to Portland, Oregon.  I met some siblings there early and we hung out together for a few days-it was so so so much fun!  Emily, James and I coordinated our plane tickets to land within a couple of hours of each other, then we rented a car and shared a hotel room.  I have never gone a trip like that before and it was such a blast!  I want to do it again only next time with Jon as well.  Portland was breathtaking and I just couldn't get over how beautiful and green it was!  We hiked Multnomah falls, went to canon beach, ran around the river in the city, and lots more!  It was just a delightful and fun trip!  Jay's wedding was beautiful!  I just started crying when I saw him come into the sealing room of the temple.  Finally my awesome little bro was getting married to an awesome woman!  It was just a beautiful day!  Emily and I were on the same flight on the way home so that was really fun too!  It was hard to come back to my desert home!
School was over (I had left on the second to last day of school) and our first summer in Arizona began!  We planned to go to Utah for the month of July so we just had to get through June for starters.  We actually had quite a fun month!  Every Wednesday we went to a neighbors pool to swim for a couple of hours and a few times we went to lunch with friends afterwards.  The library had a fun summer reading program and so we went to the library and did quite a bit of reading and each of the kids earned a free new book.  We went the Mesquite Aquatic swim center every Friday as soon as Jon got home from work.  We would grab a pizza on our way down and eat in the car then enjoy the swim park for a couple of hours until it closed.  It really was a fun June!
July came and our plans to go to Utah for the 4th got changed because of Jon's work.  So we stayed in Arizona and we actually had our coldest 4th of July ever!!  There was a huge rainstorm and it wasn't super cold, but it wasn't hot either!  We went down to Tuscon and had a really nice day with Jon's sister, Kathy and her family and my brother, James and his family.  We played games, ate good food, and enjoyed good company!  We had an adventure driving out to Jon's other sister's home to swim in her pool.  The rain had flooded out many of the roads and we even slid in one of the washes as we tried to drive through it!  It was pretty crazy! 
I left with the kids for Utah 2 days later to make it in time for Jay's wedding open house at my parents.  It was beautiful!  Becca (my sister) had decorated it amazingly and my parents had worked hard to make their already beautiful yard even more beautiful!  It was really fun to be apart of it all and to be with so much of my family!
We spent the month of July in Utah and enjoyed the beautiful weather, the green grass, the beautiful mountains, grandmas swimming pool, irrigation, and good company!   Jon flew out to join us for the last week of July and beginning of August-in time for our neice, Mariel, to get married.  It was a beautiful wedding in the Draper Temple and then they had a very nice luncheon and reception up Provo canyon.  It was so nice to see Jon's siblings and family and be a part of Mariel's beautiful day.
We returned home to Arizona 2 days before school started (we start early here).  It was craziness getting ready and back into a routine, but it was good to be home!  

Love Fridays!

I am so so glad it is Friday!!  I love Fridays--I love knowing we have a break from all the weekday craziness, even though the weekends are crazy, it's a different kind of crazy. We vacuumed out the van this morning--it was nasty!  I didn't think people would appreciate the pizzas I am picking up this afternoon  for the school "Dad's Club Campout" being in a dirty van, so that's what pushed cleaning it out to a high priority!
So I have a super huge nice bathtub and I LOVE baths.  So I decided to take a bath after my run-it sounded so nice.  Amelia made a huge mess of herself at breakfast. . . so we bathed together, rinsing off our grime first of course.  It was relaxing and so nice and warm.  Until Amelia tooted.  I quickly got out and got her out.  I wrapped us up in new clean towels and started to put on her diaper when I saw she had a buster brown (that means a smear of . . . poop) on her towel.  So I sat her on the toilet to see if something was going to come out.  Nope.  I wiped her and put her diaper on when Jonathan pointed out that two little brown things were sitting in the bottom of the tub.  Yikes!!  So I showered off, put the towels in the dirty clothes, cleaned the poop out of the tub, and so on.  A bit of an adventure for sure! 
After doing some chores and cleaning out the van, we packed a lunch and hopped on our bikes for a little bike ride to a park to have a picnic.  Amelia LOVES the seat I got her on my bike.  The seat sits on the bar in front of me--weeride kangaroo or something like that (got it on craigslist).  It seems a little flimsy, but I really like having her right there with me so that I can hear her, see her, and whatnot.  She points at things, talks to me and just thoroughly loves the ride!  We played at the park a bit and then headed home.  Jonathan did quite well.  We went about 1 mile to the park, so 2 miles total.  He got a little tired a few times, but pressed on.
We have lots going this afternoon and evening (school pizza dinner/movie/activities-even camping out on the school grounds over night if you want and having a breakfast in the morning).  We are just going for the evening activities.  I really like our school and this area.  It really is such a great place to live.  Well I better get on to other things I need to get done!

St George Trip: June 2010

Okay, so I just found this post that I never posted.  I never finished writing it!  Sheesh!!  I did have a baby at the end of the summer that year, so probably what part of the problem was along with being SO busy that summer!   Anyway, I thought I might as well post what I had written:

So many fun memories--where to start I don't know and I don't have the time for detail--I think I will just make a list to help me remember and add detail another time.

St. George--one of the highlights of our summer!  

Our first family vacation with just our family that we have taken since Aubrey was a baby.  We left Sunday morning, stopped in Filmore (Jon's families' stomping grounds--they built their first house down there and his dad was the county doctor).  We went to a Sacrament meeting and then visited an old family friend.  Then we headed out to Cove Fort, ate lunch, went on a tour (the missionaries were very excited to do a tour and it was a little too long for 3 little kids, but it was fun and there was some really neat stuff).  I do enjoy old-fashioned things! 
Then off to St. George!!  We checked in, went to dinner and then got in the pool!  The kids LOVED the pool!  I was really surprised how much they enjoyed it and weren't afraid of it in the least!  They had to wear arm floaties of course since they don't know how to swim.  Aubrey and Jonathan would jump in at the deepest parts over and over again.  All three of them would "swim" all around the pool and just had a blast!  The next day we did some touring--Brigham Young Home, DUP, hiked Snow Canyon (the kids are a little too brave and were freaking out their pregnant mother hiking those cliffs!!).  Then we went to the Dinosaur museum--which isn't that exciting, but our kids loved it and enjoyed the little intro-movie thing.  before leaving for St. George I looked up parks and whatnot on-line.  They have a great city website and they have a ton of great parks and several with splash pads.  So we had a picnic ready and we went to a splash park.  We ate and then played.  It was an awesome park!  The kids loved playing in the water, then on the toys, then back to the water.  Jonathan loved the water the most and loved stepping on where the water would be shooting out.  Aubrey was very good with him and helped push him on swings--it was really cute.  We went back to the motel, changed out of the wet clothes and then it was off to the St. George D.I.--they have great summer clothes down there and our main reason for going is pretty funny--the motel room had a really nice huge flat screen tv--but we couldn't hook our DVD player or Nintendo into it--you could only watch cable on it, which we don't waste our time with--commercials and lack of choice on what to watch.  So we decided we would see if DI had a cheap TV to buy and watch what we wanted to and play nintendo (2 things we had really wanted to do as a family in the evenings).  And yes, DI had a pretty decent TV for pretty darn cheap!  Everyone picked out a toy and I got some cute maternity clothes.  Then we went out for dinner and back to the Motel for swimming.  Then popped popcorn and started a movie--The Music Man--which the kids really enjoyed but got too tired to watch the whole thing!

Climbing the Red Rocks

 The Dinosaur Museum

The Splash Park--Aubrey is pushing Jonathan on the swing

The kids being silly

Tuesday--we got ready and got on the road headed to Grafton and Zions National Park.  We went to Grafton on the way there (a small ghost town up a canyon just before you get to Zion's that my anscestors helped settle).   It was fun to see that it is being fixed up and restored.  There were little lizards all over and we almost caught one!
We continued on to Zions--ate lunch, attended a "kids" workshop/class" that was really boring--but Aubrey enjoyed it.  They did have several "Stuffed Animals" that the kids really enjoyed seeing--the highlight for Mariah being a bald eagle--her favorite animal.  Then we got on a shuttle and started a hike.  The kids did an awesome job and I loved how they thoroughly enjoyed nature and the beauty around us.  They even saw a frog, hundreds of tadpoles, lizards, and a mouse!  And they even held the mouse--it was quite cute and they were amazingly brave.  Mariah was especially sad to leave the mouse.  She wanted to go get some food for it and take it home.   Then we went to a museum and headed back to St. George.  We went out for dinner, went swimming, and then back to our room and finished watching "The Music Man".  It was such a fun day!

Valentines Day

I started the day off with a 4 mile run--holding a 8:30 minute mile average--which I was pleased with--I am hoping to be able to start holding 8 minute miles for my average.  My first mile is generally my slowest, unless I am doing more than 6 miles, I sometimes start to slow off and on through longer runs.  Anyway, I got home just in time to make pink heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.  The kids loved them and it was really fun to do.  Then it was off to school and back home for strength training since I didn't meet my partner as usual and I need to do it as I am really wanting to get better and stronger at running.  It was intense, hard, and ultimately awesome. 
After getting cleaned up and ready, I decided to go to Jon's work and get lunch together-which I have never done actually.  We went to Subway and I got to see Jon's office, which is really nice.  He's on the 7th floor of the building and he has a nice window view of palm trees, homes, and desert.  Then it was off to do the coupon shopping I had procrastinated and now it was the last day of the sale, but we did awesome and got some great things. 
We got home just in time to meet the girls coming home from school.  They enjoyed opening up their school valentines and some that had come in the mail (they got more in the mail the following day, so that was really nice-and we still haven't sent ours--on my to-do list, I know, so behind.  I am just so good at being behind on things, it really is a talent and I think I haven't hidden that talent and it has really grown-ha ha!). 
Jon got me roses and my favorite treat, "Chocolate Extreme Blizzard" from  DQ, only substituting the brownie chunks with oreos--yum yum yummy!!  What a sweetheart! 
Our Relief Society hosted an 80's prom.  Jon and I really didn't have any 80's clothes-more like 90's, and we meant to go to Savers and find something, but we didn't, so we just wore something close.  Jon wore his high school tuxedo and I wore a dress I had made for graduation that wasn't in style then--more of my own style, but could be looked at as 80's since it was pastel colors, puffy sleeves (not 80's puffy, but some puff to them for sure), and a belt made out of the same fabric.  But it really was fun to get dressed up (even if it wasn't what I would ideally like to have worn) and go on a dance date. 
As we got in the car it made us both feel like we were "dating" again in High school--going to a dance.  They did an amazing job at the church.  They had tables set up on one end with a buffet table to get dinner, a photo booth (which we got some really cute pictures of ourselves), arcade like games set up on tv's, a chocolate fountain table with all kinds of things to dip, and then of course, a DJ and music.  It was really fun and so many people looked so awesome!   Then we came home, got comfy, popped popcorn, cuddled, & watched a Remington Steele (currently our favorite tv show episodes).  It was a really really nice Valentines!

BUSY days!

So much fun and so much we have been doing!  Though by Saturday night I felt all funned out!  Ha ha!  Monday we went and bought baseballs, mits, and a bat.  We have Primary baseball here-so cool!  I never heard of that before!  We walked/rode bikes to a park 1.25 miles away (trying to get my kids really active, so we find new and different parks all of the time--there are tons!).  We practiced hitting the ball and played at the park.  It was a really fun park too-we will have to go to it again!  Another day we went on an adventure walk toward a canal that has HUGE fish in it.  Also there is a backyard with several unique animals (including a giant tortoise).  There are also small seashells along the edge of the canal--way fun and we went 2 miles out (4 miles total--awesome job kids!).  We practiced baseball at another park on Friday and several friends were there, so we got to play with them and I got to visit with their moms.  Saturday we went to Aubrey's game.  It was really fun to watch her play and I was really glad we had practiced through the week.  She actually did pretty good!  She did hit the ball usually within the first couple of throws (in Primary baseball you don't strike out from not hitting the ball.  They keep throwing it until you hit it).  Then we walked to and around the Riparian Reserve (about 4 miles total).  We saw several neat birds, including my first Red Cardinal!  There was a "gang" of geese on the path that about attacked you for food--really quite funny.  Mariah really got scared of them and hid under a blanket in the stroller.  That stroller was the best purchase ever by the way!  I use it EVERY day.  I actually only use the van a couple times a week, if even that.  The garage door opener is connected to my stroller, not in my car.  Pretty funny!  But the truth is we live too close to the school to drive there.  If we try to drive (which we have done twice) there is such a long line of cars to try to cut into that we take way longer than just walking the quarter mile there.  Anyway, I was just thinking about how much we have been going to places--walked places actually-I hate car time and we are loving the weather (yes, I know that will change when the summer comes).  It is really different for me to go so many places and parks; it is just not something I have done a lot of as a mom.  Before we moved here, we had a huge yard, a swingset, a good road to ride bikes up and down, and of course, grandmas house and yard, which are amazing and lots of fun.  We also had the best outside time during the summer when we have tons of family things going on.  So we have great weather in the winter here and are just soaking it in.  But, the kids can't do much at our house (when it comes to being outside).  We did get a trampoline for Christmas-and they love that and it's awesome.  But I want it to stay awesome and not be the only thing they get to do every day.  Good stuff!

A New Year in a New Place

So I just read some of my favorite peoples blogs and it made me think a little more about the new year and what I want to accomplish.  Really my main things that I want to do are things that I am already aspiring to do without the New Year being my inspiration.  But it's here, and you know the saying, "Thoughts, Words, Deeds".  So it's been in my thoughts, I can write it down, and hopefully it will help solidify the deed. 
My first and foremost goal I have really been working on already.  That is spending more time with my most loved ones--my family.  Spending more time with Jon, my dear husband and each of my children.  I really want to feel that I am not only spending time taking care of them and their needs and running the house-keeping it clean, fixing meals, shopping, taking them to school and whatnot, but actually spending more time enjoying them.  I do different things to make them a part of what I have to do (helping with dinner, etc.), but I want to do more fun, random things with them.  I want to go on regular dates with Jon.  We are terrible at that.  I hate having to get a babysitter, but we just need to do it and go out. 
My next goal is to have more meaningful scripture study and to do it daily, no matter what.  I read for 30 minutes no matter what while in High School and College.  I want to start doing that again, no matter what.
I want to start playing the piano again.  I want to practice daily and get pretty good at playing. 
Then the next thing I am also working on is getting in really good shape.  I am working on that pretty well already, but currently, I am adding a challenge to that-helping my kids to be in really good shape as well.  I don't want them to become couch potatoes, computer addicts, or exclusive book worms.  Though there are good things on the computer, and though I do want them to love books a read a lot, I want them to enjoy the outdoors, to love hiking, to feel good enough physically to run around and be active.  So these are the things I am aspiring to accomplish--though really none of them are things that are done--they are continuous, not a year-end and it's over kind of a thing.  Maybe I will make some kind of a year-end goal thing.  I generally don't do that, mostly because I just don't think that much about it.
More than anything I just want to enjoy my family, enjoy life, and do our best at walking this road together as a family.  This past year threw a huge curve ball at us that I am still soaking in and that I NEVER expected or planned on.  We moved from our much loved home in Riverton to a state I always said I would never live in-Arizona.  So here we are.  I am sad to be away from the beautiful mountains, from dear family, from our cute little home, our beautiful huge yard, our fruit trees and garden, and some dear friends.  I miss all those things very much.  I know my kids do as well.  I feel it is my responsibility to help make the most of life and spear-head enjoying our new environment here in Arizona.  So though we do miss Utah and many things about it, we have been enjoying it here and actually I am loving this weather right now!  I think I am getting a tan with all the time we have spent outdoors!  I will not love it in the summer, but I didn't love the cold in the winter in Utah either.  I miss the snow--to have the snow for a couple of months would be perfect, while skipping the other 3 months of freezing cold that surrounds the bits of snow here and there.  I love the fall as well.  I LOVE the mountains.  I love green and I love waterfalls and rivers.  I do miss those things being just 30 minutes away, and in sight at all times.  Fortunately we are in a very nice part of Arizona and there is a lake (yes, man-made, but it's still very nice) just 1 mile from our home.  Also in this particular area the communities grow grass and trees and it's really quite nice.  We are next to some farm-land as well and there are some amazing birds along a trail just 10 minutes from our home.  My yard happens to be all rocks.  That will change when we get a home of our own, or maybe we will rent a different house next year.  The people I have met are super nice as well and our ward is wonderful.  It's not perfect here, but it wasn't perfect in Riverton either.  No place is perfect, but as long as you are with those you love, you cling to the gospel and move forward in life, happiness can be found.  So here we are and what's funny is my goals are pretty much the same as usual--though our environment has changed, we are pretty much the same old Hansen's as we always were--just with a bit more sun.