Update on Kids Part 1 Photos

Update On Kids Part 2 The Story

I thought this would be good time to write a short post on my kids! We just got done with having Grammy here for three weeks and had a great time with her! Brahnson is 12. He is in middle school and letting us experience all the ups and downs that has to go with the preteen age. He loves Sydnee and gives her all the attention that she could possibly need! Brahnson loves attending Young Men's and interacting with the youth. We have got really good youth in our ward that have taken him under their wings. Camren age 11, got new glasses and loves them. He has lost 4 pairs now and I am certainly grateful to my friend Joy who introduced me to zennioptical.com so that we haven't had to pay an arm and a leg to replace them. We actually got two pairs one for home and one for school. Hopefully, that will solve the losing the glasses thing. His fifth grade class did a colonial day and had all the kids dress up, the best they could, as if they were living during that time period. He is kind, considerate and a friend to all. Tori age 8, is mom's helper. She will help me with whatever that needs to get done and not complain. She likes school and activity days. She is also my movie partner. Some of her favorite movies are Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and anything with Dorris Day, just like her mom. Jorden age 5, is our know it all. He told Grammy that Monk Sharks eat monkeys. He got on the phone with Grammy after she was back home and told her that she needed to go to the airport so that we could pick her up again and come back. Jorden and I go to the library once a week and he always needs to get a dinosaur book, a snake book, a shark book, a big truck book, and a whale book. He doesn't spend time in the story book section, just the non fiction section. Sydnee,11/2, is a little firecracker. She is by far our most vocal child at this age. She will come up to you after you have been gone and yell HI!! She is also getting to know all the animal sounds and starting to communicate quite well for her age. The two things she needs to be happy is sleep and food. If she is hungry or has not had enough sleep you know it and if you don't, she will let you know. I love my kids! I am so lucky to have such great kids! I am even luckier to have an even greater husband that is so supportive. Family is so importantand I am so grateful for mine. I came from a wonderful family and my husband and I are raising a wonderful family. It doesn't get better than this. Some people think that I am crazy because I have five kids, but I wouldn't trade any of them for anything in the world, at least I can say that today at this moment, three of them are still at school! LOL :) :)

Totally Having Mom Withdrawals

So, my mom came to stay with us in Wisconsin. Little did she know that it was going to be for three weeks! We had such a great time. We went out to eat and other places. We forgot our camera every where we went so this isn't going to be a great post that has a lot of pictures of where we went. Sorry Steph! This is the picture she took of our family when we were at church, so she could put it into her family album at home. My mom was able to just sit and relax. Some days, she didn't even get dressed! It was great! I didn't get dressed either if we were just hanging out at home. We played tons of games together. We totally got into "Pride and Prejudice". We watched the whole 6 hour version of it. We researched and found some very enlightening books called "The Pemberly Chronicles." Those books start after the weddings are over and tell about what happens to Mr Darcy and his wife Elizabeth Bennett. We also watched "Jane Eyre" three times and that is a 4-5 hour movie and "Sense and Sensibility". My husband caught up on his sleep on the weekends. Instead of me nagging him to get things done, I was so busy playing games with my mom and watching movies, he took the opportunity to take naps. She went out on our date nights also. We went to Chili's, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, and Bellini's. Bellini's is the best Italian restaurant that I have ever been to! Their Chicken Marsala was to die for. Thanks Honey for finding that one, we will be returning soon! I can't wait until she comes again! I am totally missing her already.
We had great weather while she was here. It even almost got to the 60 degree mark! Then, the day that she was going to go which was Saturday, got dumped on with 6+ inches! We had to have her stay one more day and bump her to the next day! I wasn't sad at all about that one! We go to the airport on Sunday and we are hugging goodbye and I still am not crying! I then look at her and she is crying! That was it for me. I started the tears then and there and continued them off and on the rest of the night. I am still getting a little choked up about it.
It was so great to watch my mom interact with my kids one-on-one! We have lived away from Utah for a number of years now and my kids don't get that too much. They loved spending time with her. She read to them, helped them with their homework, did their dishes, and played games with them. Jorden asked as we were walking out the door to take her to the airport, with a worried look on his face, "How long do we have to give her back?" Mom, you are always welcome at my house. It is a little slower paced than what you are used to and that is a good thing! I don't think she has ever stayed at one of my siblings houses for that long of a time. HMMM...I GUESS THAT MEANS THAT I AM HER FAVORITE!!! :) :) :)

I Love My Mom!!

Last Saturday, my sweet husband asked me if I would like my mom to come out here to Wisconsin to visit. He was going to be out of town and knows how I hate being alone when he is not here. I totally got all excited and said YES!! We got online and found a really good one way airfare. I called my mom up and got my sister Jessica. She said mom was busy and asked if I could call back later. She then, continued to ask how I was and started chit chatting with me. There was no way that I was going to tell her what I was going to ask mom before I asked her. My other sister had just taken her away a week or so before this and I am sure my sister Jessica wouldn't want my mom to leave home again. After chit chatting, I hung up and told Chad that I didn't think that my mom would go for it. About twenty minutes later, I called back and my mom answered. I told her that we found an awesome airfare and wanted to know if she would come out for a visit. I explained that I was going to be all alone and it would be really fun for her to come out to see where I lived. She mentioned that she had some prior commitments and she didn't know. Then, Jessica said that she should go , so my mom said yes! I honestly thought that I would have to have done some serious convincing on my part, but I was wrong.
It has been so fun having her here. I haven't let her do a thing. She has been totally relaxing this whole time. She will sometimes sneak and help her grand kids do their dishes. But, other than that, I am letting her relax as much as she wants. We are playing games. We actually watched the entire six hour movie of "Pride and Prejudice". Chad and I go on a date once a week and because he wasn't here I took her out on a mother-daughter date to HU HOT. It is a really yummy Mongolian BBQ place and she tried crab ragoons for the first time. I am so excited for her to go to church with me tomorrow and meet the wonderful people that are my friends here. My kids totally love having her here too. I am not sure that I want to get her that one way ticket back to Utah. I wish she and my dad could come and stay with me! I am well aware that is not reality though. I am just enjoying every minute that she is here. I love my mom and dad so much and I don't realize how much I miss having them around until they are here with me. I am not looking forward to her going home, but that won't be for at least another week or so. :) Pictures will follow in my next blog when my husband comes home to show me how to get them off the camera!