Teeth falling out and other things...

So, many of you know that Steve is working at his job in Yuba City during the week and comes home on the weekends. With the kids and I going to see my parents in Driggs, Idaho during fall break then heading to Utah where Steve flew in but then I left the next day to do Las Vegas Ragnar (awesome race, one of my favorites so far!) we have seen each other 3 times in 3 weeks.
So, we planned a weekend get away where I would go to Yuba City and look at some houses on Thursday and spend the night and then go with him to Redding on Friday and watch him give a presentation at a convention. I was so looking forward to it. It started out great, we ate lunch at the City Cafe in Yuba which is so good and the atmosphere is great. Then I took him back to work and checked out a store per Kaitlyn's request called "Cakes by Nancy". (Kaitlyn is all into the cake decorating shows right now). I wasn't hungry for cake but they had carmel apples and got one of those.
About two hours later, I took a bite and my 3rd tooth(crown) from the back on my left side came out!!!!!!! Not just the crown, but the whole entire tooth including the post came out!!!!
Talk about buzz kill, I called my dentist and got an appointment for the next day @ 10:00 AM, right when Steve was giving his presentation...so back to Ripon we went. One day of a get away....it was nice while it lasted.

Look at us now...The Cavewomen!

23 years ago, I went off to Ricks College with one of my best friends from High School and dragging another girl from my home stake, Yakima Stake.

We were so displeased to find that we were put in the corner of Dorm 6, which meant that our front window looked out onto a wall-the corner wall and this apartment was dubbed as "the cave" therefore, we became the "Cavewomen".

There was another girl there from Washington, Deer Park by Spokane and she was a farmer's daughter and looked and talked like it. The two other girls were from a place called Rancho Cucamunga in Southern California, might as well have been a foreign country to us Washingtonians! We thought we would have nothing in common and here we are 23 years have passed and 5 out of the 6 still get together every other year!

We have done so many different things. Two of us served missions, 5 out of the six are married with children. One is ready to send off her son on a mission and another just had her first baby. But it doesn't matter how different our lives our, our love for each other binds us.

It was a GREAT weekend and I was ready for a break after being with the kids all week by myself with 3 out of the 4 women our household PMSing. We talked and talked and talked from crazy things that have happened to us and our families to poor Sandra Bullock being cheated on by Jesse James. Our tradition is to always go to church on Sunday together and we attended a GREAT sacrament meeting in McCall. I mean the sister who spoke could give a talk in Women's Conference or Education Week.

I talked to my sister Stephanie yesterday and told her, "I feel filled up" because of such a great weekend with my friends. Thank you for everyone who made it possible so we could get together and keep our reunions going!

Life Scout

McKay had quite an eventful day a couple of Sundays ago. He received his patriarchial blessing and also his Life Scout award at a court of honor. He is now ready to start his Eagle Project! McKay and I met with a man with Ripon City who has given other scouts their projects.

He would like McKay to paint all the handicapped parking places. He said it would be a tremendous help to the city because they don't have the money to pay for the people to do that.

It was so funny because McKay, who can talk your ear off (I know, Suprise, Suprise that I have a child who talks!) was soooo quiet because he was nervous! Steve was gone to his new job in Yuba City and told me earlier that they don't want the mother's to take over so I was afraid to say anything! Finally, after he explained the project etc. I turned and looked at McKay and asked, "how does that sound?" and McKay answered, "sounds like it is destined to be a success!" Well, what more can you hope for?

obagi experiment...

ok, most of my good friends and family know that I am sucker for face products and make up. I am just glad that there is hope for my saggy, starting to wrinkle, sun(age) spotted face.

So, 3 years ago when I was moral support for a friend at a plastic surgeon's office, I sat and saw an infomercial for a face product called Obagi and have wanted to try it ever since. I have told my sweet husband that if he could work out a deal on Obagi with a doctor to please do it because I would love to try it but would never pay full price for it.

Luckily, my husband does not judge me for my wordliness and this past week was able to get the Obagi products at cost from a good friend of his.

I told my sisters that I was going to offer this great "sacrifice" and be the guinea pig for the family and see if this stuff really works. My sisters who know I am vain and wordly thanked me profusely for my "sacrifice" but are demanding weekly pictures of my face on this products so here it goes....

My face without make up and before I use the Obagi product.

I am wondering why no one has ever told me that my nostrils are so incredible crooked! Good thing I have other things to worry about then crooked nostrils!

Now on the products, there are big warnings letting you know that for the first 6 weeks, the products bring out all the icky stuff out of your skin and you could see an increase in "wrinkles, acne, redness, dark spots etc"

But I wasn't quite prepared to wake up to this! Yes, it is THE BIGGEST white head I have ever seen! Suffer to be beautiful as my grandma would say!

a little overwhelmed...

I am totally overwhelmed with this move, in that I am looking for the "perfect place" to move to and I need to realize that we make the perfect place, right?

This Sunday, we are going to go and visit a ward in Yuba City on the way back from houseboating (excited to find out what that is all about!) with Keri/Larry and fam. We visited our ward in Kaysville, before we moved there and people chided us for that, I mean what do you look for in a ward?
We have loved our Ripon ward, but if some people were visiting that ward for a few testimonies when one lady testified that she "literally sees dead people" doing family history...no one would have moved in!
So, I guess I will mostly be looking at the kids, how they dress, what their hair looks like-how it is cut or if it is cut (boys), are the YW wearing too short of skirts, too much make up etc. Is that shallow?
I think the kids will really tell me what they think but I am afraid they won't be open minded. We have visited my sister's ward and our old Kaysville ward and McKay was fit to be tied that they were rude to their teachers and texting during class. Hollie said about my sister's ward, "you can tell that their leaders love them, but they don't love them back-that is sad" She also noticed that they called our friend who is in the bishopbric by his last name and not Brother so and so. They are picky and biased and I don't blame them. We have had great wards and hope to find another one.
The school thing is also driving me crazy with worry too. Do I go to Yuba City High School, Home of the Honkers-the girls die at the thought. Student Body 1848-twice the size of Ripon High and intimidating to the girls. The other school is a block schedule and we can't transfer there in the middle of the year. Do we live in Sutter? 5 minutes from Yuba, ASB 700 along with Wheatland High-if we live in Plumas Lake-15 minutes from Yuba City. Lincoln High, has 1400 students with Block Trimesters that said will work with the girls as long as we get there by November 12th. That will be 1/2 hour commute for Steve in Lincoln which he says he is happy to drive. But I worry, and this shows you how I am almost clinical with this worry now, that if I go to Education Week or a race etc. Steve will be 1/2 hour away from the kids if they need anything during the day when I am gone. Is that silly?
I am praying that when we find the place, I will "feel" it. Otherwise, I am ready to put the towns and schools on a dart board and start throwing. That would probably take awhile because I usually don't hit the board that often! :)

Two interesting books I have read....

The first one is called, SARAH'S KEY. I bought it for my friend Areta because she took such good care of us on our last trip to Kaysville and she was going out of town and I wanted her to have a good book to read. April McMurtrey recommended this book to me and so I bought it for Areta. OH MY HECK!!!! This is NOT a book to give to a friend who is going on vacation! I didn't know it until Areta gave it to me to read after she was done!
It is a book about the Holocaust and it is a good book, but a hard book to read. I sat in my bathtub and SOBBED reading this book! I called Areta and apologized for giving her this book to read on vacation!
I talked to April about it tonight and April said, "it is the best book I have ever hated!" So, read it if you want to sob and be reminded of how great and easy you have it.

The other book is called A RELIABLE WIFE. I saw this book when I was looking at books for Areta but I didn't know if it was "safe". I saw it at the library this past week and decided to give it a try. Apparently, it was on the best sellers list etc.
It was a weird book, a book that was written by a man-if that makes any sense. I can always tell when a book is written by a man except for MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (I LOVE that book). Men have a different slant on things, everything has to do with sex and not that it was described in great detail like a porno book but it is like the reason for living. 3 main characters which are very flawed and I for one would never forgive some of the things that these characters did and yet they are supposedly "redeemed" at some point during the book.

I think I am sick of the world's view that sex=love. I don't know how many books or movies or songs talk about love anymore. I remember one of my friends really liked a guy because he was cute but he wasn't good and I asked her, "is this the kind of guy that would hold back your hair while you are throwing up in the toilet because you are pregnant? Is this the guy who will eat oatmeal every night for dinner for a month (and not complain) because it is the only thing you can make that doesn't stink? Is this the guy who will give your baby their first bath in the hospital, who will change diapers and will stay up with the baby because you are so tired? Will this man hold your catheter for you while you get out of the shower after having surgery? Will this man promise to pluck your chin hairs if you go senile?...that is love, that is the kind of man that you want...maybe I should write a book about that!

Is bribing your kids to read the scriptures wong????

Ok, so many of you know it took 5 years for us to read the Book of Mormon as a family. We try to find a time when everyone is home during the school year and it is really hard with seminary, early morning band practice etc.
So, we have cut back on a lot this summer, and we decided to challenge the kids that if we read the Book of Mormon by the end of summer we will take them to Disneyland. Is that bad? I look at it as a reward, not a bribe...that works, right?

I tell ya, they are MOTIVATED!!! We have to read 4 chapters a day to finish by August first. We read two in the morning and two at night and it is hard. We have four more chapters and we will be done in second Nephi...we made it through the Isaiah chapters-yahoo!

Poor McKay, he tries so hard to understand it. Sometimes, I remember some of the things I have learned and others we just say...that is just Isaiah which means, we don't have a clue!

Wish us luck!

Another black eye for Chase

Yep, this one is a doozie! It happened on Sunday evening when we (Maren, Chase and McKay) were taking our Sunday Stroll.

Chase was riding his scooter and he stepped wrong on it and he started to fall and his handle bars turned and the round part at the end of the handle bars hit his upper right cheek and cut it. There was blood spurting everywhere but luckily, we came prepared for allergy noses and had kleenex and a water bottle. I sent Maren to go and get Steve. I held Chase in my arms trying to stop the bleeding, waiting for Steve to come. People ran over from the park that was across the street from where it happened, some people came from their houses and even a skate boarder dude came over from the skate park-all very nice of them. I just told them we were waiting for Dad to come but Maren came back with a roll of paper towels and told me that is what Dad gave her. I told her to go back and tell Dad that I needed him with the car. Finally, he came and said that Maren came home screaming that Chase had a bloody nose. Maren, who is prone to drama and Chase who is prone to bloody noses...well, Steve didn't think it was a big deal until he came and saw me on the ground holding Chase and blood squirting everywhere with people huddled around me. Talk about a miscommunication!

Once we could get it really cleaned up, we realized he probably didn't need stitches but his cheek was already swelling by then.

Luckily, our home teachers came for a visit and Chase asked if he could get a blessing and was able to get a good night sleep. His eye is worse today than it was yesterday. Hopefully, the swelling will start to go down and he will go back to school tomorrow for his last few days of the year.

My new obsession...

Yep, this is it, THE BODYBUGG!!!! I ordered it for myself for my birthday. I have been wanting one for at least 1 year when I saw them on the BIGGEST LOSER but didn't want to spend the money on it.

What it is, the thing with the black strap goes on your upper left arm so the "bug" part is in the back of your arm and through out the day, it calculates how many calories you burn and how many steps you take.

I plug that in to the computer to see how many calories I have been burning and then I type into the program what I have eaten.

In order to loose two pounds a week, I need to eat no more than 1650 calories and burn at least 2650 calories a day so my defecit will be 1000 calories a day.

The little watch thing is a display that you can wear that will tell you how many calories you are burning, it was an extra 100.00 so I didn't get it, I just obsessively plug mine into the computer all day long.

I lost 5 pounds the first week and 2 pounds this week. I LOVE IT! There have been times at night where I plugged it in and realized I need to burn more calories and dragged the dog and/or Steve out for a walk!

I got it because I am more physically active than I have ever been and I couldn't understand why I was not losing weight. This way, it tells me why...eating whatever I want on Sundays and sitting at church for 3 hours than taking a 2 hour nap-that made me have a SURPLUS of calories for the day, not a defecit!

I also like it because you can get an overview for the week. I tend to have a black and white mentality so if I "blew it" one day or one meal, I would think "what the heck" and just eat whatever I want. This way, yes, I surplused on Sunday but overall for the week, my numbers were pretty good and I lost two pounds!

I have been asked by a few people what is the black band I am wearing. Jonie Eklund, at the stake camp meeting asked if I was in mourning! Leave it to Jonie! But, Sheila Bice came over and flashed her bodybugg that she was wearing! When I got it, I seriously wondered what I would do at YW Camp without my bodybugg to plug into every night-I am THAT ADDICTED!!!

Maren is the most concerned about me wearing it out in public, which I think is kind of funny. I tell her, "Maren, don't worry about it. I will embarrass you with plenty of other things than wearing the body bugg!"

Totally worth the money, got it on sale. Wish I would have done it sooner!

Post Script on Adopting...

After I put that out there, I had the worst two weeks keeping up with my kids schedule and I know the answer. No, I am not too old to adopt but I am not going to because I already have a full-more than full-life of keeping up with the kids that I have. I don't think we over schedule our kids either, but if you allow your kids to have one activity outside of church and you have 5 kids, that is 5 activities to keep up with along with the church activities and your own activities and church activies which leads to a very full life.
So, thanks for the vote of confidence but I am going to concentrate on the kids that I have and look forward to eternity and having more! :)

Is 41 too old for a baby?

Ok, I am throwing this out there to anyone who reads my blog...I am totally baby hungry!!!! Many of you know that I don't posses the plumbing to grow a baby anymore but Steve and I have talked about adopting for the past 5 years ever since we have moved to Cali.
Sometimes Steve is baby hungry like when he held Keilani my neice and my friend Allison's twins who are two. Allison's Claire just snuggled into Steve and he looked at me and said, "I want one!" and then it seems like sanity takes over and we realize we are past our time of having babies, that there would be a 6 year difference between Chase and the baby etc. I wouldn't be able to go to YW camp again for awhile (if they were to ever ask me again), I am enjoying my freedom when the kids are at school etc.

Then yesterday at a the Assemblyman Berryhill's meeting at our school, I snuggled a three year old on my lap and kept him happy so his mom could listen. I stood in line at Kaiser last night to pick up meds and saw a mom and her 3 year old boy who was sick and he was snuggled into her and my heart aches-just aches!

Whenever I am in a place to receive personal revelation, the feeling of adopting totally nags at me. How do I know if it is revelation or just missing having a baby? When I think about going forward with it I think about all the times I would have to wake up at night and how I am too old for that and the terrible two's etc and I shy away. I think I could wait for 10 years and be a grandma (oh, that kind of sickens me-I feel old, but not old enough to want to be a grandma yet)

I just wish the feeling would leave me if it isn't supposed to happen. Maren and Chase would totally love a baby. I think McKay would too-he loves having his baby cousins. Kaitlyn wants a black baby because they are so cute. Hollie thinks it would be kind of weird to have a baby and we should adopt a teenager (hello-I would take the terrible two's over a teenager!) . Steve worries about a 6 year break between Chase and a baby and maybe we should get a two year old. Steve also says that he doesn't think we should adopt just one (when he is acutally thinking postively about adopting) that we should probably adopt two so the baby wouldn't be alone. My word, we would be parenting until we are senior missionaries! I guess a parent is always parenting though....stuff to think about....any thoughts would be nice.

Life is good!

We returned this past week from spending our spring break in Utah. We had a great time and loved spending it together. We stayed with Steve's Dad and his new wife Gail, in Kaysville. They were very nice to put up with us.

We were able to attend our old ward, get our hair done by Areta, eat Neilson frozen Custard, go to the University of Utah bookstore and get new "gear" for the year, take McKay to the Roof Restaurant as per our tradition once a child turns 12, tour the beehive house, visit the church museum, have FHE with my brothers in Provo, visit my friend Allison a few times, take a master's swim class with Areta and Allison (which is really a swim class for old people-loved it!), got to the distribution center and deseret book. We had a great time and feel we need to go to Utah at least 2 times a year!

Kaitlyn and Hollie

Mrs. Mortensen, Hollie's Leadership teacher and Kaitlyn's World History teacher took this picture the other day. The girls seem to do this pose often and it makes a mom happy to see them like this.

McKay learns to Shave...and so does Chase by default.

Wasn't it just a few months ago I thought McKay would probably be 16 before he started shaving?

This became a great debate in our family...the girls thought he should just wax it off, like they do. I told Steve that he needed to teach McKay how to shave and Steve was like, "no one taught me how to shave." I said, "do you want McKay to have to say that his mother taught him how to shave?"

So after FHE a couple weeks ago, Steve brought McKay into the bathroom and as you can see, taught him how to shave. You can tell that Chase is mesmorized by the whole thing and he also "shaved" with his "shaving kit" that he got for Christmas. So, McKay is shaving once or twice a week and Chase "shaves" almost every other day. Then Chase comes to me and as me "feel" his smooth face.

I am soooo glad I took these pictures. I just love them.

I just love Chasie's face as he looks up at his dad and big brother.

The finished product...smooth, clean hairless faces!

Don't worry, I won't take any pictures of the girls shaving their legs for the first time!

Celebration at Chuck E. Cheese

Tonight we celebrated the finishing of reading the Book of Mormon as a family. We promised our kids that if we read the Book of Mormon, we would take them to Chuck E. Cheese. Unfortunately that was when Kaitlyn and Hollie were the age that the would actually be excited about that...yes, it has taken us about 5 years to finish the Book of Mormon!!!!
Luckily, life is a journey and not a race, because we would be in serious trouble! The girls did not want to go and gave me a little grief about it. I finally had to tell them to suck it up and think of Chasie and Maren who have never been to Chuck E Cheese. (I am sure glad that good parenting doesn't really have to do with how many visits to places like Disneyland and Chuck E Cheese-we would be in serious trouble there too)
So, for FHE that is where we went and Kaitlyn and Hollie were still whining and I told them to go help Maren and Chase have fun. So, they did and after we walked out with cheap tiaras, a whoppy cushion and pop rocks, everyone agreed it was a great time! Steve and I especially had a good time because the older girls were with the younger kids and McKay had a great time playing some submarine video game and Steve and I got to sit there and talk...hold a coversation and occasionally hands-yes, a great time had by all!