I am now a parent of a 16 year old!!!!!

Happy 16th Birthday Kaitlyn!!!!!!! Today is Kaitlyn's birthday and it has been an interesting one for the girl! We celebrated it yesterday while we still had family in town (we had over 29 people here for the week of Thanksgiving-it was great!) So, we had the family celebration last night but I got sick shopping for while shopping for the ingredients for her cake. Luckily, her Auntie Amy stepped in and made it. She got lots of cute clothes and we made her do a fashion show afterwards. Of course, my camera died-but her Auntie Ally took lots of pictures so we will get them from her.

We always tell the kids "birth" story on their birthday. Kaitlyn's is very memorable because she was a week late! I went with my mom and sister, Stephanie to go and see the movie "remains of the day" (kind of depressing)! I was so frustrated, uncomfortable and hormonal that I begged Steve to give me a Priesthood blessing so I would go into labor!!!! I remember Steve rubbing my back and saying, "I just don't think that is what it is for, honey!"

So, on a Sunday my mom took us to Temple Square (we were starving college students at the University of Utah) and she "walked" me into labor. The poor sister missionaries would come up and ask questions and my mom would say, "we are trying to get her to go into labor, so unless you can help us with that, we don't have any questions" You should have seen their faces!

But it worked, we went to the hospital at like 2:00 AM and had her at 8:30 AM with the help of forceps (nothing like looking down and seeing salad tongs in you!). She was so beautiful and I am forever grateful to her for making me a mother! She is still so beautiful and I am excited for her and the experiences that awaits her and love to see her blossom and grow. She is telling me now to head down for family council, so I better get going....

Happy Birthday my sweet Kaitlyn, I love you so!!!!!

Halloween 2009

Here are the pictures from our Halloween this year. It was a different Halloween for us, only Chase and Maren went trick or treating which means my kids are really growing up!

Hollie and Kaitlyn went to a party at their seminary teacher's house and McKay stayed home and passed out candy.

I told McKay he really should do something. So, he called a few friends over and they watched, Batthumb, Frankenthumb and the Blair thumb. Movies only twelve year old boys could love.

So, I felt like our Halloween was in shifts...

6:30-girls leave for party; 6:30-8:00 Trick or Treating (Chase got tired); 8:30-put the younger kids to bed; 9:00-teenage boys come over and I get to stay up and pick up the girls and wait until the teenage boys get picked up and....eat candy! :)

The woes of scouting!

Many of you know that I struggle with scouting-the overwhelmingness of it all. But I have been around enough to see good things come from scouting BUT my beef is now with the uniform!

Who knew that you could put all the merit badges on the sash backwards?!?!?!??! McKay went to a scout masters meeting and the new scout master is in the military and ripped his (my) scout shirt apart!
I asked McKay, "does it really matter, I mean will anyone else notice it besides Brother Hollingsworth?" He said, "mom, when I am standing up there with the other boys and all their sashes go one way, and mine goes the other, I think they will notice!"

UGH!!! SO, because I glued on all the merit badges, I need to go and buy a new one because the glue will not come off. Off to the scout store today...!O(#@&*($&#@(*^&(#&%$(*&!!!!!

Why didn't I listen to my grandmother???????

Ok, I am going to write a book someday about all the things my grandma said and how right she was. Usually they are profound or funny things. I thought this one thing she told me was kind of "oh that's just grandma spouting off again" when she said that she never bought Kool-Aid once it permanently dyed her wooden spoon. She went on about how it couldn't be good for you having all that dye-what was in it anyway? I shook my head and continued to stir the Kool-Aid. I am sure she had a cigarette in her hand when she told me so I think I was probably thinking I was good not to spout off about her "ciggie". ( don't get me wrong, I ADORE my grandma and feel a great sense of loss still to this day-even though she has been dead for over 10 years)

BUT...here she is, right again! On Thursday morning, rushing to take the kids to school and then off to work. Totally ready for work...I grab my water bottle and put one of those single crystal light packs in it. I put the plastic lid thingie on it and something goes wrong and it shoots up all over my face, hand, counter and floor. It is RED as RED can be juice mix and I could NOT get it off my face!!!! It totally dyed my face and hand!!! I went to work with RED streaks down my face, neck and hands!!!!!!!
Forget the wooden spoon! It was my skin that was dyed! Surely something that stains your skin for two days is not good for the body!!!!
Lesson finally learned Grandma-it just took my vanity to learn it!

Ding Dong, the psycho cat is gone!!!!

Forgot to update you all, those who questioned my sanity as to why we have kept psycho cat so long (you know who you are!)
When we moved, she was so freaked out, she moved her kittens and we couldn't find them. So, we moved to our new home (.5 miles away) and I felt so guilty just leaving her and the kittens there! Especially when the animal cruelty commercial came on!
I took McKay over and we looked and couldn't find her and he just bellows "Kitty" like he has for the past two years and she comes trotting from across the street. He picks her up and gives her loves and then opens a can of cat food for her and he starts looking for those kittens.
He finally started asking the neighbors and she moved them to a neighbors home 3 houses away. McKay got them all and got Minerva and we brought them to the new house where they stayed...ONE night...then Steve took them all to the pound. Thus the chapter ends on psycho cat and ALL cats in our home.

Thoughts on moving....

This is our new house. It doesn't look so big on the outside but somehow, it is HUGE-almost too big. I think it is 4700 square feet.

We are still unpacking and we have been in here for 3 weeks now. I think with each move, we can tell we are getting older because of how long it takes us to recover! We are just sooo tired. I slept in today until 10-10:00!!!! I mean I haven't done that since I had pneumonia...last May...ok, it hasn't been that long since I have slept in. BUT, I woke up to Steve bringing me his delicious banana pancakes (inspired by Jack Johnson song) If you have not had them, come and visit and Steve will make you some, they are delicious! Steve is the king of breakfast food an bbq-what more does one need?

What happens when you start a job...

that you don't love? I am on my second week training working for Central Valley Autism Project (CVAP). It is a great organization that uses Dr. Lovaas' ABA program and it has been written about and is thought very highly of and I was really excited to work there but I don't LOVE it.
Am I expecting too much? Should you LOVE the job you are in? On Monday, I was working with a child that is young and fairly new to the program and I spent the whole morning on the bathroom floor because we are potty training him and trying to do the program with him (make eye contact, give me a high five, sustain 15 seconds of looking at something) and I am sorry, but I don't want to spend a morning on the bathroom floor with another child-totally would and HAVE with my own-but not too thrilled with it. But someone needs to do it and I know that they will and can progress!
Maybe I should have had a clue when they talked about arm guards for biting, and head butting etc on my first day. I keep wondering if I need to just stick with it and maybe I would enjoy it more. I also think I can't just quit-I mean, I just don't quit-that just isn't me-especially only after 2 weeks.
On the positive side, I have started tutoring two students for dyslexia and LOVE that!!! SO, excited how this will change their lives. I would love to get more students and do more of that. I would REALLY love to tap into the home schooled kids so I can do it during the day when my kids are at school. (would that make me a hypocrite because I don't homeschool my kids?)

So, ideally, I want to get more dyslexic student to tutor and go and get my masters. So, I guess I better figure out how to do that.
AND move with all this going on-yes we are moving on Saturday-ugh!!!!