trick or treat . . .

well, as much as i hate halloween...we dress up every year. i have learned to just suck it up and buy the costumes, so that the night of we are not running around crazy to find something for the kiddos to wear. so isaac and reagan had to do a world history report in order to dress up at school (isaac won when he was in 1st grade...he was the cutest astronaut ever!). but isaac chose not to dress up this year, and reagan wrote her report on cleopatra (because "she is pretty") and was approved to dress up for the school carnival. so we headed to wal-mart to buy some fabric to make her a costume, but lucky me...cleopatra in a bag with all the goods and only $12. while we were there, ethan chose the clown costume, and we had a left over tigger for davis. isaac was a bit more difficult...he wants to grow up too fast. as much as i hate masks, he found a hoodie sweatshirt with a skeleton on it and when you zip up the hoodie part, it covers his face with eye holes and the skeleton face. way too grown up...and we let him go trick-or-treating with his friends in a different neighborhood...even more grown up...yuck!

two cute brothers...(i love that i have this picture of isaac and davis and another one from 2 years ago with isaac and ethan as tigger)

cleopatra...we had to straighten her hair so she could be "pretty" too. i can't believe how long her hair is. aunt brenda...we need a hair cut.

my cute little clown...he loved that he could frown and it still looked like a smile!

and this video clip of davis is so him right now...i had to catch how he says open..."uppy" and he was so cute telling jenny "thank you"

happy halloween!

not enough...

it seems like "not enough" is the theme of my life. or at least what i think is my theme.

there is "not enough" time to do what i need to do. there is "not enough" dr. pepper in my fridge to get me through my "not enough" sleep from last night. there is "not enough" space in my little house for 2 adults, 4 children, a frog and 5 extra friends today. there is "not enough" space on my counter to possibly hold all the dirty dishes i need to wash (so i will just store them in my sink, which there is definately "not enough" room). there is "not enough", "not enough", "not enough"... but what there really is "not enough" of is me taking the time to enjoy the little things that i so love.

last night when ky got home from work we were all just visiting and playing in the front room, when the only chair in our front room - broke. and i mean really broke. ky turned it upside down and the metal stealies come pouring out all over the floor. davis immediately ran to put some in his mouth, luckily his dad is still faster. so i sat on the stairs and watched ky, isaac, reagan, ethan and davis totally demolish the chair. they each had a screw driver, a drill, a socket wrench, hammer or pliers and they went to town. they got it into such small pieces that most of it fit into our garbage while ky took the rest to work to put in the dumpster. but the best part was seeing them all work together, watching reagan really working the socket, hearing davis' giggle as he squatted by ky and watched every little thing he was doing, seeing isaac look for any screw that he could put the drill to work on, and hearing ethan cheer when a big part of the chair fell off. i was enjoying it all so much, i forgot to take pictures during, but i did get some after shots.

there is also "not enough" of me writing down (or blogging) about how cute my kids are. tonight i was doing the dishes while reading scripture stories to ethan. we made it to the story of captain moroni and ethan asked if he was the good guy, to which i told him yes. he then asked me if he beats the bad guys, again i told him yes. he then told me "i want to be captain ramoni for halloween." and i will find "enough" time or money or whatever it takes to make a cute little captain ramoni.

there is "not enough" of me cuddling with reagan at bed time. every night she tells me to put my pajamas on, go potty, and meet her back in her bed. i have to admit, i don't do it nearly enough. so i made an effort and met her back in her bed tonight. it only took me 5 minutes and she was asleep, but i'm pretty sure she is going to remember a lot longer. if 5 minutes is "enough" for her, i will make sure "enough" happens a lot more often.

and there is for sure "not enough" of me playing x-box with isaac. he begged and begged me for weeks, so i gave in last week. i don't think he has ever been so bugged in his entire life (and he gets bugged easily). i don't do computer, ds, x-box, or game boy games. i couldn't get out of the ship or back in. i couldn't shoot, and when i did, i kept shooting my own team. and that little knobby thing that makes you go certain directions, well i'm positive that mine was broken, because i kept going in circles. but i did it for isaac, and i will make "enough" time to play (or bug) him again.

and davis . . . well there is just "not enough" patience for my little davis. he is a climber, a runner, a toilet water playing, disappearing to the neighbors, drawer emptying, buttons pushing, grandma stressing one year old. but today when he disappeared, i did not immediately stress. i just checked all bathrooms, under beds, in the pantry, at the neighbors and then the backyard, where i found him fully clothed playing in the sandbox full of water. and i had "enough" patience to laugh (just "not enough" to take a picture). but he was in heaven. a shivering, blue-lipped heaven, but still heaven. and i guess i can have "enough" patience for more bruises.

so i may not have enough of all the things i wish i had. but i really have enough of what counts.

the zoo . . .

i love the zoo. it is one of my favorite places. i remember when i was a little girl and we went to the zoo. i remember watching the monkeys forever. that is all i remember, but what a great memory. so, we broke down and took our kiddos to the zoo yesterday. i say we broke down because, well, we are better stay at home enjoy our saturday in our own home kind of people. but isaac needed to visit the zoo for his last requirement or achievement or whatever it is called in order to get his bear. so yeah isaac - happy bearing!

the zoo was awesome. (i haven't used that word for such a long time, but it is so fitting for our day yesterday.) long lines at the ticket counter made me a little nervous, but some discount tickets from jiffy lube, gave me a glimmer of hope. the weather was beautiful, just a nice fall day not hot and not cold. there are lots of new babies at the zoo this year, which made it even more exciting. baby elephant, baby girraff, baby monkeys, baby snow leopard, and triplet baby tigers. i will admit that i was most excited about seeing all the babies. the kiddos were most excited about finding all the madagascar animals. they have become big madagascar fans and can quote most of the movies - yes 1 and 2.

it was only for the afternoon, but we had such a great time. the kids were great and patient with each other - which rarely happens (maybe that's why we don't leave the house very often), like i said the weather was beautiful, the animals were so fun to watch (we especially loved the baby elephant - so cute!), and it was just a great day.

after we went to the zoo. ky and the kids dropped me off at the lds conference center. i was able to attend the general relief society meeting with some other ladies in my ward. it was such a wonderful experience. to be one among thousands. we were spiritually fed and uplifted. i left feeling strong and confident and ready to take on the world (or maybe just my house and kiddos!)

tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy . . .

i took ethan to the doctor a few weeks ago for his "back to school check-up", where he managed to entertain the doctor and nurses. for some reason he really turns it on at the doctor's office. he has them laughing every time and last time dr. wilcox asked if ethan would come in once a week to "lighten the load". i thought most kids dread the dr.'s office. not ethan. he is in his element.

so when dr. wilcox did the check-up, he noticed that ethan's tonsils are unusually large. which i knew that i could never actually see down his throat because they were (yes, were) so large. dr. wilcox then asked me if ethan snores. which he does, and very loud. we can hear it in our room with both doors closed. but i then told dr. wilcox that the only time it really wakes us up is when he stops breathing and wakes himself up by gasping for air. yes, i really have been entrusted with four children!

dr. wilcox recommended us to see dr. denys. so a week later we were in dr. denys office. where we learned that because of ethan's overly large tonsils and adnoids, he has sleep apnia. because of this sleep apnia he hasn't been getting any REM sleep. apparently, when he falls asleep and gets into REM, his tonsils relax and close together, where it makes it hard, if not impossible, for him to breath. then he wakes himself up to breath and starts the whole thing all over again. so two weeks later we are in the hospital to remove ethan's tonsils and adnoids.

so early thursday morning (august 27), we checked ethan into the same day surgery at the american fork hospital. ethan was so excited to have kyle and i all to himself. he didn't have to share us with his brothers or sister, and he had our undivided attention. he was in heaven. we dressed him in his hospital gown, put on his surgery socks and then a dr. and nurse came in and gave us some information and asked us some questions, then they gave him his cool surgery hat. he chose the green one with footballs. they treated him so good and took such good care of him. a nurse that works with little kids came in and gave him "buddy", a surgery doll. he was able to color buddy's hair and face and then he got to put the oxygen mask on buddy and they were able to show ethan on buddy what they were going to do to him.

then while we waited for his turn, he got to play with some toys, one of his favorites was a view finder. i forgot how cool those are.

he was so brave and almost excited. until it came time for them to wheel him back. as soon as they showed up in the room, he asked me if he could put his clothes back on. and then as they were wheeling him away, he turned and looked at me and said "mom". it broke my heart.

true to their word, he was back in our arms in 45 minutes. we never heard from the doctor, so we hope all went well with his surgery. as they were wheeling him to our room, he was turning himself around to see us waiting. he looked even tinier in this big hospital bed. his only complaint at the hospital was that he wanted to get the i.v. out and he wanted it out now. once he finished his slushy, they took out his i.v. and we were back home by 11 am.

since then has been a little more exciting. i don't know if it is the tylenol with codine that he is taking or the fact that he has been eating a lot of popsicles, pudding, otter pops, jell-o and he is on a sugar high, but either way . . . he is crazy. they told us to keep him from running and jumping, and to try to get him to rest for the first three days and especially on the first day. he was climbing on the shelf in the family room and jumping onto the couches, running around the cul-de-sac, standing on the edge of the bathtub and jumping off then sliding down into the water, and he was trying to eat any- and everything. needless to say, thursday was crazy, i was so stressed and ready for him to go to bed.

he hasn't been sleeping very well since then, just tossing and turning and whining and moaning, and his mornings are pretty miserable. but really the rest of the days aren't too bad. he is getting his appetite back and he is back to tormenting davis. i'm hoping that by tomorrow he is doing well enough to go to his first day of school.

busses don't go in cul-de-sacs . . .

so, it's in the news and it is all the talk in our neighborhood. but i thought i would share it with all of you. crazy, scary, surreal - i don't know the right word for it, but holy cow!

so, ethan and our cute little neighbor, calvin, were playing at our house. they decided they wanted to play outside or go to calvin's house. they made it to the big tree between jenn's house (neighbor to the west of us) and our house when i called them back to our house. we got inside, and the boys were running around and i heard a loud noise and thought it was the garbage truck, so i turned to look. i noticed that it was a big yellow school bus. so i told they kids "hey look there's a school bus in the cul-de-sac." all the kids went running to the window and reagan says (so innocently) "it didn't stop". which is when i ran to the window and saw the back half of a big yellow school bus between my house and jenn's house.

(this next picture is basically what i saw from my front window. this picture was taken as they were towing the bus back out of the backyards.)

i stepped out on my front step at the same time as jenn and she asked me what the noise was. i told her "there is a bus in your backyard." (side note: i'm laughing as i type this.) so jenn and i both went running to the back yard when she told me to call 911 (another side note: this was my first time ever calling 911.) so i ran back into my house and grabbed the phone - counting children as i did so. then i counted kids again and told isaac to watch the kids. then i went running to the back yard not knowing what to expect. our neighbor, jill, came running with her phone in hand and i noticed lisa, another neighbor, hanging out her window with her phone in hand and sarah, the neighbor who was now staring face to face with the front of the bus, with her phone in hand as well.

jenn checked to make sure there were no kids playing in any of the yards, made sure there were no more kids on the bus, and checked on the bus driver. while i was on with 911, they had me trailing the driver to make sure he was okay . . . he kept getting on and off the bus, walking around the bus, sitting down and standing up, opening and closing his cell phone. 911 asked me to find out if he was okay . . . which i asked him 6-7 times, to which he never answered . . . then 911 told me he was probably in shock and i needed to get him to sit down, which he did, but then stood up again . . . and then they wanted me to find out how old he was, which i asked 6-7 times, and he never answered . . . so i tried asking him if he knew how old he was, and he nodded and finally told me he was 69 (or 68 - now i can't remember).

the emergency vehicles finally got there and i backed away. at this time, most of the neighborhood had showed up and it was crazy for the remainder of the night.

this was a really long version of the 5-10 minute happening. basically a big, yellow bus entered our cul-de-sac, didn't stop or turn and went up jenn's driveway, through her front fence, down her backyard hill, took out her shed in the back corner, where it hid the concrete base and took a hard right, out the back fence, into the braby's backyard, and through the braby's / dimitrech's side fence and stopped about 20 feet from sarah's back deck where she was standing and watching the driver come at her.

crazy . . . we are so grateful that no one was hurt, no homes were damaged, and really the only damage was to three fences, a shed (with lots of stuff) and one little tree got bent. we hope that the driver is okay. all day today, ethan has been telling us the "busses don't go in cul-de-sacs." your right ethan. that is why we have never seen one in our cul-d-esac before and i hope we don't ever see one again!

young women and their activities

serving as the young women's president for the last three years has been a learning and growing and challenging and very blessed opportunity. i am so grateful for all the young women and leaders i as able to work with and serve. i sincerely love each and every one of them and i will miss them. i just got released sunday-not ready to talk about that-yet!!! so we'll talk about what happened before i was released...

beacon trek . . . how cute is that? the mia maids and laurels were able to attend the three day trek with the teachers and priests. some couples from our ward were invited to be ma's and pa's and act as parents to a group of youth for the three days they were on "trek". well, not to leave out the beehives and deacons they came up with the "beacon" trek (yes, named from a mix of beehives and deacons).

kyle and i were asked to be "ma and pa" for a group from our ward. we had such a cute little family. they jumped right in to help, worked really hard, and i think overall had a great experience. our trek was at the "this is the place" park in salt lake. what a peaceful and very neat and beautiful place. our kids were haden dehoyos, nate young, elle hunt, ansleigh mikesell, destiny mchugh and kylee kerby. all so cute and fun - they even called us ma and pa throughout the day. we had caden aston trying to get adopted, he must have thought that ky and i were fun (or he was really good friends with the other kids in our family), but we claimed him as our nephew.

it was a good hike and quite a pull or push. the whole day made me feel grateful and deeply indepted to those pioneers who sacrificed so much for us. i also felt grateful for my family, my home, my shower and my bed. and a little grateful that i was asked to do the 1 day trek and not the 3 day trek!!!

girl's camp. . . slept (froze) in tents, cooked over the open flame (or open flame of the camp stove), canoed in the resevoir, climbed walls, zipped the line, camp crafted, and just visited with and laughed at each other. it was so great! i seriously love, love, love these girls.

these are just some of the fun pics from the week. i don't know what more to say, except that girl's camp is a wonderful experience. girls grow closer together, they work together, barriers come down. girl's camp really is the place of miracles. we saw many this year and like i said i love these girls.

the draper temple . . .

or as reagan calls it "the open house temple." she still hasn't figured out that it was the draper temple open house, and it's so cute we aren't in a hury to correct her!

last night we had the opportunity to attend the draper temple open house with the lowder's. we have been preparing the kids for this night for a few weeks. you know getting them excited, letting them know what to expect, letting them know what a great opportunity this would be - that they get to go into a temple, to see the rooms that mom and dad get to go into when they go on "date nights to the temple." isaac struggled trying to understand that it was not yet dedicated, so that is why he was able to go into the temple.

even ethan was so excited to go to the temple. but on friday night, we had an elder's quorum party and some of the moms that were there told us that it is a lot of walking and overall kindof a long night, so we decided to leave ethan and davis with their cousins. (by the way - thank you christy - that really worked out for the best!)

of course in my hurry to get out the door on time, i forgot the tickets. but it wasn't until we got to brenda's to drop off the kids that kyle asked me if i had them and we didn't want to be late, so we went without them - knowing full well that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would never turn anyone away (and the didn't). so we found the church house to meet in before we went to the temple. they showed us a beautiful movie on temples, specifically the draper temple and some of the blessings that we can receive from being worthy to enter the temple, from making our own covenants in the temple, and from doing service in the temples.

then came time for the highlight of reagan's night . . . the bus ride to the temple. she has never been on a bus before and when she found out that she got to ride a bus, she couldn't wait. she was beyond excited.

the temple was absolutely beautiful. but we didn't expect anything otherwise. the church seems to take such great pride and care in choosing all the details for these beautiful buildings. i loved all the detail in the woodwork and the way it got lighter as we worked our way up to the celestial room. and of course all the paintings of our Savior were absolutely beautiful. the kids were so excited about the painted lilies on the ceiling of the celestial room. grandpa had told all the kids about this, so they were so excited to see this.

reagan was so excited to get through the temple (and we went on an incredibly busy night) and she is little enough that she could just push herself right around and through people. finally we told her that she had to stay with us and she had to stay in line and we had to wait our turn. she told us "if i stay in line, i can only see the man with the green shirt's bum." it was a really busy night, but it was good to see so many people taking advantage of the opportunity to be in our Heavenly Father's house. there was a beautiful spirit there and i am grateful that the kids got to see the temple and to feel of the spirit. hopefully they will listen to president monson's words "when you touch the temple, the temple will touch you." i hope that isaac and reagan never forget the special feelings from their night in the temple and always have a desire to return there and to return often.

he says the funniest things

my ethan . . . my ethan . . . my ethan is such a little stinker right now. he has such a mind of his own and is so strong willed. he knows what he wants and he will fight to get it. his first reaction when he gets mad or sad or upset at all is to fight back. but he loves his mom and dad and i think deep down he loves his brothers and sister too. and he says the funniest things.

"let's meet them at errands" - on wednesdays, while reagan is at school, we run all our errands. so the other day after running to the distribution center and costco, and on our way to smiths, he asked me "mom, are we going to errands now?" i just laughed and told him no we are actually going to smiths. so the next day michelle and brayton came over and when they were leaving michelle said they were going to run some errands and from the backseat ethan yells out "we'll meet you there. mom, let's meet them at errands."

"the fluffy hair papa or the no hair papa?" - one day i told ethan to hurry up and get ready so we could go see papa. he asked me "are we going to see the fluffy hair papa or the no hair papa?" needless to say, both papas were a little disturbed to find out which one they were. (for the record - papa lee is the fluffy hair papa. sorry dad!)

"squish head vs. big head" - this is one of our favorites. a conversation between kyle and ethan after work one day.

kyle - what did you do today?

ethan - i played with jacob.

kyle - jacob who?

ethan - you know the one with a squish head like you.

kyle - i have a squish head?

ethan - yeah

kyle - well, what kind of head do you have?

ethan - a big head

(come to find out - there are very few squish heads. our whole family - except kyle - has big heads.)

"my blinks are touching my eyes" - the other day we were driving down the road and ethan yelled out from the back seat "my blinks are touching my eyes?" not knowing what in the world he was talking about, i asked if it was hurting him. and he said "no, it keeps doing it again and again." i'm guessing his blinks are his eyelids.

"it's okay" - i picked him up from preschool the other day, and his teacher, miss amber, came running over. she kept saying "i'm sorry, i'm sorry". she then told me that she turned around and saw ethan and this little cutie - emmie, kissing! cute little emmie, kept saying "please don't tell my mom." and ethan just kept saying "it's okay!" i got a good laugh about this one. i had a hard time being serious while talking to him and telling him that we don't kiss girls until we are older - much older, and he needs to save his kisses for his mom.

he is full of funnies. he keeps us on our toes and definitely keeps us laughing. can't wait to hear what he's going to say next!

finding things to love . . .

it seems that january hits and i forget to keep that excitement in my life. thanksgiving, christmas and new years is over, valentines day isn't for another month, my birth-month (yes month, i don't believe in only getting a day - so i take all of may) anyways my birth-month seems like it is forever away, and i'm getting a little ho-hum about life. but, i found some things to still love . . .

• the sun is shining
• davis slept through the night!
• reagan is doing a clean sweep of the family room
• davis is clean and smells like baby lotion
• we are still in our pj's at 8:34 - the running will soon begin
• isaac sat with me on the piano bench and talked about life for a whole 5 minute (must be a record)
• ethan went to school yesterday with his carpool
• technology - i am able to talk to kyle while he's at work and find friends from high school and college
• the scriptures - my daily boost to keep going
• reading the scriptures with reagan or ethan while drinking our hot chocolate
• preparing my yw lesson - even though i get so nervous and flustered i love what i get out of it and hopefully they get something too
• reagan and ethan playing together with "kind words and kind hands" (our new motto)
• leftovers - i don't have to cook for the rest of the week (there is no room in the fridge for any more leftovers)
• projects, schedules and responsibilities - without them i would still be in bed with my book and my new warm and cuddly blanket
• getting "caught" - new plan at primary to "catch" the kids being reverent (it totally worked for reagan) so we brought it home to see if we could "catch" the kids showing love at home
• teachers - primary, school, piano, all teachers who are so patient and kind to my children and make them so excited to learn
• my home - right now it isn't perfect, in fact there are toys everywhere and dishes in the sink, but i love the feeling in my home
• little giggles - davis has the cutest laugh right now and the other kids love getting him to giggle which leads them to giggle too
• good family and friends - if your reading this, I just want you to know that i appreciate your kindness, your love, your strength and your examples. you might not know it, but many times it is you that gets me through those not so fun times - thank you

my list could go on and on. i'm glad i did this. makes the brown, crunchy snow seem a little more white and soft and fluffy! try it, you never know what you might love!!!!