The Trials of a Busy Mom

Month: April 2015

Kind of a roller coaster

This week was hard for me. Monday, especially. Monday and Tuesday were auditions for a summer show at the Sera theater. I’ve always loved “Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamboat”,even before Donny made it his own. Even though there aren’t really any parts for women, I wanted to audition. But when I accepted this relief society calling, I told Ryan that I would probably have to give up community theater for a bit. I didn’t say forever. When I looked at the dates for that play (and two others) and looked at my rehearsal schedule for bells (every Wed night, three Saturday mornings and a couple other nights thrown in before our concert in June) and the other things the family has already scheduled, I realized that no one would cast me in a show that opens July 2, even if I did audition. But it made me sad, still.

I couldn’t find my favorite chicken again. She doesn’t like to go into the house at night, and we usually have to pick her up and put her inside. When I went to put them away one night, I couldn’t find her anywhere. Couldn’t find her again the next day. She did this once before, and after disappearing for a day, she magically came back. I figured she was just on another walk-about. But, as I was out in the orchard area of the yard, spraying weeds, I found her. Or bits of her. Only her feet and a wing were there. Something had come into our yard and eaten her. Sadness enveloped me as I cleaned up what was left of my favorite chicken. A thought came to me that if I cared this much about a chicken, imagine the sorrow that a parent, or our Heavenly Father, feels when a child is lost. It put things into perspective a bit, but I was still so very sad.

On Tuesday, I read on the freecycle email that someone had two Americauna Chickens to give away. The same kind as I had lost, they lay green eggs, and are very friendly. Tuesday night I went to go pick them up. Even though I only lost one, I picked up those two and brought them home to our flock. I hope they adjust well soon. So, that was good.

Wed I got to sub in Kindergarten. First time I’ve had a little one throw up in the classroom, and let me tell you, I don’t need to experience that again…ever.

Bells rehearsal was a lot of fun. LeAnna was gone and Larry was a little bit more casual and fun. Since we had just had a BIG long day on Friday, it was nice to take it a little bit easy and have the pressure off.

The deadline to get Natalie registered for the National Debate competition has been looming. While we want her to have a good experience, this trip just doesn’t seem to be working out. Only 3 kids from Lone Peak Qualified, and there were no chaperones, except the one boy’s mom, from what I could tell. We as parents got NO communication from the school or the debate coach, even though I emailed and asked questions. Natalie’s friend is her duo partner, and I kept asking her mom if she knew anything. Last week I realized we would have to do all the arrangements ourselves, and I called to see if we could reserve a room at the hotel where the competition is being held. I thought if I went with them, that would put me at ease. Sold out. Wait list. Looked at flights, not terrible, but still, we would want to book those soon.

I’ve had this unsettled feeling about the competition. How would these girls find anything? Where would they stay? Take a taxi? What 16 year old knows how to do that? I’m not a seasoned traveler, so these things make me nervous, maybe I was projecting that feeling onto this situation.

I heard in a meeting the other day, that if you have a little feeling and you wonder if that’s from the spirit trying to tell you something of if it’s a thought you had in your own mind, 99% of the time, it’s the spirit trying to tell you something. I’m trying to live closer to the spirit since my RS calling, and I just couldn’t get this nagging annoying feeling to go away. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to please help me figure out what to do. Then I messaged Natalie’s debate partner’s mom and just told her what I thought. She said she would not hold it against us if we decided to pull Natalie from the competition, even if that meant her daughter wouldn’t be able to attend. It would simplify their lives as well (she would be missing half of a family vacation).

When Natalie came home, I braced myself for some drama, but as I explained how I felt and what we were thinking, she was very calm and I think she understands. I told her how much we love her and that we want her to be happy and successful, but we don’t think this is the competition for her. She called her friend, who already knew what we moms were thinking, and they told the coach to put the alternates in, that they wouldn’t be going. (Sure, SHE can reach him, but he won’t answer my email? Whatever)

I feel a bit more peaceful now that the decision has been made.

I had kept today and tomorrow open because my friend Robin had wanted to fly here from AZ and go to women’s conference with me, but she decided at the last minute that she’d better not. Even though she feels pretty good at home, her white count is down, and who knows how the altitude and the flight might affect her (she’s undergoing cancer treatments). So, while I could have gone to Women’s conference, I spent the day doing Relief Society things instead. I made muffins and went to visit two older sisters in our ward. They are both primary care takers for husbands suffering with Alzheimer’s. It was good to visit with them for a few minutes and let them know that we care and we are available to help, if they want that. I also worked on my lesson for Sunday a little bit.

So, you can see, the week is full of ups and downs. That’s how life is. Ups and Downs, highs and lows. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have…….I’ll stop now.

The weasel of virtue?

At dinner, Jenna asked what the oldest level of scouts is.
“The cubmaster,” I said.
“No, you’ve forgotten about the Silver Beaver,” said Ryan. Even though the silver beaver is an actual thing, we thought it was funny.
“Don’t forget about the diamond squirrel and the platinum mongoose, and the bronze gopher.” We all had one to add, laughing.
“The top honor is the tin chicken,” I said.
“Do not mock the scouting!” Ryan said. “What’s the highest recognition you can earn in Young Women’s?” he said in a somewhat mocking tone.
“Well,” Natalie said, “there’s the honor bee…and the Virtue Weasel.”
We all burst out laughing. There was no stopping us, now.
“It is the highest honor,” I chimed in, “You earn your Virtue Weasel anklet…No, Toe ring!”

Yes. We are so reverent.

John

Eleven is a big year for this boy here.

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He got to perform at the Hope of America, which is a big program at BYU (part of the Freedom Festival) where 5th graders learn a bunch of great songs and get to go and perform them.

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You can’t tell, but there’s John over there in the yellow shirt on the left side.

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Also not John.

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The coolest is when they do this whole flashlight song and sing about how they are the light.

John doesn’t love to have his picture taken right now, but he is indeed a light to our family. Smart and Spunky (and stubborn). We love him.

The other day there was a HUGE windstorm. I hate windstorms. The sound of the wind shaking the windows and the bushes scraping the trees scares me, and I envision our roof being ripped off as I watch garbage cans and coolers and boxes blow down the street. As I was preparing to hunker down inside, I looked out the window, and I saw John on the trampoline. What in the world?
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He thought he would take advantage of the breeze and see if that affected his jumping. That boy loves to jump on the trampoline.

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The pictures aren’t the greatest quality because I took them from inside the house through a dirty window (because I wasn’t going outside, are you kidding?)but you get the idea.

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I actually had to call him inside when dinner was ready.

I love this boy.
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First Funeral

Saturday we had a funeral. Our first as a RS presidency. Thankfully, we have Kristen, an amazing lady who is our compassionate service funeral team leader. She was so organized, so it made the day go quite smoothly.

I got a call on Friday from the daughter, who was helping coordinate the funeral for her dad. She said they wanted to have donuts to pass out after the funeral. Her dad lived on Coke and donuts, and all the grandkids knew that if they stayed over with their Grandparents, they would have coke and donuts for breakfast.

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So, on Saturday, one of the brothers brought in about 400 donuts from Lehi bakery.

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Once the funeral started, we set these up on both sides of the chapel, so that people could pick up a donut on the way out. It was just a fun reminder of Gary, a way of remembering a great man.

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And boy were they yummy donuts! I didn’t eat a donut, but I did in fact have several donut holes.

I’m thankful that things went smoothly that day. It was a long day, and hard work, but we were happy to serve.

Spring Break 2015

For the first part of our spring break, we stayed home.

Friday night Megan came home and we went to dinner at the traditional birthday place, Los Hermanos. And we ate WAY too much. Darn chips and salsa.
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Saturday, Natalie and I baked about 25 loaves of bread and delivered them to the people who had ordered bread. It was a LONG day for both of us. We’ll bake more bread in the future, but we either need to charge more money, or not deliver.

We also listened to conference, or tried to, when the Bosch and the wheat grinder weren’t making too much noise. Ryan also took Megan bow shopping. Seems the girl has gotten into archery and she really really really wanted a compound bow for her birthday. Yep, she’s just like Catniss. Only she and her roommate Sarah shoot hay bales, not wild game. They found one she likes, and the guy at the shop took about 1/2 hour to help her adjust the draw length, and also instructed her on her stance and corrected her grip, so it was like a private lesson. All that matters is she is happy with her present.
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On Sunday, we all enjoyed the chance to sleep in and stay home.

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There was some looking for easter eggs and candy eating, as well as waffles for breakfast. As newly called Relief Society President, it was nice to not have to GO to church and do all the church responsibilities. The conference talks were AMAZING! I really felt the spirit. After the last session of conference, we hosted a family Easter dinner. Lots of food and fun. It was just my sister Amy’s family, our family, and mom and dad, but that’s still kind of a crowd.
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Monday I got the kids outside with me and we did about 45 minutes of weeding in the back yard. But it wasn’t all that warm, and there was of course much complaining. I had grand plans that we were going to weed EVERY day, but the weather didn’t cooperate so much. But at least we got that one weeding session in. Monday night we decided to take the kids bowling. It really is their favorite family thing to do. We had such a fun time bowling. The last time was with the Brazillian boys, and that was awkward, so it was good to go with just us, and with only 3 kids to pay for, it seemed almost a bargain.

On Tuesday, the kids were doing an awful lot of tv watching, so I encouraged John to find a friend to play with, and I got out the hair dye for the girls. Natalie had been wanting to do a bright pink on the ends, and Jenna wanted red. SO, I got to play beautician. The natural henna rinse I had picked up for Jenna took FOREVER to process, and it looked like green/brown baby poo.
DSCN0798 It smelled AWFUL! Seriously. I nearly lost it several times as I was trying to comb it in to her hair. She put on a cap and got to sit for a time while I worked on Natalie.
DSCN0806 First we had to bleach, then wash and dry, then color the pink. It was a long process! Both girls are happy with their new looks, though, so that’s a good thing. Then it was time to take John to the Orthodontist, just to check and see if he needs anything. nope. He’s good for a couple years, at least. When we came home, I decided to take the kids to see a movie. Paddington was the best option at the cheap theater, so off we went. Ryan was going to do a bike ride, but he ended up not going because it was just too cold and windy.

Wednesday, I had plans to attend a workshop learning about and sewing with DAYS FOR GIRLS. We want to do a service project with them and they had invited me to come to a training session. Before I could do that, however, my phone rang, and it was the Bishop of our ward, calling from California. A member of our ward had died in the night, and we would be responsible for the funeral on Saturday. Oh, goody! A funeral! Just what I had been dreading. But, we have a wonderful compassionate service person, who has done lots of funerals. I got on the phone with her, called my counselors, asked a few questions of the former RS president, and we figured things out. I decided I’d better go to Costco and get the hams today, since we have plans to be out of town on Thursday and Friday. It took a while to call, set up the sign-up list, email back and forth, but I think we have things under control. The Bishop and I will both be back in town by Friday night, so we can take care of this funeral on Saturday.
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Oh, did I mention we are feeding the missionaries on Wed night? Yep.
It’s not Disneyland, but it’s still fun!

Busy little beavers, we are

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This big ol’ white board now lives in my office. I’ve spent some time this morning figuring it out and rearranging a few things (just a few). It’s the visiting teaching board for our Relief Society. I have a feeling I’ll get to know that board very well. With sisters moving in and out, changes seem to be necessary almost constantly. I feel bad for our secretary.

I’m thankful for my supportive husband. Yesterday, as I looked at the website for substitute teachers, there were 36 available jobs listed for today and in the next week. I look at those open jobs and I feel guilty if I don’t accept one of them. But I didn’t want to. I mentioned it to Ryan and he said “You should NOT feel guilty for not subbing unless someone specifically asked for you.” I realized today that this morning is the only quite time I’ll have around here for about a week (spring break coming up) and I really needed to prayerfully consider the sisters and the changes that need to be made, so I’m glad I had this morning to do it.

Today we will start our breadmaking. I believe we need to make 26 loaves tonight and tomorrow for the first baking day of Natalie’s fund raiser. She needs to earn about $600 to pay for her Debate trip in June to Texas. But we’ve had a GREAT response to the bread idea, and I think she can earn that money in the time we have.

You’ve got something on your face

On Saturday, the girls wanted to go to the festival of colors in Spanish fork. We had gone last year as a family and had fun, but I didn’t know if it was in the cards this year. I had a bells rehearsal in Salt Lake and wouldn’t be home until after noon, and John had a birthday party at 1 pm, but I told the girls I would go with them if they really wanted to go. They did. At least Natalie and Megan. Here we are on the bus to go to the temple BC (before colors).
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Jenna did not want to go, so she stayed home with Dad.

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I love how when you walk in, you see the WHITE people and the COLORED people. Talk about segregation.
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It was a beautiful and warm day. We didn’t purchase colors, but as soon as you walk on the grounds, people start to toss a bit of color on you, or even pat you on the back or the face with some color. Personal space? Not here.

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I like the shirts when they are colorful, but not TOTALLY covered in chalk.

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In trying to protect my camera, I kept it in a bag. I tried to take pictures through the bag, but this was the result, so I tried to just take it out and take a picture or two and then put it right back in the bag.

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Here it looks like Natalie is trying to eat our heads.

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The bandanas are to protect your mouth and nose from the chalk in the air. When it’s the official THROW at the top of the hour, you can be sure we had our faces covered.

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There are a ton of people there, so parking and traffic is a problem, but we didn’t mind waiting for the bus to take us back to our car at Salem Hills High school.
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The important thing was that we all had fun. Yes, we had to shower, wash everything, even vacuum out the car afterward, but it was a fun experience!

Happy Spring!

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