November

I decided I'd join in on the "no shave November"  I'm willing to let the facial hair grow as much as it can.

Since it is November in all I also decided to do "gratitude month." I really meant for this to start yesterday but I spent until wee hours of the morning last night hanging out with a great friend.  It was really refreshing.  Thus since I didn't get home until technically today I'll have to start gratitude month right now.

#1 Grateful for my family.  Really.  I have the life I wanted. Is it perfect? No. Are my children perfect? No. Is my husband perfect? No. Am I perfect? Heck no! But they each put a smile on my face more often than not. I am a mother, I am a wife and I am blessed to be both.

#2 I'm grateful for good health and I'm grateful for the things in life that have been introduced to me over the years to help keep my family healthy. I'm grateful to study and understand the human body and what it needs to thrive. I'm grateful for natural medicine and especially essential oils. I truly feel they have been a huge blessing over the last several years. They have kept us healthy.

Tomorrow with come gratitude #3.

Oh and by the way I was kidding with the "no shave November" on the face...I'll keep my face shaved and skip the leg shaving.  That'll make for quick showers.  Now if I can just find a pair of really cute boots to keep the leg hair hidden.  Who wants to go shopping?

Morning Run

Ran my first sub 27 minute 5k this morning.... 3.2 miles in 26 minutes and 26 seconds.  I think the faster timing was because of two things:

A. I fixed pasta for dinner last night and my body used the carbs for energy this morning.

B. I left a little later than usual and needed to get my warm up run done by a certain time so I could be home to help the boys get ready for school.

So it looks like my secret to success is eating a lot and sleeping in.  Two things I don't mind doing.

Although today didn't include one of my fastest miles... that happened last week when a dog was chasing me...I  ran a mile in 6 minutes 48 seconds.  I'd rather not be chased by a dog again...if he would have gotten any closer than he already was he would have gotten to feel my mace on his face!

Now it's time for workout number two...PAP Lower in P90X~2.  One of my favorites!

An Apostle is here!

It's not everyday you get to have an Apostle visit your stake but today wasn't any ordinary day.

Elder Neil L Anderson from the quorum of the twelve came to do training with several stakes in Arizona and our stake was the lucky one to be selected to have him attend a special stake conference while he was down here. We were also blessed to have our area seventy Elder Michael Pickerd in attendance.

What a special opportunity for the boys to shake hands and feel the spirit of one of the Lords special witnesses.

It's times like this that make all the service and sacrifice of Brandons calling seem so simple. These opportunities are so rare and make it all that much more special.  It's been 30 years since an Apostle was last at our stake!

Our family got to go back to the stake offices after the meeting and meet with Elders Anderson and Pickerd and have a family photo along with the other members of the stake presidency.  It's amazing the spirit and feeling of love that eludes from these men.  I pray my family will always remember this sweet day and especially remember the feeling that was felt during those few hours of being in the midst of an Apostle of the Lord.

What impressed me most about this man was two things....
1. His sense of humor
2. The power in his voice and being as he bore testimony of the Savior.

I cherish the gospel of Jesus Christ. It brings peace, hope and happiness. I try to work hard each day so that my boys will always seek to know the truths of the gospel and serve and sacrifice to share this message with the world.  It's no easy job raising four future missionaries and priesthood holders but it'll sure be worth it.

Now if the rest of the week could be as tender and sweet as today it'll be an amazing week! (I think it's safe to say I must not hold my breath on this...or if I do I won't see the end of the week.)

I really love school breaks

No really...

I love the fact that we take a break from the school schedule.
I love the fact that I don't have to wake up at 5am or earlier to exercise.
I love the fact that I get to hang out with the boys all day.
I love the fact we can stay up late and watch a movie.
I love the fact that I don't feel like dinner has to be on the table by 5pm. Things can run a little behind schedule.
I love the fact that there is no homework to deal with.

Everyone needs a break sometimes. I'm glad the boys get breaks.

And We're Back!

I thought it might be time to come back to the real world and say "HI" to all three of you!

Let's face it... I don't blog for the big crowd. I know my readers are limited and I'm totally OK with that.

So skipping over the last few months...
~School started and the boys love their teachers.  That's a honest statement.
~I just had parent/teacher conferences the last two days and could brag about their achievements but will choose to skip that part.  (However seeing their first Galileo scores compared with the class and grade average was amazing)
~Scouts started again for Buster and I.  I still get to be a den leader along with being the Cub Master...to be honest I would be perfectly happy going back to be just a den leader but am learning to embrace the whole Cub Master thing.
~Buster loves being a bear more than he loves being a wolf. (That's not good considering I was one of his wolf leaders.)
~ Boss lost one of his front teeth a few weeks ago...it's kind of cute and at the same time makes him look like  a poor kid with just one tooth in the front when he smiles.  Not saying there's anything wrong with poor kids...
~I watched the presidential debate tonight.  I SWEAR one of the days an anonymous blog is going to pop up about the "not so political correct stuff about politics" and it'll be me behind it.  Does that make it not anonymous anymore?  Anyhow I would love to write about politics and the truth behind it.  There's a lot to be said there.
~ Lumber Jack is walking!!! He's walking everywhere and at the point now where he chooses to get up and walk again when he falls down.  Come to think of it I haven't seen him crawl in a few days.  It's happy and sad all at the same time.  I think my new favorite age is 1.  He is really so much fun. No really he is...and as you can see I'm not saying that about all my kids.
~Uncle Casey got married!! We love aunt Shannon and we LOVED the fact that we just HAD to go to California to witness the wedding in the San Diego Temple.  Since we were headed there anyways we decided to sacrifice and make a vacation out of it.  What was even better was the family we stayed with over there.  True Hostesses. It was a very pleasant few days.
~Crate is almost 3. Seriously 3. How did that happen?
~Crate is obsessed with trucks and trailers right now. Actually obsessed is an understatement. I have to give myself a pat on the back...you should see the simple yet profound concoction I came up with to make all his cars and trucks transform into a vehicle that can either pull or be pulled. I am a genius. I am also grateful for rubber bands. I am also a mother of all boys which has taught me how to think like a boy.
~Pops....well Pops is still being Pops.  Busy, busy, busy...then again who's not right?  We love him for all his hard work and look forward to spending time with him in the eternities. Just kidding.
~This post is lacking pictures.  Most my posts lack pictures.

Well it's nice to be back...I think. I wouldn't be lying if I said I hope there are a few people that have figured my blog to be private from now and have moved on. :) Not you of course.

Here's to another beautiful fall season and the start of crisp morning runs and cooler nights sitting on the back deck drinking hot chocolate watching the sun set as the kiddos play in the back acre of grass, using their imagination and catching fire flies.  Oh wait...wrong life.

P.S. I strongly dislike the word kiddos.

Yet another update..

Awww man, I don't want to stop this blog, we're creating memories around here that I don't want to be forgotten, most of them at least.

My list of upcoming posts...

Our fun summer activities mixed in with the not-so-fun summer messes (science projects, cooking projects, forts, legos, legos, legos....)

Our trip to Philmont. Let's just say "fun" cannot describe Philmont.  The words that come closest are "amazing" "spiritual" "once in a life time opportunity" None of us wanted to leave, including myself and that's a big deal especially when I have killed more spiders in those 7 days than I have in my entire life and killed two just the night before we left in Lumber Jacks crib. After all that and sleeping in a 10x10 tent we would all still want to stay!

Our short but fun stay-cation to a hotel in downtown Phoenix thanks to Groupon! Hotel was clean, service was not the great but the pool was awesome and made for cheap entertainment for the boys and I. Not sure if it's a blessing or a curse but Pops liked it because he was able to still work but drop by the pool for an hour or so before heading off to his next appointment. I sort of felt like a single mother taking her kids on va-cay, it was mostly fun.

Then there's our first trip to the Emergency Room! Poor Lumber Jack got pretty darn sick and ended up being treated for aseptic meningits. Luckily that's the viral form of meningitis vs. the bacterial meningits. But it made for a scary day none the less yet a day of prayers that were truly felt and answered. Not to mention Buster had an amazing experience with the spirit because of this and I thank Lumber Jack he went through this because this has started to shape Busters feelings and learning how the spirit speaks to him... life lessons that we can't teach him.

And last but not least my experiences with essential oils this summer. I'm more of a believer today than I was before. I pretty darn sure that Lumbers infection did not turn any worse because of the oils.  I know they kept the infection at bay.  Not to mention the doctors were puzzled of why he wasn't even more sick...according to them he should have been.  I know it was because of prayers (especially that of his brothers) and the oils. And thanks to the oils I have been cleaning with them and been truly happy. We're ridding our house of any and all chemicals and surfaces can still sparkle. Plus it's a lot cheaper than all the store bought stuff I've used over the years...I'm willing to save a buck and clean "green."

Not looking forward to school starting (ok maybe a tad cause that would mean less legos to step on)
Looking forward to once last quick trip to San Diego for a wedding! Pictures will come soon...ok eventually. :)

Tonight we took the boys out for ice cream to celebrate finishing the Doctrine and Covenants again and    we also celebrated Busters scores on the AIMS test he took at the end of the year.  We got them in the mail and I was so thrilled to see the outcome. His lowest score was a 95%...He had one 98% and the rest were 100%. Exceeds in all areas, he was pretty stoked to see that!  I tried to get a picture but he would have nothing to do with it.

This is what a typical morning looked like last week...Boss beating me at Chess while Buster was at basketball camp.  I told him one of these days I will beat him in four simple moves.

Lumber Jack is defiantly on the move lately and LOVES the inside of ANYTHING.  He pulls cupboards open, pulls drawers open, bangs pots and pans, makes a mess and moves on to the next thing.   He loves pulling himself up on anything, loves walking along the couch, and continues to stand longer and longer on his own. 

Crate's getting pretty darn good when it comes to the water.  He loves the water and likes to show off his mad skills every time we're in a pool.

Almost every time I go to get Lumber up from his nap I find a new toy in his crib.  Crate always sneaks in the room and drops something in the crib because he wants Lumber to have a "toy" to play with when he wakes up.  The other day this is what I found in there...I'm just glad it didn't wake him up when Crate dropped it in. That could have left a nice little mark...

We finally started our family flag that is needed for our trip to Philmont. Nothing like completing it at the last minute...I've only had a year to be working on it.  I think it'll turn out pretty descent, especially considering I do NOT enjoy making things like this.  It's been one of those things on the back of my mind causing a bunch of unnecessary mental stress. Really I should have finished it months ago.

I have forgotten how to cook...is it the heat? the summer schedule or lack there of? the feeling that after cooking breakfast and lunch and cleaning up breakfast and lunch I just don't want to do another meal? I can't put my finger on it...or maybe it's all of the above.  We've had lots of "throw together salads" bean and rice burritos, bean and rice bowls with the left overs from the beans and rice burritos from the night before, veggie burritos...it's pretty pathetic. But hey, we're not starving so we can't complain. (at least that's what I tell the boys :) )