Relay for Life

I am volunteering for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. It will be held on Aug 7-8 at the local high school. This event recognizes survivors of cancer. We are looking for teams so if anyone is interested, please let me know! If you know someone who has beat cancer, put a team together for them and have them recognized at this event.

Bringing it Back

The last few months of my life have been a blur. I look back and can't believe that some of the things that happened have happened and then realize some of it was not all that long ago. Brett has gotten and started a job. We had gotten to the point with school looming so near that I was just going to work more. I hated it.
I love to work. I enjoy doing what I know how to do, taking care of people, and being provided with a sense of accomplishment. But, I am a horrible, terrible working mother. I don't balance the act well. I can balance the few shifts here and there, but the working 30+ hours a week (I know, not a full week) was difficult for me. I have a few different jobs that may make my balancing act a little harder than others, not to mention I have a hard time saying no. Even though I knew Brett was home with the kids, I felt like it should be me. I wanted it to be me. But I was willing to do what needed to be done so I never said anything about it. I didn't want to make anyone feel bad.
The first few weeks of Brett's job I had all this extra work scheduled because we didn't know he was getting a job, and that was the plan. For me to work more. So, I had to rely on those around me, those that support me, and those that love me. Thanks for all your help with the kids. I couldn't have survived without you.
Things are slowly getting back to normal. I still am working. I have both jobs so if we can get into school here we can have the schedule that we have now. It isn't perfect. But we are working on a means to an end.
His job is perfect. He is working for Extra Space Storage on their Finance and Acquisition team. They only needed someone temporarily, exactly the time we were available for. Now, if we can only be patient in waiting to hear from the Y. Unfortunately, the U of U and us weren't on the same page.

More of the Energizer Bunny

Just a few more Easter Pics from this year. I didn't quite get my act together and get the whole matching thing down with T-man. Oops. I looked and didn't find a shirt, but obviously didn't look hard enough. I love the picture of the little one crying and trying to steal back the egg T-man grabbed a little more quickly than her. Classic. I tried to get their pictures outside as well but the sun was in their eyes. I love their expressions in that pictures as well. Such good times had by all.

Easter

It is obvious that I am a little slow in blogging lately. That is why there are four posts today. My baby is sleeping and my other kids are playing at their friends house.

I love Easter. It is one of my favorite holidays. I love the things associated with it and I love watching the kids. I think my kids almost get as excited for Easter, egg hunts, Easter bunny as they do for Christmas. This year we had 4 eggs hunts all with such fun stuff. T-man has learned the art of collecting and gets more than his fair share, and he has even learned how to give a few of them away. It was a cold weekend but we had fun.

Princess, Cheetah, Baby Nothing

The other day Brett took the kids to Chick-Fil-A. They waited in line to get their faces painted for free and this is what the lady did. I was pretty impressed when I saw the pictures. They had washed their faces off by the time I got home. Wednesday Chick-Fil-A does a family night with free kids meals and lots of activities. If you can beat the crowd, it is defintely worth it!

My Baby is TWO!

The little one turned two a couple of weeks ago. We were in Midway for the weekend, so to help celebrate we couldn't skip out on one of her favorite places, The Dairy Keen. She loves to see the trains there. She had so much fun celebrating, opening her presents, and cheesing it up for the camera. There are so many things I love about this girl. She really is fun and has a good sense of humor. I love how she laughs at things and will continue to laugh until she can get someone else to laugh with her and confirm that it really was funny. I love how she is starting to put words together. The other day when asked who broke her new stroller she quickly said, "Sister did that", with her lips pouted out and all. If I am ever having a not so cute day, all I have to do is tell her she's cute and she quickly fires back, "NO-you're cute". We go back and forth. She really is so contradictory. Anything I tell her, it is the opposite. She is a stronged willed little girl, is tender hearted like her brother, and brings us so much happiness, even though she has the ability to turn on the waterworks like no other! She is pretty easy going as far as self-entertaining but she can be a little needy. I love this age and just hope that she stays out of the terribles.

It Blew. And it hit the ceiling too.

I was cleaning out a drawer last week, sucking up every little last piece of filth with my vacuum when suddenly something hit the ceiling. I poignantly looked at my son and asked him if he had just thrown something at me when it dawned on me. My vacuum was making an awful noise. I found the top of the handle laying several feet away from me. My vacuum had exploded. I was scared to turn the thing back on to truly confirm all suspicions. My ears were attuned to that awful noise and it quickly got thrown in the garbage. Desperately not wanting to spend money on a vacuum, I put it off all week. I was talking to my sister when she recommend this little doodad:

I must admit, it works pretty well. It is the Nano Lite from Hoover. It cost me $54.63 plus tax. It is small, fits into most spaces, has 12 amps, with great sucking power. I have had a few various big name, big cost vacuum demos in my house. You know the one. The one where they take the filter and show you what their vacuum can suck up. I have always wondered if I took my vacuum and could see a filter what it would do. This thing does just that. It is bag less which I am still undecided on. I think the cord is a little short and I don't love the colors. It doesn't have a light on it, either. But, I think the best feature is this:


The handle is adjustable for storage. This feature just makes it perfect for little legs to use. It is lightweight and easy to maneuver. My kids can use it and I don't have to watch them suffer pushing and pulling the old one. Now, I don't think that will get me in trouble with child labor laws! I know the thing seems cheap, it was. I will be curious to see how long it lasts me. But for now, it works.

A Little Slice

I think it is amazing that something so small as a sliver can cause so much pain. It should be compared to a thorn being in your side. A couple of days ago one of the kids dropped a glass and broke it on the kitchen floor. Brett cleaned it up, I was a at work. This morning as I was helping the kids with breakfast I took one step and I was fine, took the next step and felt pain shooting up through my foot. I stepped on the tiniest piece of glass. I thought I just had a surface cut, but I am convinced I still have the glass in there. Everytime I take a step, pain radiates throughout my foot. So much for running this morning. I can't find the piece, it must be the smallest of things, and it really is driving me crazy. I will be limping for the rest of the day. But, it is like anything in life, if it festers, it can cause so many problems and bad effects/results. I can choose the results of one little problem. I can choose if it will paralyze me or if I can keep moving (Becky Thomas, mormon times). My goal for the day is to not let it fester, and to make it a happy day. I choose.