Play Day!

We finally had a day to go and play! I haven't seen my friend Liz in a while, we've both been busy and its just harder to get together when we live farther a part. Monday was the first day in a long time we didn't have a ton going on. We've had a pretty mild winter and so we planned a day to go out and visit. Literally as we were packing up, it started to snow. Normally, it wouldn't bother me but we need new tires on our car and I really didn't feel like getting stuck or sliding off the road. We almost didn't go, but I knew it might be a while before we could go out again. So, I said what the heck and got in the car. I'm so glad we did because the kids had such a good time and I got to visit with Liz. She's been such a great and much needed friend this past year.  The kids got to ride horses and play in the snow, which they haven't done much of this winter because there hasn't been much snow to play in. As you can tell the kids loved riding the horses. Sometimes I think my kids were made for country life, that is until the work begins. haha Despite the wind and snow, I'm so glad we got to go out and have a play day!

Rachel (It's hard to tell with all the snow clothes on)

Jared

Ellie and Rachel

Paislie and Jared

Rachel and Ellie playing with Liz's dog

Ellie trying to get Purdy to pull her on the sled.

Look deep into my eye...

I wish I could deny this but it's SO true!

Valentines Day

 It's no secret that I am not a fan of Valentines Day. I love making Valentines Day special for my kids, helping them make cards and treats but I don't happen to enjoy the forced "romance" part of it. Last year was pretty fun with the dinner at the Firestation. But to have two Valentine's in a row that I didn't cringe at, I thought was impossible! But my husband pulled it off. He spent all day decorating our basement, made dinner (chicken cordon bleu), and made a fun little video of pictures of us and music from dating until present day. Kyle and Alysa came over for the evening. We had fun dancing to music and playing a dating game.

The kids helped make Valentines fun by dressing all up and being our servers for dinner.

 Ellie being cute

This is the area that Bill set up for dancing, playing games, and watching the video.

Bizarre Dreams

I usually put on a movie, TV show, or listen to devotional to fall asleep to. Last night I started watching the new series Alcatraz on Hulu. I fell asleep during one of the episodes and Hulu kept playing random TV shows similar to Alcatraz. I kept having crazy scary dreams about 3 o'clock I woke up and realized it was playing an episode of The River (A TV show based on American paranormal/adventure/horror/found-footage) I'm pretty sure I was dreaming about the stuff I was hearing from the show in my sleep. I think that will be the first and last time falling asleep to something on Hulu.

Class Market

Today Jared's class had a fun activity. They all had to make something by hand and "sell" it in class. They were each given $20 of play money to buy other classmates homemade items. They could also spend the money they made on other goodies.The kids also got to set their own prices for their products. Jared made paper swords and ninja stars to take to his class market to sell. Jared came home with cupcakes, lollipops, homemade stress ball, paper hat,and half a dozen cookies. I can't imagine what else the students brought that Jared didn't manage to bring home. It was just a great activity for the kids to understand the concept of money, supply and demand, and simple math. What a fun day at school! Makes me want to be a kid again.:)

When is enough, enough?

This past Wednesday, I met with a fertility specialist from Salt Lake City. It was a small answer to prayers. I knew my next step was to see a specialist but I knew it was going to cost money we really didn't have. The cost to travel to Salt Lake, the hotel, and the insurance copay, if they covered it. I got a call a couple weeks ago from my OBGYN's office saying that they had a specialist coming up to Rexburg and was offering free consulations. What a tender mercy. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I really want answers. Answers to what is causing my miscarriages, why am I loosing them in the second trimester, and is there anything else I can do to improve my chances of carrying a pregnancy to full term? Many of you don't know that I lost another pregnancy in October of last year at 16 weeks, which made my 4th miscarriage in 3 years. I just want to know that I've done everything I could to bring another spirit into this world. I've pretty much dumbfounded the OBGYN doctors here, so they recommended me to a specialist. I didn't really know how much he could help me. My problem isn't getting pregnant it's keeping the pregnancy. He went over all the tests that he would recommend. Thrombophilia Panel (Already done- came back normal), Thyroid (Already done- came back normal), Diabetes (Already done-came back normal), Hysterosalpingography (Already done - came back normal) He said I've already been tested for most of the tests that we would recommend. That made me feel good that the doctors up here have been on top of things. The specialist did recommend a couple of other tests but I just don't know if they will bring me any closer to finding the cause. I just don't know. Well, at least you know what keeps me up at night. I know that I need to trust in Heavenly Father's plan and if we are meant to have more children, it will happen. If we are done having more children, than I am incredibly blessed for the children I have to fill my home with love and laughter. Overall, I'm glad I was able to talk the fertility specialist. He gave us a few options to think about. Are we any closer to finding answers, probably not. I'm I closer to making a decision...maybe.

My Brother in law was helping out the Romney Campaign in Nevada and actually was interviewed. Check it out.

Payday!

Thursday was a particularly busy day, but what day isn't these days. It's been struggle balancing being a mom, wife, student and intern. Thursday was all about the kids. I scheduled a dentist appointment for all three kids not realizing it was the same day as parent teacher conferences. The dentist office fit all 3 kids in a the same time. We were in and out in a little over an hour.

Ellie did the best. She was all smiles. She didn't complain or whine the entire time. She loves having sparkling teeth. Jared did really good too. He just wanted a prize and a new toothbrush. He's all about the extrinsic rewards. Rachel on the other hand, HATES the dentist. She got all teary eyed. She made the RDA and Dentist feel bad. I don't know why she hates the dentist so bad, she's never had a bad experience. She was still a trooper. I am pleased to report that nobody had cavities!!! Rachel's teeth are growing in pretty good, just a little crowding, so we can avoid the orthodontist for a little bit longer. Jared has to get sealants on his molars. And Ellie, well, her teeth are sparkly!

We got home, had lunch, then I headed out to Ellie's parent teacher conference. She is doing great, I am so pleased because at the beginning of the year she was a little slow with keeping up with everyone. But she is on track. It is so exciting to see her begin to read. It's a whole new exciting world.

I had about an hour between Ellie's and Rachel's parent teacher conferences. I laid on my bed with Ellie to watch Go Diego Go, and I fell asleep for about 20 minutes. I woke up and had about 5 minutes to get ready. I looked in the mirror and I had lines from  my sweater on my face. AWESOME! Showing up to meet with your kids teacher with sleep lines leaves a  great impression. Luckily her teacher was running behind, hopefully they were gone by the time I got in there. Rachel is doing great. She is the model student. She is doing great on her tests and even coming out of her shell a little bit. Jared's parent teacher conference went well, the teacher had a power point slide projected on the wall with a picture of Jared and a note from him. It was SO cute. Jared is doing fantastic in reading. I am so happy that is a strong area for him.

Overall it was a pretty great day to be a mom. It's a day that makes you feel like everything you do for your kids as a mom is worth it. It's what a call a mommy payday!! I am so lucky to have such great kids!