Friend and Foe

My sisters are always sharing life hack for working mom ideas and accounts.   One such account we've recently collaborated on is Walmart grocery pick up.  For $33 a year it's a  game changer I tell you!!!   I've been doing grocery pick up for some time but often would have to wait until the next day to pick it up.    Grocery Delivery is just a couple hour wait and like magic my grocery's appear on my doorstep and often its my girls or Bart who signs for them and these capable people I live with put them all away while I'm taxing someone around and abracadabra my fridge and pantry is stocked again. 


Most of the time grocery delivery is my best friend but occasionally it's my foe.    Emily must like the same gum as everyone else because it's about 95% of the time unavailable and she's pretty picky about her flavor and heaven forbid you have bad breath in middle school.     I don't often un click allow substitutions.  Sometimes its because they often give you a bigger bottle or a nicer brand but sometimes I just plain forget.   (Speaking of forgetting.  I often place my order during my lunch break when I know we desperately need more milk.    I'll scroll through my favorites and come across something like Pilsbury Cresent Rolls and think I wonder if I have this at home.  Better to be safe than sorry and I click it into the cart.   Later I'll be putting away my groceries and come across this..... 

Oops!)  But I defer..

Back on topic.  Anyway so  Valentine's Day is coming up at the end of a busy week.  Some day I'll be on top of my life and have them done in January but this was not the year.   Aaron was back and forth between doing a star wars light saber theme (which he did last year) and doing a minion Twinkie idea that he got from Suzanne's kids who gave our family one.  Such as this..

We never quite made it to the store to buy the Twinkies  but on Thursday morning I thank my lucky stars I've got  Walmart delivery to the rescue.     I order 3 boxes of the golden delicious stuff and later that afternoon this appears as a "substitution" in a bag.

 What?  Who knew they even made Chocolate twinkies.  For a split second I thought oh well these will have to do then realization of how NOT politically correct this be to give out black minions. 


It's a sudden last minute run to the store ( the thing I hate most)  and my deep seeded resentment I suppressed from days gone by of being 9 months pregnant standing in a long Walmart check out line wishing for anything else than to stand there on my swollen sore feet, emerged and a vowed to never shop at walmart again as I grumpily sorted through the picked over overpriced choices of Valentines at Harmons.

My resentment was short lived as a few days later I discovered as I was leaving for work that the milk was running low and the delivery would be there before I got home.  Bless you Walmart Grocery Delivery!!!


 

YW overnighter

I'm near the Bishops office at church last fall bidding my time until the Bishop emerged so I could get him to sign some reimbursement slips.  I''m talking to a couple fellows in my ward about how the church's program without scouts really levels the ground between YM vs. YW.  I mention how nice it would be to do some of the high adventure things the young men get to do and Taylor Norquist said "I'd be happy to take the Young Women up to my parents cabin in the Uintah's sometime this winter if you think the young women would like it."  Heck yeah the young women would be all over it so an overnight retreat was planned.

We arrived around 7:30 Friday night to a parking lot off the highway piled high with snow.    The only way in was snowmobiles and our feet.  Megan and Taylor piled on the girls sleeping bags onto the sleds behind the snowmobile and the rest of us took off for our mile and a half walk night hike in.   I've never been hiking in the snow in the woods at night but it was a surreal beautiful thing.  We lucked out with it being a warm weekend and most of us were shedding our clothes by the time we made it in.   

We arrived to this beautiful huge warm cabin with hot chocolate simmering on the stove and we settled in.  Jane who is in shape from all her sports participating was surprisingly whining on the trek in while Emily was the leader of the pack.   It all made sense once we got settled in and Jane started crying that her stomach hurt really bad and then started to throw up.  We quarantined ourselves in the back bedroom while the other played some games.  Jane ended up throwing up all night long but after sleeping in while the others ate breakfast and participated in a leadership training she emerged ready for some fun.

Fun we did have as we snowmobiled to a perfect sledding hill and enjoyed ourselves.   The fresh crisp mountain air and blue sunny skies was just what we all needed for a mid winter pick me up.  We came back to the cabin for lunch and some tubbing behind the snowmobile.  Most of the girls favorite part of the weekend was the tubing.    I gave it a whirl and agreed it was a blast.   They could have done that all day but soon it was time to clean up and hike back out to the cars so we could get home before dinner.   

Januarying

Jane asked the Bishop in her interview into Young Womens if she could have her temple recommend right then.  He said he couldn't print it until the first of the year but would happily print it at home when January 1st came.  I told her we shouldn't bother him on New Years Day but on January 2nd Jane asked me to text the Bishop and is so proud to have it in her possession.  

Bart and I took her the next Tuesday night for her first experience in the Draper Temple.   We went at just the right time nobody was around and Jane did an oodle of people and just when she finished youth groups came pouring in.  Jane was a glow with such youthful happiness.  It was a great night.   

Emily graciously shared a gift card she got from a friend to color me mine with Jane and Aaron.  

Jane had a soccer tournament in Mesquite.   It was pretty cold especially during the night game but Jane had a blast with her team.  They especially enjoyed the heated pool and going out to eat together.  

On the way home her teammate Sariah and Jane stopped by the Cedar City temple to do some baptisms.  

In a state of January boredom Jane busted out her cotton candy machine.  

Jane and her friends also convinced me to take them to airborne on a cold day.   Aaron and Spencer needed to get out of the house so off we all went.  

 Jane got the 5th grade ski pass this year. I took her and her friend Valentina and Val's sister up to Nordic Valley for a fun ski day!  

Aaron finished he Star Wars book once started and then got overwhelmed by.   He now qualifies to go see Stars Wars at Disneyland.  

Emily attended Alta High Freshman orientation night.    How can she possibly be old enough to start High School in the fall.   Of course she orchestrated meeting up with her beasties and I got to meet most of her friends moms.  

My Birthday came and went without too much of a fanfare.  Emily showed me her cake decorating skills decorating my favorite chocolate bundt cake.  

January was also filled with Junior Jazz for both Aaron and Jane.  Aaron continues to tower over the others and Jane gained some mad skills and one day was on fire and made around 22 points.  

So Long.... Farewell

Now that the church's youth program has changed to be more personal goal oriented the programs New Beginnings and YW in Excellence is no longer required.   

We still needed to award the last of the last personal progress awards and one of my 1st counselor mentioned this idea  she found on pintrest about having a farewell party to personal progress.  One of the advisers was all over the idea and took her creative design powers and came up with a plan for one last hooray to Personal Progress and other Young Women programs from the past.   

Perhaps the only good thing that came from having our basement flood last fall was my storage room got shifted around.   In putting it back together a few days before the program,  I came across a box labelled YW stuff.  I opened it up and found first of all my medallions that I'd been looking for since I became the YW president, my personal progress book,  a embroidery of the torch from the motto stand for truth and righteousness and some tole painted value crafts.   It was nice to sit and think about my time as a  young woman especially with doing personal progress.   I remember specifically fasting for the first time to fulfill one of the requirements.   During dinner time when the rest of the family was eating I went upstairs and sat on my red shag carpet with my back against my bunk bed and read the required scriptures about fasting and then wrote my feelings about the experience.   I think this was the first time I remember really feeling how the spirit spoke to me.   That's the power of these programs the church lays out for his youth.  

We displayed some of my treasures as well as some other women's memorabilia.  It was neat to see and hear about how the church's program for his daughters has changed throughout the years and to know that continual revelation is real.  

At the end of the night the advisor in charge whose husband who retired from being a lifer in the military spoke about how the military retires flags and now we are retiring the YW value flags.  To show our respect she had all the current YW stand in front of the flags and then had any in attendance  stand to honor the retired values.    It was a neat night and a neat way to end the era of personal progress

Love Language

I've recently been listening to the book "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman for bookclub.    Occasionally my kids will be in the car while I listened to it and we will talk a little bit about the different types of love languages.   I discussed with Jane what her love language might be.   It was hard to pin point exactly what she needs to fill up her love tank but it is obvious that Jane likes to give love through gifts to fill everyone else's buckets. 

As soon as Christmas was in the air Jane set out to get presents for each and every one of us.   Traditionally I would have the kids each pick a name of one of their siblings but Jane would never abide by the rule and still got everybody something and then they all felt bad they didn't get something for her in return.  This year it was unanimous vote to give everyone a gift and competitive Jane vowed to be the best at it.     Christmas morning she was all a glow watching everyone open their presents and see their happiness when they received her gift.    Recently she told me getting gifts was ok but that she just really likes to give gifts and that's the best part of Christmas.

She also put forth a lot of effort to make my sorry Bart's in Sundance January birthday special by buying and wrapping up a few presents from her, Spencer, Aaron and Bart.   The day of my birthday I had ward council in the wee Sunday hours and rushed home to get everyone to come back to church and I walked in to streamers and happy birthday sign and the best part a spotless house.  Jane was overly excited about me opening my presents and set out after church to help Emily make the frosting for my cake.

Jane started her Valetine's Day shopping during the after Christmas sales.  She thoughtfully chose each of us a present and then has been helping Aaron and Emily come up with ideas and walks to Harmon's with them to get their shopping done as well.  She's been looking forward to our annual Crepes for dinner Valentines party and walked in from soccer to see the table set up and joyfully ran up the stairs to arrange all her little presents at each's person place setting.

I love that she loves to think about others and makes it appoint to show them through her thoughtful gifts. She makes holidays the best!

Honor Bee

Emily completed her Personal Progress just in time for the ending of the program.   She worked hard to get all the requirements completed and I was so proud to watch her receive her medallion mid December

The very next day as she wore it to school she noticed her friend Annie had a bee attached to her necklace.  Annie told her about the additional requirements to read the Book of Mormon again and complete 40 additional hours of service in order to get it.   When Emily got home she told me she wanted an honor bee.  My response  "Emily I think that ship has sailed.  The program ends in a 3 weeks.  It's just not enough time."    Emily who has not a day in her life liked to be told no got this classic I'll show you Emily look and went up to her room and came down with a plan of how she could accomplish her goal.

Determined Emily set off to work and texted all her regular babysitting families and offered her services for free.   She and I looked around for  any service opportunities available.  Christmas time is a great time for that because the youth had a service night already planned and the ward was doing one as well.   We also learned from this experience that service opportunities are everywhere you just have to be looking for them.   I noticed  a post from a family in the ward  going through a struggle and Emily volunteered to make dinner for them.    She took time to reach out and write letters to a few friends she met at Oakcrest the church camp.   I was touched at one who texted back about how much it meant for her to get the letter with the sticker.   She readily became my "servant" at my house whenever I needed a dishwasher/babysitter/helper without pushing back or complaining.  She did once mention toward the end of her hours that she was tired of being my personal slave.  😂 In addition whenever she had a spare moment she was listening to and reading the Book of Mormon.   All of her extra efforts really added to the Christmas spirit in our home.     She made Christmas time in our house very Christ centered.   The power of one person in a family made us all focus better. 

The majority of Emily's New Year's Eve was spent finishing up the Book of Mormon despite the temptation she had to finish Bing watching a show that was going to be taken off of Netflix that night.   She didn't complain because she was determined to complete her goal.

I got a little teary eyed when I presented her honor bee at our YW in Excellence program.   I can't express how happy it makes my mothers heart to watch Emily be "anxiously engaged in much good on her own free will and choice."      She knows what she wants and has the conviction and determination to make righteous choices!

Terrificly Terrible Threes

Gosh I love this kid Spencer but he is a hard 3 year old.      When Spencer is happy he is adorable.  He's the one in our family who is so happy to greet us and is the first to give a needed hug when someone is struggling.   He's a man of many ideas!  He loves his little toys and legos and gathers them up in his lunch box and moves around the house playing with them.    He likes attention and doesn't have a shy bone in his body.  One Sunday they asked me to sit in with his Sunbeam class and he rambled on and on to his teacher about everything in his little world.   Sister Chow was so loving and kind and laughed and told me there is always one kid usually the youngest of the family who has a lot to share.  Even at the dentist with Jane while I'm trying to have a serious conversation with the Endodontist about the need to give her a root canal,  Spencer needed to be right in the mix of the conversation asking the dentist all sorts of questions.   I don't think the prudish old man was amused but that didn't deter Spencer.  He just went right on interrupting us until the dentist answered his question.   Lately he gets in his head he needs to wear everything of the same color.  He will put on his red  spiderman underwear, Ninja P.J's shift through the bucket of gloves and hats and find his red gloves and a red hat and will wear it all day saying he is red Ninja man.    Both of us have been enjoying blueberries this winter and will sit together at the island and talk enjoying the yummy fruit.  The other night he decided he wanted to go to bed as a blueberry boy.  He spent the better part of an hour shifting through his P.J. and put on all the blue ones, he found a tie from Aaron's robe he promptly put on and then proceeded to collect every toy he could remember he owned that was blue.     It's so fun to see his little mind develop and work.

Yet there are far too many times I want to sell him into Egypt.   When something doesn't go just the way Spencer thinks it should he has no problem hollering about it.  Man does this kid have lungs and he just doesn't let up.      Dogs are dogs but within the species there are different breeds.  Some dogs hardly make a peep and some are constantly barking and barking and barking until the neighbors call the city on you.   Spencer's of the screaming breed and with yell until he loses his little voice.  I wonder if any of my neighbors will call the cops on us because I'm pretty sure they wonder what sort of torture we are doing to cause just a commotion from a three year old.  He's constantly in attack mode with Aaron.  I mean full on bite, kick, hit mode.  Aaron often looks like he's been attacked by a cat.  Bart and the girls hate the commotion hurting their ears and tell me just give Spencer whatever he wants so he will be quiet.  Sometimes I think he enjoys compact with all of us.  The other day at dinner I asked each of my family  to tell each other what they love the best about that person.   Spencer straight up said "I love Aaron because he fights with me".   The only discipline that works with this kid is to put ourselves in time out from him.  He hates it when I go into my room and lock the door to get away from his screaming.  He'll scream and yell and then finally when he realizes he isn't getting any attention he will calmly say through the door.  I'm calmed down now mom.   He would probably be great in sacrament if he could chat away at full volume the entire time but as soon as you tell him to use his whisper voice or turn it off all together he gets even louder.  I think he often enjoys pushing the boundaries  with straight up defiance.   Soon enough one of us is dragging him out to the hall while he shouts "Don't take me out I promise I'll be quiet I promise"    I know my congregation means well when they come up after church laughing that they get the biggest kick out of Spencer but I really wish he wasn't the side show each week.    I often think back during his baby blessing when he was screaming at the top of his lungs the entire time and the only thing I remember Bart saying was "You will be a powerful voice for the kingdom of God on this Earth"   I realize that if I let this kid live long enough to grow up to an adult his big powerful spirit and voice will do much good." 

 I know part of the terrible three's is he developmentally is not needing or wanting naps yet just can't make it the entire day keeping it emotionally together without one.   When he gets a nap he is a happy lovable boy but the cost is he doesn't want to go to bed.  If only Bart and I were night owls and could stay up happily until 11 that wouldn't be a problem.    Speaking of night this kid has been bad lately.  He even  argues in his sleep.   All of us are constantly woken up to Spencer having arguments with different people including cousins, friends and of course Aaron.  Even though he doesn't need me once I realize he is asleep I unfortunately often can't fall back asleep.   He has lately become a very fickle sleeper and wants the hall light always on and if he wakes up in the dark screams for us to turn the light back on.   I almost feel like I've got a newborn again with all these interruptions.

Someday Spencer and I won't be sleep deprived and hopefully I can keep it together enough to teach him emotional stability but I fear that instead I might lose all of mine in the meantime. 

Dyson Man

Aaron has a little Jeykll and Hyde inside him when it comes to chores.  Whenever I give him even a hint of needing his help with chores he kicks he screams he roars around claiming he is so picked on and how his life is so unfair.  Sometimes he wants to live in another house.   It was almost humorous to watch him carry on when asked to shovel his section of the driveway.  Man that snow was so heavy and his job was by far the hardest he said.  He screamed and cried the entire time.

I scored a killer deal on this nifty Dyson cordless vacuum.  I like it alright.  It's a pretty handy appliance.  The best part of all is Aaron loves it.  Vacuuming is no big deal now that Aaron's my happy to help Dyson vacuum man.   He switches the attachments like it's nobody's business and empty's the canister in a flash.     I wish he felt the same way about other chores like he does vacuuming.   A couple of days ago Spencer dumped a bunch of confetti like papers on the stairs and Aaron in a blink of an eye was vacuuming all of it up when I mentioned the stairs were really dirty.     The other night we were talking about his horrible fits particularly the one where he was given a section of the driveway.    Aaron told me he doesn't mind doing most things like that he just hates being told to do it and that's why he screams about it.   I think it's a boy and husband thing to hate being nagged but how else can I get some participation?    I just wish there was handy dandy other Dyson appliances such as a snow shovel, clean your room, do the dishes or a pick up your toys machine.

Santa Session

We've never had great Santa pictures and whenever I see really cute ones I think I should do this but am always a little late to the game and the season is past. 

This year Allyson got wind of the annual JC Penny Santa photo shoot day and I booked it in Oct.     I really only wanted a couple of group shots and only paid for the minimal but then a week or so later I got a call from some rep. from JC Penny apologizing that the Santa on our session was wearing a confederate ring.  Since it is against JC Penny's policy she said they would have to delete the pictures but first would send me all the pictures taken that day on a CD.  Just fine with me!    Here's all the cuteness....