Highs & Lows:

LOWS:

Needing TWO dental implants now. I lost one tooth & to get an implant

is $4500. I had a root canal down on another tooth which set me back 1k-just 3 weeks ago the dentist used what tooth was left and filled a cavity with the expensive white filling only for me to have it COMPLETELY come out along with some of my tooth--CLASSY! I feel so ghetto. Luckily I have an appointment tomorrow which was to "build up the remaining tooth for a crown"--wont they be surprised when i "open wide!" With TWO implants needed now I'm looking at 9 grand---lovely. My friend has a dentist in Tijuana that is sounding better by the minute! www.mybajadental.com
I feel a girls weekend happening!!

Missing a day from the gym. I only go mon/wed/fri to this new B.R.U.T.A.L class at 845am-930am. The instructor is a professional "humbler" I like to call her. I thought I was pretty fit--

um yeah totally NOT in her class! I love it though. We like to say things like shizzz this is HARD and my personal favorite "Jesus take the wheeeel!" There is only 5 of us in there and she has us rotating doing different things. I love it because we NEVER do the same thing twice-ever. SO when i MISS a day (because jons nurse has to take a test)I am SO BUMMED!

Having the 3 older girls take turns doing the ENTIRE kitchen clean up. Yes I know it's in the "low" section because I am kind of a neat control freak.

I like things done ALL the way-not half way. Right now I have Sun-Sarah, Mon-Me, Tue-Rach, Wed-Me, Thur-Anna, Fri-Sarah & Sat-Rach. Each of us has to wash our own cup, fork, dish and put in sink but whoever is in charge has to clean off the entire table, put food away, rinse off everything else, unload & load dishwasher & then sweep. I feel like for a while I am going to have to "hover" (mom's you know what i mean!) to make sure it gets done right. I'm not really looking forward to this part of it.

HIGHS:
Losing almost 3 more pounds this week! YES!! This makes almost 6 lbs lost in two weeks. Happy day.

Taking the girls to see You Again-

it's only PG and they enjoyed it as did I. We were all cracking up-a great wholesome movie (which seriously is SO rare these days) that didnt put me to sleep nor was it animated. Heaven.

Going to the movies with Jons dad, bro mark, & sisters Krist & Katie. We saw Red-

it was totally up my alley, my kind of movie-CIA-ish. I loved it and figured out the twists & turns through out the movie.

Hearing about how much FUN Rachel had at her Leadership Retreat. She told me she met so many new friends from school that she never really talked to. She said she was able to "just be herself" and that people liked her for that. Makes me kind of sad to think at regular school she feels like she "just cant be herself"-I can tell she's still trying to "find herself" with all these kids from school. It's hard for me to relate since I went to a private school from 3rd-8th grade and graduated with 7 other classmates in my ENTIRE 8th grade class! We pretty much all knew each other since we were little kids.

Finding some cute "winter shoes." It's been FREEZING here and my flip flop days are coming to an end soon. So I was on the hunt for some cute "winter shoes" and I found them! They are grey flats but are more like slippers.
they are PERFECT because they have a hard sole on the bottom, cute & trendy to dress up with, yet fuzzy on the inside so your toesies stay warm!! BEST EVER! They were on sale for 18.99 (which is a lot but i figured -well if i wear them ALL winter it's worth it) then when she rung it up and it was on sale FROM 39.99 I had to take a triple check--dang.

Highs & Lows:

LOWS:

Coming home from church to see my neighbor extending their front yard fence. I knew we where too ghetto for them.

They are "interesting" folks. I think in the almost nine years we've lived here we've had maybe three conversations?! Maybe they just got tired of looking at my weeds.....


It looks a little random to have it stick out right there--oh well.

The cooler weather is not easy on Jons body. He is like my own weather man! His body gets really tight and uncomfortable when it's cold. The past couple of days (and two more days ahead of us) have been a little hard on him. Naturally he'd NEVER let anyone know that though.

This past week my schedule was ALL free and clear-as I look back at it tonight every single day I had something going on--good grief!

Monday Jon had a DR appointment-we discussed some good medication he tried for two weeks that really helped his bladder. Unfortunately it's not really covered by insurance. We are working on it-but if it does get help from insurance our copay for a 30 day supply is $75---for heaven sakes.

HIGHS:

Getting my taxes done in ONE HOUR AND getting a refund!?!?! How did THAT happen!?! Total blessing (the one hour time & the refund).

Our Disneyland passes expired on the 15th! Yes I am aware that I have posted this in the HIGH section--I am not a real fan of Disneyland between the crowds, long lines, frustrated parents with their impatient children--not my scene. We decided since they expired soon to keep the kids home from school and hit it "one last time." Only down fall was it was also UEA (Utah Education Association) which means the schools have that week off which translates really to Utahans Entering Anaheim! It ended up being pretty crowded and I felt like I was in Zion.

Rachel got asked to join the Jr High Leadership Camp (for school council). She's not involved in any of the leadership positions but was asked to come anyway. She is on yearbook and her design was chosen for the yearbook for the year. Kind of fun for her to get asked to come! (She's has had her phone taken away for 4 weeks as well as FB-and I must say it's been heavenly.)

She's a good girl-just needs to stay busy with good things!!!! Teenagers are H.A.R.D.--especially girls!

Friday night I had my family come over for a get together. I had an Aunt/Uncle visiting from Arizona so we all got together. It ended up with the women at the dining room table (yeah we pretty much all quickly ran in there so the men had no where to sit! HA) and the men gathered/ate in the living room. I love my mom's side of the family--they are SO FUN and SO down to earth. My grandparents had SEVEN daughters and THREE sons!!!! The house was chaos with lots of kids running around-but I love that and it doesnt bother me. I know some people can't handle that--but truly I have learned to tune kid chaos out! HA

Family is such an important unit. It's important to always get together as much as one can. I LOVE having my house full of people--especially when it's family!

Highs & Lows:

Lows:

Becca being injured and needing an ice pack THREE times in one week. The wrist, the arm, the chin--for heaven sakes already this is why i didnt have any boys!

Becca come home crying because she couldnt write her lowercase o correctly. After talking to her she said "the teacher kept telling her she wasnt writing it right." Then Becca started crying-then the teacher said "if you keep crying you have to pull your card." So i asked Becca "if the teacher hurt her feelings & broke her heart?" Becca replied "yes." --this is what I ask becca when she cries about something -it's usually because someone said or did something and if i just ask "oh becca-did that hurt your feelings or break your heart?" she says "yes" and then she's fine.

So I called the teacher and asked what happened. I could tell right away she was on the defensive-which is probably natural. She even made the comment "and this isnt the first time she's cried-she's done it a few other times!" I wanted to go postal on her--but didnt. I took a deep breath, didnt say anything for a few seconds then said "Becca is very sensitive. If she feels like she is doing something wrong she feels terrible and her only coping method is to cry. She doesnt know how to handle letting someone down yet. So next time she's struggling please ask her "becca did that breakt your heart or hurt your feelings-because i dont want to break your heart-so lets take a big deep breath and start over."--then take the breath and start over. I also told the teacher "i dont expect you to console my daughter every time--you are there to teach and not break to console her--but maybe the first few times might help her to regroup her feelings and thoughts more easily." In the end I could immediately tell the teacher was changing her tone of voice and she thanked me for calling and giving her guidance on what to do should something happen again. I told her to please feel free to contact me by phone if there is a problem.

Poor Becca--she's my baby--and well yeah there's a TEENY bit of extra love for her.

I think i feel bad because i spent so much time with Jon recovering from his accident and getting acclimated with life that I missed out on so much of her growing. I saw her running back into the house because she forgot her shoes for the library and as I watched her it made me visually freeze that moment and then flash forward to her being 17 and running in real quick to get something. I find myself taking more moments to capture a memory in my mind--because for some STRANGE reason my memory of my life and my children's life is HORRIBLE. I do NOT remember much!!

HIGHS:
Watching Rachel make the 8th grade volleyball team! She made 7th grade last year. This year was WAY harder and more intense--I was nervous.

Beginning the Roadshow practice (I am in charge with my friend Erin Thompson)-STRESSFUL. It was GREAT to see everyone excited about it and really getting into it.

Attending Anna's BFF baptism. Anna "met" kate when they were both 3-5 months old-us mommies were nursing in the mothers lounge. Kate's mom Kristen & I have been close friends ever since that day. I'm so grateful for Kristen--and love that Kate & Anna have such a great friendship--the kind of friendship where you know they will be college roomies when they grow up a bit more!

Finally getting the Turbo Tax CD so I can start my taxes ALL this week that are due on Friday--again STRESSFUL! I hope/pray I can manage to get it all done. This year feels extra complicated with businesses we have going on.

And lastly--getting a blog post in!! YES i feel like I can enter back into the Celestial Kingdom again--or atleast rejoin the "Mormon moms who do everything perfectly" club again!!