"What gym do you work out at?"

So a few weeks ago (I am sadly JUST now remembering to write this down), we were at Todd & Celene's house celebrating Todd getting SUPPPPPPERRR old (he's 3 months older then me...dang!). Celene is always SO sweet to save me ALL of Anika's clothes (their only daughter) and give them to Anna & Becca to wear. Seriously-what a great blessing!
So Celene gets the bag of clothes out of the closet and the conversation goes like this:

Anna: "Oh I can help!"
Aunt Celene: "Um, it's really pretty heavy sweetie."
Anna: "It's okay-I work out."
Anika: "Oh you work out, me too-what gym do you go to?"

Ummm HELLO--how funny is THAT! These girls are 7 & 8!!!!! Cracks me up--

Nothing super exciting going on in our Family here--just staying caught up with LIFE. I am SO grateful Jon is here to help me with FOUR KIDS doing homework-good heavens. He is incharge of Rachel & Anna-to make sure it's completed, done correctly & goes on the school website to make sure all their homework assignments match up. I am incharge of Sarah & Becca-same drill. It really is a LOT of work to make sure everyone is on task and it gets completed--as they get older they get WAY more work. And I will have to say Kindergarten is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY hard now!!!!!!!

On Tuesdays-I take the girls to the library to get a weeks worth of reading. (During bedtime quiet time-they have 30 minutes to color or read). I had got a LOOT full of books--i mean hello four girls EACH getting 7 books ADD's up--only i "forgot" to return them...like a month late forgot--i figured it would be like 10 bucks--oopsies it was 92.50!!!! i KNOW can you even believe that!?!? I literally said OUTLOUD to the librarian--"wait WHAT??????????? r u just joking with me??"
She wasn't. I paid. We left.

I have been campaigning for "Mother of the Year" this year. I VOLUNTEERED at the kids elementary school on friday for TWO HOURS--i know shocking huh. Normally I am just the "paper product mom." I then VOLUNTEERED AGAIN on monday night for 2 hours--I handed out over 800 slices of pizza.
Seriously..I am a shoe in for sure.

I am Happy!

Let's start from the beginning. I am 34. I have a husband who is paralyzed from the chest down. I have four girls ages 12, 10, 7 & 5. I am TIRED, usually cranky, tend to be fake with my smiles of "everything is great!", stuck at home day in and day out, moody, gaining weight, getting little sleep or too much sleep, blacking out, having thyroid issues, no income for 3+ years, lots of people involved with my life both physically & financially. Yet, do my best to remain hopeful, upbeat & positive for the most part.

I receive an email from my dear friend David Parker. I have known him for 25+ years. He asks me to take a look at some commercial shots for his new company & give my feedback on it. I gave him my lengthy feedback & asked him what "Nuriche" is all about? He told me I "could just do some research on the website, have a look around & he'd be happy to answer any of my questions."

Great I thought! I can do that. I begin my research and immediately thought OH GEEZ is this some new MLM thing-because I am NOT interested. Then I thought, let's think about this. David Parker is a VERY reputable man. I mean he's friends with Mitt Romney-he was his top campaign fundraiser guy that made sure the money came in and went out correctly & honestly! These are the kinds of dealings that David Parker works with. He is also outrageously generous with the blessings he's been given. I know, I have been a beneficiary of his kind heart. So, I decided to look further.

After further research, I thought OH GEEZ is this some juicey juice thing!? Again, David Parker-he's not the type of man to get involved with some "latest & greatest" silly juice thing that is FLOODING the market right now-especially in utah! So, again, further research.

I researched EVERYTHING about Nuriche for 2 full days-google was my friend! I researched the people that were involved, the product itself, the company, how it is run, how the product works, testimonials from outside sources. Anything & everything I could find out about it.

I WAS IMPRESSED!

To start, I LOVE that Nuriche offers a FREE 3 day sample to anyone. I LOVE that Nuriche offers up to 90 days to try the product out with a 100% money back guarantee including ship/tax/handling withOUT having to be bugged to send the product containers all back.

I LOVE that the product sells itself-either you love it or you dont! I love that I am losing weight, not feeling the munchies all the time, have good healthy energy, not needing my "3pm oprah nap". The benefits have been so positive for me!

I LOVE that the product is simple-its 30 mostly organic fruits, 30 mostly organic veggies, all my seeds, nuts, enzymes & probiotics in one shot. Nothing else added to it, it's just pure live whole food! Easy & Simple.

As far as the business side. THAT blew me away. I learned that David Parker as CEO is ONLY paying himself ONE DOLLAR per year. NEXT the top Rep is not a PERSON or group of individuals it is a CHARITY ORGANIZATION called "My Firm Foundation". For every dollar made into the company 5 cents goes to My Firm Foundation FIRST! How great is that-so as the Nuriche company gets larger, so does the amount of funds in the foundation so that we as a company will begin to help feed those in Africa with our product AND help them to start their own businesses. They will be able to purchase their product for 2 dollars and sell it for 4 dollars. THAT SPOKE HUGE TO ME!!!!!

The next step is called the Nuriche LLC. Right now there are 10 "Founders" that together they OWN the Nuriche LLC. They have personally invested their own money to hold that position. David Parker has it set up so that whether you are the FIRST Rep to join Nuriche or the millionth in 5 years from now-if you work hard and show intergrity, honesty and work ethic-you will be ASKED to be a founder as well-and will be able to OWN the Nuriche company as well-UNHEARD OF!!

Lets get back to my story for a minute now, I am still 34. I still have a paralyzed husband. I still have 4 girls to take care of. I am NOT A SALES PERSON. How could I begin to think I could even make this work???? We have had no income for 3+ years. I limit myself to a "Target trip" every OTHER month to help keep costs down. My children receive free lunches at school. I run a "fresh rescue" program with Albertsons to help feed my family everyday. I have done what I can to keep our budgets REALLY low. I am in the middle of maybe losing my house. Working with the bank to see what can be done. It's been a LONG process. There really is no way for me to get involved with this company right now-right?

WRONG!!!! I jumped ALL in--I saw the benefits I was having with the product. I saw the financial benefits that could occur and I WENT AT IT. I sit here on Facebook and send people a simple 4 minute youtube video that explains what Nuriche is & ask for their feedback. Then I offer to send them the 3 Day Sample to try it out. Then I ask them to try the product for 90 days with the 100% money back guarantee. I tell them either they will love it or they wont. Either way WE ARE TOTALLY FRIENDS!! No hard feelings ever. The product truly sells itself.

I have been involved with Nuriche for 52 days now-I will be helping to make my mortgage payments. UNBELIEVABLE!

Because of uriche the product & the business side-my whole outlook on life has changed, even my family/friends have noticed! What is out there for us if we give ourselves honest effot-believe in ourselves-believe in the products-BELIEVE IN THE COMPANY NURICHE -- you WILL SUCCEED! If I can make it happen-anyone can.

I love my family, I love my friends, I love my life. Come change YOUR life!

On a roll...

Do you ever feel like some days or weeks or months you are on a roll?! I feel like i am "on a roll!"--life is good for me these days.

I am so grateful for the blessings that Nuriche is bringing to me and my family. To help my family be healthy and bring income-lovely. I am excited to be traveling this next weekend to SLC for the events there-and LOVE that my family can watch it from here using the new Nurichetv.com site--SO FUN!

School is going well--Rachel is enjoying Jr. High--i love my new set up--wake at 640-out the door by 655am drop her off then get to the gym with kristen by 715 and workout for an hour (30 minutes free weights/30 minutes treadmill)--then back home to shower and get myself ready for the day--drop becca off at school and FREEDOM till 3pm!

So we CUT OUR CABLE last week--HEAVEN!!! Our girls have been outside more, coloring more, drawing more, in the POOL MORE--it's been a blessing already. If there are shows we want to watch-we can get anything we want via the internet-so we can watch it on our computer or laptop or even thru our Wii-who would have thought. I love that there isnt any ENDLESS TV WATCHING anymore--and at night after kiddos were in bed and jon was done being stretched we'd stay up till midnight watching all of our DVR'd recorded shows. Now we either talk, read or my favorite JUST GO TO BED! With me getting up at the crack of dawn..Im ready to crash by 930-10pm every night. I'd like to get myself some good books to read--make a good wind down for me.

I also canned some peaches-what in the world?! first no cable, now im canning?? scary. I buy 2-4 boxes of peaches from an orchard each year..so this year i decide i would can them. My friend in r/s let me come to her house and she taught me how-this same woman taught me how to make wheat bread as well. I think this would make a great xmas gift--a canning thingy-how sad i dont even know what its called?? geez

Jon took the 2 older girls and walked down to fresh & easy to find something to make for dinner the next two nights--why are dinner ideas ALWAYS the hardest part of cooking!? im curious to see what they bring back-he said i cant be mad of what they bring cuz i didnt give him any suggestions..oh dear. I DID however suggest to buy things to make my homemade rocky road ice cream-(atleast i know that will taste FABULOUS!)HA

First Days...

of school went smooth--got Rachel off to Junior High on time (early) which was smart due to TRAFFIC nightmares with shuttling all the kids there..she made it to all her classes, figured out her "route" is had fun seeing she had a few kids she knew in EACH of her classes--she even found the "mormon table" -so all is well!
sarah is going to have a fun year, as is Anna--good teachers, good friends--
had fun walking with becca to kindergarten-she's in the PM class and has one friend in there she's good friends with so that made the "drop off" easy! NICE

I picked Rachel up at 2pm-then the other 3 walked home at 3pm--i had a nice plate of warm chocolate chip cookies waiting for them (my tradition!)--devoured & enjoyed.

We stuck to our schedule, scripture reading at 730, followed by brush teeth, hair, jammies etc by 8pm they were in their rooms either coloring or reading, lights out at 830--FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am debating about starting a NO TV/CANCEL dish beginning sept 1st..surprisingly i decided to go to bed at 1030pm vs watching tv--im having tooth pain and didnt sleep the night before so im SURE that encouraged me to not watch tv--i took a vicodin and slept like a BABY--sooooo great. We will see if i continue the challenge or not...

Last week of summer--

Let's hurry it up already!

This last week will be spent at dentist offices, eye doctors, school registration etc. Trying to cram in all this stuff on the last week--not the smartest but oh well-atleast all the school shopping has been done for 3 weeks now.

Yesterday I went to the Price is Right show. What an ordeal THAT was. I will never do it again-but fun to do it ONE time. It required me waking up while it was STILL DARK!! 530am--i dont know how Jon taught seminary for so long waking up like that..no wonder he was ready to CRASH by 9pm everynight-and i'd be bugged cuz that's when all the good tv shows came on--while putting on my make up-becca came in and asked "is this when you put on your make up? when its still dark then go back to bed?!" it made me chuckle-i had to tell her i was going somewhere--she replied "shouldnt you be sleeping??" um YES!!!!!!!!!!! so got to our meeting spot by 6am (we had to ambush one of our friends cuz we needed ONE LAST person to come or none of us could get in-she was a total trooper and busted out of bed, put on her face and was out the door in now time!)
We got to LA in good time thanks to my driving skills--and were ready to go-it was TONS Of hurry up and wait and wait and wait..good thing we had fun girls!!
We got into the show by 1230pm and started the show-it went super fast, the room was SUPERRR small and one of our girls actually got on and won a car--SWEET!

After that we headed back home-stopped off to eat at a grub mexican place (they give you fresh warm HOMEMADE tortillas with butter--DUDE PERFECTION!!!) & then made it back home by 6pm...lonnnnngggg day and i was wiped OUT!

I came home and jon had the girls pick up the downstairs-it was spotless and shiny with the hum of the dishwasher-why is this like every mother/wife's dream!? i dont know why--but it is!!

I had a hard time sleeping becuz of a silly tooth ache that seems to SHOW ITSELF RIGHT as im going to sleep--so struggled with that all night, i ended up sleeping in this AM till 1130-HELLO! of course now its 330 and my tooth feels totally fine..grrrrr

Today the girls are off in different directions playing with friends-LOVE friend days!

Jon and I have been watching these DVD's ON SACRED GROUND
Reflections on Joseph Smith by Truman G. Madsen ..you can go to www.trumanmadsen.com to purchase them. I am FASCINATED with them--really great DVD's to watch together with your spouse/family and grow--I LOVE learning about the Gospel-!

Rounding out Summer...

PLEASE BRING ON THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR!!!! okay so it's obvious where my thoughts are these days...i have 13 more days till school starts again and quite frankly it cannot come SOON ENOUGH! Being on the downhill side of summer is never my favorite-i am one of those "lets get on with it already" types--

We have done quite a few beach days-we had beach house week last week of July with Sandra's side of the family-always fun to visit with cousins & see families growing! I've met lots of friends at CDM and Newport--i even ventured into the waves myself--i know pick your jaw up OFF the ground.."christina went IN the WATER?!" yes. i did. I caught some sweet waves-then was quickly humbled by a trasher--good times! Every time I drove home back from the beach it MUST be accompanied by Guns N Roses--its just the Hales way.

We had lots of fun with Kristi's family in town-a couple sleepovers--so crazy seeing the "older cousins" becoming "older" and the changes they all go thru. I am glad she brought the crew down and had so much fun! I LOVE that ALL of Jons family gets alone so well and we can always count on each other and have fun with each other with NO DRAMA--sometimes that's hard to do in families these days.

Jon continues to have pressure sore issue's which leaves him stuck in his bed upstairs-not the most fun but helps to keep it from getting worse. He's pretty much spent the WHOLE last 4-5 weeks IN BED--poor guy. It's still only at stage 1 of 4--so we just keep plugging along with life.

I am CRAZY BUSY with my new company and LOVING every minute of it. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity and the blessing it will be to our family in so many ways.

Well this will be an interesting school year-my schedule looks like up at the CRACK OF DAWN (well not really, but for a sleepy head like me-645 mine as well be!) get child #1 off to Jr High-meet Kristen at Turley fitness (new 24 hour gym WHOO HOO)work out for an hour (while my sweet child #2 & 3 get THEMSELVES dressed and breakfast made & out the door by 8am to walk to school-I know im SOOO LUCKY i have GOOD CHILDREN!!!)then I will return home and get myself ready for the day and get child #4
to Kindergarten by 1045am and then i am FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE till 3pm--can you feel my excitement!??!?!? I havent quite decided which breakfast joint I will be solo celebrating at!? iHOP, Coco's, Dennys?!?!?

I have been doing a tradition with my girls on the FIRST day of school i make sure i have a fresh batch of my killer chocolate chip cookies ready for them when they walk thru the door (i will pick up Rachel & the other 3 will walk home together)--they ALWAYS remind me and are so happy that i follow thru with that tradition--

Usually with Jon home I have him incharge of Anna's homework, while I help Sarah with hers. Rachel does her own by herself (besides I dont think im smart enough for her homework anymore!??! thank heavens for google.com when im stuck-so i SEEM smart! HA) So this year Rachel will be in the afterschool homework club thingy-so hers will be done before she even gets home, then i will take sarah and anna while jon continues to take Anna. Hopefully that system works. My girls are SO GOOD about just coming home, grabbing a snack and getting to their homework right away so we are done. We usually have it all wrapped up by 330pm--FABULOUS!!!!!!!

Im ready for us to be in bed by 9pm and up and at 'em in the mornings with a routine--I love that we have dinner every night by 6pm, girls do their dishwasher chore, scripture reading is done nightly after dishes--monday nights FHE's are rotated between Me, then Jon, then Rachel & then thru Sarah. I love that we have family prayer each night after scripture reading--these things make life simple and make mom happy.

Bring on the school year!

Rachels Firsts....

Today was Rachel's first experience at the Temple as a youth-she was there to participate in Baptisms...I completely forgot about telling her how she needs to dress, how she needs to bring extra clothing items, get an interview, questions that are asked, why she's doing this----of course leave it to me to wait till the LAST hour to cram all this information in right!? oops.

So i am on the cell phone & she's fighting me about why she has to wear a dress/skirt-why cant she wear shorts? if no shorts how about just pants--whats wrong with flip flops--on and on --poor thing i had to take a DEEP breath and start over..she kept thinking the "dress code" were our "family rules"...i know..i shouldnt have waited till the last hour..

Then began the conversation of "okay where do i change, how do i do that, will anyone see me, where's the key, i put it in what pocket, what if it falls out in the water, but im all wet, do they give towels, where does the wet jumpsuit go, question after question!! again..i know why did i wait till the last hour...

The bishopric counselor came-& she completed her interview and all was well.

She was happy to see that she was NOT the ONLY one wearing church clothes to the temple EVEN THO we told her OVER and OVER and OVER again-the temple is the Lord's house---we wear our BEST!! not shorts, no flip flops, etc etc..GOOD GRIEF!!!!!!!!!!!

Jon was able to talk to her after our "crammed discussion" about why we do the baptisms--& she felt great.

She also spent the day preparing for Girls Camp which starts for her on Monday--it will be quite nice to have some quiet in the house-she is SO good about playing with the girls doing fun things but when she's BORED...then she even better at pestering them-especially sarah--drives me bonkers--thats usually when i yell...okay enough-everyone's bored out to the pool!!!!!!!!!!

I gave her the list of things she's suppose to bring for Girls Camp-told her to put it all on her bed and then i'd check it off with her--she did manage to get everything off the list checked-WHEW!! it is WAY nice having kids that can do their OWN packing and take care of their OWN things---after she went downstairs and we got all the zippers zipped and ties tied for her luggage and sleeping bag..i wrote a nice sweet "i love you" kind of letter and tucked it into her sleeping bag so when she unravels her bag--she will see my note to her--
i figure that will make up for the cramming of the temple discussion earlier and put me BACK on track for the mother of the year award--right!??!

On my way!

I have just joined a new company. It is called Nuriche (nourish). www.Nuriche.com

Essentially it is THEE most convenient way to get ALL of your recommended fruits & veggies everyday. None of us are able to get what is recommended on a daily basis. This is a new product line that started in Dec of 08.

The product consists of a powder that contains 30 fruits, 30 veggies plus all the needed enzymes and probiotics your body needs. You just add water and boom there ya go! The most important part is that they take the fruits/veggies from the farms and pulverize them so they are liquid then they heat it at 80 degree's for just 30 seconds to put it in a powder form this makes it THEE MOST live whole fruit/veggie possible. (anytime fruit/veggies are heated or frozen it takes out the good nutrients) but by doing the heat at ONLY 80 for ONLY 30 seconds it makes it a live whole product. So that when you add the water, its as if YOU went to the same garden and picked out the fruits/veggies yourself and ate them. This product has NO chemicals, preservatives, fillers etc. Its all healthy & organic and live whole food.

Everyone, including myself, that have been using it has REALLY felt a difference in energy levels, vitality, clearer thinking, AND a bonus everyone on it is losing weight-like 30 lbs!

Id LOVE for you to try it and just give me your feedback on it!! Feel free to go to the website and look around.

www.mynuriche.com/Hales

on the MEND!!!

I have spent 2 weeks in my room...thank goodness I have a laptop to keep me sane! I had gone to Urgent care on day 3, tested negative for strep. Back to my regular Dr on day 8, still negative for strep & told to take 1g of tylenol with 800mg motrin, back to a new Dr on day 10 & given a Zpack antibiotic. By day 12 I could tell an improvement but day 11, 12, 13 REALLLY tired -maybe from my body trying to fight that RAGING HORRIFIC sore throat I had for 10 STRAIGHT DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!
Today I am feeling better after being on the antibiotics and more rest...THANK HEAVENS!

Sadly Jon has come down with a Stage One pressure sore on his back. About the size of a dime. It is quite painful and requires him to stay out of his wheelchair and in his bed ALL DAY LONG. He is able to keep working on his laptop which helps to keep him sane and feeling productive. We have to keep watching it to see if it heals or progresses to Stage Two. He will most likely be confined to his bed for several weeks.

The older girls have been gone since Wednesday night with Jons parents on a house boat at Lake Powell, they will get home late sunday night. I am SURE they are having tons of fun!!

Sick mom makes for creative girls...

I have been up in my room for 8 days now with this terrible sore throat. I went to the dr's a second time only to hear that its still just a viral infection. He did tell me to up my tylenol dosage to 1g 4xs a day and my motrin to 600-800 3xs a day-SWEET! Hopefully this will manage the pain.

Since I am stuck in my room (REALLY dont want to share this with anyone especially jon!) the girls have had to entertain themselves here at home. One day Rachel decided to go all fancy and put a clean white table cloth on the dining room table and completely set it all fancy shmancy including salad plate, bread plate, etc etc--i thought they got a photo of it -but they did not! I was quite impressed.

They also decided to use my fabulous flip video camera and made "A Cinderella Production" in which Anna was Cinderella, who had mean step sisters Sarah & Becca while Rachel was the fairy godmother and film director. Again IMPRESSED! They LOVED doing this--

They also gutted out their rooms. They decided at 8pm last night to take that on (UGH the mother in me kept saying! My summer plan was to go thru their rooms and gut it out get rid of clothes that dont fit, toys they dont play with etc). They did a good job, but the bulk of it ended up in the hallway with the rest of it being "auctioned off" to anna & becca which really just meant it ended up on the floor in their room too. Dang.
They all surprised me this AM and had gotten everything out of the hallway to the trash and cleaned up the younger 2 girls' rooms.

Im beginning to think i need to be sick MORE OFTEN dont ya think!? I am lucky to have older girls that can make their own breakfasts, lunches & dinners when duty calls. I am lucky to have girls with wild imaginations & dont do too much fighting. Right now they are all in the piano room listening to youtubed songs while dancing--good times!

This wednesday the older two leave to lake powell with gma & gpa to go on a house boat the Goodman family has rented. They are WAY excited! The younger two have a couple of bday parties to go to-so they will have fun as well. Jon and I are going to a murder mystery party on friday night (note to self my inhouse babysitter will be in lake powell-better call for a "real" sitter!). Jon is going to be "Bond, Matt Bond-a devishly handsome rich man" I will be "Countess Alice de Ville-a stunning, weathly widow"! Should be fun-its a black tie affair so we will get to be dolled up-we have been to two of these that our friends put on-seriously SO FUN!

I hope to be on the mends-or atleast functioning with the good dosages of meds! I am done being stuck in my room-i am ready to be at the beach or the movies--thank heavens for my laptop to keep me connected to the outside world!!!

sore throat, sore throat, sore throat....

That has pretty much CONSUMED my life the past 3 days! I am on day FOUR of this retarded sore throat deal. It seriously feels like its sunburned and being scraped with sand paper at the same time. I keep myself loaded up on motrin, halls drops, and LOTS OF SQUIRTS of chloreseptic....bugged.

Ive spent the last days upstairs in my room-I REALLY have to stay away from jon so that he does not get this. Thank goodness I have laptop to keep me company-I would be going crazy. The girls have been good about staying downstairs and keeping themselves entertained. Of course I still manage to keep the laundry going, making dinner (sort of-sometimes its which drive thru!?) etc. I tend to walk down every 3 hours to have the girls pick up the kitchen and put juice away, plates, cups etc. When will they learn huh??

Over the weekend I helped my friend Amy move from one house into another. I am grateful for a time in my life when I am able to help others. There have been many years of me needing to nurse a baby, change a diaper, or as of late see to the needs of Jon. I am grateful to be in this time and season that allows me to help others. It's good for the soul!

I have been TRYING to upload my blog from WAYYY back in 2006 to www.blurb.com but it seems to keep crashing on me etc. So I just give up on it. But I am determined. I have been doing a blog each year and would like to compile it all into a hardbound book as a journal for our family from each year. This idea motivates me to keeping up the blog.

Swim Meets & Sweet Becca!

Summer is still BUSY with swim practices and swim meets for all four girls-thankfully they are all together which makes sports SO NICE! I have to volunteer for SO MUCH because we have them all on the team which requires LOTS OF LONG hours at the meet. A typical meet starts at 5 (but you have to be there at 430) and ends at 9pm or later--geesh! Atleast the snack bar is grub. It is always fun for me to meet new people and get to know them-I was the "scorer" at the meet & the announcer was hilarious and made the meet go by fast. He got a kick out of embarrassing me as I was scoring too--good times!

Thursday was Becca's 5th bday. I love this little girl-she is just TOO CUTE with her dimple and all. Our friend Russell has taught her that when anyone asks her "how come you are so cute?" to say "because i have a big dimple!" She continues to carry some sort of blanket around with her. I love that she does, Jon doesnt care for it much! One time my dad talked her into throwing IT AWAY!!! she did. I told him when she wakes up in the middle of the night, i'd be calling him. He said "i hope you wont be calling me bad names!?" Of course in true mom fashion, my mom made her ANOTHER blanket-YES! both my dad and jon were thinking.."WHAT?!" so funny. She has been using that blanket, only a few weeks ago left it at my friends house, so jon sweet talked me into having kristen "hide" it in our small garage. It has remained in there, but becca managed to find another one. Surprisingly she isnt as attached to this blanket but we shall see. She loves to just SNIFF the fabric-I have TRIED to just use a little small piece, but nope wants the whole thing. Its pretty funny.
We took the family out to dinner (our tradition) and then she got to open her gifts from gma/gpa. Why are bday squeals from 5 year olds oh so cute!!?? We also gave her the gift cards for toys r us and target. The next day me and the 3 other girls went with her to toys r us to pick out gifts-it was so fun to watch. They would each try to persuade her to pick whatever they brought to her. We kept loading it into the basket, then we told her there was only enough money for 2 so pick your two favorites-best way to do bday gifts EVER!!!! She got her balloon and bday crown from toys r us as well--I still need to take her to Target (this will be just me and her tho, that was wearing taking ALL OF THEM!!)

FUN weekend!

We had a fun weekend--Saturday we took off to my parents to hang with my bro Brian and his family, clay was there & russell was there..David my cousin came down with his family from Las Vegas too-so fun to see them all! It is weird for me to sit back and relax (since we have older kids) and watch all my younger siblings, cousins chasing kids, changing diapers, filling bottles etc--i love where we are!! I dont miss those days that's for sure!!

Sunday we did church, and then we took off to Todd's house to hang with jons parents and uncle mark. So fun to hang with so much family all the time-we are really lucky to live so close to everyone. We got to "see" Todd's new guns--so fun!

Monday we again took off to OC--Im beginning to wonder why we live here in Riverside!? Chad was down for the evening-he was surprised that we would all pick up and just come down to see him-that's what I love about jons family-everyone is always so willing to drop everything to come visit.

This week we have Swim Meet (tonight), family portraits (tomorrow), jons Dr appt (thur) no plans friday & im still working on saturday's plans!

Being that it was Fathers Day weekend - I think about my own Father and the things I have learned from him. He is a hard worker. He has worked since he was 8 years old. He had two papers routes. He worked so his sister could serve a mission (who served with my mother & that's how they met later on!). He has ALWAYS been thee most generous man i know! All throughout my life he has helped those in need. He is an honorable man. One of thee most honest men I know as well. He adores my mother & I believe that is the greatest gift you can give your children!
I have married a wonderful husband who is the Father of my children. I married him because he had many qualities that my own Father has. I also married him because I ADORED his father and thought if he is anything like his Father-I will be blessed!

bedtimes...better mornings...too much stress!

I am not a fan of bedtimes, my girls keep switching beds to sleep in, Rachel & Sarah like to keep everyone giggling - I start out at the "nice mom" then end up turning into the "mean mom"! I think by the end of the day having everyone home I am just done with it all! I hate going to bed feeling that way...I guess some nights are better then others and I have to remember that. Rachel has been on my case about "her" bedtime being that she's "12" now and it is "summer". Jon & I will talk it over with her and we will come up with an appropriate time. She likes to just stay down stairs and draw, read or play her Wii.

This morning has been a little easier then last night. Woke up, got ready for the day and ran to Fresh & Easy to grab some cereal for the crew here. They had Trix and Coco Puffs for 99 cents each-not the "healthiest" cereal but for 99 cents-Im game! Brought that back home for the girls and told them after cereal starts chores. So they did their required 2 pages of school work,

dishwasher, cleaned their rooms/made bed, brushed teeth/hair and got dressed. Surprisingly nobody complained and they just got it done. They are now all sitting on the couch playing the Wii together. I love that ALL four of them can play at the SAME TIME!

I am under a lot of stress right now. Cant really say what it is about until it all comes together but Ive been under heavy stress for about 7-8 weeks now. Some nights it is hard for me to go to sleep and some mornings I wake up and cant stay asleep! I do my best to not let it get the best of me, but sometimes I do fail. Grateful to have another "day" to do things differently. Most days are good though! I am in a situation which is completely out of my hands. I know it will all come together, but it is all the before stuff that is rough. Again, it's hard for me to really say till it comes together.

Looking forward to the weekend. We will be heading down to my parents house to hang out with family for Fathers Day. Just a simple bbq/swim type thing. My cousin David and his cute family will be visiting from Vegas so that will be fun!

Today I need to figure out somethings for Jon for Fathers Day. Wish me luck!

beach day, swim meets, fevers oh my!

Sunday Sarah came down with a fever and slept the day away, tuesday becca came down with a fever and slept the day away, today wednesday anna came down with a fever and has slept the day away---time will tell when rachels turn will hit, or mine or jons..yikes!

We headed out to CDM today--the clouds were out, i was a baby and FREEZING! of course the sun decides to show itself 30 minutes before we had to leave...nice. the girls had a blast ( even tho anna just slept on the beach-poor thing!) we met tons of our friends there and have decided my usual "cove" spot will be where we will go from now on-i LOVE that its secluded and we feel like we have the whole beach to ourselves! I am at a time in my life where my kids are bigger so all i have to say is "girls get your swim suits on, find a towel, flip flops and hop in the car" 5 minutes later we are out the door. I felt bad for all the other moms with tiny babies and small children who spent 2 hours just getting their car packed...i remember those days and are THRILLED they are so far behind me now!! I love having our four girls and im so grateful we had them all before jon got hurt. I know that we could have more children even now, but i also know that would throw me over the edge--not cute. People need me here!!! So four will be our number for us. I LOVE that they are all girls and LOVE that they are all so close to eachother, hardly fight YET-im sure the days are coming of clothes borrowing without asking, make up using, boyfriend stealing...good times!

After the beach we headed home in time to turn around and head for the swim meet. I had becca and anna stay home with dad. I had to keep score for the meet-which we SLAUGHTERED the other team (yes im THAT competitive!!) and the girls had a blast. The meets tend to be LONGGGG we got there shortly after 4 and didnt get back into the car till 815!

Hopefully my girls will ALL sleep in tomorrow...we shall see. All in all a great day for us-time for me to go feed jon since he didnt get any dinner with me being gone-poor guy, wonder which fast food joint he will choose!

some family funnies...

tonights family prayer...sarah had to "excuse" herself becuz she needed to break wind..so we were laughing about it--i finally got everyone settle down to say prayer..only to start and then moments later have my cell go off vibrate style on the leather couch..nice.

sarah was sick allll during church-i dont understand how they can all be hyper then as soon as i say its time to get ready for church begins the "oh why do we have to go? are we staying the whole time? can we just do primary? im not feeling good, i feel tired, my tummy" geesh...as usual i spiritually yelled them all to church anyways with enough time for me to repent before i took the sacrament! apparently sarah really was not feeling well THIS TIME..i told her to just roll down all the windows in the truck and sleep in the back..she did..two hours.

we came home and she slept the entire day away--we headed to our friends house for dinner/birthday celebration-fun times! tons of people from the ward were there which is always fun to visit with. all the kids ran around and around the ungated pool..shocking no one fell in..more shocking that i didnt get to push anyone IN the pool!

Monday morning began our first day of summer! Started off with telling the girls their morning chores which included picking up their rooms, making bed & doing the dishwasher duty. They all SURPRISINGLY did it all without any complaints! I decided since swim practice was cancelled we could go on another hike. We had gone on one on saturday after their chores and they LOVED it-more then i thought they would! So they were excited to go again monday. We went with our friends and it was a little harder then the saturday one-but fun nonetheless. after the hike we all hit up the slurpe machine--good times! Rachel got invited to a birthday party for one of her friends from church. It was an overnighter but we have a family rule of no overnighters, so we let her stay till she called us which was at 10pm --right on! while she was gone jon was in charge of FHE which was on emergencies and what do to--they remembered what we had taught them before, fire: get on the floor crawl out and call 911 at the neighbors, earthquake: run outside to the light pole (our family meeting command center!) if mommy or daddy are hurt, call 911, wrote down our friends, neighbors phone numbers--talked about stranger danger--it was a good FHE..of course jon likes to tell me if any of those things happen--to "just walk away and save myself" vs trying to rescue him--good grief!

today becca woke up with a headache and fever-she just stayed mellow all day--SO NICE! she's too cute to be not feeling good-hopefully its just what sarah had and she feels herself in the morning. The older 3 went to their swim practice, rachel hung out at her church friend's house, & everyone else just layed low watching movies--a nice summer break so far! Later on they all ended up swimmming this evening which for me means GREAT no baths cuz chlorine kills! We had our usual del taco for dinner and all was well.

Today we received their school workbooks which reminds me i better go rip out their answer sheets in the back before they realize they are there!! I have asked them to do their "morning chores" which also include 2 pages from their school workbooks-they seem excited to do it-especially because its only 2 pages!!

Bdays, Graduations, Summer Oh My!

Let us begin with Anna's 7th birthday. She went to school wearing the tshirt that gma had made for gpa's 60th bday-so it was a black tshirt that said HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY! too funny. She wanted to make sure everyone knew it was her birthday i guess! She came home after school and we opened up her gifts which was a gift card to Target, and a gift card to Toys R us. We all as a family went to Chili's for dinner-so grub! I dropped everyone back off at home, then Anna, Becca & myself took off for Toys R Us. They walked together thru all the aisles trying to decide what to get. Anna decided on a Baby Doll that does all sorts of things, a highchair to put her in and a stuffed spotted dog. We then went to Target where she picked ANOTHER baby doll that does all sorts of things. Took the loot home and began the FOREVER untying, undoing of all those lame plastic wires that keep the toy to the stupid cardboard. Patience! The next morning she was able to take homemade cupcakes to her class--too fun. Anna is such a lovely little girl. She is very sensitive to the Spirit. She once cried when she was 4 in Sunbeams because she said "I am just thinking about Jesus and it makes me happy!" So they were happy tears. How touching! When we have FHE and discuss spiritually sensitive things, she is always teary. She is very loving, kind & gentle. She is my ONE and only child that looks most like ME! Big brown eyes and somewhat dark hair. I love having Anna in our family.

Friday morning was Rachel 6th grade promotion. It was interesting to see the different degree's of excitement from the parents. You had the ones like us who came to show our love and support. You had those that came with gmas, gpas, cousins, neighbors! You had those that had outrageously huge balloons, those that even came with the boat blow horn. It just made me chuckle.
She was in the 1st seat on the front row-talk about GREAT position for her to be in so we could see her! She has been an excellent student & received the Mega Skills Award (which they said is given to someone who really every month could get a student of the month award because they are so good in every subject). She was also given the Prestiges Presidential Award! She was one of the 1st original students to JFK when it first opened 7 years ago in 2002. Kind of special for this 6th grade class. They were also the 1st 6th grade class since it opened to get to go to Science Camp. The ceremony was simple & quick! I then went to her classroom and checked her out for the day. She wanted ice cream so I took her to get ice cream. She had a graduation party at a friends house from 1230-6pm then another end of the school year party with the Mutual kids at 6pm, it was round the clock party time for her!

Summer has official begun! Last night I told the girls, when you wake up please try to be quiet and get your Saturday morning chores done. This AM they did just that. I did have to "rehelp" them but they never complained (SHOCKING) and just got their work done. Once we were done I took the girls on a hike & they LOVED IT! Becca at the beginning was quite nervous, holding my hand the whole time. After a while she "got brave" and was able to let go and be on her own, a BIG kid. I loved that we were able to do that together. We were all bummed that Jon could not join us as the hike was not workable with a wheelchair-but fun nonetheless. I took pictures the whole time and kept posting them on facebook via my cell phone so he could feel like he was on the hike with us-he loved it!

We have no real plans this summer, other then LOTS of beach time, LOTS of swim meet practice & races, movies etc. I will need to get a calendar out and get some things organized. One thing I do plan on doing is renting a big dumpster for like a month and going thru EACH room, EACH drawer, and EACH cupboard. Im SO ready to dejunk again! I love that feeling!! I have also ordered books from Barnes & Noble that the girls will work on each morning. They will have to do their morning chores, a workbook page & the older 2 girls have to teach piano to the younger 2 girls then we can play the rest of the day away. Hopefully this helps to KEEP ME SANE!!!

Rachel turns 12...

Rachel turned 12 on May 22nd. Fun day for her-I sent 4 large pepperoni pizza's to her class to enjoy. Then we went as a family to Olive Garden for dinner- GRUB! The waiters/waitresses all sang to her-she was embarrassed which made it even more fun for Jon and I! We came home she opened up one gift card to Justice (clothes store) and one gift card to Michaels (colored pencils). She also got a cute sewing basket that Aunt Katie put together for her. Gma and Gpa got her a VERY nice gift...a sewing machine complete with a few patterns and material. Rachel loves to sew--she seems to be NOTHING like me! HA She is very much her daddy--
This morning Rachel received her Primary advancement award from the bishopric. She had to walk up to the front and recite an article of faith. She chose to do #10! She nailed it and I was a proud mama--trying not to cry my head off!
Today was her last day in Primary-I had the primary kids sing "Goodbye, Goodbye" instead of Hello, Hello--it was cute...and off to YW's she went. Poor Becca cried for about 10 minutes after Rachel left--soooo cute! Her Beehive leader came over today to introduce her to all that YW is about--
Rachel has grown into such a lovely girl. She LOVES to be creative. You can find her drawing, making origami, creating anything out of EVERYTHING which leads to me saying "rachel can you pick up what you created here!!", she is sweet to becca & anna, she loves to read-and reads BIG BOOKS!, she loves to play the flute and her latest is the mission impossible theme you can hear throughout the house flute style!, she enjoys volleyball and currently the swim team, she has AMAZING confidence in herself, she is good to always include everyone, & continues to always be smiling..just like when she was a baby.
It is great to see her growing up and moving into this next phase of her life!

Rachel's 1st Mutual activity & American Idol Season 8 Finale

Rachel had her FIRST mutual activity-they went in the spa at one of the leaders house. She had a BLAST! I took photos of her leaving and then recordered her on the video camera as I drove her there and then as she walked into the house. I drove home quietly thinking, wow we are at the next stage of life for her. She's amazing. I will post more about her on her actual 12th bday on Friday.
American Idol was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still HIGH from watching the show!!! The guy who won is the person I wanted to win--Kris Allen. I LOVED that he's from a small town, married and humble!
Life has been good-I have been busy with some things-but all is well!
The girls have their first REAL swim meet this Saturday 9-1230pm. Jon is coming with-which is GREAT! He doesnt get to come to a lot of things, but since it is SO hot right now outside..he is able to come. The girls are SUPER excited about that.

Sunday Simpleness...

We had a good weekend, Rachel had TONS of fun at her 12th bday overnighter. We have a family rule of no sleepovers at anyone else's house and we rarely do them at our house, but decided for their 12th bday's they could have one here in our home with their friends. She had about 7 girls here. They were a lot of fun and were really good. They first swam in the pool, then I picked up pizza for them, then they went on their scavenger hunt & returned back with a bunch of items, one of them being a cake mix WITH frosting-SCORE! So I whipped that up and they DEVOURED that along with rootbeer floats. Then she opened up her gifts, one of them being a hot pink pillowcase where each of the girls signed it so that's a fun memory for her. Then they went on to play hide n seek in the dark, along with taking a twin size mattress and sliding down the stairs with it-classic overnighter stuff! By 1am I told them time to limit the madness to ONE room--so they giggled in the tv room and finally fell asleep. Jon & I were out just after 1am-so we slept good!!
Rachel woke up and made them all french toast-what a hostess in the making huh! They all left by 11am and Rachel cleaned up the mess they made.
We then drove to OC & I took Rachel to Claires Accessories to use up one of her gift cards. She has changed SO much, she matches now, like to use a purse, keeps her hair down instead of pulled back into a ponytail-she's really a cute girl.
We then hit the Orange Stake Talent show..it was longgggggg. Some of them were pretty funny--I recorded some good ones. Grandpa was dressed back in the 50's...he ended up looking like Jack Nicholson! Even his own grandkids didnt recognize him-pretty funny! I love going back to that Stake, we both grew up there and have such fond memories of it and everyone there. It is always like going back "home" when we go to any of their functions-it's like we never left. I kept thinking, I wish I brought my still camera so I could go around taking pics of everyone to share with all my old Orange stake friends!
Sunday was good-we shockingly made it before the Opening Prayer-which NEVER happens, and sadly church is at 1130!! Today was Rachel's last day in Primary..sniff sniff. Next week they will sing her favorite Primary song and off she will go to YW's. This Wednesday they have invited her to go in the spa for her first activity. We are extremely sad that there are ONLY SIX YOUNG WOMEN in our entire ward. We grew up with TONS of youth. We will see what happens.
Enjoyed the rest of our Sunday-we watched Freaky Friday on tv as a family. We hadnt seen that movie-so it was fun to be with just the girls & Jon.
Gearing up for another school week-along with a 4th grade school project looming, it's due next friday-I need to make sure we stay on top of that. I wish the school wouldn't give homework for the last month of school!