I'm going to be an author

well, SORT OF.
Thanks to my 12 year old daughter, I am going to attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 1(one) month. That would be over 1100 words a day. It's for nanowrimo, national novel writing month. I have always wanted to write a book. I remember in 8th grade writing a short story that I passed around to all of my friends, who cried tears of joy as they read it, it was so good...at least that's how I remember it in my mind. The beauty of this, is that I can fulfill my lifelong dream, and it doesn't even have to be good. No one has to read it, it's purely to say that I did it. Check that off my bucket list! Of course, if you, like my friends from so long ago at Placer Elementary also would like to experience tears of joy, reading perfect fictional prose, unedited,with way too many commas, run on sentences and exclamation points, come see me...I just may be able to be of assistance to you!
BY THE WAY
Now would be a good time to look in your heart and see if you have been nice to me, because I have about one day to come up with a plot and CHARACTERS..purely fictional of course Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

Swine Flu I hate you

NOT that we have it...and how do I know we don't? Oh, because I just wasted a copay on a child with a SIMPLE COLD. That's right, a simple cold. She slept a lot, complained that her tummy and head hurt and ached ALL over and felt feverish. All night and morning. Throw in a few other minor symptoms for good measure and I was running to the dr like a first time mom to make sure we didn't have to be quarentined. (which we don't) ( unless I want to be a good mom and let my child actually enjoy her cold and recover in bed...which we don't have time for...sorry.) All of the hype has me doubting my ability to get my children through an illness without ICU care in the near future if they get it. Stinkin media hype. Don't judge me...yes, I would take her to the dr all over again if needed, but I would have probably given it a few more hours to see if it developed into something bigger, or if it was truly just a cold. I feel like we are on alert 24/7 for renegade germs, and I have gone through more Lysol so far this year than our entire 16 years of marriage combined. Is Flu season over yet?

Just the 6 of us

Decisions are never easy, especially when they have eternal consequences. Luckily, there are relatively few decisions that need to be made that are that life altering, in and of themselves. Marriage, kids, etc come to mind. I am talking of course about more than just day to day "am I going to Choose the Right" type of decisions. I am talking about ones that involve MONTHS of prayer and fasting and crying and sometimes gnashing of teeth. (literally, I started grinding...it wasn't pretty...and it was a hard habit to break by the way). After months of not even wanting to ask the question, and prayers being offered for the strength to even pray for the answer, Dan and I feel that our family is complete, and we have withdrawn our adoption application. It has been an amazing few years, and we have met the most incredible people, and had some of the most spiritual experiences. We don't know WHY we were so strongly prompted to try to adopt, and we don't know WHY we are now feeling like our family is ready to JUST. BE. US. But we are, and we are thrilled. It has taken a weight off, because we were both feeling it for awhile, but didn't want to admit it, and then were so sad to leave the wonderful world of adoption behind, because it truly is a miraculous place. We have seen lives changed, and are better because of our journey.
It also required me to take a hard look at the fact that I am DONE. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to face. EVER. I am a mom. That is what I do. It was a sad summer, as I came to grips with that, but also a summer of incredible growth individually and as a couple.
We have 4 beautiful, crazy daughters, and I would never trade that for the anything. We are going to enjoy life with them to the fullest.

WE ARE COMPLETE

Not much of a post...

Really there is not much to say, which is GREAT news! Today is a bit hectic, with Halloween parties at the school (they are tracking off tomorrow), parent teacher conferences, hair appointments, driving to dance and doing Stake auxillary training tonight. Somewhere in there I have to make an apple crisp for the dessert. On the good side, I was able to start doing the treadmill again this morning. My ankle still burns a bit, but I was able to start out with 40 minutes and it felt great.
We are getting excited for Halloween around here! The girls are getting creative this year, since I told them we are not buying costumes, there is enough stuff in our dress up bin thanks to dance. They've pulled together some fun outfits! There is lots of fun stuff planned for this weekend, so I should have more exciting things to say later!

Maturation night

So Dan and I had a deal long before we had kids. I would potty train and have THE talk with the girls, and he would do the same for the boys. That deal didn't pan out so well for me. Thursday night I got to attend the third out of four 5th grade maturation nights at the school. Crazygirl was trying to sell the idea to Dramaqueen by telling her she would get meat and cake there. (they served dinner beforehand) obviously that was a highlight for Crazygirl. I think I almost have the presentation and jokes memorized, because it has been the same district nurse for the last 30 years. Can you imagine making a living showing people how to unwrap sanitary products?
It was a typical night, filled with giggling girls who turned bright red when they showed the side view drawing of a boys anatomy (except the one girl who burst out with the loudest emabarrased laugh EVER) and looks of complete blankness on their faces as they talked about periods.
After, as we were walking out, Dramaqueen turned to me and said "mom, you know that whole tampon thing? Don't even waste your money...I am not EVEN going there" Her friend turned to her mom and said, "I'm with her". Funny stuff.
Only one more to go...

family togetherness for conference

I could just post the following picture and lead you all to believe that we are the most incredibly attentive spiritual group to watch conference ever. And while it is true that 2 of my four were actually trying to take notes and looking up scriptures that were quoted there is another side to this story...I do have 2 OTHER children...




THIS

IS

WHAT

THE

OTHER

SIDE

OF

THE

ROOM

LOOKED

LIKE




Yes, the WHOLE family was gathered in for conference,even the fuzzy ones and YES. That is a fishhead on Bug. She wore it the whole 2 hours.

Say what you want...but they sat there the whole time. I'll take what I can get!

Love this time of year!

I love this time of year! I love that it doesn't end until January...just one long season of decorating and parties and yummy food and love. Fall is my favorite! It's never long enough, and this year especially, it feels short, seeing as it was a high of 90 on Tues and 45 degrees yesterday and we had snow falling in our yard...yuck! TOO SOON!!!! Luckily today it is sunny, but the damage is done, we don't have that first snowfall to look forward to after a nice long season of beautiful leaves, fall colors and crisp weather. It's already happened and it was slushy cold and yucky, not beautiful and looked forward to. Maybe we can all just agree to pretend that it didn't happen, and keep winter around the corner...where it belongs.