Long week

Big Poppa comes home tomorrow after a week long trip to Peru, and we couldn't be more happier! It's been a long week since he was only home for seven days before he left (10-day trip to Tonga before that!), and now we're so ready to have him home with us!

It's been a hard week. His absence has made us realize how much we depend on him as the patriarch of our home. I don't care what anyone says: dads are important!

With the tragedy in Connecticut, it's made me realize even more how precious life is. I love my husband and the life we have together, for the family we've created. I've always tried to show my husband and kids how much I love them, but with the recent events and the holidays upon us, it's been my top priority.

I pray everyone will be blessed.

The Great Pants Debate?

While perusing Facebook this morning, I came across a post that one of my friends had "liked", but it baffled me when I read what it was. Apparently, there is a woman who created an event called Wear Pants To Church Day; she's asking LDS women to wear pants instead of dresses to church next Sunday to protest the inequality between men and women in the church. She believes that women should be able to hold the priesthood and take on more leadership roles within the church, and that she feels hindered and oppressed in not being able do more spiritually because she is a woman.

It made me sad to read it.

It made me even more sad to read that there are many other women who feel the same way. And then, it got me thinking that maybe I've been blind to the inequality that, according to these women, is running rampant in the church.

And, you know what? I don't see it. Maybe I'm blindly following the brethren (i.e. the Prophet, the Apostles, etc.)  as some of these ladies claim, and I'm truly sorry that they feel this way and/or have had bad experiences because of priesthood holders, but, I truly do not feel that there is inequality in the church because men are the one who hold the priesthood.

When my husband and I were married, we knew we were entering into a partnership, not a monarchy/dictatorship/whatever. We both understood that as husband as wife, we worked together because we needed each other to grow spiritually, to receive the blessings of the gospel. Men and women are different, each created with traits that may be more prominent in the opposite sex. Although women do not hold the priesthood, I've always been taught that it is women's job to support and help the men who do hold it, because sometimes there are things that men cannot do and vice versa.

Let's face it, men are more logical and able to view things unattached emotionally, whereas women, in their nature to nurture, adds the emotion to situations when needed (i.e. praying, fasting, gentle words to soothe, etc.). Both parts go hand in hand, one is not more important than the other, they work together.

So, why does it seem like the "important" leadership roles are only held by men? I have no clue. I could argue that it's because it's always been that way or that it's God's way; after all, didn't the reorganization of his church come through revelation? But, I don't think these women would accept that.

What I do know is that the men who hold the priesthood do not "rule" over their wives, nor the rest of the women of the church. I know it's true when I see my bishop smiling tenderly at his wife as he sit on the stand every Sunday, or when I see our Stake President walking into church, holding his wife's hand as their semi-reverent kids trail behind them. Heck, I know it's true when I see my bishop counselling with the Relief Society about a matter that concerns our ward family.

These acts don't seem to jive with men who are supposedly part of the so-called inequality problem in the church. If anything, I would call it respect and the willingness to work together because they see these women as their equals.

I truly do not feel there is a problem with inequality as these women feel there is, and if that makes me a "blind sheep" then so be it. We have the beautiful gift of agency and it makes me happy that we are all able to take advantage of it.

Here we go again!

Big Poppa left for Lima, Peru this morning. He'll be gone for one week.

Seven days.

I can do this!

I think....

At least he'll be home right before Christmas.

Homeschool

I think I've mentioned that I'm homeschooling the Princess and the Fire Pig this year. It's been challenging and a bit frustrating at times, but for the most part, it's been fun!

Especially when we can attend school like this....

And this...

And also like this....

I love how flexible our schedule and choice of outfits can be with homeschooling. Since the weather has turned colder, we usually opt to stay in our pajamas all day and sometimes have school in front of the fireplace.

What I really love is that school is according to our schedule and the kids' interests at the time. There are so many practical ways to incorporate teaching my kids the essentials, as well as the "fun" stuff.

Plus, who wouldn't love playing games on the Wii for P.E.?

I think we've finally found our homeschool groove.

Vanessa's Baptism

I just realized I never posted anything about Vanessa's baptism, so here it is

September 1st, 2012 was a very special day for our family, but more importantly for our Princess. Vanessa was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on that day by her dad, something she has been looking forward to since the beginning of the year.

We are so proud of her and her decision to be baptized!

Here's our Princess in her new special dress that she picked out with Mommy.

Getting a "good luck" hug from her favorite Fire Pig

Happily posing with her favorite guy

A "I won't let you fall in the water" hug from her daddy

13th Birthday

No, not my 13th birthday, but the handsome kid in the picture's. It really is hard for me to believe that my oldest is now officially a teenager. I know people always lament the quick passage of time when it comes to their kids and I'm no exception. I really don't know where the time has gone; I swear he was taking his first steps just last week, ha!

Ryan has his moments when the urge to throttle him has been overwhelming, but overall, he's a great kid! He's smart (8th grade Honors Math in 7th grade? Yikes!), witty, sarcastic (too sarcastic sometimes!), caring, and athletic. Besides basketball and football, he's taken up lacrosse this year. Yes, lacrosse. When he told me he wanted to play, cue the utter confusion on my face as I asked, "What's lacrosse?"

I blame his friends, but they're great friends so I can't be mad.

I love this kid, he makes me so proud to be his mom.

Halloween 2012

Our traditional Jack-O-Lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's

Ryan the Lacrossee Player

Ethan as Harry Potter

The Crack Monkeys are ready for some
free candy!

Jeff as Venom

Vanessa as Tangled's Rapunzel
(wedding dress version)

Jack O Lanterns

Once we got our pumpkins, we went home and started the big mess of decorating them. Unfortunately, Ryan had Scouts that night, so he wasn't able to carve his pumpkin, but he gave us the go-ahead to do ours.

Daddy giving the pumpkins a lobotomy

Creating her Angry Bird jack-o-lantern

In preparation for carving, Ethan drew
a jack-o-lantern face pattern at school

Another Angry Bird jack-o-lantern being created

Ryan started on his as soon as he got home from Scouts, but had to continue the following day.

This year we had 2 Angry Birds and 4 crazy jack-o-lantern faces. No Halo designs this time.

2012 Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Every year we go to the same pumpkin patch near our house. The Crack Monkeys look forward to it and I can't help but share their enthusiasm.

Somehow Jeff always ends up pulling the wagon

Vanessa was the first to find her pumpkin

Still pulling the wagon....

Apparently, Ryan can't put his lacrosse stick
down for anything

After careful consideration (read: taking
20 minutes), Ethan decided this was
his pumpkin

Still pulling the wagon....and with a
smile even!

Weighing the pumpkins

Posing in front of the hay bales

A scarecrow, perhaps?

And, maybe a crow?

"AAAHHHHHH! IT'S A SCARECROW!!!!

Fall

For the last few days, the weather has been rainy, windy, and just a bit chilly.

I love it!

Fall is my favorite time of year; I love the colors, the weather, but mostly the way it makes me feel. Today, after we finished with homeschooling, Vanessa, Jeff and I snuggled up in my bed and watched some cartoons on Netflix, while sipping on hot cocoa. It was so awesome!

I haven't gotten around to decorating my front porch yet, but I'll definitely try to find some time this weekend. With Scott being gone for the last two weeks to Tonga for work and homeschooling as well as the kids extracurricular activities and sports, I haven't really been able to do anything...well, except attempt to keep up with everyone and everything.

But, fall is here.

Love it!

It started today...

This morning was quite the new adventure for us: Ryan started the 7th grade! I honestly feel he can't be old enough to be going to 7th grade, much less middle school; I mean, wasn't it just yesterday that he started Kindergarten?

Obviously, I kid, but it does feel like that. Time has gone by so fast, and now, here's my oldest, turning 13 years old in a few months, and attending 7th grade! He's grown up so fast!

Tomorrow will be another "milestone" for our family. Ethan will start the 6th grade (yikes!) and I'll also start homeschooling Vanessa and Jeff (double yikes!) This school year will definitely be interesting!

Wish us luck!

Oh, boy! Why do I get so lazy?

Just realized I haven't posted in awhile, but I didn't realize it'd been over a month! So I guess I'm going to have to organize my thoughts and pictures and write out some catch-up posts. There's a lot that's been going on since summer started, and now that school starts in a few days, I think that maybe I'll have more time to catch-up.

Hopefully.

I better get on it.

Finally!

WARNING: This post talks about poop and the bodily functions of a 4-year old. You have been warned!

One of the things we've had problems with for the last several months was that Jeff refused to go poop in the potty; he could go pee just fine, but for some reason he just absolutely REFUSED to poop in the potty.

We tried bribery, encouragement, buying a brand new potty seat for him, even putting him back in diapers, but he would still not go.

It was getting so frustrating...and disgusting, considering we had to clean him up afterwards. So after one particularly nasty "accident", I told him, "If you put your poop in the potty, where it belongs, THREE TIMES, we'll go and get that huge Hot Wheels set you've been dying for."

His eyes lit up and for days afterwards, he would constantly remind ME that after three times, that toy was his. And, he did try, but never quite made it. It wasn't until after Scott promised him that he would take a day off from work to spend it with him, doing whatever Jeff wanted, did it finally click and make sense in his head.

So one day, while I was cleaning off the porch, Jeff comes out and asks me for the wipes because he didn't quite make it to the potty. I asked if he wanted me to help, he said no, and disappeared back into my bathroom. A few minutes later, he came running out, NAKED, yelling, "I POOPED IN THE POTTY!"

Not quite believing him, I went inside and checked.

There was poop in the potty.

He pooped in the potty.

Jeff finally pooped in the potty!

Apparently, he'd started to poop in his pants, then decided to make a run for the potty. He was really pleased with himself, watching smugly as I checked out the toilet. The moment his eyes met mine, he announced, "Daddy's my slave!"

I just laughed and kissed him a bazillion times on the face until he burst into giggles.

Lesson learned: all it takes for a stubborn Crack Monkey to go poop in the potty is to promise to be their slave.

Who knew?

4th of July 2012

So, how was your 4th of July?

Ours wasn't too shabby; we held a BBQ at our house and had our families come over for some good food and lots of fireworks when it got dark. I didn't bother with taking pictures, mainly because any pictures I've tried to take in the past haven't turned out great.

I forgot to have our annual "talk" with the Crack Monkeys about why we celebrate the 4th of July, but it turns out they know. Mr. Awesome gave me a quick summary of the "why" of our country's celebration, then ran off to have a Pop-Its war with his aunt.

The rest of the Crack Monkeys agreed with him, and throwing me a "Duh, mom!" look, ran off to join the fray.

Well, excuse me, lol!

This summer has been really hot and dry so far, which means lots of wildfires here in Utah, so Big Poppa decided to nix the idea of buying any aerial fireworks this year. Instead, we bought one of those monster packs filled with a variety of fireworks that didn't shoot up very high, but they did not live up to Big Poppa's pyromaniac expectations. He especially felt let down when several of our neighbors let off a few spectacular aerials that really lit up the sky and made the Crack Monkeys squeal with delight.

Guess what kind of fireworks we'll be buying to celebrate Pioneer Day on the 24th?

It's funny having a pyromaniac for a hubby. ;-)

Hope everyone was safe for the holiday!

Thank You!

To the American troops, past & present, to those who have fallen and to those who keep fighting:

THANK YOU!

There will never be enough words to express my gratitude and love for those brave souls who have sacrificed that I may have freedom. But, I am grateful and I will always honor our troops.

D.A.R.E Day at Lagoon

"It's Where Fun Is!"

As I lay here in bed, trying to keep my head from spinning, I figured I might as well post the pictures I took on Friday. Ryan graduated from the D.A.R.E program, and in celebration of that, the local amusement park here in Utah opened up just for them (and a couple of high schools for some event I have yet to discover).

Yes, all three of my school-aged children skipped school that day to spend a fun-filled 12 hours at the local amusement park. I have no regrets; besides, there were a lot of other kids who were "skipping" school that day, too, all with their parents' blessings, lol.

Anyway, so the amusement park is called Lagoon. The last time me or Scott had been there, Ryan had been a baby, so we knew a lot had changed since then. What made this day even more exciting was the fact that it was pretty much the first time any of the Crack Monkeys had been to Lagoon, so they were really looking forward to going.

It also didn't hurt that it has a Kiddieland that has smaller scale rides of the big rides, so Jeff didn't have to miss out on any of the fun! Unfortunately, because it was a "private" event, Kiddieland rides didn't open until 4pm, so we had to find other ways to occupy the Fire Pig until then. Luckily, they had a midway with arcade games and carnival-themed ones for us to try our luck at.

Waiting to get going on the train thru the Safari.....

Screaming on the Dinosaur Drop

Getting jostled on the Jumping Dragon

Getting splashed on the Log Flume

Getting drenched on Rattlesnake Rapids

Vanessa & Jeff in Kiddieland while Ethan & Scott ventured towards the "big kid" rides; Ryan ditched us for his friends the moment we entered the park, so we really didn't see him until it was time to go home.

The day started off cloudy and a bit windy, but by early afternoon, the sun came out and made the day nice. The Crack Monkeys had a lot of fun and are already begging to go back for another fun day.