Snow!

Today we got our first official snow in Cedar City! :D

Joshua playing before school

It's good sticky snow.  Benji made a good snowball.

Jill played for a few minutes and then her hands got cold.  She kept saying, "Wash it!  Wash it!"  So we went inside and made cocoa. :) I was kind of relieved that Timmy was sleeping.  He's not used to walking in shoes yet, and I can only imagine how frustrated he'd get trying to walk in shoes in the snow.

I keep thinking of that song from The Music Man: "We've got trouble right here in River City - with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool!"  It's really fun to have this first snow, but on the other hand, I know that we're in for a long winter and lots of snow.  I'm sad to think that it's ever going to be not fun.  The best I can hope for is that it'll just be ho hum instead of dreadful. :D But I can't help feeling that we've got trouble.  We're in for it.  We don't know much about living in the snow, even if I did grow up where we got snow.  It's different when you are the parent and when you're out driving in it and trying to figure out how to suit everybody up.  We don't have a single pair of snow boots.  Time for me to get busy - oh, and have a bunch of money to do it. ;)

But for now I'm enjoying this.  That cocoa I made this morning was yummy.  Jeremy took some with him in his insulated cup.  I should get him a thermos.  That cup kind of leaks.  What can you expect from a freebie? ;) It pleased me when after one cup of cocoa this morning he said, "I'm going to need to take that pot of cocoa with me."  I guess I did good. :)

I do want to apologize for slacking on this blog.  I've been lacking motivation to write because I want this to be where I record the happy things in our lives, and I didn't want to dirty it up with anything other than happiness.  The last couple of weeks have been pretty stressful around here and I'm afraid I've grouched a lot.  I've been really tired and can never seem to get caught up on sleep.  I sleep backwards on the very edge of the bed with my pillow falling off the foot of the bed.  I do this because I have to nurse Timmy laying in bed in the night, so I just get him going and fall back asleep.  However, it's not the most comfortable way to sleep.  My neck has been funny.  Maybe the problem is that I struggle to hold the pillow on the bed with my head all night. ;) Just kidding.  My back has been sore after sleeping that way too.  I just don't think I've been getting quality sleep with 2 wiggly kiddos taking up the whole bed.  I'm sure Jeremy hasn't either.

Well, anyway, that's some of the trouble with a capital T we've been dealing with.  I've been thinking of weaning Timmy because of it.  But there's been a lot going on period and the changing seasons kind of wiped us out.  But things are looking up now.  Maybe I'll be better about blogging for a while.

Hooray for snow! :D

Our Church

Lately I keep coming across something that bothers me a bit.  I'm not upset by it, but it makes me feel that my church is being misunderstood.

Let me be more specific.  I don't know who my audience is, but for any who don't know, I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Our church has sometimes been called the Mormon Church or the LDS Church as well, and it is the same church that Mitt Romney belongs to.  Romney's run for the presidency has dragged in all sorts of old questions and prejudices about our church and I feel that I must speak out in some small way.  Please know that I do this not for Mr. Romney but for my church.  My desire is not to sway anybody to vote for Mr. Romney but to understand our church a little better.

First of all, there are many who say they won't vote for Mr. Romney because they've heard that our church is not Christian.  If you have heard this, please take a look at the official name of our church as stated in the above paragraph.  It is a name we delight in and states clearly that we are His Church.  A church cannot be His unless it seeks to follow Him.  Jesus Christ is the Savior or the world.  He loves the world and we love Him.  We try to live our lives to be like Him. 

I don't feel that I can speak as eloquently about this as I would like (and I'm not in any way an official representative of our church), but if you would like to know what we believe about Jesus Christ, please go see lds.org or mormon.org.  Both are official church sites and can therefore be relied upon to give accurate descriptions of our beliefs.  Please know, too, that we respect the beliefs of those who belong to other churches.  We seek to love our neighbors as Jesus taught, and we sincerely hope that others will do the same for us.  We love all people whether or not they believe what we do.

There are also questions raised about the validity of The Book of Mormon since it was written after  Revelation 22:18: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of … this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.”  If you would like an official church response on that, please read or listen to this article on our church website.  Also, this month's issue of the Ensign (a magazine for the adults of the church) is devoted to The Book of Mormon.  You can read all that here.

I also would like to refer you to one of the best talks I've ever heard about our Savior Jesus Christ.  You can find it here. (Or there's an abbreviated video version here.)

I can assure you that our church is not a cult.  I assume the belief that it is a cult comes from the fact that not everyone is allowed in our Temples.  The simple truth about that is that there are certain requirements for being admitted into the Temple, just like there are requirements for being admitted into God's presence. (http://lds.org/scriptures/gs/clean-and-unclean?lang=eng) The need to be clean and worthy to enter the Temple also urges us to be the best people that we can be.  It urges us to be kind and unselfish and to try to follow our Savior's example.

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  I love Him, and we invite you to come to know and love Him too.

The Weather

I'm here to talk about the weather today. ;)

It has been really rainy.  Yesterday was cold and windy and brought a bunch of rain that lasted through the night.  I pulled out winter coats for the boys this morning, so of course that means that the sun has come out and the clouds are gone.  The boys were really excited about getting coats out.  This morning when I took them to school it was cold and I wished that I had pulled out my own coat.  There was slush on our windshield and snow on the mountain, and everything was wet.  I felt a little sorry for the marching band at the high school - out there marching in the wet grass and cold air - but only a little.  I served my time doing that. ;)

I must admit I'm excited about the cold too, even if it doesn't last long.  I made oatmeal and cocoa for breakfast, and that was delightful.  I even got fancy and put raisins in the oatmeal.

The view from our back patio today.  If you click on it you can zoom in to see actual snow on the mountain. :D

Today is picture day.  I'm really looking forward to some new pictures to put in frames on the wall.  Jill's hair has grown a lot since the picture I have on the wall was taken, and Timmy is no longer a newborn like in his picture on the wall.  They've all grown.  I hope the pictures all come out good.  Timmy has no patience to sit still since he started walking, and I cut Michael's hair a little funny in the front.  Dang it!  It's hard to get his right since it curls.  If I'd leave it longer you wouldn't be able to tell, but he's getting too old for that. :(

Yesterday I went to the gym early and ran long.  I guess I ran too long because now my knee is all messed up.  I'm not sure what's wrong with it.  Mostly it's ok unless I have to walk down the stairs (up is usually ok).  Ow!  Or every now and then it hurts just walking.  And I have to be careful not to sit cross-legged because that hurts it too.  It's really frustrating.  I don't like hobbling around.  I didn't go back to the gym today.  But I think I'll try to go tomorrow and just do my upper body or something.  It's good to do something.  It's funny, too, because it didn't start hurting until hours after I was done running.  It probably just needs some time.  And maybe some ice like Jeremy suggested.  I've been running around to parent-teacher conferences and stuff and haven't had time to sit still for that yet.

I'd better get on the ball.  Gotta feed Jill and give my babies baths.  Jeremy also has a full day today.  He's off in St. George for a few different things (including a trip to the Temple - I'm so jealous) and won't be back until about 3:00.  And Jeremy's dad should show up sometime today! :D I'm so excited.  I feel so silly that I haven't really taken pictures of our visitors.  We've been too busy visiting.  This time I'm determined to take some pictures. 

I do hope we'll get more rain like the weater people were saying.  It's been wonderful.  Last night after everyone went to bed I sat by the living room window in the dark and just watched the rain falling outside.  I love that.

Looking Back

Today I've been looking back over our expenses, particularly over the ones from our last days in Arizona and the beginning of our sojourn here in Utah.  (Isn't it crazy that we live in Utah?  Sometimes I suddenly remember that we're not in Arizona anymore and that we're living in Utah and I'm just kind of surprised.)  Looking back over those expenses makes me remember paying for this or that.  I remember our life there.  It feels surreal looking back.  It was our life, but a different life nonetheless.  And as I looked through everything I came away seeing a little bit how much we've been blessed.  This is the place for us now.  We know this is where we should be, so we are here, and we are clearly being blessed for it.  I'm so indescribably thankful.  I'm thankful for the Lord's hand in our lives, and I'm thankful to see it in a small way.

Now, if I could just find a new book of checks... ;)

Growing

Everyone is getting tall around here - from Hyrum right down to Timmy.  I need to get Hyrum some new pants.  He split out a pair doing who knows what last week and has a hole in another pair.  We've got one pair left.  And the way he's growing even the ones with a hole in the knee are getting too short. 

Jill is in size 4 dresses.  They're all a little baggy on her, but she's too tall for the size 3s and she's not even 2 1/2 yet!

Timmy's legs are starting to catch up with the rest of his body, so now the pants that have been so long on him are not as much too long anymore. :)

It's also interesting how much food we go through lately.  We don't go through cereal or bread nearly so fast when the boys are in school.  However, I bought 2 bags of oranges last week thinking they'd be around for a few days, but the boys ate their way through a whole bag in a few hours.  And milk!  It's funny to be at the stage where 2 gallons in the fridge means we're getting low on milk.  And I have to double and triple recipes all the time.  We can blaze through almost 3 whole pizzas in one meal. 

And, oh, the laundry.  It seems like I never get a chance to even get things folded!  I need to start havign everybody fold their own clothes, the bunch of whiners!  (I only say they're whiners because I can imagine how much whining would go on if I told them to fold their clothes.  I love them anyway. ;)  There's a lot of work to do around here and I simply can't do it all.  I have 2 big buckets of laundry overflowing in the living room that have been sitting there since Saturday (and they've actually been accumulating all week).  I can get clothes in the washer fine.  Sometimes I even get them in the dryer without having to wash them again once or twice because I forgot.  But getting them folded requires plenty of time and lots of, "Timmy, get away from the clothes!" and, "Jill, don't get Benji's pile!  Here, take your shirt to your drawer."

I'm getting better about telling the boys, "You WILL do this," instead of putting up with their nonsense and letting them push my buttons.  I'm still probably way too much of a pushover, but when it's time to clean up I'm hoping they'll soon figure out they'd better get their buns in action.  It's frustrating to just get started cleaning and then have Timmy call a halt to it all so he can eat.  I'm happy to feed the boy, though, and I've realized that that's the best time to tell the boys to get off their buns so I can hand out jobs.  It's funny that it takes that to get me to realize that I don't have to do it all myself.  Maybe I'll learn to do that consistently without nursing someday.

Jill has really been doing her best to be helpful lately.  Sometimes she likes to shadow me.  Sometimes it's frustrating until I realize that she just wants to help, so I've been trying to help her help more.  She's found her dresser now, so when she wants to help with laundry I can send her upstairs with a shirt or socks or something and it will end up in her dresser instead of Joshua's.  She always wants to help me sweep and was very pleased to help me mop on Saturday.  We both made plenty of grunting noises trying to scrub off gunk. 

It's cute how Jill mimics things.  :) On Saturday evening she watched as I cut the boys' hair, and then she informed me that it was her turn.  So she sat up on the stool and I turned on the clippers and buzzed them around on her head (I just lay them flat on her head and move them around pretending that I'm cutting - just like my Mama always did with her babies) and told her she was all done and it was so pretty.  She was pleased as punch.  She loves being told that she's pretty.  And all through the pretend cutting session she wiggled her head this way and that and said, "Ow, ow, ow!" just like her brothers. :)

Jill has had a fascination with scissors lately.  I'm doing my best to keep them away from her.  Sooner or later she's going to cut her hair.  I can just see it in her little obsession.  That will be a sad day.

Lately it's been fun to take Jill to the store with me, especially when we go to Wal-Mart and don't have to hurry.  Last week we went through the toy section looking all over for Play-Doh.  Play-Doh and pretzels are a conference tradition.  Jill oooh-ed and aaaah-ed at all the babies and the pretties.  There were lots of Dora dolls too.  It was so fun!  And she caught sight off the dresses as we drove past on our way to the food.  She told me about those dresses.  She definitely experiences Wal-Mart differently than the boys do, and it's fun to have her along to appreciate all the girly things with me.

Michael is so clingy.  He always has been.  But he's a little funny about it too in that if he's busy he has no desire to go shopping with me, but if he's not busy he is absolutely devastated if I don't take him.  On Saturday Jeremy and I realized that we had 2 babysitters in our home since Joshua is 9, so we sat Jill and Timmy on the couch and turned on Baby Signing Time and left all of the children home while we had a little alone time picking up pizza.  We weren't gone very long and Timmy was still watching with rapt attention when we got back. (Don't tell, but I have baby shows to thank for my ever getting the dishwasher loaded.) However, before we left Michael gave his all with his whining and trying to make me feel bad so I'd take him.  Then as we drove away without him he struggled his way up to peek his little face over the back fence, and the look on his face was just so despondent.  I felt like such a bad mother for doing it, but I laughed.  I laughed about halfway to the pizza shop.  It was just so darn cute and such a desperate attempt to push my buttons.  I wish I had a picture of it.

I've also been thinking - the older I get the more I'm just satsfied with myself.  I have a hard time feeling like I need all those beauty and fashion rules.  In fact, they make me feel defiant.  Who says I can't wear springtime dresses in the fall?  If I want to wear something, usually I'll just wear it unless it happens to be too hot.  And also, who says I have to wear makeup and tweeze my eyebrows.  I don't have time for makeup.  I don't like worrying about smearing.  I detest worrying about my lipstick and can't stand mascara.  I want to kiss my babies all day if I feel like it, and I don't feel the need to spend lots of money on makeup that I don't know how to use and probably woudn't use if I did know how.  I'll wear makeup once in a while, but I don't think I could ever wear it every day.  And not only does it take more work to keep up with my eyebrows than I'm willing to spend, but I don't see why anybody should have any problem with how God made me, even if my eyebrows are on the large side.

And that's how I feel about that. :) I'm just fine with how I am.

Changes

Timmy devoured a chocolate cookie I made on Sunday and smeared his chocolate handprints all over the laundry room door. :)

Our street is such a mess right now.  It's good that there's another way out to Main Street, but I sure wish that construction wasn't going on right now.  I can't even go running on our street anymore.

Last night Timmy was fussing because he was tired.  I had already nursed him, and he'd actually been asleep on the floor for a few minutes, but that never lasts long.  So I just laid on the floor with him on my tummy for a while, and eventually he was laying on the floor on his tummy next to me.  He turned his face towards me and I smiled at him.  He smiled back with his cute little gap-toothed grin and his cheek squished against the floor.  It was so breathtakingly cute I wished I could preserve it in perfect memory forever.  Then he closed his sleepy eyes for a bit before starting to fuss again.  So I carried him over to my chair and just held him thinking I'd need to nurse him back to sleep.  The next thing I knew he'd fallen asleep in my arms.  Sweet little boy. 

I love that the world is so new and fresh for him.  He has so much to learn and discover.  Just this morning he is eating an orang for the first time.  From the look on his face I should probably remove the peel. :D A few minutes ago he came and slid the mouse pad out from under my computer mouse and then shook it around, panting like he was so excited.  It's fun to watch his face and see the curiosity and wonder that he feels at little things that for me are mundane and everyday.

It's sad that little boys don't last.  They grow and change so fast, and these precious little moments are gone all too soon.  I love my children so very much.  I am truly very blessed to be able to have as many chances at this cute stage in a baby's life as I have had.  I'm so thankful for them all.

Timmy

My little fella is sure growing. But he still hates it when I leave the room. He cries and follows me if I don't take him with me, and then he cries until I pick him up or distract him. He also hates it when I do any sort of cleaning or cooking. He stays right on my heels crying. Poor little fella. If I start to clean the living room, for example, he drops at ever he's doing and starts following me. He follows me around in circles getting more and more worked up as I run around putting things away. And heaven forbid I should have to take anything upstairs!that's the absolute worst! ;) I feel so sad for him, but I never know what to do for him. I think he must be learning to push buttons. Distractions only work sometimes and I can only carry him when I'm doing some kinds of cleaning. Yeah, vacuuming and loading the dishwasher are pretty hard to do one-handed (darn vacuum cord!).

Although, Timmy does like it when I load and unload the dishwasher. He finds it pretty fascinating. He crawls over and tries to climb on the door and then he takes the silverware out one piece at a time and inspects it. Ooooh, and the dirty dishes! They are so interesting! Silly boy. I can distract him then, though. If I take him in the living room and sit him down with a toy and turn on The Wiggles or Baby Signing Time he will sit there spellbound while I finish up in the kitchen. I sure love that little one. Oh,and he's getting shaggy on the back of his head. I love that too.