I Can't Wait!

I Can't Wait...

Carolee gave the challenge to do 10 things that you can't wait for, so here goes!



1.) I can't wait to get my kitchen cabinets.



2.) I can't wait to get my yard finished.

3.) I can't wait to clean my floors and not have dirt tracked in, dirtying them instantly.

4.) I can't wait for Laren to get home.

5.) I can't wait for bedtime.

6.) I can't wait to be wealthy!


7.) I can't wait to see my girls first softball game.

8.) I can't wait to get up to the mountains with my family.




9.) I can't wait for my laundry to be finished.

10.) I can't wait to get my haircut.



Now I'm tagging Heidi, Amber and Cristin to share 10 things they "Can't Wait" for.

Homerun!

Homerun Hero!!!

Kyle at the plate.

Kyle's baseball season ended with a crescendo this past weekend. His little team started off kind of struggling at the beginning of the season. They were always one player short of what the other teams had and some of the players, including Kyle, were new to the sport. Well, Kyle had played T-ball several years ago, but that was it.

They only won 2 regular season games. And then right about the time the playoffs started the team was really getting it together.

>

The "Indians" Dugout. That is the name of Kyle's team.


They were playing like a team, they were getting good hits with the bat, they were passing the ball to each other. Well, all of the teams had a chance in the playoffs. It so happened that our little team (who had to play with only 8 players in the playoffs, less than regular season because of players being gone) ended up winning the game in their bracket which put them in the semi-finals.

Coach Macarenas adjusting Kyle's position before batting.

They won the game 13-10. Kyle scored his first homerun ever in that game with a grounder straight out into right field almost to the fence. He ran those bases like he'd never done before. He was so elated, I think he floated around to homeplate. Of course his Mom was on her feet in the stands whooping and hollering it up for him!

The rest of the crowd was cheering, but no one was prouder than Laren and I. My good old cheerleading days came right back to me and I was in my zone cheering for my son. Only this time, my eyes were filled with tears knowing all that had gone into that homerun. Knowing all the hours he'd spent practicing batting, even when he was tired and ready to be done before the coaches were at practice. Kyle ended up scoring 3 points in that game, not including the points for those who he batted home.

Kyle and Laren after the big win.

Because of that win, they they were paired against the top team in the league. They lost that game, but ended up finishing third overall! Even though we spent most of our weekend in the sun at the field, it couldn't have been more perfect watching our son learn and enjoy the benefits of teamwork. You can imagine how Laren and I felt today when taking Kayla and Alyssa to softball practice and Kyle brought along his mitt and ball just so he could get in a little practice himself. The sport really grew on him.

Kyle and Mom after the big win. His expression doesn't match the elation he had though. Notice the button I'm wearing with his picture on it. Also in support of the team and game, I tried to find the closest thing I had to Orange (his team color) in my closet for that game. I was also sporting a pretty good sun-kissed face after the games.

PS... Amber, notice the grass in the picture with Laren and Kyle, that is what we grew from seed in our front yard this past month.

Back on SPT

HELLO!

I'm finally back on the SPT bandwagon!

I have been on a hiatus with this but decided I really wanted to do it this week. Then when I went to Lelly's blog and checked out what it was, I was for sure in. Because this week, it is just a simple portrait of yourself.

Here I am, just a few minutes ago. I'm thinking about going visiting teaching in a little bit and I'm trying to get my kids productive this morning so we can "play" in the afternoon.

I'm also contemplating my day's productivity and how that will happen.

New Recipe

Yummy New Recipe!

We just had this recipe for the first time yesterday with my Sister's family and it was a huge hit!! We will definitely make it again, it was very yummy!!

Raspberry Pretzel Salad

2 cups pretzels (broken into small pieces)

2/3 cup chopped pecans

3 Tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup melted butter

In a bowl mix pretzels, pecans, sugar and melted butter.

Spread and press evenly into 9x13 pan.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes and let cool.

1 (8 oz.) cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 large container Cool Whip

Cream together cream cheese and sugar, then carefully fold in the large container of Cool Whip. Spread mixture on cooled pretzel mix.

2 small pkg. (3 oz.) Raspberry Jello

2 cups boiling water

2 pkg. frozen raspberries

Pour boiling water and jello together and stir until jello is completely dissolved. Add raspberries and stir until thawed. Gently pour over cream cheese filling and chill until set.

I substituted part splenda for the sugar (2/3 c. sugar 1/3 c. splenda), used sugar free jello and Cool Whip Free for the Cool Whip. And I used only 1 cube of butter. Also I substituted walnuts for the pecans. The recipe was still SUPER tasty!!

A day at the Lake

Our Day at the Lake

Yesterday the day started out kind of chaotic and unproductive. For awhile I thought it was doomed to ruin. But I decided to just hurry up and get the kids to help me and get the house taken care of (it's an ongoing situation, cleaning the house) so we could get out and have some fun.

So we hurried along with our chores. It seems like overseeing that things get done and get done properly takes so much time I find it difficult somedays to get my own jobs done. I threw a "snacky" sort of lunch together and we left for the lake. It was our first time to this lake (in case you're reading Amber, it was Jackson Lake) and it was about an hours drive from our house.

We scoped out the best beach and we had a fun afternoon of swimming.

Kayla and Tyler thinking about getting wet.

Kyle building sandcastles, he did this most of the time.

Alyssa drenched and going back for more!

Kayla and Rilyn playing in the water. Rilyn is in her dollar store "floatie."

And this is what I did! I caught some rays while watching the kids. I didn't realize I wouldn't get a chance to do any reading while there, but Tyler was really active in the water. I tried to upload a video of him but it wouldn't work. He was running into the water landing face first. He tried floating on his back and on his tummy. He kept wanting to go out deeper and deeper, he had no fear whatsoever! He is so the opposite of my other kids in that regard!

Though I didn't swim, I did get out to dunk myself and cool off a few times. And of course when Tyler got really crazy in the water, I was right next to him getting splashed on and getting my skin all wrinkly in the water along with him! You have to love the fun things we Mom's do!!

We finally ended our fun when Tyler had a potty accident in his swim attire and it forced us to end sooner than we wanted. The kids were so exhausted they all slept all the way home.

Computer woes

I had just typed up a huge long post and somehow it got "eaten!!" So instead I will say we've been busy with:

Baseball wrapping up



Bird watching in the Backyard



Landscaping, picking out retaining wall block



Softball beginning

and Enrichment Committee busy-ness

My Baby Girl

My Baby Girl

It was 4:30 in the morning and I had to call the hospital at 5 and see if they had a bed available for my induction. I was happy to find out there was a place for me. Laren and I hurried to the hospital before someone came to take my spot!

We lived in SE Aurora, CO at the time. We had just moved there 6 weeks before from Mesa, AZ. The pregnancy had gone fairly well and then suddenly in the wee hours of the morning of June 1, 2002 I woke up thinking my water had broke. I quickly realized it wasn't water but blood.

After a ride to the hospital in an ambulance and the scare of my life for my unborn baby's life we found that I had a low-lying placenta and the placenta was separating from the uterus. It was placenta abruptia. After seeing 5 OB/GYN Doctors and 4 days in the hospital, 4 of the 5 doctors recommended a Ceserean Section to be done immediately.

It so happened that I was assigned the one doctor who did not rush to judgement. He wanted to get a more clear picture of what was going on. He ordered an ultrasound immediately. Then he himself came in and did an ultrsound himself. Both of the first two ultrasounds showed placenta previa. He was vascillating in his mind as to what to do because the placenta was only barely covering my cervix. In his indecision, he decided to do another ultrasound.

In the meantime I had gotten a blessing from Laren. And we had said some very heartfelt prayers. I had wanted to give birth to a healthy baby first and foremost. But I also wanted to have a vaginal birth. And if possible, even though her due date was not until July 8th I really wanted her to weigh at least 6 pounds.

The results of the third ultrasound showed the placenta had moved 1-2 cm away from my cervix and the doctor, Dr. Wilson, felt it was safe for me to be discharged from the hospital on bedrest. I went home to our little apartment where we lived while we waited to close on our new home and laid on the couch all day long while my 3 little ones played in the living room.

Each day was long and even at the least expected times the bleeding, though stopped for the most part, would gush again. After dealing with this for nearly 2 weeks, my doctor decided enough was enough and that for peace of mind for him and for me he would induce labor. The baby had gotten an extra two weeks in the womb that she would not have gotten had I listened to the 4 other doctors.

In all of my previous pregnancies, I had never been induced before. I was scared. So it was nearly 6 am on Friday, June 14 2002 and shortly after arriving at the hospital I was hooked up to an IV and a pitocin drip was put in. I was already contracting every 6 or so minutes and was dilated to a 4 when I arrived.

At 7:00 the doctor came in and broke my water and the contractions got worse and harder to manage. It was then that I got an epidural. By around 8:30 in the morning I had given birth to one of the most beautiful infants in the world. She came naturally with no c-section. She weighed a healthy 6 pounds and 0 ounces! She was healthy enough, in fact, despite her earliness and Denver's high elevation, that she did not need any assistance of oxygen or any other means to survive and thrive, aside from the normal care and feeding.

We were overjoyed at the miracle that occurred. It was one that I could have never imagined possible, just 2 weeks before when I had numerous doctors telling me I should not try to keep the baby in any longer. But I felt like it would be better for the baby to get a little more lung development and grow a little more.

In the end, I was so grateful for my decision and the blessing of having been assigned the doctor that I did. I was assigned to him because he was the doctor who was on call when I arrived via ambulance, so he ultimately was responsible for me.

But I was most grateful for this beautiful, precious babe who was perfect in every way. She even weighed what I had hoped she would at least weigh.

With her being our third daughter, it was hard to come up with her name. I really liked the name Jill and probably would have went with that, but we also kicked around many other names. Another name I liked was RyAnn. Well, because Laren had a previous girlfriend with that name, he didn't like it so well.

I told him that he could choose her name, with my approval. He decided on Rilyn (pronounced: RYE'-LIN), Rilyn Nichole. Her name is unique and it fits her personality to a T. She has a lot of spunk and has her own mind for sure!

5 Things I Love about Rilyn

1. She is quick/smart, nothing gets passed this girl!

2. She is tenacious, she doesn't quit until she gets what she wants.

3. She is lovable and loving. She is very huggy and likes to give everyone lots of hugs.

4. She has been telling me lately how she listens to the Holy Ghost and how the Holy Ghost helps her not to "be bad."

5. She dreams about her future. She asks me if I will share my van with her and her future husband because she doesn't yet have one of her own! And she tells me that she is going to have X amount of kids when she's a Mom someday. (Sometimes the amount is 5, sometimes it is 3, sometimes it is 10. I just get a hoot listening to this girl!!)

Happy Birthday Rilyn, I love you more than words could ever say!!

A day with Friends

A Day with Friends

Yesterday the kids and I got some essentials done around the house and took off to Lone Tree, CO to meet up with some friends from Colorado Springs. Mar'Lee and her 7 kids met us at McDonald's and we all had lunch and the kids played and we visited.

The younger kids

The older kids

The kids got along very well and were surprisingly well-behaved. You should have seen some of the looks we got with all of our kids. I could just see the "WOW" in their eyes "Why on earth would any women have this many kids?" I think at least one woman thought all the kids came from one mom. That was when both Mar'Lee and I had to get up and get straws and drinks for the kids.

Me and Mar'Lee

Anyway, it was lots of fun! After McDonald's I took my kids and we went to the outlet stores in Castle Rock. I had never been there before. I was disappointed because I was expecting to find some fantastic bargains and there were very few.

I did get 5 Father's Day Cards (for all our Father's) half price. That was a good deal. I took the kids into a Candy store and let them each pick out something that they could eat if they were good, after we were done looking in all the shops. They loved that part.

Some of the candy we got. Most of the candy in the store was "vintage" stuff like Zebra gum, Charleston Chews, etc... Maybe that is why it was so high priced?

We did get this cute little purse for Kayla at Aeropostale for $7. We looked in Claires, Bath and Body Works, The Paper Warehouse, and a few other stores. I really wanted to go in Coach and look at their purses and handbags, but I didn't want to drag all 5 of my kids in there with me! Maybe I will hit that store next time!

Kayla with her new purse and me outside the Outlets.

It was a fun day, despite how rainy it was and my kids and I came home exhausted!

100 Things, Round 2

100 Things about me – Round 2

1. I really love dresses, but not enough to wear them except on Sundays and special occasions.
2. I ran my first 10k race with my oldest daughter, Kayla on Memorial Day 2007

That is me in the blue.

3. I am hopeful all of my kids do well in school, I want them all to go to College and graduate from it too.
4. I am the first and only child, so far, in my family to get my Bachelors degree.
5. I get cold easily.
6. I like Bath and Body works scented oils for my oil burner. I like fruity smells and brown sugar and fig the best.

7. I only like fitted T-shirts. The other ones make me feel fat.
8. I love my new house!
9. I like perfume. My new favorite is one from Kohls. It is: Happily Ever After
10. When I gave birth to Tyler, my 5th baby, I got to the hospital 8 minutes before he came out. The doctor didn’t make it, a nurse delivered him. They told Laren, my husband, that if we were planning anymore children he should learn how to deliver a baby!


11. My girls and I have competitions as to who can grow their fingernails the longest, the winner gets a bottle of nail polish.
12. I love clean windows on my house, but they never last!
13. My two favorite numbers are 4 and 14. I was born on November 14th.
14. I like subtle lip color.
15. I like makeup that makes my face look naturally made up.


16. I love hearing and helping Tyler (2) say his prayers.
17. I love that Kyle has an intellectual side, just like Laren (my husband).
18. I love that Alyssa is so easy going and such a girly girl!
19. I love that Rilyn loves her babies so much.
20. I love that Kayla loves to write. She does it for fun. She has written many stories and is working on a book. She is 11.


21. I love that Laren, my husband, is such a handyman. He can fix almost anything.
22. I feel a lot of support from Laren. He makes me feel secure.
23. Laren is the great love of my life and my best friend.
24. I love it when my girls brush my hair.
25. I like the spelling of my name now, when I was young I didn’t.


26. It’s been a long time since I read a book, even though I do like to read. The computer has replaced my book and TV time, I think.
27. I love to get together with girlfriends.
28. I do not like to iron.
29. I talk to my husband during lunch almost every day.
30. I like clothes and Kohls is my favorite place to buy them.


31. I do not like debt, and do everything I can to avoid it.
32. I color my hair, I’d be a dishwater blonde without the hair color.
33. I first gained a testimony of the gospel when I was 14.
34. I read the Bible cover to cover when I was 14-15 because my seminary teacher challenged us to. I don’t remember the scripture stories very well. I forget easily and have to reread them.
35. When I was 14 I loved tracting with the sister missionaries and served a “mini-mission” that was a weekend long.


36. I lived for Stake Dances when I was a youth.
37. I have a close relationship with my Sisters Kallie and Kathy.
38. I also have a special bond with my younger brother David and my older brother Mike.
39. I wish I had a closer relationship with my other brothers.
40. I have a supportive Mother-in-Law, Vala.


41. Tyler, my 2 year old, loves to hold my hair and pull on it. It used to be cute and now it bugs me.
42. I have kidney stones.
43. Lately I’ve been struggling with scripture study and personal prayers.
44. I’ve never been further east than Minot, North Dakota.
45. I’m scared to travel abroad, but I want to someday.
46. I have many long distance girlfriends.


47. I just got my first pedicure the day before Mother’s Day with my Sister, Kathy. We got the French Manicure and I love it!
48. I love how it feels to de-junk.
49. I got married when I was barely 21, Laren was 22.
50. Figuring out what to major in during College was really hard!


51. I loved having roommates in College. I still keep in touch with some of them.
52. My College years were some of the best years of my life.
53. I love daisies.
54. One of my favorite desserts is Éclair Cake.
55. I also love Cinnamon Rolls.


56. I wish I had the singing voice of an angel.
57. I like to read biographies about people who inspire me.
58. I want to be a fun Mom!
59. I love to watch Broadway plays and Theatre performances.
60. I’m big into classic looks. And even though I’m not too much into trendy looks, I do have some big sunglasses!


61. I don’t like cats, my kids want one anyway. They also want a dog.
62. I just started a blog in December 2006.
63. I teach Sunbeams (3 year olds) and am on the Enrichment Board in my ward.
64. I watch what I eat.
65. I still have a sweet tooth and I like candy, not so much chocolate though.


66. I like gum, Orbitz Bubblemint is my favorite kind right now. I also like Cinnamint Orbitz.
67. I have a ton of projects on my “To Do” list right now.
68. My favorite tree is a pine tree, it's my husband's favorite too. We just planted 2 of them in our front yard.
69. I am conservative with my money. But I wish I had more of it, lots more.
70. I love whole wheat bread, do not care for white bread unless it is Texas Toast.


71. I detest cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry.
72. I like to watch baseball and basketball games when I can be there in person.
73. I make my kids do chores or read or play sports so they can earn time on the computer or their gameboy.
74. I try to tell my children “yes” as much as possible.
75. One of my favorite comfort foods is Beef Stroganoff.


76. I have found that I like to exercise. (Like, not love.)
77. Right now my favorite colors are greens, warm greens and pinks.
78. I love to spend time with my husband.
79. My wedding colors were Fuschia and a Turquoise Green color. I was married in December.
80. When I was young, I hated having a November birthday where I was older than most of my schoolmates.


81. I like to do crafts.
82. I like beautiful things. And I like the clean, crisp look when it comes to decorating.
83. I wash my hair every other day.
84. I love the computer.
85. I just renewed my Drivers License because I hated the picture on my old one, and I needed to have the vision restriction removed.


86. Since we moved into our new house in January, my husband and I have enjoyed hosting our friends here. And we want to continue with that.
87. I love my 5 kids tremendously. I feel so privileged to be their Mom.
88. I had a colonoscopy in March. It had good results.
89. I am going through the process to get lithotripsy for my kidney stones soon.
90. I inherited my Mother’s health problems, despite my efforts to eat properly and exercise.


91. I have a great love for my Mom and my Dad, even though they divorced when I was 20.
92. I got my Drivers License when I was 15.
93. My first car was a grey Toyota Celica after I graduated High School when I was eighteen.
94. Right now I drive a 1998 Toyota Sienna Minivan. It is a tannish brown color.
95. I like Top 40 and Country Music. I care for very little Jazz and Classical.


96. I pluck my eyebrows 2-3 times a week.
97. I help out at my kids’ school at least 2 times a week.
98. I used to be in 4-H when I was a girl. Our group name was the ‘City Slickers’.
99. I took Ballroom Dancing in College.
100. I love the big front porch on my house.

Playing Catchup!

Playing Catchup!

Because I've been bad at blogging lately here is a bunch of pictures to catch up on my life!

Here is my life the past couple of weeks -

Last night was free Rootbeer Floats at Sonic. My kids wanted to go badly. So I took them!! We got there about 15 minutes early and got a parking spot with no problem. When we left about 45 minutes later it was SO packed! There was a HUGE line of cars waiting to just get into the parking lot. Gotta LOVE Sonic!

Kayla sipping her Rootbeer Float and listening to her tunes! I cannot believe my oldest is growing up so fast!!

We got our FIRST Family Pet last weekend!! It is this bunny the kids named Thumper!! He is very sweet and docile. He lives in a cage and he's a year-round outside pet! I had to have a pet that could be outside because I have enough messes to clean up after having 5 kids. And animals make their own messes and I just didn't want to have one more inside mess!!

Alyssa and Kayla loving on Thumper!!

After my kids got their rooms cleaned up, I made a picnic lunch which consisted of a French Bread Sandwich (very yummy), some microwave popcorn, and some Green Apple Spiderman soda. We took our lunch and went to the newest park in our neighborhood to give it the inaugural treatment!

My girlfriend, Amy, who is serving in the Army in Iraq sent me this cute card thanking me for our friendship. I love it Amy!! And the quote is very inspirational and true. I will have to share a great quote she sent inside of the card as well. That will be another post though!

I've been babysitting for my neighbors a fair amount. What began as a little bit turned into more than I had bargained for. But their kids are very sweet and in a true emergency I would still watch for them, but an emergency can't happen every single time their work schedules don't work out which is like 4 times a week! Isn't little Jordan cute? Tyler loved her too and wanted to hold her constantly!

Last night my kids and I made personal pizza's together! They had a great time, even though it did make quite a mess! Notice Tyler couldn't be at the table without his ball! He's kind of attached to that lately like Rilyn is her baby Cabbage Patch that Grandma Linda got her for Christmas. She carries it everywhere!

Alyssa making her pizza.

Yesterday I took the kids to the Library. Rilyn and Tyler and I went into story time while the older ones browsed the books. When we came out Kyle had picked out this book on Pluto, the planet that he just had to check out. I didn't know he has such an interest, but he does! I tried to talk him into something that might be more interesting to him, but nope to him that was the most interesting thing. He came home read the entire book and gave me a good review of facts about the planet Pluto!!

We also signed up for the Summer Reading Program while there and then the kids and I went out to lunch.

Also, notice how Kayla couldn't get off the phone with her friend for the picture! She is growing up right before my very eyes!!

Kayla and I running in the morning right before we left for the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day.

We've been working on our landscaping in both the front and back yards. Laren's been working a lot of hours at work so I decided I needed to pick up some slack. I took all the seats out of my minivan and put a tarp down and loaded nearly a TON of rocks (yes literally, it was almost a ton) and bought 3 aspen trees to plant too.



Then I went back with Alyssa and we shoveled in a yard (3'x3'x3') of medium bark. Then we came home and shoveled it out of the van. As you can imagine, it left quite a mess so then I had to vacuum the van completely and wipe it down!! Earlier in the week, Laren and I had bought 2 pine trees, an Austrian Pine and a White Spruce, they are planted in the picture above.

Last week we found a dead mouse in our basement. My girls and I are very sqeamish when it comes to mice so Kyle had to be the man and remove it for us! Thank you, Kyle you did a great job!

Tyler had picked up this mouse with his bare hands and we had to get him to drop it....EWWW...that's when we had Kyle come to the rescue and I scrubbed Tyler down like mad to get rid of the mouse germs!

Tyler is SO boy! Here he is one morning piling up the throw pillows in the family room and jumping off the fireplace hearth onto the pile of pillows! Silly boy!!

Dawg Days of Summer!

Dawg Days of Summer!

No Schedule to keep.

Days at the Lake

Getting chores done early

Playing after that

Free Summer movies

Picnics in the park

Spontaneous shopping trips

especially to Dollar Tree and

Bath and Body Works!

Happy Hour at Sonic

Family Camping trips

JUST SOME OF THE THINGS I HAVE BEEN DOING

and WILL BE DOING with my KIDS this SUMMER!

And a quote Kayla's teacher included in her class memory pages that I love:

May all your endeavors be attempted with great effort.

May you always see the positive in everything,

even the challenges that life will provide.

In Memoriam

In Memory of my Sweet Friend, Kylie.

My blogging and LDS Message Board friend Kylie lost her battle with Depression yesterday. The depression became bigger than her. She left behind a loving husband and 3 beautiful children as well as many other loving family members and friends.

I wanted my first post in awhile to be something upbeat and chipper, but this is just surreal. I'm sick for her family. Please pray for Kylie's family. Kylie, you will be greatly missed!