New Favorite Treat

I get on these kicks where I'll crave a certain treat and eat it every day for a month or so. Sometimes it's brownies, peanut butter bars, popcorn, etc. Ever since Yellowstone, I have been craving smores and this week at Albertson's they had a deal where you could get a box of Honeymaid Grahams, a bag of marshmallows, and a 6 pack of fullsize Hershey bars for $2 after coupons so I bought a ton and have been having a couple throughout the day. The way that I have found that I like them the most is to first put the marshmallows in the oven 2 inches from the heat and broil them as you rotate or shake the pan so they brown on all sides. Then I will place the graham cracker with the chocolate on top in the pan with the marshmallow on top and broil a few seconds more so the chocolate gets soft and then I take them out and top with another graham and smoosh them together. So good. If I don't want to go through all the effort I just put them in the microwave a few seconds and that's okay too. There's only 125 calories in each smore which isn't bad unless you're eating 5 a day like I am. I have gained 12 pounds in the last 7 months and after looking at the Yellowstone pictures I can definitely see it. I hate how pictures don't lie. So I do need to put down the treats and get on the treadmill. I think I now have the motivation I need to get exercising.
Mikey sure loves them too until I take the remains away and try to clean him up. The messier you get the better they are.

False Alarm

Last night at 3 am our smoke alarm starts going off. I woke up and jumped out of bed and began to yell at Neil's. I run to the kids and try to smell smoke but there was none. I go downstairs and no sign of a fire. I ran back upstairs and told Neil to check the basement. He didn't come back up so I began to panic thinking it was a trick and there was an intruder who had Neil hostage and I began to run around my bathroom looking for a weapon and thinking how would I defend myself and keep my kids safe. I was shaking and didn't know if I could stand. Neil finally came back up and no sign of smoke. I had a hard time settling down with all the thoughts racing through my head as I just thought my house was on fire. Conner came and slept in our bed so I slept in his. We all went back asleep just to have the alarm go off again. It went off for about 10 seconds and then stopped. Neil was watching it and it looked like there was a bug going in and out of it. I don't know if that set it off but that was quite a fright. One thing that I learned is that all 3 kids slept through the alarm and never woke up. Now that's scary. I don't see how because it was so loud I woke up instantaneously. I'm definitely going to work on an escape plan if we ever need to use it.

Good Friends

Kristin and Raya came up to have lunch with me on Wednesday. It was so nice to see and talk to them. We made homemade pizza and smores and the kids played. I've been friends with these girls for over 12 years. It's amazing to me that we're still friends as I look over the people I've been friends with and only a handful become lifelong friends. I love you guys and hope we can have many more lunches over the years as long as we live close.

Picnic on the patio

Connie also came up that night and I watched Anna and Jared while she helped her aunt who was in the hospital. My boys absolutely loved playing with them and Sam has woken up in the morning the last two mornings crying because he wanted Jared to come back and play. I wished they lived closer so Sam could have a playmate. We went to the park both days for 2 hours. We have the nicest park with a merry go round, swings, tons of slides and climbing equipment plus walking trails and a duck pond. We brought all our digging equipment (dump trucks, buckets and shovel) since it's all sand and my kids were the coolest ones there. Everyone wanted to play with them or should I say their toys. The kids also kept talking about going swimming so I set up our little pool and filled it with water. It was so cold I kept adding pots of boiling water to it to try to warm it up but that did little good but the kids didn't care. They wouldn't sit down in it just stand and splash. Mikey just stood there paralyzed but had to be in it.

Snuggling to get warm

Warming up in the sun

Why Did We Move?

Neil got transferred to a new video production team on Friday at work. He's so excited about it. I guess it's the cool team to be on but the bad news is at least for the next 3-4 months he'll be working in Provo. I'm just a little sick. We moved up here so he'd have a shorter commute. When we lived in Orem he had an hour commute. He recently started carpooling instead of riding the bus and so his commute has become 30 minutes and that has been so nice but now his commute will most likely be an hour and a half one way. 12 of the 14 people on the team live in Salt Lake or Northern Utah so the plan is to get a church van and everyone meet at a couple park and rides to be picked up. At least no one will have to pay for gas. They are planning on building a studio at the Triad Center in down town Salt Lake and when that is completed they may move there. I think I am going to dread the summer. I was getting used to him being home at 5:10 pm.

Last Day of Preschool

Conner's last day of preschool was May 20th. They had a teddy bear picnic and he brought Curious George and a snack sack and they played games the whole time. He really enjoyed going to school and is excited to start kindergarten. He is already counting down the days until July 20th when he will start. I am glad preschool is over because taking him in the afternoon was hard on the other two and their naps. I am glad he has morning kindergarten. He'll go from 8:30-11:30.

Yellowstone

From May 15-18 all the Utah Hibberts went on a Trip to Yellowstone. There were 25 of us total with 11 adults and 14 kids under 10. Here are all the kids when we liked them the most, all tied down in the cars.
Melody, Ethan, Wesley, Hyrum, Joe and Abi Wride
Mikey, Sam, and Conner Hibbert
Conner, Kelsey, Ashton, Emma and Mallory Smart

Yellowstone is a special place for the Hibberts because both Kim and Linda used to work there during the summers and that is where they met and the Hibberts began. It's my first time being there and it was great. I totally didn't know what to expect. All I knew of Yellowstone was that there were animals and Old Faithful but boy there is a whole lot more to see. It was amazing to see all the wildlife in their natural habitat instead of a zoo. On our first trip into the park we were driving along and the cars in front of us were slowing and I wasn't paying attention and we turn a corner and I look up and out my window and came face to face with this.
I totally screamed which Neil thought was funny. I wasn't expecting it at all and I could have touched this buffalo if I would have reached out the window. I didn't know the animals would be so close.
We also saw some elk, beavers, muskrats, coyote and best of all a bear. Thank goodness it was across a little river but it was amazing to see the big brown bear and with binoculars it was as if it was right in front of you. Neil has been to Yellowstone a dozen times and this was the first time seeing a bear.

Our first stop on the way to Yellowstone was Idaho Falls to see the falls. It was a nice stretch break for the kids. I'd never seen them before.

Once we got to Island Park we went to see Johnny Sack's Cabin. The kids fed the fish.


Neil was rarely without his camera documenting the trip
Sam at Yellowstone Falls. He made me so nervous climbing on everything. Notice the hood. It became his leash.
Waiting for Old Faithful to go off.
Mikey in his corner
Dinnertime at the cabin. The cabin we stayed at was awesome. It slept 32 in beds and each couple got their own room, although I think we all had a kid or two sleeping with us in the second queen bed. We cooked hot dogs and smores over the campfire one night. This is the first time Jared ever had had one. We sent the kids on a scavenger hunt on the last night. Kim and Linda held a family devotional on Sunday and we were all able to hear their testimonies of the gospel so that was priceless. Jared also put together a slideshow of our trip that we were able to watch our last night. There was still some snow on the ground so whenever the kids saw some the would start throwing snowballs at Grant and that happened the whole trip. He was a good sport and got even mostly.
I became the Bathtime Nazi and think the Wride kids are still scarred.
We had a great time on the trip and hope we can do it again in a couple years but hope next time the Scotts and Reads will be able to join us! I think the best part was for my kids to be with their cousins for 4 days. They really had a good time playing with them.

Talking the Night Away

Tonight we had an enrichment meeting on beans. We learned how to prepare beans and had demonstrations on how to make home made tortillas that were so good. I sat by a fellow yw leader and we never stopped talking. The meeting ended at 8:30 and they started to clean up until it was just our two chairs left which we told them we'd put away. We kept talking until I got a text from Neil at 10 asking where I was. I told him in the gym and he thought I was playing basketball? Yeah right, I don't think I would ever stay to play basketball. The lock up guy finally kicked us out and we both went home. I think it's funny that we stayed talking by ourselves in the middle of the gym at the church instead of going and getting a drink or something. It was fun. My mouth hurt from smiling and laughing so much. I needed that.

Our New Form Of Entertainment

Here is Mikey with his doggy tricks. That's what it reminds of, a dog chasing it's tail. He loves it, especially when his brothers start laughing. Then he really won't stop. He'll just go round and round until we all lose interest. That's the water (not pee) he spilt when drinking out of his cup which happens quite often now that he won't use a sippy.

Can Neil Come Out and Play

Neil teaches the 11-12 year old Sunday School class. He was having a hard time getting them to listen and participate until he had some of the boys over to play a game he grew up playing called Hero Quest. The boys are addicted and Neil loves playing too so Wednesdays have become game night and I always provide some kind of treats. It's just so funny because the boys will knock on the door at 3:30 and ask if Neil's home to play. Do they not realize he has a job. Anyway it cracks me up to see them so excited and eager to play. One of the boys rarely would come to class even if he was at church but ever since they've been playing he comes to class and participates.

Conner's Prayers

I love hearing what the boys will say in their prayers without any help. Lately Conner always prays for Uncle DJ to stop smoking and for my eyes to stop itching but also to not get gutter balls when he plays daddy's video game and he also asked for help in learning to clean up big messes by himself today. I guess cleaning up the play room is a little overwhelming for him at times.

Contractors

So we're getting bids on the basement and it's totally mind boggling to me to get the bids and see the difference in price. One charges twice as much as another for the exact same job. Of course none of the bids are itemized so I am not able to see where the discrepancy is. Neil really wants to get a book and do it himself. I'm just not so sure.

Bath Time

I'm beginning to love bath time. I used to dread it because it took forever, the boys made a mess and I was always in such a hurry to get it over with. Now I just let the boys take their time. They love playing in mommy/daddy's tub because it is big and they will stay in there for hours so now I use this time to my advantage. I'll bring my scriptures and sit on the toilet and have scripture study or like today I'll get on the computer as well. I love seeing them have such a good time. They all love just playing with cups in the tub and pouring it back and forth or on each other. It's nice to have them contained and hear them giggling instead of screaming so I'm like bath time is as long as you want. So when they are ready to get they are still happy and so am I. Besides I love hugging sweet smelling boys!

Changes

I haven’t posted in awhile and there have been a lot of changes in our lives.

Conner

Conner is registered for kindergarten. We have went back and forth whether to start him or not and everyone we talk to has their own opinion about what is right but ultimately it’s up to us his parents. I have prayed and fasted over it and decided to register him and if it was wrong it wouldn’t work out. Our school is year round so you get assigned to one of 4 tracks plus morning or afternoon but you get to choose what you want and they try to accommodate. I meticulously filled out all the paper work and turned it in early b/c I really wanted him to get this one teacher since she has gotten teacher of the year and a lot of awards. When I got his assignment, I was devastated. He got the one track I didn’t want and it was afternoon, which he just can’t do b/c he still needs a nap most days. He’s like his mom and needs a lot of sleep. When I read the assignment I just started bawling and was on the verge of hyperventilating. I was so upset. I figured if he got a bad assignment that was my answer to not put him in this year. So I fasted again and got the feeling that everything would work out so I went to the school and put the blame on myself and told them I must have filled something out wrong could I look at my paper to see so I won’t make the same mistake again next year. They go to get my paper and they can’t find it. It’s nowhere. They had the immunizations and birth certificate but no registration paper and they don’t know what happened so I ended up getting my second choice in tracks and the teacher has not been hired yet but they promised me it would be an experienced teacher. I feel good about it and as always the Lord knows best, although I thought did, and this is the teacher for Conner. Besides kindergarten is not going to make or break or him, it’s only 3 hours a day.

Conner still never ceases to amaze me. To get ready for kindergarten roundup I was quizzing him in case they wanted to test him so I asked him how high can you count Conner. He replies to 100. I then ask him what comes after 100 and he proceeds to count 101+. I know he can count to at least 1000 because he recognizes the pattern so I just started throwing out numbers, “What comes after 367 . . . 694 . . . 999? and he says ten hundred. Then he said mom lets count by 10’s and he counts by 10’s up past 100 and then says let’s count by 5’s and then 2’s and he could do it but got stumped on the 3’s after 18. It’s just amazing to me b/c months ago Connie mentioned to me since he liked numbers so much to teach him how to count by 2’s and so forth so I introduced it to him one day and he didn’t seem to get it so I never revisited the concept but he remembered on his own and figured it out. He has this calculator Gma Hibbert got him for his birthday that has a quizzing feature so he goes around all day quizzing me on math problems and when I get sick of it and turn it to him, he usually gets them right (addition and subtraction)

Conner is totally into bowling right now ever since we took him to the bowling alley. He plays with our set and loves to play it on the “wii” when we let him. When I don’t he’ll draw bowling lanes with pins on paper and somehow play that way. He’s getting more and more into sports. Last Saturday I came inside from outdoors and he was sitting in front of the tv watching golf and later on he was watching basketball.

Sammy

Sam is doing pretty good with his potty training. I had to put him back in pull ups after a couple bm accidents. On Saturday I was talking to my dad on the phone and I hear water running in the bathroom so I go look and Sam had had an accident and was trying to clean himself up. He had poop from one end of the bathroom to the other. It was so disgusting and my little Sam was just trying to take care of the mess himself.

Mikey

Mikey is hitting the Mr. Independent stage. No longer wants to drink out of a sippy cup but demands a real cup like everyone else. He usually will just slam a sippy to the floor. The other day I had given him a sippy with some milk in it to try and tide him over while I got his breakfast ready. He took one drink and growled and threw it to the floor. I picked it up and gave it back and threw it down again. I tried one more time and again he threw it down. I thought to myself you stubborn little twerp, I don’t want to start my day off like this, please be sweet. He refused to drink out of it so I gave up and fed him his oatmeal and gave him some water. The next day, Neil took a swig of Mikey’s milk and immediately spit it out. It had gone sour. I never drink the whole milk. It wasn’t even expired so I don’t know what happened there. Then I felt bad that I got mad at Mikey for throwing his sippy when it was filled with sour milk. I’d do the same thing.

Mikey loves to put his shoes on and it must be because he knows he’s going somewhere then. He is saying so many words, but I’m probably the only one who understands him. I think he’s my earliest talker. Sam and Mike are usually the best of buds when they are not fighting over the trains. Mikey also likes to color and somehow he finds pens, markers, crayons that I don’t. He’s written on the wall, carpet, couches everywhere. I only buy washable but I haven’t found our crayons so they have nonwashable crayons so we have lots of marks now. I really wanted to replace the carpet in the family room because it is trashed but I’m like why. Wait a couple years until the kids get a little older so it will stay nice for at least a little bit.

Neil and I

Well the biggest change in my life is that I am watching a newborn baby girl. How sweet is that. I feel bad that she has to put up with my boys. I have watched her for 3 days and she is a complete angel. I thought my boys were good but she tops them. She’s a newborn so sleeps most of the time but has hardly even said a peep when she was awake. She loves the swing. The hard part is I watch her several Saturdays and Sundays and those aer family days and with the summer coming up we are often gone. Lindsay the mother is hoping to get a new position that would be M-F 8-5, so that would be awesome. If that happens, I’ll only watch her 3 days a week. Sam absolutely adores her and wants to help out so much by pushing her in the swing, getting her pacifier or diapers or whatever. Friday, she started to cry when I was getting her bottle ready and Sam came running, “Mommy, mommy something wrong with the baby, I’ll sing to her.” He was so concerned and sang the ABC’s to her. Mikey also really likes her but I’ve got to watch him like a hawk. So far so good.

We’ve been thinking about finishing the last room in the basement so we’re getting some bids. It will be a playroom in the end. I’m really excited but Saturday we took our car in to get tires and were told there was an additional $1000 worth of stuff that needed to be fixed. I was blown away. We had a guy in our ward look at it and he thought we could get by for awhile so hopefully when my dad comes out he can teach Neil how to fix a few of the problems. There goes some of my money for the basement. We’re also contemplating whether to just get a different car.
Allergies. I am going crazy. My eyes itch all the time. I can’t wear eye makeup and have to pull my bangs back. The boys seem to have allergies too. I’m just sick, I’ve lived in Utah for 13 years and have never had a problem. It’s probably the 15 trees in our backyard that I wish weren’t there. I went to the eye doctor and prescribed me some drops but they are not helping a whole lot. He said it takes a week or two to fill their total affect so I’ve still got my fingers crossed.

Neil and I are slowly making some friends in the ward so that fills good.

I bought a new swim suit online from Land's End to match some long board shorts I got. I know I've gained a little weight but when I put it on it was the most unflattering thing. The top is like a surgical bandage and totally flattened my chest. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it. It's very modest and matches my shorts which I have to wear in the water so we'll see. I've got to get in shape though. I hate wearing bathing suits. I am just so self conscious. I had Neil move the treadmill up to the bedroom so we'll see if I actually ever get on it. My metabolism has finally slowed down like my mother always warned.

Ryan and Heather are officially engaged and are getting married July 18th in the Newport Beach temple. I’m so excited and can’t wait to take the boys to the beach!

Happy Mother's Day

Me sharing my yummy brownie heart with my favorite boys, Sam and Conner

Breakfast in Bed

Sweet Mother's Day video made by my sweetie

I can’t believe I’ve been a mother for 4 ½ years already. I can hardly remember my life before kids and before Neil at that. It feels like I’ve been a mother forever but that is our divine calling so in reality it’s true. The other day I was pondering over my life and the many things that have happened, good and bad and how I could have never planned it out better. I remember when I decided to go to Romania. I had planned for years to serve a mission and since it was a righteous desire felt like I would go. When I turned 21 I remember my dad asking me, “Have you prayed about it?” Actually I hadn’t so I did and when I did I realized I was not supposed to go. It was devastating. I wanted to go so bad and felt that it would help me grow so much as a person, especially with my shyness, and spiritually. I just couldn’t see any better way to grow closer to the Lord than to serve Him for 1 1/2 years. I got pretty depressed as I watched 2 of my best friends leave on missions. The Lord definitely had a different plan for me. My friend Connie called me one day all excited about an internship opportunity in Romania she heard about. She knew how much I loved Russia and wanted to go there so told me all about it. I researched it out and prayed about it and decided to apply. Before this time I had had not much exposure to children. I had never babysat before and was very uncomfortable around them. I didn’t hold babies, didn’t know what to do with them so when I told people I was applying the first response was, “but you don’t even like kids!” It’s not that I didn’t like them, I just never had an opportunity growing up to be around them much. It was a fear of mine having kids before this. I always wanted at least 4 kids but wasn’t sure if I’d be able to care for them. The Lord knew this and he sent me to Romania which was one of the most wonderful experiences I could have asked for. I was assigned to take care of 10 babies daily for 6 hours. They had no parents, no one cared what I did with them or was watching me. I learned to love and care for these babies and love them like they were my own. All of them had emotional and physical disorders and it was amazing to see their progression in just 4 months once they had their emotional needs met. My little Diana was my love and I wanted to adopt her so bad and even asked my parents to. She was 18 months old and could not sit up, crawl, talk or smile. She was my little miracle and I was totally drawn to her. By the end of my 4 months she could do all of the above and would just start beaming when I walked into the room. It melted my heart. If I would have went on a mission, which I would have grown tremendously from in many areas, I would not have been prepared to be a mother as I am because I went to Romania. After that experience, I never wondered how I would take care of my children because I was able to overcome my fears and weaknesses on someone else’s children. I can’t wait until the day when I am able to meet Diana on the other side and all of the children I was able to serve. I love my little boys so much and they are such good little boys and I thank the Lord for preparing me so well for this diving calling. It’s amazing what He can make out of us.
My honey never ceases to amaze me. I love flowers but hate spending money on something that will only last a couple days. I’d rather have something a little more meaningful and Neil didn’t let me down. He had a sleepover with the boys downstairs so no one would come in our bed and wake me up. I slept in until 7 but didn’t get out of bed until 7:20. I then took an extra long hot shower and when I got out the boys brought up my breakfast and 2 beautiful hanging baskets of flowers and pictures they had drawn. The flowers should last until fall, that’s if I don’t kill them. For breakfast, Neil made pancakes and eggs and cinnamon rolls, but being as he knows me too well also made a huge brownie heart. Really that’s what my heart desires for breakfast so it was awesome. While we ate we watched a picture slideshow Neil made of my 4 ½ years of being a mother, which was so sweet. The song is from a cd we bought while on our honeymoon in the Bahamas. We bought the cd b/c it was playing in a booth and we loved the sound and beat and were delighted to find the “Love Your Momma” song when we listened to it back at home. Neil plays it all the time and it’s the boys theme song. I love being a mother!