I'm going crazy

One of my gifts
(I read all four in 60 hours)
I blame this on John, he should know better than to buy me books,
I have no self control around books.

The other day I came home from peeling the skin off of a cadaver and John had cleaned the house and set up a few gifts with cute notes to celebrate our 1,977th day of marriage!
(I know, he's adorable!)
I think he knew that my stress level was nearing all time highs.
Between starting school at a new University, moving, paying for two houses, having sick kids and my special problem* I was a ball full of stress.
When I walked in the door there were a dozen red roses.
(Funny story there. John picked some really gorgeous yellow roses for me but Alexis would have none of that. She insisted that he buy the red roses, because those are her favorite.
He also bought me some Symphony bars. Because Alexis was carrying the roses, Drew was able to help by carrying one of the big Symphonies. John should know better by now, but he was too distracted to notice that once Drew got inside with the treat he ripped into it. It's just too tempting having chocolate in front of you!)
I am lucky enough to have an amazing husband who makes things all seem so much better!
The point of this story? I have an amazing husband.


Photo courtesy of Alexis' photography skills

*So what is my special problem you ask?? It's better than anything you could have imagined I promise.
The middle of June we thought I was pregnant, don't ask, it was a surprise. I say we thought because I had ALL of the symptoms and the pregnancy test had a very, very slight pink line for positive.
(I knew better than to doubt it after Alexis' tests did the same thing to me and I discounted it.)
John was not convinced at that point however. It took him an additional week to admit that there was no way that I wasn't pregnant.
At the end of June I was in so much pain, we had an ultrasound done to make sure it wasn't an ectopic pregnancy. They couldn't see anything, so we figured I'd miscarried.
Now, I know that when you miscarry it takes some time for your hormones and all to settle down so I didn't worry too much that I was still having all of the pregnancy symptoms.
The problem?
I'm still having them.
The most obnoxious ones currently are: food cravings, nauseousness, tiredness, mood swings, exhaustion and night time peeing.
The most ridiculous one for me? I gained 6 pounds in the last two weeks among other things.
Yes, me, I gained 6 pounds, which in and of itself is amazing but I did it in two weeks, astonishing I know.
I don't feel pregnant, I just feel like my body thinks it's still pregnant. I have taken a number of tests just to make sure and they all are very negative.
So, here's the fun part. Since we're in Logan and I don't want to drive four hours round trip to go see Dr. Eric, I had to find someone here. It took three doctor's office calls before I found one that could take me within a reasonable time period.
One office couldn't get me in until the end of December, yes, December!
With each office call I had to explain why I needed an appointment and each time the receptionist would say: "Ma'am are you sure you're not pregnant?"
Don't you think that at 20 weeks pregnant I'd have a belly? Because I don't.

The week of my appointment has finally arrived, and my body will be my body again finally, I hope.

End of summer hurrah

Look at how sexy this guy is!
For our end of summer hurrah John wanted to take us all to
Bear Lake.
It was supposed to 82 degrees and lovely.
It did get up to 82 degrees, however, the wind was blowing so much that it felt much colder than that. (I had cold chills most of the day!)
We found a great area to play with the kids, it had a little island in between two small tidal pools that were just the right
depth for the kids.
We forgot our camera so I had to use my cell phone camera for all pictures, they turned out much better than I had anticipated.

John took Drew and Madison out in the raft. Alexis was too sad to go. She was so cold after getting out of the water she was crying hysterically, so I did what any good mother would do. . . I took a picture of her crying.

When she saw this picture she stopped crying and started laughing. She wanted another picture of her happy but this is what the next picture brought:

Finally, she was able to smile.

We stopped and bought a kite, some shovels and a ball game at a quaint little shop in the center of town. Really, I don't know that it can be called the center of town but there just isn't
a better name for it.

John doesn't have any luck in flying kites or catching fish, so we were very excited that he was able to get this up and keep it up!

While John and I were playing the ball game, the raft took off. The wind caught it and it started rolling over itself all the way down the beach. John caught up to it at one point, and jumped on it, only to bounce right back off and then to have the raft roll right over him. He did eventually catch it, but it took a little longer than he had planned. I was laughing so hard I couldn't take a picture until he was dragging it back.

The wind was really blowing, which allowed Alexis to fly the kite by herself. She really loved running all over the little island and flying the kite.

John and Drew decided to expand the "pool" we had dug and make it into a moat for a castle.

Madison wasn't that interested in what anyone else was doing so she found a couple of sea-shells or she-shells and Alexis calls them, and was carefully putting them on her legs.

Drew decided to take a turn flying the kite. He didn't do as well because he would get distracted with something else to do and forget to run.

The finished sand castle and moat.
(If you look closely, you'll see the kite string in Drew's hand. He was "flying" the kite but found something better to play with.)

Madison's diaper adventure

Yesterday Madison decided to make her mommy really work.
In two hours, the two hours of trying to get dinner cooked and on the table, she peed no less than 10 times. I am not joking.
This would not normally be a problem because I wouldn't have known if she'd stayed true to her usual protocol: pee and not even say anything about it.
But, she decided that she wanted to go to the toilet each time that she peed.
The problem you ask? She'd peed and then tell me she needed to go, so we were going through diapers like they were candy.
More importantly, when I ran out of diapers and had to go upstairs to get some more, after having just taken her off the toilet, she popped a squat on my carpet and peed.
It gets better, wait for it.
When I decided that we had finished with all the potty breaks and I was safe to return to cooking dinner Alexis says: "Mom she peed on my puzzle!"
I did not think that this could be possible as I had just put her diaper on her not two minutes ago.
Lo and behold, Madison learned how to get out of her diaper by herself and she had indeed peed all over her puzzle.
At this point I was pretty done with pee, even though I was laughing.
I went upstairs and got the potty training underwear thinking that they would be easier to get off and I might get her to the toilet in time.
Ha, ha, ha.
As I'm finishing up dinner to put in the oven,
she stands at my feet and pees everywhere.
Now when John gets home I tell him about it and he gives the
normal are you joking face.
But then it happens. She goes and sits on Drew's truck and pees THEN tells us she needs to go.
John thinks if we duct tape the diaper on her we may be able to solve the problem.
On the potty training note, she had to poop yesterday and when she needs to go she starts grunting to let us know that she needs the toilet. She started grunting and I asked her if she needed to poop to which she nodded yes. When I tried to hold her hand and take her to the toilet she kept shaking her head no. When I asked her if she was already pooping she shook her head yes and started grunting more. Don't worry, when she was done she tried to go get on the toilet.

THE pictures

A mixture of some favorites. They were all really good but I didn't want to put all 32 up, it seemed a little much!
Thanks again Kristen!

Family pictures

Today we went and had our family pictures done professionally. Yes, we finally did it!
We went to Kristen Ising who also did Stephanie's wedding pictures. She is doing a black and white special. . . $50 for 15 pictures on a disk that you can do with as you please. I know, it's great.
She does such amazing work and she has the best personality.
She posted a few pictures from our session on her blog http://kristenisingphotography.blogspot.com/
I'm so excited to go and pick up our pictures from her tomorrow!!

Taking a break

What do you do when you need a break?

John wanted to take a break from the kids so he pretended that he needed to go to the bathroom.
Yes, he was hiding in the bathroom.
Unfortunately for him just because you're in the bathroom doesn't mean the kids will leave you alone. After trying to get into the bathroom and not succeeding, Alexis took a stick and shoved it under the door. John tried to get it away from her and thus a game ensued.
John didn't get the break he was looking for, but the kids have a new game that they love to play with their daddy!

My pink butt

During dinner Monday night Drew would not sit down. After repeating "Sit Down" multiple times, I said: "Sit your cute white butt down in your seat!" It worked!

After Drew sat down he pipes up with: "Sit your," then he looks around to my butt and takes a second and finishes with "cute pink butt down!"

Today has been a patience builder. Madison will not for the life of anyone within a 200-yard radius stop her screaming. It doesn't matter what you do or don't do for that matter, she is just not happy with you. I even commented to my mother-in-law today that my goal was to let Madison live through the day without losing my mind. It's been that good.

Isn't it funny that when you are so frustrated with the screaming and whining and such they come up with these cute little thing they do or say that just make you laugh?


Like Drew putting all his "babies" to bed because it is nap time.



Or looking at your little one trying to escape their confines.




Or finding that the only thing that will make your little one stop screaming is riding on Alexis' bicycle while being pushed. Don't stop pushing though, the screaming will come back.

P.S. John is mortified that I would put a picture of my butt on the blog. But, it is fully covered and everyone has one. And yes, I am sticking it out.

Jesus' home

Monday we went to pick John up from work because of the rainy weather and on the way home out of no where Alexis says: "Look, there's the cloud Jesus lives on." When we got home, Alexis got the camera and took this picture.
How often do you get a chance to take a picture of the cloud Jesus lives on?

Hyrum reservoir

Mr. Poppins and his children.

The kids making good use of the oars. They were perfect for flinging sand everywhere!

On Saturday we took the kids to the Hyrum Reservoir. Lets be honest, I'm not a big fan of bodies of water that aren't saturated with chlorine, but it was fun for the kids and it didn't stink too badly so I can't complain too much.
John blew up the raft and took us out and about and then he decided to go for a swim. Luckily it wasn't too cold for him.
Madison decided that it was nap time and she wanted to play in the car instead of at the water. Hence the reason the pictures are all taken from a distance.
(You've got to love the black dot in all the pictures, I have no clue what it is, but it is really annoying.)

The "Lizard" of Oz

The kids and I had a very big day yesterday. John was unable to enjoy the weekend with us because he had to work all weekend, it's money so we're not complaining!!

Saturday morning the kids and I left Logan and drove down to Utah County. We went to lunch with the family and then bowling! Yes, I went bowling and I let my kids touch the bowling balls without sanitizing between each touch.

The kids loved it and Ryan got his butt schooled!!

Madison loved downing Grandma's drink.

I liked this picture because it looks like Ryan is picking his nose even though he's not. I think he's just deep in thought trying to figure out how to not get his butt kicked.

It's a lot more working helping three kids bowl than you'd think. We sure missed John!
You've got to love Drew's orange socks that go to his knees.

Alexis loved carrying her own bowling ball. She was carrying 12 lb balls all by herself!


Later that night, we went to watch The Wizard of Oz put on by Payson Community Theatre, and it was really good!
We had a good turn out too, most of the family was there, Grandma and Grandpa Wadley and Aunt Pam with her grandkids. They did a great job and everyone really liked it.
Drew had never been to a play before and every time they dimmed the lights for a scene change he would say: "Mom the t.v.'s not working, fix it!"
Madison was so tired by the end that she would go lay down at random people's feet and try to go to sleep. (She refuses to fall asleep in my arms, she has to be lying down.) She finally fell asleep on Ryan's sweatshirt in the middle of the aisle. Drew also fell asleep, on Grandma Wadley.
Today they were playing "Lizard" of Oz and doing costume changes and everything, it was adorable.

We saw this half rainbow on our way to see The Wizard of Oz.
(Or as the kids call it, The Lizard of Oz.)

Mom talking to Aunt Pam. What you wanted to see their faces? That requires some good photography skills.

Grandma and Grandpa Wadley with Alexis. Alexis stood in that chair the entire show, she loved it.

Ryley was really excited for the show to start can you tell?
He was clapping after a scene, but I guess he decided that he didn't really like that scene because he started booing.

Today we've been visiting with Aunt Cheryl's family and Great - Grandma and Grandpa Hakes and then we went off to visit Grandma and Grandpa Wadley, we had a lot of fun visiting our family!

Four-year old argument

I have two sick babies and one non-sick four year old. Complete with fevers, noses and general unhappy dispositions.
Yesterday Madison was reaching for a leaf on our indoor plant and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alexis pull back her hand and swat Madison's hand. (Don't worry it wasn't hard enough to even make Madison cry.)
I immediately told Alexis that she was not allowed to hit people for any reason.
She looked at me with that look she has and she said: "MOM, SHE WAS GOING TO PICK A LEAF OFF YOUR PLANT AND THAT'S NOT ALLOWED!"
Clearly what Madison was doing is not allowed, but what Alexis was doing is an even bigger no-no.
After she'd said her bit I told her again that hitting was not allowed. Then the conversation went something like this. . . .

Alexis: But Mom she
Me: No, you don't hit people for any reason.
Alexis: But Mom
Me: No
Alexis: But
Me: No, you don't hit
Alexis: But she
Me: No, No, No, No, No
Alexis: But Mom
Me: No, you don't hit I don't care what it was for.

Then I told her to come over to me and I looked in her eyes and told her again that we don't hit people. (Mind you I'm trying not to smile and laugh at this point because it is ridiculous that we are having this conversation at all.) When I do this, it usually causes her to cry because I've hurt her feelings, but not today.
She went and hid behind the couch I was sitting on and stayed there for a couple minutes.
When she decided that she was done pouting, she popped her head out from behind the couch and said: "Do you feel better now?"
I couldn't stop laughing. Gotta love her attitude.