Idaho Falls

We had a quick weekend over in Idaho Falls. It was fun to spend some time with my brother. He came down from Rexburg to join us for a late night swim and dinner. We went to see the temple and enjoyed eating at Cafe Rio and Leatherby's. YUM!

The funniest part of the trip was when we were sitting there eating Leatherby's with my brother and my sister texted us telling us she was in UTAH with my grandparents eating Leatherby's. She was trying to "rub it in" by sending us a picture with her big ice cream sundae. We texted her a picture right back with all of us enjoying our Leatherby's. What are the odds of us BOTH eating at Leatherby's at the exact SAME time? Too funny.

Here are the pictures from the texts we sent back and forth:

If you give a boy named Dallin a workbook.....

If you offer to give a boy named Dallin a workbook, he is going to want to go to Costco to pick it out himself. When you get to Costco, he'll probably try to get you to buy him all the workbooks that the store has to offer. When you tell him no (becauase he has already completed most of the workbooks there) he will smile and say, "But I can just do the same workbooks over again!" When you get home and open the drawer that houses the workbooks you'll realize its probably time to get rid of some of the old completed ones because the drawer can hardly shut. When you start piling up all of the workbooks that Dallin has completed over the last two years you'll realize that perhaps Dallin isn't a normal kid. Then, as you start to  throw some of the old ones away, you'll start to feel a little bit of GUILT because you feel like you are throwing away some of the material things that remind you of Dallin as a little boy doing the things he loves to do. When you come up with the idea of taking a picture of Dallin with all of his books to remember all of the thousands of pages he has completed, you will feel better. After you have decrapified the workbook drawer you will set Dallin's new workbook in the clean empty drawer and think to yourself, "My little boy isn't so little anymore." So, you look forward to all of the new things that he will learn as newer and more difficult workbooks will slowly fill the drawer again. And chances are, when  Dallin sees the newly emptied drawer he will say, "We should go to Costco again so I can pick out some more workbooks."

Caught in a world of "in-between"

I feel like I'm caught in an "in-between" funk everywhere I turn.

For example, is it winter or spring around here? One day it is almost 60 degrees out and the next it is snowing! Do I leave the winter coats out or do I start tracking down all of the short sleeves again?

Should I be happy or sad that my entire family will be home starting next week? Dallin is off track and Nate will be continuing the job hunt from home. Don't get me wrong, I love hanging with my family but this is REALLY going to throw my routine for a loop.

I have all of these lofty goals as far as continuing to decorate my home.....but do I really want to do them if we end up having to move in a few months?

We've been planning on going to Disneyland with Nate's family since last summer. Now that the time is near is it really a smart and fiscally responsible decision to just leave and venture down to the "happiest place on earth" when it feels like we're carrying the entire "weight of the earth" on our shoulders?

And lastly (and LEAST importantly), What exactly am I doing with my hair? Should I just chop it all off again or do I continue to strive for those long locks that I thought I missed so much.

Too much up in the air for me to handle. I think I'll just flip a coin and resolve hair issue.

As for the rest......I'll just go downstairs and enjoy a big bowl of ice cream. :)

Mr. Fairness

Life is full of challenges and I know we'll get through this particular trial eventually. We have each other and together "We can do hard things."
My theme as of late has been "Doubt not fear not." I will continue to do just that. I'll continue to focus on the GOOD things. After all, we are very blessed.

Case and point...Dallin was "Student of the Week" last week. He received this honor because he has exemplified "fairness" at school. (Dallin........really? Fairness.......hmmmmmm. I don't think his younger brothers would agree but OK, we'll take it! :)

We put together a bulletin board that let all of the kids know a little more about Dallin. Things like how many siblings he has, favorite color, sports, etc. Of course there was a picture of a Little Caesars Pizza and a doughnut. Dallin and junk food go hand in hand. It amazes me he has yet to get ANY cavities.

At the end of the week each student in his class wrote a paragraph about Dallin. It is spiral bound and is DEFINATELY going in the memory box. Here were some of my favorite things (and strange things) that Dallin's peers said about him (spelling is unaltered):

Dear Dallin:

*You are extreemelee nice, cool, awsome and good at school work. You are a mathimatick becuase you are smart in math. -Josh

*You are good at football. you are the best stoodent in the class. -Isaac

*You are cute and you are as cool as me. -Brendon

*you are so nice and you smile alot. You are very kind and you are my best friend. You play with everyone. -Mia

*You'r the best friend ever. You always make people smile and your always involving everyone...even unicorns. -Hailey (Ummmm.....huh???)

*I think that you are good at math. You are a great friend. I like your actshins in class. I reelly hope you are in my class next year. -Annalee (The VALENTINE Annalee....I'm sure Dallin is hoping she is in his class as well, wink wink)

*You are the best worker in class and you are good at football and fast. Your nice and funny and a awesome friend. -Matt

(And then there is my ALL time favorite): *You are so nice I am going to make you a superhero. Together we will rule the galaxy as father and son. You are nice. You are cool and awesome. -Matthew

I'm proud of my Dallin. He is smart, sensitive, and he works very hard. I'm sure at times he thinks it isn't FAIR that he has to put up with me as his mom!

Stress

I used to think I knew what stress was. Stress was raising 3 boys, taking care of a house, car problems, trying to keep up with my calling, keeping my family fed, getting my kids to their various activities, and feeling overwhelmed from time to time with my roles as a wife and a mom.

Over the last 3 months I have experienced new level of stress. This is the kind of stress that keeps me from sleeping at night, robs me of my motivation, hurts me when I wake up in the morning. It has made me cry almost every day and has taken my anxiety level through the roof.

My husband is losing his job. He has 7 days left until he is officially unemployed.

And you know what? I can't do anything about it. I can't fix the problem. Me stressing about it isn't going to make it go away. I can't keep living in the past and wishing so badly to know the future all while I am missing today. I'm neglecting MY job, MY responsibilities all because of something that I can't control.

Tonight I am priorotizing. I am setting down the burdens that have weighed so heavily on me for the past few months and I am going to step back and see what I CAN do. I'm refocusing on making sure that things are straight in my own home and in my soul. Then I fold my two arms and kneel on my two knees and use my one brain and one heart to call for help. I will put my burdens down at the feet of one greater than I. And I will rest my heart knowing ...I am not alone.

Parker quote of the day

Parker: "Mom, when are you going to stop being allergic to cats?"

Me: "Well honey.....I don't think I will ever NOT be allergic to cats."

Parker (to Dallin with a twinkle in his eye): "Hey, I know....we can get a cat when mom dies!"

Nice to know I can be replaced so easily by a furball.

Inside Ride 2010

Saturday was yet another St. Alphonsus Inside Ride at the mall. Last year Nate rode about 25 miles in one hour. This year he made it 27.5 miles in ONE hour! That is pretty awesome! He was only .77 miles behind his best riding buddy Jared. Last year Jared beat Nate by 2 miles so he was excited to be so much closer. Maybe he will get him next year! Haha. They finished in 1st and 2nd place! WooHoo!

We had quite the cheering section. Mom, Dad, Jason, Grandma EE, James and Sierra (James's new girlfriend) all came to cheer him on.

And so begins a new racing season........sigh.

Attack of the killer animals.

Today we went to Julia Davis Park to feed the ducks. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get outside, enjoy some fresh air and let the boys run around for awhile.

Little did I know all of the animals at the park were apparently dying of starvation.

We stepped out of the car and were literally BOMBARDED by geese, squirrels, ducks, seagulls and starlings. The geese immediately started chasing us down and hissing and snapping at the boys. The squirrels looked like little puppies coming within inches of us begging for food (and even took some bread right out of my hand.) A seagull almost landed on Parker's head. Parker and Landon tried to hide behind me but  we were quickly surrounded. They were both terrified and started running from the ravenous animals.

We all jumped back in the car and enjoyed the animals from a nice safe distance.

CHEAP thrills!

Getting an amazing deal makes me H-A-P-P-Y! It is so funny how I can leave to go shopping in a "blah" kind of mood and then come home on a total coupon high! What is even more crazy is I have been doing this coupon thing now for an entire YEAR! Happy Anniversary to me and all of the thousands of dollars I have saved this past year! It really is a lot of work but is the pay off is so worth it. I scored on a couple of great deals this week.

First off I got 38 boxes of pasta for FREE! (except for tax) I spent less than 2 dollars on all of this:

Last night I ran over to Albertsons to get something and I was thrilled to see they were CLEARING out their landry detergent.  Each bottle (64-79 load size) was $1.00. BUT, it gets better. You see, I had .75 off coupons! HOORAY! So yeah, $2.50 for 10 huge bottles of detergent! I usually make my own laundry detergent but hey, you can't beat that kind of a price!

Awesome!

Boys and Barbies

The other day a commerical for Barbie Potty Training Pups came on the tv while all of my boys were watching cartoons and I was cleaning the kitchen:

I knew the boys would have something to say about it. Here is the conversation:
Parker: Ewwwwwwwwww! SICK!
Dallin: Why do girls like to play with toys that pee?
Dad: Seriously....that is so gross. Mom, do you know why girls like to play with puppies that go pee on newspapers?
Me: Nope, I sure don't. Maybe watching puppies pee is fun??
Dallin: Girls are so wierd. I don't get it.

I thought that was bad until today while I was trying to find a picture of the peeing pups. Apparently it gets WORSE people:

Thank heavens my kids didn't see a commercial for THIS particular Barbie. Seriously, does this toy teach young girls moral lessons about the responsibility of cleaning up after their pets or is the feces eating dog teaching impressionable youngsters that it is ok to consume their own excrement?

I guess we don't have to worry about it. After all, there are no Barbies and no puppies in this house!

And so it begins

Yesterday while I went through Dallin's backpack I found a cute little note from a girl in his class. Her name is Annalee. It was all folded like the notes I remember passing in the Jr. High days....not in 1st grade. Dallin said everyone passes folded notes...its the cool thing to do. I think nothing of it....after all, its just a little note with a bird on it holding a flag. Dallin doesn't like girls anyway....he is oblivious to those things right?

Last night before Dallin went to bed he INSISTED on writing a letter back to Annalee. Here were the 3 letters I saw on the table this morning: 

1: A letter asking Annalee to be his valentine: (with a HEART on it.....gulp)

  

2. A kind of a word puzzle or word game with Annalee's name all over it. Now, if you know Dallin, you will understand the magnitude of making some sort of puzzle out of a girl's name. Yikes....he must like this girl a lot.

3.) Well.....this one states the obvious truth:

Crap.

Valentines fun!

Tonight for Family Night we talked all about LOVE! We made valentines for each other and we put them up on the closet door. I love Dallin's valentine where the frowny faces are crossed out and the happy faces have a correct check through them. SO Dallin.

Landon worked SO hard on his little masterpiece:

I also made a cute little heart pillow (if you can even call it a pillow) out of some leftover felt I had lying around. I am too lazy to actually pull out the sewing machine so I just hot glue gunned the edges and the letters and polka dots on it. We are going to use it this week to secretly show another family member that we love and appreciate them by doing a little service for them and then leaving the pillow where the bed was made or the note was left.....whatever the service is. The boys are all THRILLED about this. (Thanks for the idea Missy! :)

I absolutely LOVE my family......cheesy to say but O so true!

Can't think of a title

I love this picture of my Landon Lou. His personality is shining through more and more lately. This week he peed in the potty 5 times! We are nowhere NEAR potty trained.....he will only go in the potty when he is completely naked and it's usually right before a bath. We're getting there...slowly but surely! I can't even imagine how GREAT it will be when we have no diapers in the house. Yay!

This morning he jumped into bed and cuddled with us. Nate asked him what he wanted for breakfast and his response was, "Ummmm....I want GUM!" Nate said, "Ok....well, what do you want OTHER than gum?" He  laughed and said "GUM" again. He thought he was SOOOO funny. 

It's been a great weekend. Between a temple session with my man and a fantastic Best of EFY morning with the youth I'm feeling quite rejuvenated. I'm grateful for perspective and reminders today. It's so important to have:
1. a cheerful heart
 
2. patience.

3. time to study the scriptures EACH day. I will be doing this hardcore for the next week as Nate and I have a deadline of finishing the B of M by Valentines Day. He already finished......I have a little ways to go you could say. :)

Ahh Man!

Looks like my blog is needing to go private.....at least for awhile anyway. I don't necessarily WANT to have a private blog but we probably need to right now. 

I'll miss you.......unless you leave me your email address or email me dalandparksmom (at) yahoo.com.

TTFN. (Ta Ta for Now)

Couponing....the new way to a man's heart.

Guess how much I spent on these groceries tonight? (Oh...and BTW, not ALL of the items are even in the picture)

$12.42 (that is a $327.00 savings!)

 2 men proposed to me tonight. Seriously. I was getting my loads of cereal and granola bars that I had pre-ordered from the back of the store. They starred as the stock boy piled the boxes into my cart. One of them said, "Looks like you really like granola bars and cereal there." When I told them how much it was going to cost me for these lovely items their jaws hit the floor. They were like... "Holy %$#$" are you married?....Will you marry one of us?"

I laughed and told them I was happily married going on 9 years. I told them if I WASN"T married to Nathan, I would be married to Albertsons. I freakin LOVE Albertsons!

In other news...here is a picture of my little preschool kids with their "dentist hats" on. We're learning all about dental health this week! So fun!