Mike and Suzann's Happiness

35th Birthday

2011-03-09T21:35:00.001-08:00

Today was my 35th birthday. I have to say I was kind of dreading it a little, only because I can now say that I am closer to 40 than 30. Today ended up being a WONDERFUL day. It started with each of my kids waking up and running in to wish me a happy birthday. Katie made me a wonderful home made birthday card. Sara did the same and also made me breakfast in bed... half an apple and two pieces of toast (one with butter and one without). Other than the mess the kids left me in the kitchen, it was a pretty good start to the day. The rest of the morning was spent being a mom and doing things that I just have to do. Unfortunately day to day things don't stop just cause its your birthday....I was able to have a nice lunch with Mike and then off to pick up Eberly from middle school. Eberly and her friend had been working on a surprise for me for my birthday. They were so cute about it. Lots of phone calls, texts and whispers. Normally Eberly and Jaycee come with me when I pick up the younger ones from Elementary school. But today they just had too much homework to do.. (wink wink). I went to get the kids from school and it was SO cute cause they were obviously trying to stall me. I turned around and Katie was walking and untying her shoe at the same time "Mom! stop... I need to tie my shoe". Stall #1. Then Sara says "Mom I have to go pee REALLY bad! I cannot wait to go home." Stall #2. We are on our way again and all of a sudden Jimmy just decides to lay down on the grass.... just to enjoy the nice afternoon. Stall #3. Then on the way to the car they walk SOOOO slow. We get to the car and start to drive home. Ring Ring.. Eberly is calling me. She is frantic..She is out of conditioner and asks me to go to the store right then to get her some. I was already almost home at this point. I finally decide to give her a break; I took the kids to the park in our neighborhood so that Jaycee and Eberly could finish up their "surprise". I texted Eberly and told her to call me when was allowed to go home. When I got home this is what I walked up to:

When I went inside, this is what I found...

Eberly and Jaycee blew up over 100 balloons and had them all over my family room. They taped streamers and flowers all over the kitchen and family room. And it was all done in my favorite color scheme...Red, black and white. I loved it! What wonderful kids I have... Tonight Katie came up to me and showed me her and Eberly's text messages while they were trying to stall me..It is so hilarious I have to share it:

Katie: The hawk(me)...(Eberly made up the code names..hahaha) is on her way..

Katie: The hawk is here. Repeat the hawk is here (meaning I arrived at the school)

Eberly: Distract the hawk. I repeat. Distract the hawk.

Katie: Ok. Hawk distracted cause she is on the phone. I repeat she's on the phone.

Eberly: Ok. Got it. When r u on your way home?

Katie: The hawk is planning on going home in a minute. I repeat the hawk s planning on oing home in a minute

Eberly: Tie your shoes together!!!!!NOW!!!!!

Katie: The hawk found out we are stalling

Eberly:Tell her we r not. Tell me when she is on her way.

Katie: K

Eberly: Who is she talking to?

Katie: She's not anymore

Eberly: Is she on her way?

Katie: Almost

Katie: The hawk is on her way up the hill. I repeat the hawk is on her way up the hill. HURRY!!!

Eberly: Ok.. Stall her

Katie: I can't!!!

Eberly: The White Rhino (Mike) is calling!

Katie: I know. I think the hawk know we are doing this.

Eberly: Tell her I am cleaning the house.

Katie: Ok.

I found this hysterical. It was such a wonderful day. I felt so loved. Yep.. I turned 35 today, but with so much love surrounding me.. how could I be any happier.

Grateful for the spirit of the youth

2010-12-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

I had one of those mornings. Jimmy woke me up numerous times with nightmares. While he is super cute and cuddly, it causes quite a lack of sleep. Mike had to work last night. He called me around 2:00 am to let me know that he would not be home on time. While this seems like a nuisance I am grateful that he lets me know when he is going to be late. I am a bit of a worrier. Sara woke up in the middle of the night also with a sore throat. She woke me up again around 6am asking for a popsicle. I was exhausted by this point. I knew I wanted to sleep in. I felt like I desperately needed it.
I decided that I was going to stay home from church today. I knew Michael wasn't going to be able to go. He worked last night and has to return tonight. Sara wasn't going to be going. I knew Jimmy was going to have a hard time waking up since he slept so horribly. And Katie..oh Katie. She was SOOOOOOO grumpy yesterday. She kept on saying how tired she was. She was grumpy the whole day. I assumed she was coming down with something. I went in to her room around 8 and she was still asleep. I asked her if she was going to get up and she said "only if you want me to"....and she zonked back out. Decision was made. I was going to stay home and in my nice warm bed.
Then I went to talk to Eberly. I asked her if she wanted to stay home. Immediately she said "NO!!!" The look of disappointment on her face killed me. I told her that I really wanted to stay home and sleep. She didn't sway. She encourage me to go. I am so grateful that she did. How could I let my daughter down? I wasn't going to do it. So I got up and got ready for church.
I am SO glad I did. What a wonderful day at church. Testimony meeting was wonderful. Sunday School was great. Relief Society.... I can't say enough about how wonderful the lesson was today. It was about the Savior's Tender Mercies.
I do think sometimes we overlook all the many blessings that we receive on a daily basis. Sometimes our blessings our huge and very obvious. So many of the blessings we receive aren't as visible.
I feel so refreshed and ready for this week. I am grateful for my Eberly and for the wonderful example she sets for me.

Why does it seem to get harder?

2010-11-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

Twelve years ago today Mike and I said goodbye to our sweet baby girl. It was the hardest decision we have ever had to make. Through much prayer and faith we knew it was the right decision. We felt so strongly that Megan was only to be here but for a short moment. Heavenly Father needed her.
It has now been twelve years. I can remember that day almost as if it were yesterday. I can remember holding that sweet angel in my arms for the last time. I can remember Mike singing Families Can Be Together Forever to her.
What I am having a hard time understanding is why I am missing her so much right now. Everytime I think about her I find my eyes getting teary and I get that lump in my throat. Am I losing my faith? I know she is where she is supposed to be. I am greatful to know that she isn't having to deal with the trials here on earth. I know she is happy. So why am I so sad?

Working harder

2010-11-14T15:21:00.001-08:00

The last few weeks have been very inspirational for me and my family. Between firesides and lessons at church I have learned so much and have begun working on implementing things I have learned to be a better parent.
Mike and I attended a special stake fireside a few weeks ago that was specifically for parents or leaders of children over the age of 10. From the moment I heard about it, I wanted to go. It seemed like "someone" was trying to make it so we couldn't attend. Things kept on coming up and frustration started to set in. I got to the point that I was about to give up. Things got all worked out except for getting someone to watch the kids. Brother Monroe, our first counselor, called to remind us about the fireside. I explained to him that we were currently working on trying to get a babysitter for the kids and having a hard time doing so. He was kind enough to offer the services of his daughter. I was so grateful.
The fireside was amazing. We learned so much. President Haynie is such an amazing man and so inspired. He was so encouraging. Something that stuck in my head was about teaching our children. One of the speakers saids something along the lines of..... we give our kids rules...BUT we need to follow up those rules with gospel doctrine. They need to understand WHY they have those rules.
This really stuck with me. How many times have I told my children to do something, but not explained why... ALL THE TIME!!! Since that fireside I have implemented that into my parenting. What a difference! Not only are they responding, but I am teaching them simple gospel principals at the same time.
Today in Sunday School Brother Chapman taught the lesson about what we can do daily to grow closer to Heavenly Father. It was a great lesson. The "normal" things were mentioned; prayer, temple attendance, being humble, obeying commandments.... But one discussion really stuck with me. Scriptures study. A family in our ward has just recently started scripture study in their home. They get up at 5:30 every morning and read scriptures together as a family. They said that it is amazing how much their family has grown and changed in the few short weeks that they have started doing this. The husband said "If you do scripture study with your family, your life WILL change." This really got to me. If this family could do it so can we!!! We are terrible about doing scripture study as a family. Between all the diffierent schedules "How are we ever going to make this work?" Then I thought to myself..this is just an excuse. LET'S JUST DO IT! So we have decided as a family that we are going to start reading our scriptures every day right after the kids get home from school. This will work with Mike working grave yards. We started today right after church. We came right home and read our scriptures. It was WONDERFUL! I felt the spirit so strongly that I actually got a little emotional.
Finally today in Relief Society we were discussing sharing our testimonies with our children and how important it is for them to know how we feel about the church. Again..Not so great at this. One sister shared something that I thought would be a great way to implement this into our family. As we are having daily conversations with our children we can easily share our testimony with them. It doesn't have to be "I'd like to bear my testimony"... For instance when the whole Chelsea King tragedy happened, my kids were really affected. I was able to ease their minds and hearts by sharing what we believe as members of the church. I was able to tell them that she is with her Heavenly Father and that I know that she will be with her family again. I didn't realize at the time that I was actually sharing my testimony with them. I am hoping that I can really start doing this more often.
I am so grateful for the all the wonderful people around me. While they were just sharing their thoughts in a church meeting.. they helped me want to work harder.

Tis' the Season...

2010-11-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Tis the season to be sicky..fa la la la la la la la la....Jimmy has been fighting a cold off and on for the last few weeks. First week started with a 24 hour fever. I wasn't too concerned because Sara had the exact same thing. Second week he came down with a LITTLE cough, but again got a fever that lasted less than 24 hours. I figured that he was fine since he no longer had a fever. Well, Saturday night he came down with ANOTHER fever. This one seemed a lot higher than the others. I thought "oh boy.. this is it.. this is going to be that fever that lingers." I was wrong. He woke up Sunday morning with no fever. His cough was a lot worse by this point.
Sunday morning also started Katie's downword spiral. Not the best way to spend Halloween. She was completely fine on Saturday, but woke up with a horrible cough and fever by the afternoon.
I decided that night that I should probably take Jimmy in to see Dr. Rosenfeld on Monday. 3 fevers in 3 weeks just wasn't sitting well with me. Plus his cough was getting a lot worse. I called the office Monday morning and was able to see her by the afternoon. I decided that I might as well take Katie in too since I was already going to be there.
Dr. Rosenfeld came in and started to check out the kids. I hadn't seen her in a while so we were catching up...when she smiled and said (while checking out Jimmy) "Well, how about Walking Pneumonia for ya?" Then she moved on to Katie.... "How about 2".
Two kids with walking pneumonia! Fortunately I took Katie in when I did. She had only been sick for two days. She was not nearly as bad as Jimmy is though.
They both got their breathing treatments and prescriptions. My kids have gotten walking pneumonia before. I normally have to take them back in to see the Doc in about 2 weeks after they start their inhalers and antibiotics. Not this time. Jimmy has to go back on Friday!!! That is how bad he is. He is super bummed because Friday is his birthday and not only does he have to go to the doctor.. he can't go to school. Katie can possibly go back on Thursday and Jimmy is out AT LEAST this whole week.
I am so glad I took them in. Who knows how sick they could have gotten. You have to understand.. Call in mother's intuition? I call it Heavenly Father inspiring me. My kids tend to not act sick when they are sick. Jimmy has been bouncing off the walls and Katie has been her normal chipper self.
Now my counter is filled with inhalers and antibiotics. Tis the season.

Trunk or Treat

2010-10-30T07:55:00.001-07:00

Our ward held their Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night.. For those that might not know what this is... We park our cars in the parking lot of our church and the kids trick or treat from car to car. I love seeing the creative ways people decorate their cars. It was a great night. It started off with a chili cook off. Mike made his delicious chili and entered it into the contest. We couldn't believe how many crock pots of chili showed up. I don't think I have ever seen so much chili in one place in my life :). Unfortunately Mike didn't win... but we took the empty pot as a sign that his chili was well liked.

The kids had a blast "trunk" or treating. They scored too. Having so much candy in the house is not helping my diet plan. Those darned sweet tarts.

Eberly went as Athena; Ever since watching Percy Jackson she has been very into Greek Mythology. She is now reading the Percy Jackson series and LOVING it.

Katie went as a "retired" angel. Let me explain. She wanted to be an angel for Halloween. But seeing how PICKY she is... finding a white angel costume that she liked, and that wasn't $30, was next to impossible. Then I found these cute blue angel wings with matching skirt. She LOVED it. But since angels wear white.. she said that she is retired.

Sara went as a vampire. Not really sure why she wanted to be a vampire. My mom had found this cape when she was going through her fabric. Sara saw it and HAD to be a vampire.

Jimmy went as a wizard. Again.. Not sure where the idea came from. But it was an easy costume. I found the cute wizard hat in the dollar bin at Target!

Thanks to my Mom for making Eberly and Jimmy's costume. My kids would have gone as ghosts if she hadn't stepped in.

Happy Halloween.

Light the Night

2010-10-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

Every year Crimestoppers puts on a 5k run. It is apparently a pretty big competition among different police departments to see who can get the most participants. Mike, Katie and I decided to participate this year. I was very nervous...1. I haven't been very good at running lately. 2. I went to a concert the night before. 3. I had to run 2 booths at the Halloween Carnival that same day. I honestly didn't know how I was going to have the energy to do it. So I told myself that I would just walk it. I would let Katie and Mike run it.

We got there..after sitting in a ton of traffic. I had NO clue what a big event this was. I swear every cop in the city, that wasn't working, was there. It was awesome. We signed in, got our nifty glow in the dark t-shirts and got ready to...walk :)

Well we started at almost the end of the pack. It was just so crowded. Once we passed the starting line everyone started to thin out. My Katie was ready to go and to my surprise so was I. So I actually started running and I was able to keep up with Mike and Katie...for a little while. I could see that I was slowing my poor Katie Kat down so I let her and Mike go on up running 3/4 of the race. I only walked for about 1/4 of it. I was so proud of myself. But I was more proud of my little girl. She ran the 5k in 40 minutes! (I came in at 43). We figured out she came in 9th place for girls in her age category. SOOOO proud of her.

It turned out being a great night. I did way better than I thought would. I thought it would take me 2 hours to walk the thing. Not only did we support a good cause but it has motivated all three of us to get working and beat our time next year. In the words of Katie "I'm gonna kick their butts next year."

Slacking

2010-10-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

So I keep on saying that I am going to keep up on my blogging. It just hasn't happened. I am going to make an early New Years Resolution. I think it is so important to journal what is happening in our lives. With how busy our lives are it is easy to forget..even the small things. So this is it. This is my goal. I am going to stay up on my blog. Wish me luck...

Day 3 - Grow A Garden

2010-06-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today is Day 3 of the 77 Days of Summer GROW A GARDEN... Well, if you saw yesterday's post we went on a 4 mile hike. The kids were completely EXHAUSTED from their hike. They had no desire to do any gardening whatsoever. Can't say that I blame them. On top of that Jimmy also has bronchitis and Eberly was spending then night at a friend's house. So we decided to move onto Day 4...HAVE A READING CONTEST! What a great way to spend the day when you are exhausted. We changed it up a bit though...Instead of doing the number of books we read..we are doing the number of pages. I thought this would make the contest a little more fair since Jimmy's books are only a handful of pages and Eberly's are just slightly longer :) When the kids finish a book they will let me know and we will record it. I will also take this time to discuss the book with them to make sure they really read it :) I will keep you posted how they are doing. I think I am going to join this contest too.

Day 2 - Treasure Hunt

2010-06-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

Today is Day 2 of the 77 days of summer. Today was HAVE A TREASURE HUNT! I decided to change it up a bit. We did a Treasure Hike instead. Mike, Katie and Jim are going to Little Lakes Valley in a few weeks. They really wanted to test out Katie's shoes and backpack and to see if she could handle a hike. So we went on a hike together as a family at Daley Ranch in Escondido. We hiked about 4 miles. We had a fantastic time. And yes...we did find some treasures along the way....pretty flowers, great views, lakes, a tarantula halk, snake trails and yes...coyote poop..and lots of it. We had so much fun. Even little Jimmy who has bronchitis did a great job. This hike had a lot of hills too. I was really proud of them.

77 Days of Summer

2010-06-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yes.. I am finally blogging again. My mother in law has a fantastic list of 77 things to do over the summer. http://www.gingerproffitt.com/res_list.php?cat=13536&cn=77+Days+of+Summer+Fun I have decided that I am going to try and follow this list..as closely as I can. I may have to arrange things here and there.. but I will give it a shot.. Today is HAVE A PAJAMA DAY!!! Yep... It is noon and we are all still in our pajamas. I have accomplished a lot today while still being very comfortable... I have worked (from home of course), done dishes, done about 5 loads of laundry, vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, made my bed. I think we need to have more pajama days.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T09:53:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas! We had a great time Christmas Eve with my mom. My Aunt came from Hawaii. We had a wonderful night. Christmas was just as wonderful. Got to spend the afternoon with my wonderful in-laws! Dinner was FABULOUS!!!! I absolutely LOVE the holidays. I love spending time with all my loved ones! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. I am also SO blessed to have married into a wonderful family. Love you all! Happy Holidays!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Primary Program

2009-10-28T13:20:00.001-07:00

Sunday was our primary program. As always it was fantastic. The kids were ecstatic to have Grammy and Nana come and watch them. Eberly talked about how she can show love to her family by helping her brother and sisters when they get hurt. Katie talked about how she feels when she gets promptings from The Holy Ghost. Sara talked about how happy we were in Heaven but Heavenly Father wanted more for us.. and Jimmy.. Good old Jimmy. He was asked to respond to the question "What makes your family happy"? The other kids said things like "my family is happy when.. we pray together, when we go to church, when we have family home evening.." Not Jimmy. "My family is happy when we go out to dinner." What more can I say?

Hidden blessing of the day 9-4-09

2009-09-04T14:05:00.001-07:00

So as you may have read in my previous blog.. I am trying to find and write down a blessing in my life every day.. But I am making it a "non-obvious" blessing. One that might take a little thinking to figure out....So here is my hidden blessing of the day....

Mike is REALLY sick..fever, sore throat, cough.. (hopefully not the piggy flu :).....
Anyways.... he came home from work early last. Hard to imagine where I can find a blessing in this right...We all know that when men are sick it is just like having another child. Well my hidden blessing is that I don't have to sleep alone tonight! :) Mike works grave yards and since he will be calling in sick tonight I won't be lonely....

Finding the good in small things

2009-09-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

I was laying in bed last night thinking... Why do I do that? Why do I always think when I REALLY need to be sleeping? anyways.... I am trying to be a more positive thinker these days. Facebook has been a real eye opener for me. You get a sense of everyones' good days and bad. It has made me realized that EVERYONE struggles in one way or the other.
Well I have decided that it is time to find the blessings in the small things in life. I am not talking about the obvious ones; (friends, family... etc) I am talking about the little things. So I am going to write about one blessing every day. I think it is going to be a great way to keep up my positive thinking... Here is an example of one of thought about last night...
Last week we took the kids swimming. There is one blessing right there.. Yes it has been 100 degrees for the last week. BUT if it wasn't hot we couldn't have enjoyed an afternoon at the pool :)
Anyways.. back to my thought....Mike and I were lying on the lounge chairs when all of a sudden we heard this LOUD thunk! No.. it wasn't an earthquake.. No it wasn't a boulder falling down a hill... It was my poor Eberly falling "up" the rock stairs up to the slide. When I realized that the "thunk" I heard was Eberly hitting the rock I was pretty panicked. She hit her chin and her shin very hard on the stairs. I know I know.. where is the blessing in this right? Here is where I feel blessed... she hit HARD!.... Did she need stitches? NOPE! Did she lose any teeth or crack any? NO! Did she have any brain damage? NO! Did she have a good size bruise and gash on her leg and chin? YES! But compared to what could have happened... I will take it! This is my finding the good in small things :)

Happy Birthday my Sweet Sara

2009-07-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

My little Sara turned 7 on Friday... They are all growing up so fast. We are so blessed to have Sara in our home. She brings so much joy to our house. She is quite the sassy little thing.. but she wouldn't be Sara if she wasn't. She has the hardest time deciding what to do for her birthday. Zoo? Beach? Movies? Seaport Village? She finally decided around 2 in the afternoon to go down to Seaport Village. We did a little shopping...looked at all the huge boats in the bay....rode on the carousel.. It was a fantastic day. We then gave her the option of where she wanted to go for dinner. Chinese? Nope. Subway (one of her faves) Nope? This went on for a while! She just couldn't decide. She finally decided on Red Robin. Not cause the food was good. Nope. Cause she remebered that they sing to you on your birthday. She kept looking behind her the whole time to see if they were coming!
Happy Birthday to my sweet Sara. WE LOVE YOU!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Swimming with Cousins

2009-07-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

It was so much fun having Juli, Reed and family down for Cassia's wedding. The kids had so much fun together... Eberly and Ben connected immediately. They were almost inseparable. Eberly has already written him a letter. She misses him tremendously. Here are some pics from our swim together.. We had a great time.. Love you guys!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Long Time No Blog

2009-07-22T12:46:00.001-07:00

I know... I know.. I have been awful.. I have been neglecting my blog for facebook! I am going to try and catch up in the next week.. Now I have to try and remember all that has happened since May! Wish me luck...

Happy Birthday Katie!!!!

2009-05-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

My Katie- Kat turned 8 today! I can't believe how fast they are all growing up. Eberly woke her up this morning before 6:00 am so she could open her presents. I don't think so.... I sent them back to bed! I made her a picture video with pictures from when she was a baby until now. She sat on the couch this morning and watched it. It was so cute! She was grinning from ear to ear the whole time. I am going to do this for all the kids this year for their birthday. They just love it. I have attached it here. YES.... It is a long one again.. I just can't help myself :)
I am so lucky to have Katie in my life. She is such a sweet and loving little girl. Yes.. she has her diva moments... but she wouldn't be Katie without them. She has had to miss running practice for the last two weeks cause she has had a horrible cough. Her coach emailed me yesterday telling me how much they miss her smile!
Happy Birthday Katie! We love you so much!

***Remember*** June 6th @ 5pm she will be getting baptized.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My little runner

2009-05-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Anyone that had been following me on facebook knows that my Katie has become quite the little runner. At school they have a running club. Everyday they she does running club she comes home with a 9 or 10 stamped on her hand indicating she ran that many laps. Her teacher is amazed by her. "You realize she is running with the fast boys right?" I have been trying for a long time to get her to play soccer. But those that know my little bear know that she is intimidated quite easily. She is not a fan of head on competition like that. Long story short.. I had been talking to a friend about trying to find some sort of running club.... I should have spoke up a lot sooner. He immediately gave me information for a FABULOUS running club. She is now a member of the SoCal Roadrunners. She started practice about a month ago.

am so thrilled with this group. ALL the coaches are extremely supportive. They adore her. They love the fact that she is always smiling. She runs/practices with a group of kids ranging in the age group of 7-17. What a great group of kids. She came in late in the season and they all cheer her on and have helped her to learn the ropes.

She has now competed in 2 track meets. She is definitely distance runner. She is not a fan of the sprints. But she has had to compete in only sprints. They have not had the distance races in her age group.

I am just so proud of Katie. Last week was her first track meet. She got quite nervous before her race. There were a couple of tears. I was so impressed with the little girls she was racing with. They were from a different running group, but when they saw she was upset they hugged her and played with her to get her mind of her nerves. It was adorable. Katie did much better nerve wise today...but those same girls came and hugged her when they saw her.

She ran the 100m and the 200m last Saturday and today she ran in the 100m, 200m and the 400m. She shaved 2 seconds off her 200m.

Go Katie!

Spring Break Week

2009-04-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a busy week. We had a great time together as a family. Here is a video with some pictures from this past week. It includes strawberry picking, Wild Animal Park, Dyeing Easter eggs, Easter at Grammy and Papa's and Easter at Nana's house. It is kind of long.. But hope you enjoy it anyways!

Happy Easter!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Cousin Sleepover

2009-04-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

Mike called me on his way home from work yesterday and said he was going to bring Annali and Johnnette over for a sleep overas a surprise for the kids. (Sheli and the kids were spending the night at Mom and Dad's) I knew the kids were going to be SO EXCITED! I told them that daddy was bringing them home a treat. We spent the next 30 minutes playing 20 questions?
-Can we eat it? No.. I don't think they would appreciate that
-Can we play with it? Yes
-Is it a mammal? Yes
-Do we get to keep it? Until tomorrow
-Is it an animal? I'm sure at times
-Does it eat carrots? I think so
-Is it a parrot? chinchilla? ferret? dog? kittens?
They stood at the window and waited for their surprise. It was worth the wait. They were so excited to have their cousins over. Poor Johnnette and Anna haven't had a moments peace.

Crazy Hair Day

2009-03-25T16:39:00.001-07:00

Today was crazy hair day at the kids' school. The kids love crazy hair day.... That is until they have to come home and take out all the rubber bands... OUCH!

Beach Weekend

2009-03-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon we started our annual weekend campout at South Carlsbad State beach. My good friend makes reservations every year for my birthday. We normally stay from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. Every year this seems to fall on day lights savings. So Sunday morning we are always moaning and groaning cause we lose an hour and we are NEVER ready to go home. This year we decided to stay until Monday. It was a great decision. We had a fantastic weekend. I was definitely ready to go home on Monday though. I was ready to take a shower without having to have a pocket of tokens. I was ready to use my OWN bathroom. I was ready to find my clothes somewhere other than a suitcase. I was also ready to eat food without enjoying the crunch of sand. BUT so I don't sound like I am complaining...... I had a BLAST! It couldn't have gone better. The weather was slightly colder than the last few years, but we had NO rain and lots of sunshine. Eberly convinced me to go boogie boarding not only once, but twice. It was great once my body got numb :) The kids enjoyed playing in the little pools of water. Some of them were as warm as bath water. We also enjoyed exploring the little reef when the tide went down. We were able to find 4 little hermit type crabs. I love camping at the beach. There is nothing better than sitting around the camp fire enjoying smores and laughing with each other. We were fortunate to have our boys join us for a night. Some of Mike's co-workers also came out for an afternoon. Thanks honey for providing us with plenty of wood. He loaded a whole truck bed full of wood. I, of course, thought we had too much. Glad he didn't listen to me. We had just enough.
Here are some pics from the beach. Sorry it is kind of long, but I think if you click on the pic it will let you move through the pics faster. If you want to do the normal slide show you have to click on the first picture or it keeps on repeating the same pic. Not sure why it is doing this other than to frustrate me. Hope you enjoy. Thanks to ALL who made this the best birthday weekend ever!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Future Entreprenuer

2009-03-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

Sara lost her 2nd tooth on Saturday. She was so excited to get some money from the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy put a dollar under her pillow, but she couldn't find her tooth. The tooth fairy didn't want to wake her up, so she decided to leave it under Sara's pillow.
Sara woke up the next morning and I could hear her talking to Katie. "The tooth fairy gave me a dollar! But she didn't take me tooth! I am going to put my tooth under my pillow again tonight and get another dollar from the tooth fairy!!!"
I guess we know who will be making the big bucks in our family.

Do you like cats? This just might change your mind

2009-02-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

I know that there are many of you out there that don't like cats. My kitty might just change your mind. We have a grey striped tabby named Sparky. He is about 3 years old. He is the sweetest thing ever. His favorite person in the whole house is Eberly. He adores her. He comes out whenever she comes home. He is almost always either in her lap or in her bed. He rubs and snuggles her. Here is the kicker....
Whenever the kids are sick... His "kitty intuition"kicks in. He will snuggle and sleep with whoever is ailing. It is the cutest thing. We don't know how he knows.. but he does. The kids love it! They say that Sparky is taking care of them. Jimmy is fighting a cold/fever right now. The last two nights as soon as I tucked Jimmy in for bed, Sparky curled up right next to him. There is something to be said for fuzz therapy (to quote Calvin and Hobbes) :)

Great way to spend a Tuesday!

2009-02-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

The kids have the whole week off of school. We decided this morning that we were going to head up to the snow in Julian. It is actually a pretty short drive from where we live. On the way up we got kind of worried, because we didn't see any snow. It was getting colder and colder, but no white stuff. Then all of a sudden the rain turned into snow. We ended up at the same place we went a couple of years ago. Just some great hills on the side of the road. But, of course, we couldn't have a trip without some drama. Michael went to make a 3 point turn and "thunk" we got stuck in the snow. I will admit that it did not remotely look like the snow was deep where he was turning. So Mike and I got out of the car and started trying to dig it out. It was not working. LOVE law enforcment... A Border Patrol agent came by and within a couple of minutes a parks officer came by. They blocked the traffic and pulled us out. It made for another great memory.
It ended up being a FANTASTIC day! We layered the kids up quite well. The weather was wonderful! One minute it was sunny, but you could see the clouds coming and they were packed with snow. So the kids got to experience being in the snow while it was actually snowing. The kids had so much fun sledding down the hill..... We ALL had a lot of fun sledding down the hill. We ended the day with a trip to the Julian Pie Company! It was a great way to spend a Tuesday!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Save the Date

2009-01-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

I received a letter in the mail yesterday from our Primary Presidency. They have scheduled all the baptisms for the whole year of 2009. Katie will be getting baptized this year! She is so excited about it. The date they have selected for her baptism will be June 6, 2009! So please save the date. She would love to have all of you, that can, be there for her special day. Time and location will follow when it gets closer!

Please tell me you have done this?

2009-01-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

I was having a very productive day yesterday. It had been a busy weekend and I had a lot of housework to catch up on. It was about 1:30 or so and I was feeling pretty good. I got most of the housework done, plus some extra things... Our landlord was coming in the afternoon and I wanted to make sure things were extra tidy. Around 1:50 or so my landlord shows up and we are outside talking. I heard the house phone ring, but I ignored it. Most of the time it isn't anyone I want to talk to anyways. Everyone seems to call me on my cell phone. I got done talking with my landlord and decided to check to see who had called. It said that Michael had called. When he calls on the home phone it usually means he couldn't get a hold of me on my cell. So I went and got my cell phone to call him back. I noticed I had 4 missed calls. Of course I was thinking in my head...."yeesh Mike get a grip! I was just outside!" (He tends to panic when I don't answer the phone.) I also noticed that I have 2 voicemails and a call from an 858 number. I sort of recognized the 858 number as possibly being the kids' school. Oh no! I thought maybe one of the kids was sick and I missed the call. That would explain all the phone calls from Mike. I was half right. It was the school. AND Mike did have a legitimate reason to call me so many times. OOOPS! I forgot to pick up the kids! Normally the kids get out of school at 3:20. On Wednesdays they get out at 1:40! Fortunately I have a fantastic friend who turned around and waited with the kids. I didn't even leave the house until after 2. Fortunately I have very forgiving children. They will be teasing me about it for the next month, but at least they aren't bitter :) Have you ever done this?

Who has control here?

2009-01-20T16:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to Poway Lake. (I will add more about that later) We took Bella with us. Jimmy kept on asking and asking if he could hold her leash. We told him "yes", but he had to make sure he controlled her. As you can see in this picture he did quite well.

Until.........

Bella decided it was time to play soccer. Hmmmm... who has the control now?

Future missionary

2008-12-30T15:41:00.000-08:00

Jimmy has been carrying around the scriptures Grammy made him for Christmas since the day he got them. He is so cute about them. Today Tyler (another one of my "boys" that came home on Monday) was over today. Jimmy was sitting at the dining room table "reading" his scriptures. Tyler asked him "Are you reading some good scriptures there Jimmy?" Jimmy responded by saying "No. I can't find a page that I can read yet."
This afternoon we heard Jimmy over in Bella's corner. He was sitting next to her with his scriptures in front of her nose. "Bella, look at this page. Its a good one.... Read this page Bella.... We don't eat the scriptures Bella... We just read them." I think he is preparing to be a great missionary. Dogs need to learn the gospel to I guess.
Thank you Grammy for the wonderful scriptures. They have created many precious moments in our home.

Am I crazy?

2008-12-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I have not yet had a chance to blog about what a great and wonderful Christmas we have had. I am sad that it is already gone and passed. But I am getting in trouble by my husband for not blogging about the kids "best Christmas present EVER!" Yes I do think I am crazy. This is Bella.... our puppy German Shephard. We got her from a breeder that Mike assisted at work. Mike instantly fell in love with her. Once I met her I understood why. She is the sweetest thing ever. The kids have been asking for a dog for about the last 6 months. When asked what they want for Christmas the first answer out of their mouths was "a dog"! We had no intention of fullfilling this wish until Mike met Bella. On Christmas morning I wrapped 4 things.... A tennis ball, a rawhide chew toy, a rope toy and a stuffed german shephard. Jimmy opened the tennis ball and was actually kind of excited about it. Then Sara opened up her raw hide and had NO clue what it was. "What in the world is this?" Then Katie opened her rope toy. You could see a little flicker of hope in their eyes. Then Eberly opened her stuffed dog. The look of confusion was priceless. I then told the kids "You said you wanted a dog, well there is your dog (pointing to the stuffed dog)... Sara handed her chew toy to Katie and said "here.. you can have this". They were horrified. They couldn't believe that I would be this "mean".... Eberly than said "I am going to check in the back yard... just in case".. Mike was not yet back there with Bella. I then told the kids that Daddy had just gotten home from work and was out in the back getting fire wood. So they all ran back there to see there dad AND to tell him to hurry up so they could open up their "real" presents. All of a sudden I heard a gasp and Eberly ran outside. "Is that a REAL dog? Is that a REAL dog?" Then Katie asked "Do we get to keep it?" I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it was to see their excitement. It was the best feeling ever.
And I have to report that she is a FANTASTIC dog. She is already housebroken. When she comes inside the house you lay down a towel, say "down" and she lays down until you tell her she can get up. She plays soccer with the kids. (Eberly is thrilled about that). She doesn't bite. When you tell her "no" she actually stops. She even gets along with Betty Boop. Betty did make sure that Bella knew who was queen bee though. The only issue she has had thus far is the leash! She is so mortally offended that we would even think about putting a leash on her. She plants her buns down and just sits there. I have been watching the Dog Whisperer and I even bought his dog training cards. I used his technique and it worked. She actually walked on the leash yesterday! Go Ceasar!
Those that know my Katie know that she prefers animals to humans any day. This morning she told Eberly that she thinks she is half dog and half human!
So, yes I might be crazy, but I have to admit, I have been sleeping a lot more soundly knowing I have a guard dog. AND the kids happiness is worth it :)

Sweet Boy

2008-12-16T13:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we got a really good storm here in San Diego. It was wonderful! We have desperately needed the rain. It was rainy, windy and cold! I loved it. I was a little nervous sending Katie to school though. She is just getting over walking pneumonia. She is still on an inhaler, but I figured that since she was off her antibiotics she would be okay to go. I sent her off to school with directions to make sure she stays inside and to bundle up if she did go outside. When I went to pick her up she was walking with this boy. He was holding an umbrella up over the two of them. (primarily over her though) I was so touched with this boy. He was looking out for my sweet Katie. Then when she walked away to me, he folded up his umbrella and went along his merry way. I thought this was so sweet!

Best Sunday Ever

2008-12-07T19:19:00.001-08:00

What a fantastic Sunday! It all started this morning. The kids were straightening up their rooms. All of a sudden they came out and asked "Mom, why is there a christmas tree in front of our house?" I had no clue what they were talking about. I went outside and there leaning on our front porch was a beautiful 8 foot noble fir christmas tree. It was still all bundled up. I ran inside and woke Mike up. I made him come outside and take a look. We were floored. We had no idea who had done this. We asked a couple of our neighboors if they had seen anyone. They had not. We still have no idea who gave us this wonderful gift. Buying a Christmas tree this year was really cutting into our Christmas "budget". I wish I could find out who started our day so wonderfully and gave us a priceless gift. I would love to be able to thank whoever did this. We then went to church. All of us were already on cloud 9. Church was wonderful today. Mike got up in Sacrament Meeting and bore his testimony. I won't go into detail about what he said, but I will say that he touched many people. The spirit was so very strong. I honestly didn't think the day could get any better. We came home and put up the tree. We made some delicious chili (thanks for the recipe dad)! Then we decorated the Christmas tree. We had SO much fun. We turned on some Christmas music and had a blast. By the end they kids were dancing around the living room to some great Christmas tunes. Eberly said "We need to do this every night!" I agree!
What a great day! It started out with someone being so extremely generous. I wish they could understand how much they have blessed us. Today was ALL about family. I agree with Eberly. I wish every day could be like today!

Christmas Lights

2008-12-02T17:49:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was my happy day! It was time to put up our Christmas lights. This is our third year at this house. Each year we add a little more. Our neighbors actually look forward to the day when they see us putting up our lights. We have been nicknamed "The Gingerbread House". We have had people ring our doorbell to tell us how much they love our lights. This year we added 2 additional inflatables. I wish the pictures turned out better. It is 100% better when you see them in person. Our whole house is outlined in icicle lights. We have santa in a sleigh on our roof, a carousel, a snow globe like inflatable with penguins and an 8' santa. We then outline our lawn with the big C9 lights. Last year we attempted to put arches over our driveway. They had a hard time staying up. We had a good rain and it weighed down the garland so much that they fell down. We are going to try redesigning them and reattempt them again next year. I took the PVC pipe that we used for the arches and made candy canes out of them. We have lined on each side of the driveway. We also have little mini lighted trees going up our walkway. Yes, our SDG&E bill is a little more expensive, but it is SO worth it. The kids look forward to this every year almost as much as Mike and I do. We started putting up the lights around 10am yesterday and didn't finish until after 5pm. That was with some additional help too. Garrett (one of my boys) came and helped. I LOVE Christmas!

My baby is 10!

2008-12-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Eberly turned 10 on Thanksgiving! I cannot believe my little girl is 10 years old. These past 10 years have just flown by. 10 years ago we started our little family. Eberly and Megan came into our lives both with very special purposes. We know Megan was needed very much by Heavenly Father. We also know that Eberly was very much needed here on earth by all her loved ones. From the moment she was born she carried a special spirit with her. To this day she still has it. She is always so thoughtful and so sweet. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. Happy 10th Birhday Ebi!. We love you very much!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I haven't been able to blog for a while now. It is amazing how much I miss it :) Anyways, long story short... We have had the virus from hell hit our home. Sara had bronchitis, Jimmy had croup along with a 105 fever. I had bronchitis and strep (I was in bed for a week). And now my poor Eberly has it now on Thanksgiving and her birthday!
I just wanted all of you to know I have not vanished. I have just been laid up in bed with that horrible bug! I have been trying to catch up on reading. I will try and start catching up on my posting too here soon. Have to catch up on the week of housework first!
Love you all. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Help!

2008-11-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

Calling all sister-in-laws, mother-in-laws, friends, sisters.... ANYONE! We have a party to go to tomorrow for Michael's squad. I am supposed to bring a side dish... BUT I am totally bored with my same old same old recipes.
If you have any great side dish recipes... PLEASE send them on over. I know so many of you are great cooks and very creative so I am very excited to see what you can come up with.

THANKS A MILLION!

Happy Birhtday Jimmy

2008-11-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

4 Years ago... Our family was made complete with the birth of our little guy... Jimmy.. Here is a little slideshow of some pictures from the last 4 years. It has gone by so fast. We are so greatful to have him in our home. We never have a dull moment with him in our home :)

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Love a Man in Uniform

2008-11-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

Mike made his debut on Cops last Saturday night. We had a blast watching him. Mike was working that night, but he was still hoping to be able to watch it at his department. That didn't happen. He got a call during the second tidbit that they showed. So, he missed the whole thing. Eberly, Katie, Jimmy and I watched it together. (Sara was spending the night at my mom's house) The kids were SO excited to see him on TV. You could see the look of pride on their faces. Mike called me about half way through the episode to see what they were showing. I finally had to tell him to "shut up" and hung up on him. He was interrupting!
The kids all clapped when it was all done. Sara called me and screamed "COOL! DAD IS FAMOUS!" You would have thought he won an emmy. The kids were on cloud 9. They said to me "We can't go to sleep now, MOM! We are too excited."
I love how proud they are of him. I am proud of the work he does. Next Friday Mike is getting a special Sheriff's Certificate of Lifesaving. He helped to save a man's life and Sheriff Kolender will be presenting him with an award at a special ceremony.
If you weren't able to watch the episode, you can watch it on the website:
http://www.cops.com
They will have it on the website for about another week. They have said that he might be on again. I will keep you all posted. Love my man in uniform!

Welcome Home

2008-11-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago Wednesday, my second son came home! Garrett returned from his mission in Tempe Arizona. He called us Wednesday night and was able to talk to each of the kids. He was shocked at how much Jimmy talked. On Saturday he gave us a call to see if he could come over. We really wanted to surprise the kids so we didn't tell them he was coming. We told them we had a surprise for them. Eberly says "It's Garrett huh? He's coming over?" We didn't want to ruin it for them, so we told them "No, we are just going to let you guys stay up late and watch a movie." They were really disappointed. When Mike saw his car pull up he went outside telling the kids he was just checking to make sure his car was locked. They were all engrossed in a movie when Garrett quietly walked in. All of a sudden Eberly saw him out of the corner of her eye; about the same time that Jimmy did. Eberly was all wrapped up in her blanket and couldn't get out fast enough. Garrett was bombarded with lovings! What a great welcome home.

We were able to see him last Sunday for his homecoming talk. As I mentioned when Kyle came home, I was so impressed with how well he spoke. You could tell how much knowledge he has of the gospel.

We got to spend some time with him this afternoon. He was able to come with us to pick up the kids from school. They all ran to him and soon as they saw him. Mike and I were cooking dinner and all we could hear outside was laughter. Garrett was out there with the kids playing dodgeball, tag and wrestling. I got a couple of pictures, but my camera's batteries were dying and half of them turned out fuzzy. As you can see from the two pics that actually turned out, there was nothing but happiness in my backyard this afternoon. At one point I looked out the window and Garrett had ALL 4 kids hanging on him. I wish I could save that laughter in a bottle. It was priceless. After dinner we sat down and watched a movie together. All the kids took turns snuggling in Garrett's lap to watch the movie.

As VERY hard as it was to say goodbye two years ago, it has been so special and wonderful welcoming my boys home.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from tonight. We had a pretty busy day. I wasn't sure how today would work out. Jimmy got really sick Wednesday night. He had a temp of 104.8. But he snapped out of it pretty quick and was ready for the festivities; Although you could tell he wasn't quite 100%. The kids and I went and saw High School Musical 3 today. About 3/4 of the way through Jimmy kept on asking "Is it almost over yet? How about now? Now? Is this the last song?" What a trooper. We then went to the mall to have lunch with my mom. Then this evening was the trick or treating. We went in a neighborhood of one of our friends. It is a hopping street. Katie got to even trick or treat at her teacher's house. She loved that. Our last stop was to Grammy and Papa's house. Betty Boop was very excited to see the kids. Ginger said that she knew even before the kids got to the door that it was them. She got REALLY excited. A total different reaction than when other kids came. Jim was at their ward's trunk or treat. So we tried to catch him there. I gave him a call and he said "I am on my way home." So we made a u-turn and waited to see Papa.

It was a great day and night.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Primary Program

2008-10-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

The kids had their primary program yesterday. It has been a lot of fun for them preparing for it. Jimmy has been really enjoying it. He was a little confused on Saturday though. They were having a practice for the program at the church. Right before we left Jimmy ran into his room and starting changing into his church clothes. I explained to him that he didn't need to wear his church clothes. He was quite confused by this.

Eberly did a great job. She seems to have a talent for public speaking. She is great at making eye contact with the congregation and is smiling the whole time.

We all are well aware that Katie can be quite shy. This has made for difficult times in the past programs. She did FANTASTIC! She was smiling the whole time. She did great! We were so proud.

Sara surprised us. She got up to the podium and said her part word for word without looking at the paper in front of her. She had it memorized! All weekend she was telling me that she didn't have it memorized. I don't know if she was teasing me or if she didn't even realized that she had memorized it.

Jimmy was one of the highlights of the program. For the past 2 weeks he has been walking around the house singing the songs and practicing his part. "I am Jimmy Proffitt and I am a Child of God." Over and over and over. When it was time for his part... the poor little guy got SO nervous. He started bouncing up and down and flapping his arms like he was ready to fly away. " I am..... I am..... I AM JIMMY!" That was all he could say. Even though he was nervous he continued smiling. The WHOLE congregation couldn't help by laugh.

Mike and I had a great time watching our kids up there. They sang their little hearts out. We did enjoy making faces at them the whole time. They just smiled and smiled. I love primary programs.

Geisha Girl

2008-10-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

The young women in our ward had a great activity on Thursday for the Achievement Day girls. They had a little sister/big sister Halloween party. Eberly had such a great time.

I am a total procrastinator though. I always think to myself..Okay... I have so many days until Halloween... I don't have to get everything yet. So Eberly was without chopsticks for her hair. I had Mike go across the street and to see if Frank and Ona had any. Of course they had to make fun of us.... "You married a Japanese girl and you don't have any chopsticks in you house?"

Sad huh!

But, they had some and Eberly had a great time!

Let's try again....

2008-10-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

It looks as if I can stop boycotting COPS now. I have been boycotting them since they rode around with Mike for a month and didn't show him when they said they would... They have redeemed themselves for the most part. According to their website he will be shown on Saturday November 1st..... If you go to the website www.cops.com you will see photos of the clips they are going to show on the 1st... If you scroll down you will see the heading that says :
Deputy Jason Phillips of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department responds to a ‘code cover’ assistance call. (It is Mike asking for the "code cover")
You will see two bald men with their weapons pointed at the "bad guy". The one on the right, closest to the cop car is Mike. Mike took down 6 people, one with a loaded double barrel shot gun. Deputy Phillips is Mike's best friend at work. You get to see how well these two work together.

I Have Been Tagged

2008-10-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Lauri has tagged me. I have been trying to think of 7 things that you might not know about me. It has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. So here we go.....

1. I LOVE watching the Food Network and HGTV..... I would love to be a chef or a professional decorator. I get so many great recipes from the Food Network. I wish I could say I was a fantastic cook, but I am not. I am definitely a visual learner. I do much better when I have watched someone cook the recipe than if I just read it. But yet, mine never seem to turn out as pretty as the ones on TV. I also love watching the transformations on HGTV. Some day I will have enough money to decorate my house all pretty like they do on TV :)

2. I am a sucker for a good romantic book. I am not talking harlequin romance type books. I like to call them Romantic Tragedies. They are the kind of books that you might need a box of tissues while reading. Nicholas Sparks is my favorite author of these kinds of books. They are simple love stories that tend to have a tragic twist of some sorts. I love romantic stories...

3. I have days when I feel I am totally inadequate to be a mother. I sometimes wonder what Heavenly Father was thinking sending ME these 4 beautiful children. They are such sweet and wonderful kids. I am truly blessed that they are in my life. It makes me feel so guilty when I am having a "bad mommy" day.

4. One of my favorite "guilty" pleasures are Double Chocolate Chip Frappaccinos from Starbucks. There is NO coffee in them (so I don't feel guilty in that way) ... If you are ever having a really bad day, it is amazing how a cup full of cold chocolaty goodness topped with whipped cream can make it all better. :)

5. I LOVE animals. If I had lots of money and lots of land, I would love to have dogs and cats running around everywhere.... I am a sucker for those sweet little faces. All they want is to be loved and I am more than happy to give them the love that they need and want.

6. The very first time I saw Mike was when he returned from his mission. He was giving a homecoming talk in our ward. I was dating someone at the time who I had been with for about 3 years. He converted to the church while we were dating, but was still not very active. My mom was not very keen on me being with him. During Mike's talk my mom whispered to me "Now isn't he the kind of man you would like to marry?" I told her "No. He has too much gel in his hair." :) I guess this story is proof that mom's know what they are talking about. We have now been married for over 10 years and I love him more today than I did when I married him.

7. I love Flip Flops... I hate wearing shoes (unless they are a cute pair of wedges :) ) Last Saturday it was kind of cold and it was supposed to rain. Eberly had a early soccer game so I thought I should go ahead and wear tennis shoes. My friend wondered what was wrong with me. She said.. I can't remember the last time I saw you in anything by flip flops. I volunteered at the Bishop's Storehouse 2 days last week. I wore tennis shoes both days.. By Thursday night I had blisters on the back of my heel. Yes, I even wear flip flops in the rain.

Cancelled Date Night

2008-10-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

Mike and I were supposed to go out on a date tonight. The babysitter was all set and ready to go.....Unfortunately we had to cancel.. Our budget was all used up on a stupid $200 tire that we had to purchase....We were both pretty bummed out. We were looking forward to spending some time together.
We still got that chance. Our great neighbors Frank and Ona were just called to serve an 18 month mission at the Bishop's Storehouse. They have been so great to us, so we offered to come down today and help.
What a fantastic day! We got there first thing this morning after dropping the kids off at school. Frank and Ona were nice enough to allow us to bring Jimmy along with us. We spent the day helping others. We stocked shelves, assisted families and other various tasks that were needed. Mike also got to drive a forklift. :) Jimmy even helped by stocking shelves and stacking boxes. The day was spend doing labor, but not once did I feel tired. It felt fantastic being able to help our wonderful neighbors and also those that are struggling right now. You could see the look of relief on their faces when their cars were filled with food. You could actually see their shoulders being lifted from the weight they were obviously carrying.
So, no... Mike and I didn't get our date night. Instead we spent hours together serving others. It was a great day!

No COPS

2008-10-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

Mike won't be on Cops this weekend. They were told it was probably going to be later on in the season. They have only showed one from his department..... So, we will keep you posted....

COPS

2008-10-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well according to the COPS website, it doesn't look like Mike is going to be on this weekend. It will still be people from his department, but it doesn't look like he made this week's cut.

I kept my promise

2008-10-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

So I kept my promise and took the kids to the beach today. It was a beautiful day at the beach. It was low tide, so the kids found great little warm wading pools to play in. They had a blast boogie boarding and trying to find sand crabs. They gave up trying to find sand crabs. But they did find a lot of clams. I again was grateful for fall in Southern California

Fall in Southern California

2008-09-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

I have been so jealous hearing about Fall in other states. I love changes in weather. We don't get much weather change here. Today was a day that I was not disappointed about living in Southern California. I was having a "lazy day" I had no desire to do house work. The house was fairly clean anyways... but it was a really hot today...

So this is what we decided to do today!

We packed it up and went to the beach. My poor girls were stuck in school, but I promised I would take them tomorrow since they get out early. The beach was fantastic. The water was warm and the weather was perfect. Jimmy enjoyed just kicking back, playing and doing his version of surfing.

So I am actually hoping for hot weather tomorrow so the girls can go too. Nothing like fall in Southern California.

Little Did I Know Part 2.....

2008-09-27T11:10:00.001-07:00

READ "LITTLE DID I KNOW" FIRST: Apparently the lucky underwear worked. Eberly scored her first goal of the season on her outdoor soccer team. She showed some much older girls her fancy footwork too. Our team won 3-2! Go EBERLY!

Little Did I Know

2008-09-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Eberly is getting close to entering the double digits. She will be ten at the end of November. I realize that she is getting to an age where I will probably be oblivious to certain things going on in her life. I am fortunate that she communicates with me pretty well. Just like she did first thing this morning.
Last night she had an indoor game (yes I lost her "scoreboard" during my layout mishap)...It was a tough game. We played an all boy team who have some fantastic players on their team. They also play extremely unfair. I am talking shoving in the back and pulling on our shirts... But that is a whole other story. Well, they lost last night and Eberly didn't score a goal.
Out of the blue she says "I KNOW WHY WE LOST LAST NIGHT! I wasn't wearing my lucky underwear."
Little did I know that my 9 year old daughter has lucky underwear that she wears for her soccer games. I guess it is never too young to be superstitious :)

I don't get it

2008-09-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

I don't understand why little girls can be so mean. My poor little Sara has had a hard time with some of her friends this year. Just this week her friend decided that she didn't want to "be Sara's friend anymore". It just kills me. I could tell by the moment I saw her that something was wrong. She came running to me sobbing and telling me about what this little girl did to her. The really sweet thing though was all the kids that came and asked her if she was okay. It helped her to see that she was cared about. It really brought a smile to her face. Of course once Katie and Eberly found out, they wanted to go corner that little girl and give them a piece of their minds. Of course by the next day she wanted to be friends again. It reminds me of a story that happened last year. There was a boy that had told Katie that she could never be a vet because she was a girl. This was a boy that Eberly had in her class the previous year. Eberly and her friend Emily cornered this boy and told him to never say those kinds of things to Katie again. Never mess with family!
Katie has dealt with the same thing too. This is the first year that Katie has had actual friends that are girls. She had been playing with boys the last two years. I can't say that I blame her.
Just had to vent. I guess this is a great lesson for our kids. It teaches them how it feels to be left out. It teaches them how to treat others. It teaches them to just roll with the punches. Unfortunately we are going to meet some mean people in our lives, but at the end of the day it is our family that matters.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys Whatcha Gonna Do....

2008-09-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Set your DVR's! Mike is going to be on Cops. The dates that he might be on are October 4th and 11th at 8:00. We have no clue how many times he will be on or if you will only get to see the back of his shiny bald head.... But he was told that he should be on there a couple of times. He had to taser a man while they were filming him one day. The crew said that should make the show. So get the popcorn out. Disclosure: I am not responsible for anything my husband may say or do on either of these episodes :)

Ugh

2008-09-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

I love blogging, but man I had a frustrating day with it today. I was just trying to download a cute layout for Halloween and I lost everything in my side bar. Or at least the stuff that takes forever to redo... So I have finally got it up and running. I almost had to call Lauri to save me :)!!! It is all fixed, but don't be surprised if you see my Halloween layout up until next year!

Future Fireman?

2008-09-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

Jimmy and I (Mike) were at the grocery store. And the heavens parted and there was a Poway Fire Department Ladder Truck. This is a big long truck that has the telescoping ladder and there is a driver steering in the back. Jimmy felt it was Christmas in September: "OH Dad!!! Awesome! I like firetrucks, and firemen are cool too. Can I see it? The firemen like me I'll show you." Sure enough the fire,men do like him. So Much so that they put him in the driver's seat, to enjoy the full firetruck experience. It was cute, but daddy was ready to honk. Here were fire fighters actively trying to pull Jimmy over to their team. They kept telling Jimmy, "You want to be a fire fighter right? Not a Cop." Daddy knew one of the firefighters and he thought it was hilarious. Of course Jimmy kept agreeing with them. He would have said anything to stay in the cab of the truck. Daddy let him humor them. As soon as they got in the car Daddy reminded him that Cops are so much cooler. He agreed because cops shoot and kill bad transformer robots. As long as daddy keeps the bad tranformer robots at bay I think the firefighters will have a hard time stealing him from the Police man team. Still they did a good job bribing and tempting him with their huge fire truck. He loves all trucks and this made his day.

"Oh my gosh! My sister has armpit hair"

2008-09-03T14:50:00.001-07:00

Today when I picked up the kids from school, Katie came running up to me. I was talking with Sara's teacher, but she was bouncing up and down waiting to tell me something. She finally couldn't take it anymore and shouted to me "MOM! Sara has armpit hair! ALREADY!" Then she tried to hold Sara's arm up so that I could see. Sara was very embarassed and wouldn't let me see. The fact that there were hundreds of kids around could have had something to do with it too. But anyways, the whole way home Katie kept on saying "I can't believe my younger sister already has armpit hair." When we got home I decided I better take a look at what Katie was talking about. So I lifted Sara's arm to see what was "hiding" under there. I laughed..........The armpit hair was just fuzzies from Sara's shirt. She was wearing a black shirt today and it left little fuzzy lint in her armpits. :) I explained to Katie what the deal was and she says "oops..I guess I better go and tell my class tomorrow that Sara DOESN'T have armpit hair!"
NICE!

Here is the picture!

2008-08-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the picture of Jimmy with his new haircut! He now likes his haircut because he got a lot of attention from the ladies!

"I Look Ugly"

2008-08-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Jimmy asked if he could brush his teeth. Hmmm let me think about that one....That little guys brushes his teeth like 4 times a day. I was busy doing housework and I realized that he had been in the bathroom a little too long to just be brushing his teeth. So I went into the bathroom and the first thing I saw was a pile of dark brown hair on the floor of the bathroom. Then there is my little boy standing there looking in the mirror with a look of "uh oh" on his face. Yes, Jimmy cut his own hair. The funny thing is that when I walked in he was actually trying to cover up what he did. He was trying to brush his hair so I wouldn't notice. I was not a happy camper. I wish I would've thought to get the camera, but I was trying to figure out how to fix it. The only thing to do was to shave his head. He was not happy with this consequence. He was supposed to go within the next week to go and get his haircut with Papa. Something that is an ABSOLUTE treat for that little boy.
So I shaved his head. He was quite funny through the process. He thought it tickled. Then he caught a look of himself in the mirror. He actually almost cried! I asked him if he liked it and he said "NO! I look ugly!" I showered him off. He got dressed and went in search of his hat. For the next hour he kept on repeating "I look ugly!"
When it was time to pick up his sisters he told me that he wasn't going to tell Ebi, Katie and Sara that he cut his hair. He didn't want them to see how "ugly" he looked. Poor little guy. I guess that will teach him a lesson. Well, girls, I guess we aren't the only ones that cry about a haircut that we don't like.

We already have one casualty

2008-08-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

What is it about school and germs? Katie is our first casualty in the germ war. She woke up this morning miserable. Sore throat, cough, stuffy nose, achy, fever..... Second week of school and she already has to stay home. I was so close to just giving her some tylenol and sending her anyways :) But she was feeling too awful.
I had been feeding them apples, orange juice, vitamins with extra vitamin C; I make sure they are in bed at 8:00 every night; I disnifect the door knobs, toys, faucets, basically anything they touch; but no luck....What do you guys do to keep the "germs" away.... I am at a loss...

1 down; 3 to go

Don't Under-estimate girl power!

2008-08-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have another soccer story.... Eberly ended her indoor season last Friday night. Her new one began last night. When you sign them up for soccer you get to request one person that you would want on your team. They are always real good about trying to get at least one friend on your team. Well, apparently we had a lot of girls requesting to be with each other. Due to football starting, there is also a shortage of boy players compared to girl players.
So, it was asked if playing on an "all girl" team would be okay. I had to laugh.. They don't know our girls I guess. Eberly is playing with 5 of her good friends. They are all really good soccer players... and more than that they play with each other. Team play is essential in soccer. The 7th player on the team we just met last night. But she fit right in.
Right before the game, the other team looked at ours and one boy started heckling and saying how they were going to "kick our butts", since it was an all girl team. Lets just say that the game ended up being quite frustating for that little boy. The final score was 6-1! Eberly scored 2 goals last night. One of the things I loved about watching the game was seeing how the girls fed off each other. There were a few girls, that were more reserved and not quite as "go-getting" as the others. But they showed a new level of confidence last night. I couldn't help but think that having a cheering section from their own teammates had something to do with that. It is amazing what a dose of encouragement from your friends can do.
I guess that boy learned his lesson. Never underestimate the power of a group of girls!

First Day of School

2008-08-19T12:23:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day of school for the kids! Eberly is now entering the fourth grade. She is so excited because she is in a class with her best friend for the first time. She is also excited because she has a great teacher, Mrs. Seeley. You should have seen the excitement on her face when she realized that her classroom is on the 2nd floor. It is hilarious what excited kids these days. Katie is entering the second grade. She too has a great teacher. Mrs. Nishigushi. It was hilarious trying to teach Katie her name. "Mrs. Hoochicoochie?" I think she is getting better at it though. She was the one I was worried about since she doesn't like change and/or being away from me. But when we got to school we went and checked out her class list. Her cute little friend Jeffrey is in her class. YA!!! They are really cute together. She calls him Jeff Jeff and he calls her K-K. So there were no tears once we got to school. Woo Hoo! Last year I had to leave with her teaching holding her while she was screaming for me. ugh.

Sara is now is Kindergarten. Last year she was enrolled in Poway's Pepp program which a pre-kindergarten program. It was wonderful for her. So she is now a full-time kindergartner. She was so excited that she got to be at school for the same amount of time as Katie and Eberly. Her teacher, Mrs. Baird, was Katie's reading and writing teacher last year. She said this morning that when she saw Sara's name "she had to pick her!"

Our prayers were definitely answered. They all got fantastic teachers!

Now Jimmy is the center of attention (not like he wasn't already)! He was quite sad this morning though. He moped all the way to the car after dropping them off. He wouldn't even walk on his own. Daddy had to carry him.

Why do these things happen?

2008-08-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

I know we have all asked this question... Why is this happening to me/us? I have been asking myself that question over the last couple of days. I woke up Sunday morning with EXCRUCIATING stomach pain. I am talking the kind that has you rolled up in a little ball. I assumed that I was just having a bad stomach flu. By the late afternoon I was almost in tears it hurt so badly. It was as bad as the labor pains I experienced with Katie (before the drugs :) )... So I decided it was time to go and have this checked out. After spending hours and hours at the ER... my cat scan revealed that I had an ovary colapse and an ovarian cyst rupture at the same time. But, apparently both of those things are fairly common... just not at the same time. But this also caused my appendix to get irritated. So for the next 24-48 hours I have to rest and be aware of any worse pain... especially on the right side. I am feeling SO much better than I was on Sunday. The pain is almost non-existant; with the exception of some sharp pains here and there once in a while. Stupid ovaries ( I am done with them anyways!) I am just extrememly tired.
So, yes, I have been asking myself why is this happening to me? Here are some of the conclusions I have come up with:
1. To make me realize and appreciate how great our ward is. I have mentioned our sweet, dear neighbors across the street. (The one that planted the apple tree) Mike went over to borrow a heating pad. When they got to church they informed the bishop/relief society president about how sick I was. (I did not know yet what was wrong with me). As soon as church was over we got a call from our home teacher and our Bishop. Our neighbors, Frank and Ona, came over immediately to offer dinner and to make sure we were taken care of. They made us a fantastic dinner last night. So good in fact that Eberly said "Gosh Mom. You should get sick more often". I also received a call yesterday from the relief society saying they would like to bring our family dinners for the next couple of days. I felt silly accepting since I was already feeling so much better and Mike would be home; but they wouldn't take no for an answer. They offered to pick up the kids too. What a great ward we have.
2. To again gain appreciation for the Power of the Priesthood. When Frank and Ona came over, right before I went to the ER, he and Mike gave me a blessing. What a wonderful experience. While I was still in pain, it was not nearly as severe as even a few minutes before. Instantly I knew I was going to be okay.. Because trust me, I thought I was going to die.
3. To appreciate my friends. I had planned on taking the kids and one of Eberly's friends to the beach tomorrow. Those plans have now changed so I called my friend to cancel the "play date". After I told her what happened, she offered to take the kids to school (even though they attend different schools) and to make us dinner on Thursday. I told her that I should be fine on Thursday and it wouldn't be necessary. I told her I would feel silly if I was totally up to par and she was bringing me dinner. She just laughed at me and said "SO WHAT!!!!" "Now it is one less thing you have to worry about on Thursday."
4. Mike now knows what I have been through. He has had 4 trips to the ER in the last year and a half. It has been quite stressful. He now appreciates what I went through and how hard it is to see your sweetheart suffering.
5. It has also helped Mike to appreciate ME in general. He has been so worried about me that he has been waking up all through out the night to make sure I was okay. He has also come to realize that those dishes don't wash themselves and those clothes don't get clean magically.
6. To make ME appreciate housework. It is amazing how quickly you miss being able to do the little things. I get yelled at right now if I even try to do some cleaning. I actually miss being able to clean my own house. But I am supposed to be resting.
7.To make me appreciate my health. I think sometimes we take for granted feeling good. Those that are mothers understand that we are in a constant state of tired. But when we get sick we realize how strong we really are. I miss being JUST tired.
8. Made me realize how much I am loved. Mike contacted Dad to let him know what was going on. I don't think a half an hour went by where he wasn't texting Mike asking how I was and what was happening. He called yesterday just to see how "his girl" was doing and to have Mike hug me for him. Mike's cell phone died in the hospital... Since we live only minutes away he went home to get mine. When he got back he had beautiful home made cards from the kids. Mike has barely let me breathe on my own for the last day or so. He has told me how much he loves me over and over again. My mom and sister have called regularly to check on me and see how I am doing. And my friends have also showed such great love and concern. I am so thankful for those who have shown me such great love.

So basically I am not happy that I have gotten sick. But I think we need to look at the bright side of things in order to survive them. So yes... I feel awful! But, I have gained a lot through this experience too!

My boys

2008-08-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

I am going to try and make a long story as short as I can, but that is easier said than done. A lot of you already know the beginning of this story.

Mike and I have a special group of "boys" in our lives. They are young men that Mike has taught since they were the age of 12. He taught them in some way until they left for their missions. They have been in our lives for most of our marriage. Katie, Sara and Jimmy don't know that life exists without these young men. Eberly was about 18 months or so when they first came into our lives. Our story is living proof that you never know in what ways a "simple" calling can change and affect your lives.

Our boys have brought so much to our lives. They made regular visits to our home throughout the years. They were the only babysitters our kids ever knew. They always seemed to have this special intuition when I was having a bad day. I would get a phone call out of the blue "Hey Sister Proffitt! Whatcha doing? Can we come over?" I always wondered how they knew. When Mike was working grave yard shifts, they would show up on a regular basis to keep me company and help with the kids. They have been a major part in our lives.

Well two years ago we started having to say goodbye. Our first boy left on his mission to August of 2006. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I don't know how moms do it. They aren't "technically" my sons, but it was so hard to say goodbye. Katie cried for hours after we had to say goodbye. We had the wonderful experience even of taking one of our boys, Ricky, to the MTC. Mike still makes fun of me because I cried off and on from Utah until we got to Las Vegas. I though it would get easier, but it hasn't. I miss them more and more it seems like.

Receiving their letter is amazing. You can hear the growth just in their letters. And amazingly enough; they still have their intuition of when I am having a bad day. I always seem to get a letter from one of them when I just not up to par.

Well, the wait is over! They are coming home! Kyle returned home from his mission on Wednesday. It was indescribable how good it felt to hear his voice. I was amazed at the maturity I could hear.

They boys have been so worried that the kids would forget them. Not a chance! Even Jimmy, who was not yet two when they started leaving, gave Kyle the biggest hug when he saw him! You show him a picture of any of the 8 boys and he can name them in a heartbeat! They know who their family is.

We had the wonderful experience of attending Kyle's homecoming talk yesterday. The spirit was so strong in that chapel when he spoke. He spoke of something Mike had taught his when he was twelve and how he used that in his mission. It was proof that you never know who or how you may touch in your callings. He remembered something that was taught to him 9 years ago!

We have had so many wonderful experiences with them. They have allowed us to share so much of their lives. And now we get to experience the joy of welcoming them home.

Another Hat Trick

2008-08-02T13:54:00.001-07:00

She has done it again! She played indoor soccer last night. *(this picture is from her outdoor season last year; not from indoor) Her team won 8-6. Eberly scored 3 goals again! We are so very proud of her. Even if she didn't score any goals, the fact that she has such enthusiasm and drive. That is what makes us proud of her.

Mike and Dad were not yet back from their trip. So I made sure to text them when she scored. Her first goal was at 7:55. Her second goal was at 8:03 and her third goal was at 8:08! I guess Dad was amazed that she was able to not only score 3 goals, but also under 10 minutes.

Way to go Ebi!

Blessing of the Week

2008-07-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

I have decided that it is time for me to do my blessing of the week. The thing I am greatful for this week is My Husband! We have now been married for over 10 years. As many of you know he and Dad left yesterday for their week long backpacking trip. It has been only 24 hours and I miss him tremendously.

I was cleaning up my room today and I came across a letter he wrote for me for our anniversary. He wrote a letter listing 10 things that he loved about me. It was better than any gift I could have received. It made me feel so special. You get so involved in the day to day stuff that it is nice to rekindle those special feelings.

I was thinking tonight of how much I missed him. Even the snoring :). It reminded me of the first week that we met. One night we were having one of our three+ hour conversations on the phone. He started quoting Disney movies. I couldn't believe this handsome young man knew Disney movies word for word. I was shocked and totally smitten. I can specifically remember him quoting the movie Robin Hood. He even used the accent; "Absense makes the heart grow fonder."; "Or forgetful." I remember it so well. It is so true though.... Absense definitely makes the heart grow fonder! I cannot wait for him to get home.

I'd like to share a special story. On our first date we went to Seaport Village. We spent hours just walking and talking. We had both just gotten out of long relationships and honestly weren't interested in anything serious. We both felt such a connection that scared the heck out of both of us. We were scared of even the slightest of touch. At the end of the night we went on the Carousel. At the end of the ride as the carousel was slowing down, my horse slowly made its way to the highest possible point. It was as if someone was pushing it up as high as it could go. Being a tall 5 feet 2 inches, getting down was not going to be easy. Mike reached out and took my hand and helped me off the horse. The moment he grabbed my hand the both of us felt a spark! Literally. We knew at that moment that this was going to be something special. A while later we told the carousel story to my mother. She made a comment that has stuck in my head ever since. My father had passed away just a few years prior. She said that she would bet on the fact that my dad "helped" push that horse up to the highest point. I truly do feel that my dad was my angel that night. I don't know that we would have progressed the way we did if it had not been for that spark.

I am so greatful that Mike didn't let me talk him out of going on our first date (long story)...I am greatful for his family and for instantly accepting me into the family. He knew that if I passed the sister test... I was in!

I am so greatful for all that he does for me and for our family. He is not only my husband, but he truly is my best friend.

Link to Eberly's Website

2008-07-28T13:16:00.001-07:00

Here is the link to Eberly's Blog:
http://eberlysthoughts.blogspot.com/

Eberly has joined the blogging clan

2008-07-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

Eberly has been watching me do the family's blog and she has been bugging me to do one.. So she now has a blog of her own. There isn't too much yet, a work in progress; but you will have to check it out.

The Metal Box

2008-07-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

I just got another Chicken Soup for the Soul book. I still love those books. I cannot believe what they have come up with now though... Anyways.. I just read a fantastic story that I thought you might all love. In fact you might want to start this in your own home....
The Metal Box
Last weekend, we celebrated my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary. This morning, they left on a long awaited trip to Hawaii. They were as excited as if it were their honeymoon.
When my parents married, they had only enough money for a three-day trip fifty miles from home. They made a pact that each time they made love, they would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for a honeymoon in Hawaii for their fiftieth anniversary,
Dad was a policeman and mom was a schoolteacher. They lived in a modest house and did all their own repairs. Raising five children was a challenge and sometimes money was short, but no matter what emergency came up, Dad would not let Mom take any money out of the "Hawaii account." As the account grew, they put it in a savings account and then bought CD's.
My parents were always very much in love. I can remember Dad coming home and telling Mom "I have a dollar in my pocket," and she would smile at him and reply, "I know how to spend it."
When each of us children married, Mom and Dad gave us a small metal box and told us their secret, which we found enchanting. All five of us are now saving for our dream honeymoon. Mom and Dad never told us how much money they managed to save, but it must have been considerable because when they cashed in those CD's they had enough for airfare to Hawaii plus hotel accommodations for ten days and plenty of spending money.
As they told us goodbye before leaving, Dad winked and said, "Tonight, we are starting an account for Cancun." That should only take twenty-five years.

I hope you all enjoy this story. I LOVED it and wanted to share it with all you.

She shoots! She scores!

2008-07-25T21:13:00.001-07:00

Eberly had an indoor soccer game this evening. If you haven't guessed, she lives, eats and breathes soccer. She is currently playing on a co-ed indoor league. Her team won 8-5 tonight. During the first half, Eberly was the first one to score.... Making the score 1-0. Mike was at work as was not able to watch the game, but I kept him posted. At half-time the score was 5-4 (Our team was up by 1) I called Mike and gave him the update. He asked me who had scored and I couldn't quite remember how we got to 5. All I could remember was that she had scored 1. About 4 minutes later, I gave Mike a call again. So I called up Mike and said "Eberly scored 3!!!!!" He said "Oh... so Eberly did score more than one before half time." I said "NO!.. She scored 2 goals since I last spoke to you."
Eberly scored 2 goals in less than 4 minutes. In this league if you score 3 goals, you are not allowed to score any more for the rest of the game. She was beaming! She was so excited.
The thing I absolutely love is that Eberly has proven that you can become good at anything you want to if you just practice and give it your very best. When Eberly first started soccer a couple of years ago, she could barely dribble straight... But she practiced and practiced and practiced... You rarely will see her at home without a soccer ball close by. She is always dribbling up and down the hallway or teaching her brother and sisters how to play outside. I am so proud of her. She has become that soccer player she is today because she didn't give up.

Sara's Birthday wish

2008-07-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

All Sara wanted to do on her birthday was go to the beach. She got her wish. Although it was majorly packed, the weather was beautiful and the water was nice and warm. Eberly spent the whole day trying to perfect her boogey boarding skills. Katie had a blast jumping waves. Although a few of those waves got the best of her. Sara had a blast in the water and making sand castles. It took Jimmy a while to warm up the waves. There is a story behind that. Back in March our family went camping at the beach. During that trip, Jimmy got TOPPLED by a wave. Apparently he has not forgiven that wave for taking him out. When that happened he sobbed and he said "That water tastes disgusting." I proceeded to tell him that there is salt in the water. That is why it tasted so nasty. A few minutes later, once he had calmed down, he said to me "Why doesn't it have any pepper?" Gotta love him.

Best of Friends!

2008-07-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

Eberly is such a little mother hen... Especially when it comes to her little brother. She watches over him like a hawk. Jimmy and Eberly are the best of friends. They are sharing a room together right now. I was thinking of possibly changing rooms around. Eberly wouldn't hear of it. She told me outright "NO!" She loves sharing her room with Jimmy. When you ask Jimmy who his best friend is he will say "Ebi or Eberwy". He has his big sister wrapped around those cute little fingers of his. Whatever he wants, he gets where she is concerned. Especially if her calls her by her full name (Eberwy). She just melts. I thought this picture captured so well the great relationship these two have.

Sara Turned 6!

2008-07-25T20:55:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Sara! I am happy to report that Sara was free and clear of all pain to celebrate her 6th birthday. Sara decided that she wanted to go to the beach on her birthday. So she got some fun in the sun and a fun little sunburn. I kept on trying to convince her that she was turning 5, but she wouldn't fall for it. Instead of having me "pre-buy" her birthday gifts, she decided that she would rather have me take her shopping. Smart girl! She said she wants to have some "alone" Mommy time, other than sitting in the hospital. Me Too! We Love you Sara!!! Happy Birthday!

Love Dr. Rosie

2008-07-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

I don't think we can thank Lauri enough for finding Dr. Rosie. She is wonderful. Our poor little Sara has had quite the ordeal this past week. What started out as little minor tummy aches turned into MAJOR doubled over in tears tummy aches. I had never seen her in so much pain. So we took a trip down to the ER on Saturday night. Yes I know this may sound a little premature, but with all that has occurred in the past year I think you might just understand. Of course now I wish we had never gone. The doctor was at the end of her shift and pretty much just didn't want to deal with us. She took an x-ray of Sara's tummy; determined she was "plugged up"; gave her some Maalox and told me to get her some Miralax. And sent us on our merry way. Of course by this point I am feeling like I over-reacted and she would probably be better by the morning anyways.
Not the case. She continued having severe stomach pain and it was getting worse. So Monday morning I called to get her into Dr. Rosenfeld. The only problem was that she is so popular I couldn't get her in until 3:00. I was nervous about waiting so long since that morning she woke up very weak and couldn't even walk really well. So I decided to make an appointment with "the other" doctor. Another mistake. She thought that it was a bladder infection and dehydration. So after two seconds she wrote us a prescription and sent us on our merry way.
By the afternoon, Sara was still getting worse. She was weak, the pain seemed to be increasing and she was not keeping anything in. So I called Dr. Rosie to see if there was something I could be doing in the mean time to at least help comfort her. Love this woman. While I was on the phone with her, Sara was throwing up. She heard her and said "You need to get her down the the ER right now. She needs an IV." She told me that she was probably getting dehydrated and the IV would probably also help with the pain. She said it is amazing what an IV will do. She also told me to not back down and make sure they give her one.
So, Monday afternoon we got to go back to the ER. And to make a really LONG story short... Once they started the IV, she started to perk up. I had an amazing doctor who was very thorough. He took another x-ray, drew some blood and really showed concern for our little one. Fortunately it all turned out well. It all turned out to be a really bad case of constipation. Once they "relieved" that problem.. she is almost as good as new. Sara was a brave little soldier too. Not a single tear through the whole visit.
So I am greatful for Dr. Rosie and her amazing way of knowing how to take care of my kids.

Up and Running Again

2008-07-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

I am loving this blogging thing. I am glad to have our new one up and running. Since I am so new at this.. I did something and I couldn't get the page to look right. So here we go again. I won't mess with it this time :)

More antibiotics

2008-07-15T18:35:00.001-07:00

So, if you have read Ginger's blog.. you heard about Mike, Eberly and Dad's hiking trip. Eberly was fortunate enough to bring home a present. Bunches and bunches of mosquito bites. Poor little thing was itching like crazy. But they seemed to go away.... until Saturday. She came into me and told me her knee was itching again. When she showed me her knee, it was even more swollen before. I assumed it was because she was scratching them. By Sunday morning, the swelling was down, but she had developed the bright red ring around her knee. With the experience I had with mosquitos I thought that I should probably take her in. Glad that I did. The doctor told us she was almost at the infected stage...which means hospital time. So fortunately we caught it early enough and she is taking some lovely pink antibiotics :)

Help Me Obe One Kenobe

2008-07-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Help me Obe One Jimmy!. Last night he kept on saying he was cold. So he decided to put on a sweatshirt that even doesn't quite fit Eberly! We thought it was hilarious. When he walked all you would see were his cute little feet.

Eberly's Point of View

2008-07-15T18:22:00.001-07:00

Eberly has come up with quite some interesting.... tidbits... lately.. The other day my mom, the kids and I were driving down the freeway. All of a sudden Eberly yells out "Wow! That is a COOL car!" My mom and I automatically look over expecting to see some pimped out ride. Maybe something with flames on the side or something like that... Not the case. Within seconds a hearse pulls up along beside us. My mom and I just started laughing! We couldn't control it. I then explained to Eberly exactly what a hearse is and she no longer thinks it is a cool car. She says that she hopes she never has to see the inside of one. We hope so too dear!Then the other night we were watching the Track and Field Olympic Trials on TV. I made the comment that you rarely see any "white" people doing track and field. (Meaning that most track runners seem to be African American) Eberly has a theory on that apparently. She said to me "Maybe it is because they spend so much time in the sun!" Mike and I were in stitches. Of course then they showed a caucasian women and Mike says "Guess she hasn't been practicing enough."What would we do without our kids. The make us crazy, but they make us laugh on a regular basis.
Posted by Mike, Suzann and Family at 3:19 PM

What a Week!

2008-07-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have decided to keep doctors and nurses and Pharmacists in business. Friday night (4th of July) I got bit by some sort of bug. No big deal right? Not in our house. By Sunday morning the bite had grown a good 4-5 inches and was bright red and REALLY hot to the touch. I decided that I should probably get it checked out. Glad I did. The heat and the redness indicated infection. Since it was on my elbow and so close to the joint my doctor gave me IV antibiotics. She was worried the infection would get into my joints. So now I am on oral antibiotics. Fortunately they are working and they won't have to amputate :) (ha ha)Well, I guess Mike didn't want me getting all the attention. He called me early Wednesday morning and informed me that he was leaving work. "Why?" I asked....He was heading to the ER. He felt symptoms that his diverticulitis was returning. Let panic attack begin! Fortunately he is aware of the symptoms now and he was able to catch it REALLY early. So he got IV antibiotics also. They were able to send him home. We are very greatful for that. We will be meeting with his doctor on Monday to see what the next step is. He is on some pretty heavy duty antibiotics, but we are hoping with all our heart to avoid surgery.It is quite sad when the pharmacist actually knows me by name. "Hi Suzann! Where are the kids?" Yep.. they all know me and the kids! In fact when I came home from picking up MY antibiotics, I had a message to call the pharmacist. I called her back and she wanted to make sure that I knew that the antibiotic I am on will make the birth control pill null and void. Hmmm... is she trying to tell me something :)

2008-07-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

The kids just completed their fourth week and final week of swimming lessons. I cannot thank their teacher enough. The kids have made such amazing progress. Eberly has now passed level 4! She is even doing IM's! She knows the front crawl, the backstroke, the breaststroke, the butterly, the sidestroke and the elementary backstroke. Katie and Sara have now passed level 3! Congratulations girls! I am so proud of them. And Jimmy has now passed level 2! Karen, his teacher, thinks he is going to be a fantastic snorkler. He LOVES to skim across the top of the water and look at all the fun things at the bottom of the pool. The kids have had such a great time. Now it is time to test out their skills in Grammy and Papa's pool!

Future Backpacker

2008-07-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Mike, Jim and Eberly are going for their second attempt at backpacking tomorrow. Jimmy wanted to show that he is ready to go too! (That is Eberly's fully loaded backpack) Yes he is carrying a backpack that is almost just as big and heavy as he is. Backpacker in the making! He is a little excited to go along.

Apple Tree

2008-06-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We have wonderful neighbors in our ward; Frank and Ona. The kids absoutely love them. They have a beautiful apple tree in their front yard. He is always bringing apples to the kids from his tree. One day he decided that the kids need to watch their own tree grow. So, he went out and bought our family an apple tree. Not only did he buy the kids the tree, he helped them plant it. They had such a great time that day. We have already gotten 4 apples off that cute little tree. I will have to take pictures through the years to show how it is growing.

Swimming Lessons

2008-06-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox postcard

The kids just finished two weeks of swimming lessons. We were fortunate to have Eberly's school teacher from the last two years be their swimming instructor. She and her daughter Katie were fantastic! Eberly passed both level 2 and 3. Katie, Sara and Jimmy all passed level one. We have decided to continue on for another two weeks. We are very excited to see how they progress.