President's Day Weekend

The whole 4-day weekend around President's Day was awesome. It was so nice to have four-days to just enjoy and be together. I didn't have my extra two kids for four days and, so it was really nice to enjoy just being us. Friday we didn't do anything spectacular. We mainly went to speech, did some shopping, both at Sams and at Wal-Mart. These are the top two money sucking stores that we visit more than once every year to four years. Anyway, we need to get those things done and we did and it was great. That night I actually think we went to bed on time, which is weird because it was a 'holiday', but you know you got to start the party off right sometime.

Saturday was a party day. We woke-up. I got up with the kids and let them watch some PBS kids. I didn't think it would be more than one show, but an hour later I wake up and they are still watching and Gaupo is up and boy did it feel good to sleep. But, boy did it also set us back a little bit. So, we got our hurry on. We made a breakfast of raspberry oatmeal muffins. Then we worked on Valentine's Day cards because the girls were going to a V-Day party that morning. I also quickly mixed up a batch of cake mix cookies, and wrapped a baby shower gift and headed to the baby shower. I left Gaupo home to make a 'mailbox' for the valentines and get the girls to the party. While he was doing that, I went to a baby shower. It was a small one, but really it was so fun. I got to know the lady it was for a lot better and it was fun to socialize with who was there. It was really fun, and I was sad to go, but the party the girls were at said an extra adult would be helpful, so I went and helped there. They had about 20 kids over varying in ages from 4 to 11. It was a quite the party. Actually it was great they did a fantastic job and didn't even need me. But, she said it was a very big help, so I am glad I went. Plus it was fun to see. The girls had a blast. They loved playing with the Barbies in the basement. They also loved winning door prizes and watching a show. They really did enjoy it. After we got home from that it was quiet time. During quiet time I got to work cleaning. I cleaned my bathroom, and got the girls started. Kylee helped me finish. By then, Tia was awake so she helped with the main floor bath. Then Gaupo helped with sweeping the kitchen floor and vacuuming while I mopped the kitchen floor. We got our whole house clean in one afternoon. It was awesome. Gaupo even spoiled me, by taking me to wash our van. It was so bad, so I am glad it got done. We got home and had dinner and baths and a movie.

Sunday was way more chill. We did the normal Sunday stuff of church and naps and visiting with my family. This week I talked to my brother and that was really fun and good to spend some time talking to him. After I was done talking to him, Tia really wanted to go for a walk, so we were going to go on one, but we stopped at our neighbors and visited with them. For a long time. Seriously, that was as far as we got, but the girls played with their dog, and the pullies in their garage, and I just talked. I feel like I haven't seen them in forever, so it was so good to visit with them. Also, it was amazing to watch Tia run those pullies. For me, I knew how to do it, but it seemed so unnatural for them to do that. However, Tia had it demonstrated to her once and she had it, no problem. I couldn't believe it. I mean it isn't hard you just push the one side up and the other side drops, but to me it doesn't make sense, but to Tia it apparently did. So, we had a great time and visit there and then came back and had dinner and went to bed. Gaupo and I just spent the night chatting. I am so glad that Gaupo humors me with that sometimes, because I know he would sometimes rather do something, but you know sometimes I just need to talk to him about real stuff and it was a really good talk. I also talked to my sister Klaire a bit and that was really fun too.

Monday was a great day. We actually didn't technically sleep in though for me I did, but it was only till 6:30. Anyway, we had a great breakfast--hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Kylee asked me, "Why do we always have the same thing all the time?" We don't, but I guess Gaupo and I have been making this for breakfast often recently, so for her it was all the time. I just replied because it's so good. Anyway, after breakfast got cleaned up I worked on some insurance stuff (which I HATE by the way.) Then we went to Dizzy fun center. I apparently have never paid full price there because I was surprised by how much it cost, and didn't bring enough Tracker Bucks. This led to Gaupo running home, me paying for the Jr. Ninja course which at first Kylee loved and Tia did not like. After having them do just that for a bit, we finally decided to go for the kids area too. Luckily it was all paid for with tracker bucks because there is no way I could justify it with real money, but the girls had a blast. They climbed, jumped, slid, laughed, swung, and just played hard for about and hour and half. The last thing they did was the ninja course again and this time Tia did what I expected her to do the first time which was figure out how to do it. I couldn't believe it. Oh well, it was still worth it and good. These girls took great afternoon naps when we got to that point.

Anyway, after Dizzy's we came home and had FHE. This lesson was one I really wanted them to pay attention to, so I didn't want to wait until it was late that night. If you are wondering the lesson it was on taking care of our bodies. But mainly focused on not touching special parts. As in no one should touch them--not you or anyone else. Your body is yours and if some tries to you tell them no. If they don't stop then you tell Mom or Dad as you as you can. In a nutshell that is what we talked about it. I think they got it. Maybe? I tried, and we felt like we needed to do it now, because now is the time our kids are starting to go over to other people's homes without us and they need to be aware and know that their body is theirs and they can say no and should say no. And also that they need to talk to Mom and Dad about these things. So, after that we had lunch and treat and took naps. During naps Gaupo and I worked on taxes. Yeah!, not. I had taxes because I feel like very year I get hosed. I mean Gaupo gets paid and I work babysitting and contract work and I don't know if I do it wrong or what, but seriously we pay a lot of taxes. Okay, actually this year because of tuition and things we didn't owe anything, but the amount of taxes that was taken out because I work was seriously like almost all the money I eared doing one of them. It really makes you not want to work. Oh well, its done and paid, so on to the next thing. The next thing was dinner. I made sweet and sour meatballs which were really good. Then we went to swim lessons. Then came home and had baths dinner and introduced our kids to Cool Runnings. I think they enjoyed it, but Kylee's comment is my favorite. "It was good, but it had too many boys." Bahaha. That girl cracks me up. That night Gaupo and just relaxed and watched some Hogan's Heroes.

I really enjoyed this past weekend. It was really fun to play as a family. We also got a big snow storm, so that was fun to have a lot of snow, although I was sad that school was not cancelled on Tuesday because that would have been awesome.

 I love family time. Not so long ago, I thought that it was so important that our family actually do stuff (hike, sled, you know active stuff), but the truth is we just need to do stuff together, even if it is just watching a movie. My kids love movies. I think its because they don't get to watch very much tv, but it doesn't really matter why they love it. So, I love to do active stuff and I think they do too, but I also think that at this point it as long as we are all doing it together that it is all good worth while time. I am being to see its okay to spend time just watching a movie together and just enjoying being a family. But lest you think I am going to let my family be couch potatoes I still believe there is much good in getting out and doing especially as a family. I love family, and I have the BEST.

Some movies of Kylee for your viewing pleasure.

Bouncy slide

Ninja Course

Thoughts On Dreams

We aren't doing anything special around here. We are just doing school, work, swimming, lessons, and playing. Kind of the same as always. We are all doing good things though. Tia is progressing really well in her speech, I think the majority of people understand most of what she says. Kylee is working hard in school and has recently learned how to tie her own shoes. I have continued to workout and it is totally blessing my life. I have so much more energy and organization to my day. I can't explain the difference in words, but I promise you it is very real. Gaupo is making good headway on his school projects. He is also still working hard to provide for us. We are so blessed to have him. So although nothing much is changing around here, it feels good where we are. We are all growing in our own small or big ways. Let me just tell you Heavenly Father knows each of us and our circumstances, abilities and talents, and he blesses us and tests us in and with those things we need most. If we will always trust Him, He will take us where we need to be.

All that said, and because I don't have any significant life stuff to blog about I thought I would talk about dreams. This is partly produced from watching Ice Princess tonight with my girls and it has been something heavily on my mind this year. Now, I also hesitate to write this because I don't want people to get false ideas or hope from this post. Dreams are something I fantasize about may or may not ever come true. They are not a goal, I don't constantly work towards them. They are just a fun thought, a place to tinker when I want to.

Dreams are funny that way. They change and evolve. You get new ones all the time. Like every time I watch Ice Princess or really any sports movie where the underdog does great things, I dream about doing that. Dream about learning I am amazing at something and then overcoming all odds and doing it. I remember how when I was younger I always thought it would be so cool to go to the Olympics. I remember one time I wanted to do it as a figure skater and another I wanted to do it as a bobsledder, and another in sand volleyball, and another as a ultimate player (now that that is an Olympic sport). But, those really are just dreams, because I don't have any desire to do what it takes to be that good. The reason why is because even though the chances of that dream coming true are like none, right now I get to live my dream.

I really always did dream about becoming a mom. I knew I always wanted to be a Mom. I also wanted to have a bus load of kids. I finally settled on 8 kids because if we had 8 then if me and my husband played with them at basketball we could have 2 complete teams. And I really did want to drive them around in a bus. Okay that would still be kind of cool, but once again never happening. So, am I living the exact dream I thought? No. Because even after I dated and married Gaupo and found out he had no desire to have more than 4 or 5 (which was fine), he doesn't play basketball. He doesn't like buses, and you know what we have 2 kids right now. I sure hope we have more, but I don't know for sure and I defiantly don't know how many. However, I do live a version of that dream. I am a mom to two wonderful little girls. I love it. I love sharing life with them. They make everything so much richer. Like sharing dancing in the rain, or a passion for rock climbing, or the skill of swimming is awesome. Watching them succeed at stuff they work hard to accomplish or watching them try something new and like or even not like it. I think those joys are so great because you also see them through when they are struggling and learning all the way to success. Also, this dream is lived with Gaupo, who is not the guy I dreamed about, but so much better. I love learning new stuff with him and comparing stories. I love our passion for food and making it the best. Supporting him and having him support me makes this family. So, I do live what I call the dream, but to be honest the dream isn't what I thought it would be. It is better but it is also harder, more confusing, funnier, and just different, but so much more complete than I could have imagined.

Just like when I was little and I had both possible and impossible dreams I have those now. They are so very different than then because different things matter, but you want to know my crazy dream?The one I don't really talk about because it is too crazy and confusing. It would give some people false hope and others total dismay. It has so many loose ends and not enough time. It is really crazy, yet not impossible. But before I tell you what it is please note, it is something I think about. I wanted to act on it and make some serious plans toward it, but I know now is not the time. Because yes, I have dreams and it is a totally great dream, but I am part of a family and I am a wife to a boy who has dreams too. That boy is living his dream. He works with computers and people everyday. He is a father, he provides for his family. He can sleep in and have vacation. In a lot of ways, I think he is living a part of his dream. I doubt in the way he thought he would, but just like me a version of his dream. And, not that my dream isn't important, but the time is not now, and I need to support him in his divine role of being the provident provider and head of our household.

That said, here it my most recent dream....I sometimes dream of moving back to Virginia to live in my Grandparents house, take over the greenhouses and run them while Gaupo farms the farm. I love Virginia, and I love the greenhouse. I enjoyed pretty much everything I did while working there except pulling weeds. I loved living in Virginia. I would love to have the opportunity to take this existing business and see if I could make it better. I would love to live in the country although I would deeply miss the closeness of stores, parks, and recreation places. I would love for my kids to chase the cats and have a dog like they so dearly want. I would love to teach my kids how to work, while working with them doing something I am passionate about. I would love to be close to family. I think it would be great to have the farm hung onto for one more generation. I don't know, it sound so simple when you just write down the overall general plan, but I promise you it is way complicated when you look at the details of it. However impossible this dream now seems, like I said before dreams are a place to tinker. So, when I have time, I think about how I could make it work. I think about how I would do it? What I would change? Would it / could it actually work? Do I really want to work that hard for that long? Could I really even do it? What things would I change? How would I make it us? Would Gaupo like it? What would he do? and then at least 1,000 other questions. I don't have answers to a lot and they are purely speculation, but its fun to think. I love to think. My mom use to say when we said we were bored "Good. It gives you time to think." I must have said it a lot or just learned to enjoy thinking, but I really do like it. I love to see where it takes me, because no two senerios are the same. Quiet thinking time is a gift, and so is the ability to have a space to write it down. That is why I love this blog. It give me time to think and reflect.

I love to have dreams. I hate dreaming at night whether the dreams are good or bad I don't like it, but I like having something to dwell on. I like having a place to imagine what if, and what would it be like. So, I hope my children dare to dream. I hope they have the courage to ask questions, and to think what if I could do that because I think dreaming does lead to action. It may or may not lead to the fulfilling of a certain dream, but it does lead  you forward. I know this is a super random post, but hey it happens. Sometimes we just need to spice it up with something different. Dare to dream people, our lives and world are changed all the time by people who dared to dream.

A Time To Be Us

This last week went much better than last and was a really great reminder that things will work out if we are patient and trust in the Lord. This last week things went good. I didn't take my kids over to Bethany's house and you know what it was actually kind of nice to have a little bit of calm before Trent and Tori showed up. We have even read some books in that time. I assume we will still visit Bethany again, but I do think that we will be taking more breaks from it than we were before because I was reminded how nice it is to be just 'us' for a little bit, and have some time to talk and be together. Also this last week, my kids had parent teacher conferences. They went really well. Kylee's teacher has noticed her improvement which I am glad of because she has improved. Although, she did say that Kylee is struggling with reading a little bit. Apparently on her reading test she did good at the beginning of the book, but by the end was just going by the picture. Which this is what Kylee does, I just didn't really notice it before. Anyway, Kylee knows what she needs to do and honestly if I can just nudge instead of push and let her make the choice to do things and how to do them, she is really working at her new goals. I just have to remember not to push, she doesn't like when I do that. Kylee is doing great in math. There are only a couple of things she needs to work on, but in other areas she is doing exceptionally good, so it was an encouraging report. Tia's teacher reported that she is doing well in school too. She needs to work on inviting people to play with her and joining other people. She also needs to work recognizing numbers 1-10, she has awhile before I am getting concerned about this one. Anyway, it was good to here that she is doing well, and I know that they must be encouraging the playing with other people, or maybe she is figuring it out I don't know. All I know is today Tia told me she wanted to talk to me (this is when she was suppose to be going down for nap), so I said okay, what do you want to tell me. She said, "I played with friends today. I played with Conrad." I thought that was a great start considering she has never mentioned anyone in her class really before. So, I think school is going well.

 I didn't actually go to parent teacher conferences, so this report is per Gaupo. I wasn't able to go to these conference because I got sick. Oh it was awful. I got some really severe abdominal cramps. They totally wiped me out. I didn't want to eat anything. Around 10:00 or so I wanted to finally drink something, and was able to get ready for bed, but anytime before that if I stood up I just felt like throwing up. So, I actually slept from about 5:30 to 6:30. Then till about 7:30. Then changed into my pajamas and slept some more. Then around 10:00 got up and got ready for bed and then slept again till about 6:00, when my back was hurting super bad, so I went downstairs and slept until about 7:30. Apparently, if I don't feel well I can sleep a lot. I was doing better by Friday, but still not great. Gaupo had the day off, so he took care of everything and I just kind of slept and did nothing. That night I was feeling quite a bit better, so after I watched the end of a movie I cleaned a little bit while the others were at Lego club.Saturday I was doing much better which is was great because Kitt and Matthew had planned to come visit us, and I really wanted them to come, but they couldn't if I was sick, so I got better. Just kidding, I was blessed to be doing much better. Anyway, I spent the morning tidying things up and making food. The girls and I also went on a walk up and around the school. It was a beautiful day and it was really nice to get out. Kitt and Matthew couldn't get off as soon as they hoped, so we had to have lunch without them. I grilled up some Teryaki chicken and then we had veggies and rice. It was sadly not as good as I was hoping for, but it was still good and I think my taste buds were off. Personally I think they still are because my favorite things to eat are sugar and boy is sugar good. Anyway, they got there around 1:15 and had lunch. Normally we would have waited for them, but we couldn't because Gaupo had his lunch from 12:00 to 1:00, so we needed to eat while he was home. I felt a little bad serving them food they had to reheat, but it was good food and I didn't have to make new stuff, so really it was all good. Anyway, they ate lunch and the girls played with them for awhile and then it was naptime. Us adults, visited for a bit and then had adult naptime. It felt really good. Once we woke up we just hung out for a bit. Then we got the girls baths, and fed them dinner. Then we all got ready to go to Living Legends. It is a production done by BYU. I am so glad we went. Kylee was really tired by the end, but Tia loved EVERYTHING!! Especially the blue ones. Tia was captivated the whole performance. Then the actors come off the stage at the end and Tia wanted to meet as many as she could. She talked with probably about 4 or 5. It was really fun to watch her talk to these dancers. I loved that some of them really actually took the time to talk to her instead of just glancing her over because she loved it. She was so chatty about it in the car. One of her direct quotes was, "I want to get my hair done. That is my dream." I don't she just loved it. Kylee liked it two, but she was pretty tired by the end. However, the next day she wrote 3 sentences about it and drew a picture and she still talks about it too, so I think it was worth it. Also, I thought it was really cool. I thought they did a good job, and it was fun to see all the different costumes and dances and everything. Once we got home stayed up a little bit, but around 11:30 we all went to bed.

9:00 church dawns a little early on these fun weekends. 10:00 church would be no problem, but 9:00 is just a little too early. However, we managed to get there early and enjoy church together. It was fun to be at church and have Kitt and Matthew with us. Our meetings went really good. I love the changes to the Relief Society curriculum. We are definitely still learning and changing things, but the actions and ideas that come from these council meetings are awesome. Our presidency meeting today was so much more focused and productive because of the council meeting it was great. I really love this call to action. To be honest sometimes I am not really sure what I can do, but I can at least pray and act on the revelation I receive, and these meeting totally lend themselves to inspiration and action. After church, we came home and had lunch. It was a hodge podge of leftovers, but it was so tasty. Okay, I had pizza and banana oatmeal muffins, but it was so good still. Then I got to visit and enjoy Kitt and Matthew some more and we had another adult naptime and then sadly we had to say goodbye and send them on there way. It was so good to have them visit. After they left we did some video chatting, family council, and made an obstacle course before we had dinner. Then we video chatted some cousins after dinner.  It was a great Sunday.

Yesterday and today have been good too. Tia and I enjoyed each other on Monday. I was a little lazy and didn't get up to exercise early, so Tia rode her bike while I ran and also talked me into stopping at the park. It wasn't my plan, but it was so good. We played and played. We even ran away from the bad guys, explored an island, flew plays, and drove boats. It was so fun to pretend with her. She really has quite the imagination. I wish there was some she could use it with. I am okay at it, but nothing like having a kid your own age who can do it. Then tonight I took the girls swimming and we went alone. Don't get me wrong I love when Trent and Tori come, but it was fun to just go by ourselves and do whatever we wanted. My kids wanted to show me all their tricks. We played in the deep water, they dove for rings, and they had fun. It was great to just run on our schedule and do our own thing. Sometimes, you just have to take time to be us. 

I think through these last two weeks I have been reminded of that. I have been reminded that I need to take time to be us. Take time to do small and simple things and enjoy my family. Now that doesn't mean I can't do stuff with other people, I just need to remember to do stuff alone to. Kids are so special and unique and I love my kids the best of all. They are totally awesome. They have such great personalities and desires and I love when I can take the time to enjoy them for who they are and what they are doing. Family is such a precious thing. And Heavenly Father has a plan, so when our plans don't work out we need to rely on his.