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.