Hand-me-Downs, and Things worth waiting for!

I have just finished spring cleaning. FINALLY. It seemed like the longest week and a half of my life. That could have been because G.J. was gone for a few of those days, and a few other factors….but finally, it is done. Now onto the yards/garage/cars/garden…and all that fun stuff.

The past few weeks have brought a few new very loved and appreciated items to our home. One was a hand me down, this ladder shelf from my mom. It is actually brand new, she just didn’t like it and was too lazy to send it back so it now has a home at my house!:



Kayler now refuses to sit in a high chair, so we have looked for months for new bar stools. We finally found some at Western Living (my friend and fellow food groupie Stephanie Tucker works there). We have 5, so we can all eat at our bar. We have a dining table with 6 chairs, but it seems so formal for snacks and all that, so I wanted these to allow us to all sit and eat together:



While looking at Western Living, we found a sectional. We have wanted one to fill our massive family room downstairs. When we finished the basement over 3 years ago, we got hand me down furniture from my grandparents and my parents. I didn’t think we would ever find a set we liked or have the money to buy it. Well we happened upon this beauty, sold the other furniture in the first day it was in the Nickel Ad, and my parent’s gave us a very generous anniversary gift…some money to pay for the couch!:




Yes, I know it is VERY large, but it fits the room well. We are saving up for a matching ottoman to put in the middle to break it up a little.

The last thing is something we had been waiting for the past 10 years for-a new bedspread. When we first got married, G.J. had a nice bed, and I had a nice bedspread with all the decorations to go with it. We just used it all these years. I really didn’t want to spend the money to redecorate the whole room to change colors and curtains, flowers, pictures…all that. So, while at Western Living, I found this one, and it worse perfectly with our room!:



So there you have it, a few reasons why I have been missing in blog action for longer than usual, and a sneak peek at some new fun things.

This is a side note….after all these purchases, just our luck- G.J. finds out that a pay cut or increase in insurance costs are going to happen at work. I was very frustrated, because in his blessing when he was set apart in the Elders quorum, the stake president blessed him TWICE that he would be blessed financially. We are always very blessed, and I never forget to notice the lord’s hand in that. I just was never expecting a CUT in pay when what he makes is barely enough. So on that same day, I got me 3 cleaning clients. It is funny how the lord answers prayers. The girls I clean for are all close friends, and they are so appreciative of me coming. Now I feel like I can contribute a tiny bit of money, and get an out 1 day a week cleaning.

Other than that, we are SO looking forward to only 5 weeks left of school HOORAY! I am ready to have my kids back all to myself and to have some fun. We are also going to be celebrating out TEN year anniversary on May 13th!

Something I am not looking forward to is the 1 year anniversary of the passing of my beloved Grandma. This Wednesday, the 28th marks that day. It seems like so long ago, but when I think of it, it could have been yesterday. The pain has dulled with time, although there are days that I miss her so bad it makes me sick. I love you Grandma!

3rd Grade Field Trip

Today I was able to go with Hallie on her 3rd grade field trip clear to Salt Lake to the Clark Planetarium and the Gateway.

When they sent the note home a few months ago asking for chaperones, I was worried it wouldn’t be “cool” to take your mom, and I was secretly worried about sending my baby girl on such a long adventure without me. Thank goodness she really wanted me to go.

We had to be there at 5:50 a.m. WAY too early for my liking! Gavin had stayed the night with G.J.’s parents, who are back to Vernal for the summer. Kayler got to stay with my parents. G.J. had to get up and going with us this morning, because he had to leave for Moab for the next 4 days. :{

The bus rides were not that bad at all. Surprisingly they went by super fast. I was able to talk to some of the other mom chaperones, watch Hallie interact with her friends, ate lots of snacks, rested my eyes a little, and enjoyed the spring time scenery along the way.

We watched a few movies, saw a few exhibits, visited the gift shop (which was the most important to the kids-go figure), and ate our lunch by the fountains at the Gateway.

I feel silly summing up such a busy day in so short of a post, and feel even sillier about mentioning some of my observations while on the trip.

I had to watch over/keep an eye on 5 little girls. Hallie was an angel-probably because I was there keeping her in line. There were 2 others that were nice enough, and then 2 DEVIL children. Seriously….the most bratty disrespectful little creatures ever. I can’t even begin to tell you the naughty mean things they did and said. If these little girls are this naughty at 9 years old…watch out world, because we have our next female felons on the loose.

One of the most annoying things happened at the 3D movie (which was a way cool great movie by the way). One of the naughty little girls had bought a snack size bag of Funions-the chips- to eat during the movie. No big deal right? Well she ate every single chip SO loudly…smacking her lips, licking her fingers, crumpling the bag, taking her sweet time…like 30 minutes-no joke-to finish this freakin’ tiny bag of chips. If that weren’t bad enough, when they were all gone, she turned the bag inside out and LICKED every last morsel off of it. Then she crumpled it up and put it behind her head and it rumpled and crumpled the rest of the movie…I was about to snap. THEN…she took her little evil friends leftover pretzel and slowly and meticulously licked the salt off of it…I even had to plug one ear so I wouldn’t hear her chew, plug my nose so I didn’t smell the stupid onion chips, and close one eye so I didn’t have to watch her. Am I the most horrible person EVER for thinking that?!? And how obnoxious and rude must I have looked sitting next to her acting so mortified of her. I am laughing so hard as I type and am re-imagining the event…but seriously, it was bad, and I admit, I am a horrible person for thinking so badly of those naughty little girls.

So, besides that, and beside me being sad that G.J. is out of town…..all is well. I am SO loving the spring weather. There is supposed to be a storm in the next few days, and I am even o.k. with that. April Showers bring May Flowers right?!…and green grass and all that great stuff!

I was too busy babysitting to get lots of good pictures...I didn't even get any of Hallie with her good friends or on the bus or anything better than these 5 pictures here...I really need to work on my picture taking skills!

Autism Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness Month, and I am in denial. Sounds silly you say? Well I feel like I have been pretending this whole month that Kayler does NOT have issues with autism….so why celebrate a whole month reminding me that he really DOES have issues?

I went to the local Autism support group in town last week…and I seriously felt like an outsider. It was kind of like going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting without ever drinking an ounce of alcohol. I looked at the other people there thinking how unfortunate it was that they had kids with so severe of issues, and then it hit me-while not as severe, I AM one of those people too.

Don’t get me wrong, he is doing GREAT….he is much much better than last year at this time. He is so dang sweet, not to mention absolutely beautiful. I love him with all my heart, but gosh dang it…he is so flippin’ frustrating sometimes.

I treat him like he is a “normal” child, all the while keeping in the back of my mind and struggling to keep up with ways to help him cope and feel “normal” without making it seem obvious to him or those around us.

I even had the autism specialist at his school re-evaluate him, because I thought that maybe he would not be considered to be on the autism spectrum anymore. She informed me that he was definitely still on the spectrum...and while he is doing well, to not get too ahead of myself.

He still has a horrible time with other kids. Church is still hell, to put it bluntly. He does great at Sacrament meeting-which took years of practice, and I am SO grateful for his progress. But Sunbeams is not so good-especially sharing time. The only time it is really good is when I am home alone with him while G.J. is at work and the kids at school, and even then we have several meltdowns and battles.

He is almost done with having a nap in the day, which is lucky considering he is almost 4…and lot of 4 year olds don’t nap. But I NEED him to nap. When he wakes up so early and usually doesn’t go to bed until late….that makes for a VERY long day. I really really cherish the break nap time brings.

A lot of people say that he seems so normal and does things that normal kids his age do (good and bad), which is true. The only difference is that as his mom…and someone who has studied and studied AND studied about Asperger’s syndrome…I notice the things that he has a very hard time with, and it breaks my heart that he has to struggle.

At the end of the day, he is nothing less than a sweet little special member of our family. Since April is officially half way over….I have decided that I will spend the next 15 days celebrating Autism Awareness Month, and being a lot more grateful that Heavenly Father chose to send Kayler to me.

Take a look at these beauties....

I have a friend who is a photographer in town. Sandy Schurz-She is insanely good, but also insanely expensive. Thank goodness she is often in need of my services so the last 4 photo sessions have been trades straight across. She needed my help back in March, and promised a session to come. I conveniently forgot…not because I don’t want free awesome pictures, but I HATE photo sessions. It all stresses me out. From the outfits, the weather, the location, the kids moods, attitudes….too many factors can go wrong.
Well, she called me Saturday morning and said that afternoon would be great. I had to come up with outfits and said a mighty prayer that it would go well. I will let you decide for yourself:



























So, What ya think? I think that 2 good handsome little boys and 1 beautiful girl proved me wrong! We got that photo session done in 30 minutes...and not a tear was shed by any of us! Hooray! Now....which ones to print? ;)

Happy Easter!

The following images are things that make me VERY happy!:






We thoroughly enjoyed our Easter/Spring Break/Conference weekend in Sunny, Warm, and Beautiful St. George. Before I tell you about our trip, let me back track to before we left.

We colored eggs for FHE last Monday night. The kids thought it was pretty awesome. I don’t think my mom ever let me color eggs as a kid, so even though it is messy, it is something I will always let my kids do. Thank goodness it was very nice outside, so we did it on our deck, then went for a family walk to finish off the evening.:



I decided to let the kids have a friend over for Spring Break on Thursday....it was fun for them, but a little bit of bad timing on my part. Taking care of 5 kids, packing, cleaning, doing laundry, delivering dinner for my dinner group and trying to get on the road by 3...did not mix well! Thank goodness I hid those eggs we had colored and had enough food from my dinner group to keep the kids busy. The little girl with Hallie is her friend Gabby Meyer. Gavin's buddy Sam Skoy is so cute, they are becoming great friends. And Kayler was just along for the ride...making sure he got in on the fun.:





We headed out that afternoon, and had decided to break the trip up so we got a room on priceline for super cheap at the Provo Marriot. While there I was able to meet up with a friend of mine from Washington. She was in town on vacation. She was so nice and bought me dinner. Thanks Kelli!:



We had a nice night and woke up to cold weather, but the kids did SO good on the drive down. G.J. had to get after me and my lead foot, but I was so excited to get to the warmth! It was 37 degrees pretty much the whole trip. Then once we hit Cedar City it started to warm up with every mile closer we got to St. George. I would tell the kids each time the temperature got 1 degree warmer, and we did a little cheer. They thought that was great...even if it was a little cheesy!

When we got there G.J.'s parents met with us and showed us their new house which they are fixing up, got us settled in our hotel room, and then we went to the Art Festival. It was SO neat, and the kids had lots of fun....yet I am a retard and forgot my camera at the hotel. :( But trust me, it was fun!

We did lots of things, and it is all kind of a blur which day was which, so I am using the pictures I did take as a reminder. The next day we colored eggs at G.J.'s parents trailer (they aren't living in the house quite yet) Then we had a few eggs hunts around there. Kayler was so cute....the other kids were so fast, and he could hardly keep up...but he got the hang of it eventually!:







After that we met up with G.J.'s aunt and her family at a picnic at the park. Of course we had to do another egg hunt. Kayler got a little tired right in the middle and had to roll down the grassy hills. Our kids were on a permanent candy high from all the egg hunts!:









We went to the coolest furniture store that night and it was Ladies Night Out. I am guessing that they did it at that time because it was during the priesthood session of conference. Speaking of Conference, we were able to listen or watch to lots of talks on both days, and I LOVED them all. It is amazing that no matter where you are or what you are doing, just hearing/seeing the sounds of conference automatically brings tears to my eyes and gives me chills...I just love it, and can't wait to get the Conference Ensign to recap. At the furniture store there were TONS of booths offering free stuff, services, things to buy, and we had a great time-even the boys did! ;) They have a Paul Mitchell hair school, and they were doing free hairdos, so Hallie and I left with pretty wild hair, and we went to the Brick Oven for a yummy dinner:



The kids were very worried that the Easter Bunny was not going to find them in the hotel, but luckily our Easter Bunny is very tricky! ;) They were thrilled with what he brought them:




We had an Easter Dinner at G.J.'s parents place, and stopped at the coolest park:







And of course, I had to throw in a few pictures of them swimming...outside....while our poor family and friends in Vernal dealt with snow :( :




I had myself convinced that G.J. should look for a job down there and I would seriously move in a heartbeat. I absolutely hate every aspect of winter and bad weather. The drive home was LONG to say the least, but then I pulled in to Vernal and realized that we do live in a truly beautiful place...it really is, and I am grateful to be here. Spring time and warmer weather is on the way, and I just need to be patient. In the meantime, I can just look forward to the next time I go to St. George...which will probably be around late fall.

Hallie and Gavin went to stay the last night of their spring break at my parents. We have been having a ball with Kayler. He is so different when it is just him. He is so dang funny, and just getting so big. I had to take a picture of the MASSIVE mess we had after unloading the car. This is about 3/4 of the stuff we had. I can NOT believe how we had it smashed into our car!:



So tomorrow means back to real life. Cleaning, errands, church stuff....you get the drift. Vacations are always nice...but there is no place like home-winter weather and all!