Stake Conference

Today was our Stake Conference....which I dread! It is just SO hard to entertain young kids for 2 hours without a break. We didn't go to the last Stake Conference because it seemed too stressful. Now its even more difficult because we can't meet at the tabernacle since its not in use due to construction. I like the tabernacle because when the kids get rowdy you just take them to the back to wander and maybe take a walk around the temple. Its a good peaceful way to still keep the spirit (As best you can while frustrated) during the long 2 hour meeting.

So this conference was held in our stake center which to me sounded like a nightmare. It doesn't fit the same amount of people comfortably. I knew right away that if we went, I wanted a bench! I didn't care what it took, I really really wanted a bench. With a bench it is easier to keep the kids entertained without dropping crayons off the back of the chair. So we went to bed Saturday with a game plan: David would wake up, get ready, and go save us a bench. I would then get myself and the girls ready and go meet him there.

Everything went smoothly. David got a bench! Even better, he got a bench behind Barb, Crista, Brian and Janis! AWESOME! I was able to get the girls ready without any tears and we arrived 10 minutes early. (I hate being late) The girls wanted to sit by Barb so I allowed. They were a little back and forth between the two benches but not so much that they were a distraction. They may have chatted to Barb and made her miss bits and pieces of the talks, but overall they were absolutely AMAZING! I didn't think we would make it without me leaving completely frustrated. I packed a good bag, we had great family who helped and supplied many treats, and I was able to enjoy and listen to most of every talk. SUCCESS! I am so happy to have my kids at an age where they are able to sit through a long (boring to them) meeting and behave well the whole time.

I enjoyed the talks very much. All of them had lessons to be learned and taught me things I could improve on. I left feeling like I was able to make some positive changes in my life. One thing that stuck with me is something President Monson said. It wasn't exactly the topic of his talk, but he said it and I liked it. " A friend is more focused on helping others than getting credit." This is something that I try to do. I grew up with a mom who taught me how important service is. I don't know how many times I heard the phrase "Service with a smile" (which sometimes made me want to scream) I enjoyed serving others and I loved knowing that I helped those who needed it. From things like charity donations to simple things like babysitting for free. I have always had a love of helping others. My mom always taught me that when you serve others you will be blessed in return. THOSE blessing are your recognition from God and you need no other recognition. If I received a "thank you" I was thrilled because you could always tell by the tone of voice that it was sincere and the person appreciated what you did. If I did something anonymously, I knew that they would be happy when they were surprised with my little act of service. All in all, service has been a big part of my life. The biggest lesson I learned was that you need no thanks or recognition for the things you do for others. Simply do it because you were inspired to do it, asked to do, or even told to do it. And yes.....you should do it willfully and happily and even with a smile. :)

When President Monson said that "A friend is more focused on helping others than getting credit" I thought of times where people seem to flaunt or brag about the fact that they went out of their way to help someone. To me when you do this, you are serving for the wrong reason. You should not serve to feel superior or to get everybody's applause, you should do it because you care deeply about the welfare of others. To me when you boast about doing service, the attention you get from those complimenting you IS your blessing. I know that none of this is necessarily the teachings of the church and simply my OWN opinion, but hey it is MY blog after all. I just figured I would share a little thought that has been on my mind all day.

I am so glad that my mom taught me to serve. I am also very glad that Davids parents taught him the same. Service is so important and you never know how hard of a time someone may be having. A simple smile, phone call, note or treat may be the one thing that keeps someone going for the week. I hope that I can teach my girls the same as mine and David's parents taught us. And I hope that somehow I can teach them that allowing someone to serve you is just as important. My mom is a stubborn ol' bird and it took her a very long time to learn that lesson. I have just recently started to allow others to serve me and am still quite stubborn about it. (But getting better) I hope that through each generation we will get less stubborn....but I won't hold my breath!

Red Ribbon Week

So this week is red ribbon week in Ogden School District. (And everywhere else I'm pretty sure) Kadence's school wears red bracelets instead of actual ribbons. They are waterproof and kind of like a hospital bracelet. When I picked her up from school she was tugging at it like it was bugging her. Then this is the conversation we had:

Me: Kadence you need to leave that on for 5 days and then we'll cut it off.

Kadence: NO, I can't cut it off until I'm a mom

Me: You only have to wear it for a week, we'll cut it off before Halloween.

Kadence: No mom, Mrs. Joy told me that only moms and dads can cut it off so I have to wait until I'm a mom.

I just about died laughing, she just doesn't catch on to things too quickly sometimes. I told her that I could cut it off of her at the end of the week. I figured that would be a funny enough thing to remember, but then the day just got better. Barb (Mrs Joy) came up to me and told me that she was teaching them that they shouldn't drink or do drugs but that when they are older they can make whatever decision they choose. (Ya have to be sensitive to kids who may have parents that do) Then Kadence said, "I will tell my sister Shelby that we can NOT drink any more of Grandpas beer!" Well Barb happens to be this particular Grandpas sister and she knew darn well that Kadence was confused. THANK heavens because had it been anyone else they may have been seriously concerned. (For good reason) So not only did Kadence think she needed to be a mom before she could cut off her bracelet, but now she thinks the bracelet is to remind her not to drink Grandpas non existent beer.

The whole way home she would NOT let it go. She talked about it the whole 10 minute drive home. She told me how she can't drink grandpas beer, Shelby shouldn't either, and that when grandpa asks she will tell him NO! She also told me that some of her friends drink beer and it makes her sad. (WHAT?!) I didn't correct her because I wanted her to tell David. Then it was too funny not to catch on video so I got out the camera. ENJOY!

So right after this we explained that grandpa doesn't have beer. He drinks Pepsi which is kind of like Coke. We also told her that she could drink root beer. We think that is really what she is talking about so we figured we'd clear that up as well. Even though we keep telling her that she can drink what Grandpa gives her and that Grandpa doesn't drink beer she STILL 4 days later talks about not drinking grandpas beer. This will be something I will never forget. What a silly girl!

A Few Videos

So I figured it had been a while since I had posted videos of some of my kids, so here it goes!

This first video is of Shelby telling the 5 little pumpkin poem. She loves this and it is so cute to me when she does it. ENJOY!

Here is Kadence singing one verse of Going on a Bear hunt. Try to ignore that she starts out going through a jello swamp and ends up saying its hard to get through peanut butter. Also try to ignore the fact that its sideways. :)

New Brace!

This morning we headed down to Shriners to get Kadence's new brace. We were a little worried because the last brace didn't come back the same pattern as she had chosen. We were HOPING that this time they would get it right. We woke up bright and early to head down to our 9am appointment. When I woke Shelby up she looked at me and said, "But mom, the sun is still down." I felt the same way. It was so hard to roll my sorry butt out of bed because it was cold out. We got out on time so we stopped to get free breakfast sandwiches at McDonalds....thank you Monopoly game pieces!

We got back to our room and before the girls could even unpack their backpacks of things to entertain them the orthopedist came in with the RIGHT brace! She was so excited and kept telling him "Thank you for getting the right one!" We got it adjusted and adjusted some more and then it was time to head to x-ray. Even though we had been there for more than two hours the girls behaved so well that I didn't even need to give them their new toy I purchased to distract from the long day. (AWESOME!) We got done with xrays at a little after 11 and weren't supposed to be to the clinic to see our Dr until 1:30. We knew there would be about 2 hours between appointments and just planned on eating lunch during that time. We lucked out because our orthopedist went and asked the Dr if he would just take us then. He said yes and I was so happy!

The Dr analyzed the brace, compare the new xrays to past xrays and then discussed everything with us. We expected for her curve to be a higher degree because of two reasons. First, she hasn't gone brace to brace ever and her back used to regress even while in a brace. Second, when she was molded for this new brace she was awake and it wasn't in traction. (They always mold her in traction, under anesthesia before they apply her new casts) In my head I had prepared to hear her curve went from 50 degrees up to 60 or so degrees. Imagine my delight when the Dr told us that her new brace is holding her at 47 degrees. WHAT?! That is so amazing! He then said that he doesn't think that there is any reason why we shouldn't continue going brace to brace. We will watch her curve with continued xrays to make sure she doesn't get drastically worse and if she does we would just apply a cast to re correct the curve. We will go back in 6 months to chat with the Dr in clinic and also to mold her for another brace. (Unless there is a problem and then we go in sooner) I am so happy that the decision we made was the right one and that things are going so well.

We headed back to orthopedics to give her brace a few more tweaks based on what the Dr wanted. I'm thrilled with one of the tweaks. She used to have a part of the brace that went pretty high on her back, but didn't really even touch her back. One of the pads puts it too far away so it didn't seem to do anything. I just figured I wasn't a dr and didn't understand what it was there for. The Dr said it wasn't doing anything and asked the orthopedist to cut it off. YAY! It makes it less noticeable that she even has a brace on and makes it so she can finally put her own shirt on.

We loved that things went better than we were planning on, the appointment was shorter than we planned for, and most importantly that Kadence LOVES her new brace and can't wait to show it to everyone.

Joys of Being a Mommy

Ok, so this blog was created to take you on not just the "ups" but also the "downs" of being a mommy and the joy in the journey along the way. So here is another honest post.

David and I haven't been the best at attending all of our meetings at church. Since I injured my knee we basically didn't attend church at all. We managed to make it to church the Sunday before conference, but missed the first class. (Better late than never I guess) We discussed it on Saturday evening and there was no reason we couldn't make it to church by 9:00 am if I could get the girls up and ready to get Kadence to school by 8:40. SO, we had a great game plan that sounded pretty easy to accomplish. WRONG! We woke up, got the girls up and it seems like everything started going wrong after that. It was cold and I hadn't thought about that yet so all we had were summer dresses. I finally found some skirts I could make work if I just added tights. Well one the skirt was too short on Kadence but at this point we didn't have enough time to change her. Then the tights were too small, but again we had to go with what we had. So Kadence had the tights seam hanging midway to her knees which also happened to mean it was hanging out her skirt. Luckily I had some church shoes that I had bought a while back that fit them. (That was nice!) David started getting a bag ready for church, but it was the wrong bag....according to me. :) It was time to leave and I was still in my underwear and the girls hair was less than fantastic. I sent David and the girls on their way and stayed home to get dressed. UGH! There went our plan to attend all our meetings. I finally got to church and by this time I had a big headache so I wasn't even able to listen too well to the lesson. Then we went to get our girls from class and the constant "Kadence keep your legs closed" began. It was almost impossible to keep her legs closed and that's even with tights that were too small. My poor girls probably looked like orphans. At the end of sacrament we noticed Kadence felt a little warm but we figured it was because she is warm and clammy by nature. My goodness! If this isn't "One of those days" as a mom I don't know what is! When we got home Kadence's cough started to sound pretty bad and she got a fever. My kids don't get fevers too often so I knew she was sick. I took her to the Dr the next day and we found out she had walking pneumonia. Needless to say we are still going to try to make it to ALL of our meetings and I will try to be better prepared this Sunday. I don't know why getting kids ready on Sunday is more difficult than any other day, but it just is!

A Little Venting...

I've always been told its better to write things down and get them out of your system vs holding it all in. Well, I don't plan on writing anything because it makes my hands hurt, so blogging it is the second best thing. A while ago I decided that I wanted to get out of the house for a while at least once a month. It makes me a better mom when I can spend some time away. David mentioned possible going out to eat with some of the ladies in the neighborhood....BRILLIANT! Or at least I thought. I messaged all the ladies in my ward and asked them if it was something they would be interested in. I also let them know that it would be a consistent date each month so they could plan around it. I got an overwhelming reply of YES and that it was something they needed as well. I was so excited to know that I wasn't the only one who wanted to leave my family for a few hours each month. It also was great to know that people wanted to join me. I have a hard time making friends and so this was huge for me to put myself out there and invite people. The first month was approaching and so I set up an "event" on facebook. Most people ignored it, a few declined and when it came down to it only myself and one other person went to eat. I didn't so much mind because things come up, people get busy, etc and most people said that they would still love to go next month. I also liked having time to catch up with Amy since we hadn't seen each other in quite some time. She's an amazing gal and we've had some similar experiences that make me feel close to her. We enjoyed our dinner, our chatting, and most importantly the time without kids smacking our leg for attention. :) The designated date was approaching again for this month so I again set up an "event." More people ignored than last time. Actually only about 5 people even acknowledged the event this time. I really appreciate those who decline and I don't even care if they give me a reason. It allows me to know who saw the event and I think its respectful to RSVP. I mean, seriously....back 100 years ago if you didn't RSVP you were looked down upon. It was very rude. Now people just come....or don't come....or maybe will show up for a few minutes, but you never have a good idea on how many to plan for. Anyways, it was back to being just Amy and I again which I was kind of excited about. Amy got sick and needed to stay home to rest so unfortunately she wasn't going to be meeting me for dinner. So basically out of about 20 or more people not a single person decided it would be a good idea to join me for dinner. It's kind of hard not to take it personally. I didn't know how people would feel about it in the first place which is why I sent out a message asking who would want to go before hand. I don't understand why everyone was so excited and eager to join me and each month I get one person or nobody who will join me. This is exactly why I don't put myself out there and why I don't go out of my way to get to know people. It usually just ends in disappointment. Today I could have really used a friend. It's my brothers birthday today. He passed away in 1992 and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. Probably more so now that I am older, married, have kids, etc. I wonder what role he would have played in my life and the life of my kids. Would he have come to visit often? Would he have lived close to us? Would he be proud of me? His birthday is very emotional for me and I just wish her were here. I wish the girls could have made him cupcakes and put handfuls of sprinkles on top. I wish he were here to keep me company when nobody else would. Needless to say, I could have really used a friend and some company today. This will probably go down as the toughest birthday because David will be gone to parent teacher conferences all night long. Oh well, it makes me appreciate the VERY few but very good friends that I do have and makes me appreciate my loved ones who are still here. I love them all so much!