Any hoozies. I thought I would do a little whats, what with our family now. We'll start with the youngest.
Jayden: This little ball of energy turned 18 months in October, and 2 years is fast approaching. April 2015 will be here before we know it. He is learning and growing so fast. He seriously amazes me everyday. He is doing a lot of talking now, and a little less climbing, which is good for us. These are some of his favorites: Cereal, he can eat 3 bowls each morning. Stuffed animals, he carries his mickey mouse around the house all day. He fights over Minnie with Madi, and now has a huge cute lizard that is basically bigger than he is. You should have seen his face on Christmas day. Priceless. Thanks Uncle Dal. He loves being included in all things. In fact he is really good at taking something from one of his siblings just because they are playing with it, and decides its boring and takes the next thing they've started playing with. It's bad sometimes. He knows when he is tired and almost begs us to put him down for naps and bed. I love this! Sometimes he can sleep 4 hours during 1 nap. MOMMY TIME, kinda sort of. With 3 other kids, does mom ever really get mommy time? Nah. He is our dare devil. He loves playing with the fly swatter, and beating on his siblings every change he gets. Naught boy. He is a thinker, and will figure out how to get almost anything he wants. I love watching him when he is by himself. I like to try to understand the way he thinks. It intrigues me. It saddens me to know he is our last, but Zach and I both know he finishes our family and we are very happy with that.
Madi: This little girl is coming on 4 yrs old now. It seem like yesterday we were celebrating her sisters 4th bday. Her favorite sentence right now is, "I can't, my tummy hurts!" I don't even know how many times a day I hear her say that. It's a little annoying. She however has just a little smile that will melt your heart. She is the one that will crawl up on my lap and cuddle, and have me tickle her feet. She has such a natural beauty that overcomes me when I really study her. She loves Doc McStuffins (a cartoon show about Doc fixing all her toys), and likes to play doctor, barbies, puzzles, and games. She really is an all around type of girl. She will play with anyone and anything. She cries about little things, or anything at all when she wants us to know about. I thinks she feels like if she cries and screams we'll give in, but we rarely do. I hope it is age related. She shares a room with Lyndee and she is loving it. She is my little baker. Anytime I need to make a cake, she just joins right in with her apron and flour bucket. She loves early morning cartoons, and is our little creeper when she is up before us. She will scare you and creep you out by just showing up next to our bed, in the doorway, or hiding under our bed. Silly girl.
Alex: Oh, Alex. He is 7 now and in the 1st Grade. He loves school, and would rather be there than home. He actually listens in school, and is in the top of his class. I have seen the way he behaves at school and I could only wish he were that way at home. I really feel like he has competition at home, and that is why he acts out. He is the BEST kid when he is by himself. He would be the perfect only child. I think having siblings is truly one of his challenges in his life. He is addicted to electronic devices and just today was grounded from them. He cannot bring himself away from them easily, and becomes a monster child when we turn it off or take it away. This doesn't happen all the time, but yes, a good chunk of the time. Despite his tantrums at 7yrs old, he is so caring for others. He is opposite his brother in this aspect. Alex is so very cautious about everything, and even worries for Jaydens safety when he decides jumping off the top of the stairs is okay. It gives Alex anxiety to know that someone he loves is in danger. So sweet. He is a lover of LEGOS. He could spend hours and hours building legos, which we prefer to games and aps. Alex's favorite food is ravioli, and salad with ranch, or mashed potatoes and gravy. He refuses to clean up his room, and make his bed with out "help". Meaning I do most of the work, or A LOT of encouragement. Sheesh. Sometimes I even get out the vacuum and just start in his room. It freaks him out enough that he cleans FAST. He doesn't want to lose any legos to the vacuum. I love being with him just us, but he truly is Zach's biggest trial.
Lyndee: She is 9 already. Pre-teen. She is the one that listens the most of all our kids. She might be grumpy about doing something we ask her to do, but is really the only one that will get it done. She is a social butterfly, and loves to be the center of attention. I've had her and Alex in after school for homework and games until we get home from work. It seems to be really taking a toll on her friend life. She misses being with them, and walking home after school, like they did everyday last year. I know this is deep down the root of why she is always so grumpy. We really worry about her. She never seem to be her cheery self these days. She told me because of her friends, and having to always clean. I told her that if she would just pick up after herself and help out with her laundry and dishes than it would be much easier. I've needed her help a lot these last few weeks, and she has been so good to help out with Jayden and really anything I need. She loves one on one time with Zach or I. With me it ends up in scratching her back. She is so much like her dad, it's scary. She loves to dance and tried out for the advanced group and made it. She goes to dance twice a week. She has gotten really good. Having something for her to do is necessary and is helping her with confidence. I had her in soccer this last fall for the first time, and I think she really enjoyed it. Our schedules were so, so busy for 6 weeks, but it was good for her. She still loves the color pink, and Ramen Noodles.
Zach and Myself: I'm gonna just mumble about the both of us together. Fall of 2013, we knew it was time to move out of the valley. We had always felt the move to weber county would happen, we just didn't know when it would be. We got our answer that fall, and Zach started looking for jobs, and applied for Weber State University. I love looking for houses, and started watching the housing market closely in that area. We told our families about our decision, and they were less than happy. We were stoked, because it was the right thing to do. Zach started school in January 2014, and had a job interview with UTA in February. In march he applied for a job position as a private probation officer. They offered him the job in April, but we were negotiating pay. I was looking for houses like mad by this time. We thought for sure this was it. We had decided that when we moved, I needed to be home with our kids, so his salary needed to be enough to support us entirely. They kept coming back with CRAP pay. I mean CRAPPY pay. He would have been starting up the Ogden branch new, by himself, and still wouldn't offer more than his current salary at Cache County Jail. He tried to argue the fact that housing was more expensive in Weber county, but alass, we couldn't do it. He had to pass up his dream job. We just couldn't afford a house and me staying home for $30,000/year. We even got to the point that we didn't need a huge house and could settle for a smaller 3 bedroom. The reality is that a smaller 3 bedroom house in Weber county was still almost the same price as our house in Cache Valley. Still a no go. We waited to hear back from UTA, but they went into a hiring freeze, and nothing came from it. So, he kept looking.
In June we went on vacation with Zach's parents, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Scott. We went to the Redwoods in Northern California, and drove up the coast to a Lincoln Oregon where we stayed in a beach house for 5 days. It was so much fun. The drive was long with 4 kids, but we all had so much fun. We got to play on the beach, collect star fish, and hermit crabs. Thank you again Curt and Janet.
Late July Zach came home from work and told me he had applied for the Work Diversion Deputy at work. We were so hopeful he would get the job, and HE DID. It truly is such a great job for him. It gives him the opportunity to help others serve in the community. He works 4 Ten hour shifts, wed - Saturday. Perfect with my work schedule. He has become so happy with this new job, we stopped looking elsewhere. We are not entirely sure why were felt so strongly about moving, but one reason we feel, is to make us grateful for what we have here. We never would have been able to afford a house this same size in Weber County. Our kids love their school, and their friends. We do love our daycare provider too. So we have become happy with what God has blessed us with.
Shortly after starting his new job, his dad approached him about a career in Real estate, and if he would be interested in helping him buy and sell rental homes. Zach thought about it, and signed up. He started in August, and finished his classes in December. He passed his state test on Monday Dec. 29. He has 3 interviews with Brokers this week. He is stoked!!!
Now we know starting out he is not going to be rolling in the dough, but we are hoping that within a year I can quit and stay home for the kiddos and our sanity. Seriously, carpool, daycare, working, and picking kids up and getting them here or there is so STRESSFUL when you are working. It is so much nicer to know that I can be here to care for our kids without having to beg/ask for help all the time. I can't wait.
A little more about me. I have been working full time since July, and hating it. I told my boss at the end of the year I wanted to get back to part time. MY KIDS NEED ME! In September I started having low back pain. I didn't do anything in particular, but was just having pain between sitting and standing. It over time was not getting better. I finally went and saw Dr. Swenson. He referred me to Physical Therapy as I didn't want to undergo an MRI that was $$$, when I thought PT could help me. Therapy was helping a lot, and I was almost released, until I started having a lot of pain in my right leg and right hip. Early December the pain was so bad, I was bed ridden for 4 days. It was so painful to go to the bathroom and back to my bed. I hated every minute. I couldn't care for myself or kids. This put a lot of stress on Zach as his finals were coming up that next week. I had my dad and Zach give me a blessing on day 3. That night I went to the ER just to make sure it wasn't a blood clot. I didn't really think it was, but the fear of dying from a pulmonary embolism scared me enough to make sure. It was negative, thank goodness. On the 4 day, I was upset at my kids and slammed my bedroom door. I twisted funny (so painful), but relieved some of the intense pain I was having and was finally able to walk again. I called Dr. Swenson and had him order that MRI I didn't want to pay for. $1600, yep just for my lower back. IT was needed. The MRI tech asked when I was following up with my doctor and agreed I needed to see him soon. (He can't legally tell me anything). Well there was a reason my foot was going numb and the pain in my right calf had been so unbearable. I had 2 herniated discs in my low back. One of them was so bad it had herniated down to the next disc. WHAT???? I'M 31 NOT 70! Actually this happens to most people between the age of 20 - 45. I talked with him about my options, and with a herniation this big, surgery was my only option. So off to see Dr. Vernon, Spine surgeon. He reviewed the MRI with Zach and I and gave me 3 options. Watch it and do Physical Therapy, which would ultimately lead me back to Dr. Swenson on and off for pain control. Nope, I couldn't be flat in bed on and off forever. I have to take care of family. Next. Surgery to remove the herniation, or since I have degenerative disc disease, just do a fusion of those discs. My mom had a fusion, and she has not been the same since. Immediately I did not want to do that. So I opted for the discectomy. When did I do this you ask? 2 days before Christmas, so I could have it on this deductible, and time to recover. Surgery took 4 hours, and anesthesia made me so sick. I threw up 7 times in 8 hours following surgery. I couldn't even have the lights on in my room, because it made me sick. When the elders arrived to give blessings I immediately had them come in. My blessing was so good, and thinking about particular parts of it still make me cry. When they left my room, my nausea was immediately gone. GONE!! What a wonderful gift from my Father in Heaven. Thank you elders for your sacrifice of time to come give me a blessing if no one else. You will never know how grateful I truly am. I came home from the hospital Christmas Eve. I know it put a lot of extra stress on Zach, be he too knew I needed it. He was so good to care for me and the kids. Was it easy? No. But he did it, and I am thankful to him for his sacrifice. I am almost 2 weeks out from surgery, and I am surprised how well I have been doing. My leg pain was completely gone after surgery, but has since returned and I am worried. I keep feeling like I need to have more FAITH in the surgery and in God that I will be healed.
Since my time off of work, I made a deal with Lyndee that if I read a book, she had to as well. She hasn't kept her end of the bargain. I read Chris Stewarts, The Great and Terrible, The brothers. It was a little difficult to grasp at first, but had me in tears by the end. I love reading books about life beyond the veil. This was a fiction book, I know, but still got me thinking about a lot of things, and people. I look at my husband, and kids differently. Their spirits chose Good over evil, as did I. Every one of us on this earth chose to follow the Saviors Plan. We are all Spirit Children, and we have Heavenly Parents. Our goal is to get back to god. We have wanted that from before coming to earth, and this book was so real to me as God was speaking with every spirit before their departure to earth. Tears I say, tears. I really need to be more understanding of others, the free agency we have all been granted by GOD, through Jesus Christ. I can't wait to start volume. 2. We were all sent to help each other make it back to GOD, and often I have gotten caught up in the stresses of earth life and have forgotten about that. Focused on the negative of others, instead of the positive and working together to return home again.
I had a thought today, randomly. There have been people in my life that I have looked at and judge, thinking she looks snobby, I probably wouldn't get along with her. When in reality God has brought me closer to them, and they have become people I truly adore. God sent them to me for certain reasons, and I am so thankful for them. I have learned something different from each. I wondered if evil angels were trying to keep me from these strong spirits that I may never grow and learn. I know this is the case. Why would Satan and his followers want me to be happy? God knows me, and he wants me to be happy. Thank you Father for knowing me, and blessing me with these wonderful people that have blessed my life tremendously.
I have decided what my New Years Resolution is going to be.
Let's enjoy every minute of 2015.
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