Things are looking up!

The girls had a better day yesterday at school, Lindsey and Lauren even wanted to ride the bus to school, which I let them and then ran Emily to school. She (Em) refused to go to class so she waited until she was late and then requested that I walk her into school. I hate to say NO, I know she is doing pretty good for what she use to do. Today the girls missed the bus so I took them to school and then did my running around. When I dropped the girls off at school, I reminded them they WOULD be taking the bus back home, I would not be there to pick them up. Emily started in with, "I don't know where to go..." and I again told her go to your class and ask your teacher where it is that you are suppose to be lining up at. Lindsey just took Emily and said, "I will show you!" and then Lindsey and Lauren took Emily to go line up and they walked by the bus they were to catch later, so Emily could see what bus it was. That is what I like to see! Sisters helping each other out. It made me so happy.



About our house situation, we finally got HOT WATER last night! Yahoo!! It was about 9 pm when the guy left and said it would be about an hour before we it would be ready. I was so anticipated a nice HOT bath, but decided I didn't want to wait that long, and I wanted a HOT bath not a luke warm one. When I was getting ready for bed shortly after 9, I noticed the water wasn't FREEZING anymore, so that was exciting.



We are suppose to be getting direcTV today, since no reception is really here. We tried one antenna and it didn't seem to really work that great, so we decided to go with the dish of some sort. I really don't like the dish systems, I don't like the idea of having cartoon access ALL DAY long, for the kids. I don't appreciate all the garbage that comes with it, and would like to just basically get local channels. I do like some of the extra channels but of course you can't really just get animal planet for the kids and Fox Sports for Robert. And of course they lock in into the whole thing by signing you up for 2 years, and this rate is only good for the first year! GREAT! Oh well.



Our new internet that we had was through Verizon, an air card or something and it was like $60 a month, so I didn't want to do that. We went through Digis now, or will be. They will come out and hook us up later this week. In the meantime, my email account doesn't work. I log in and it tells me this is no longer valid please close it or we will automatically close it in 5 minutes. I really dislike the whole changing email addresses. I should just get a yahoo account or something to keep it always the same. Until then, it seems there is a wireless network somewhere around us that I am able to tap into. Nice!



Our old cat, from the other house has seemed to adjust okay to this house. He still seems to get lost, he will meow really loud until I talk to him or someone else will. He really wants to go outside. I let him out today, he just sneaky-ly (if that is a word) walked around on our porch, and then Amber shut the door on him which freaked him out. As soon as I opened the door to the house, he ran back inside. There is a cat here, that I am guessing use to live here, she (I say she, but I haven't really looked to see if it is a she or he) sits at the patio door and even comes in the garage. The girls this morning left the door open and she ran right in. She did that twice and one of the times I had to chase her up the stairs. I guess she knew what was coming. GATO (our cat) doesn't really care for her. He will look out the slider from the dining room and she will be out there. They both just hiss and growl at each other through the window. Poor thing, they both think this is their house.



While running errands today, Amber kept talking to me. She cracks me up. This is what she would say in almost every store we went into...



Amber: Say, I

Me: I

Amber: Love

Me: Love

Amber: You!

Me: You!

Amber: Now say, I Love

Me: I Love

Amber: you so much!

Me: you so much!

Amber: Good job, you did it! Now put your fingers up.
(she uses the sign for I LOVE YOU.)

Then she would say things like, I..... Tinkerbell.... I...... Dora..... and make me repeat her words. She was cracking me up. It reminds me of my nephew who is now grown up, when he was little he was sitting on his Grandma's lap and asking her, "Grandma, what color is this?" pointing to a color on her shirt, just copying what she had done before. Kids learn fast, and I really enjoy watching them learn and grow.


Which brings me to another thought.... I got my "free" snapfish photo book back the other day. We had taken a trip in the summer of 2007 to Yellowstone and I had always wanted to put it in a book and make a scrapbook out of it, and so that is what I decided to do for my free book (from the Oprah giveaway). I read the book to the girls last night, and they were really delighted to have a book of their vacation. But looking at the pictures in there, Amber looks like Samantha in there and the twins look so YOUNG, they were just barely 5. They have grown up so much since then. It kind of makes me sad. It makes me want to embrace all my girls and the stages and ages they are, since they will never be back there again. I am definitely going to miss the baby stages that we are closing too fast each day with Samantha. I am afraid I am going to blink my eyes and I will be Grandma Karla and all my girls will be grown with families of their own. I better stop there before I make myself cry!

Saratopia....

Last night we had some family over for a birthday desert kind of thing. It was nice to have a place big enough for a few extras without all separating into various locations. After our desert (left over Thanksgiving pie) we went over to one of my neice and her husband's house to see all their Christmas decorations. As we are driving back to our house Lindsey says, "When are we going back to Saratopia?" I kind of had to laugh. Saratopia, is that a good fit or not, I am not sure. In some ways it is, and in other ways I am way out of my comfort zone here.

Funny thing is on Saturday the girls and I walked down the street to see if one of the neighbor girls could play, and who do we see.... the Allens driving around. It was pretty funny!

We talked to the PPM guys that looked at our hot water heater, sounds like the part will be in TOMORROW! (fingers crossed!) This no hot water thing is something I have totally taken advantage of before.

Today the girls went to school at their new school. Emily kept saying, "I don't like today" which is what she says to anything she doesn't approve of or when she gets out of her comfort zone. Emily cried at lunch when she didn't have a place to sit and then Lindsey got lost after school when it was time to go home, she couldn't find her way to the meeting place we set up. Other than that, all went well.

I brought the cat over today... to make a long story short, he freaked out in the car and ended up peeing all over my lap. YUCK! Cats are great aren't they!!

Problems with the new house...

Okay so you know what this is right... obviously it is a burner for a electric stove. Although if you are really creative or desperate perhaps, this also doubles as a way to heat up water in a gas water heater. It seems like all you need to do is run some wires to this and then plug those wires in. Or so that is what previous owners/tenants (or someone) did at our new house.

I think I told you we got the water on, but didn't have hot water. I figured it was just because the tank was just filling up, but it turned out that the pilot light was off. As Robert was trying to light the light (it was suppose to be a self-ignighting hot water heater... I don't know much about all this) it wasn't working. We decided to call someone that knew what they were doing instead of us blowing our house up. I call Questar, they said they can't do it, but they could walk me through it on the phone. Yeah -- no thanks on that!! We decided to have a service call to the guys that did our furnace at our old house and they could also check out the furnace at the new house to make sure things are all good. Robert had mentioned that something felt loose under the water heater. Still no hot water though, no problem, guy comes to look at it on Tuesday, we move on Wednesday.

I go out to the house on Tuesday to meet the repair guy, he comes back up from the basement with this electric burner from a stove with two wires connected to it. He said this was the problem there is no hot water, this was under the hot water heater, and the REAL parts are missing and no where to be seen, we will have to order new parts. I am just looking at the heating element just laughing thinking, what was that all about? "Can't wait to tell Robert about this one!!" Turns out, that the parts won't be in until maybe Monday, and if they get them in early monday they can fix it but if not, it will have to wait until Tuesday. The whole drive home back to the old house I am just chuckling, thinking of Robert saying, "something just doesn't feel right there, it is all loose." Now we know why it wasn't lighting or turning on and the gas was just coming out doing nothing.

Then on Wednesday we had hired some movers, which we thought would be easier and faster, make one trip not have to worry about everything... that was a mistake. When I talked to the guy on the phone he told me the time started when they got to the house and it ended at the new house when they were done. No paid travel time. Well, they charged us for that. I called the guy I talked to back, and he won't return my calls and I get put on "hold" and end back up at the main menu and dial his extention again just to get his voice mail. Man I am mad about it all! It was quick and it was nice to have someone else do it all. They just didn't meet my standards I guess. They stopped once at our old house "for a break" and then once again at our new house "for a break" while they did various things from smoking to talking on the phone. And why should I pay them to have a cigarette or call their wife? (Okay, I don't know who they were calling, and it wasn't that they were smoking that bothered me, they could have been reading the BOM for all I cared, but why should I pay them to take a break to do that?) Still a little upset about it all.

We got all our stuff to our new house, the furniture it pretty much in place, all boxes went to the garage. I had numbered most all the boxes and then put a master sheet together of what was in box #1, #37 (which happened to be shoes which I had to find today) and then where it belonged. So box #37 was to go to the "loft" since they were everyone's shoes to be sorted out in the middle of all the bedrooms. I had over 140 boxes crazy huh! Now when I am looking for something, I go to my list and find what box and then go get that box. Okay back to my point, we got all our boxes unloaded, some of the boxes are damaged, since they didn't really care what was on top of what boxes, and I have sugar leaking out of a box somewhere because I unloaded a kitchen box that had sugar in it.... can't wait to find that box with my #10 can sugar that has gotten opened I suppose. They broke a few of my crates and totes that had stuff in them. The movers just weren't real careful. I opened a box today with some colored decorative bottles in them to find one was broken. Bummer! Oh well, at least we are done with that part.

Meanwhile, we are here at our new house.... enjoying the space, washing hands in cold water, heating up pans of hot water to do dishes, and boiling water to add to the washing machine to wash clothes... fun huh! It almost feels like a fancy way to go camping.

Oh yes, speaking of washing clothes, I got one for that one too. Our dryer has the "wrong" hook up for this house. Our dryer has a 3 point cord and the outlet is a 4 point (I think is what they call it) so Robert rewires our outlet so the dryer can plug into it. We get the dryer going, YIPPEE! When we hooked up the washer, there was a little bit of leaking from the hoses, figured some white "teflon?" tape would do the trick or some tools to tighten it would work, all which happens to be at the old house still. We get the right stuff and hook all that up, no more leaks. I start filling the washer up with clothes and turn it on to wash some colors... since I haven't really washed clothes for several days and hadn't done much before that since I was focusing more on moving then laundry. I keep adding clothes in the washer, and then notice all this water coming out from under the washing machine, getting my bare feet all wet. I think, "Man, this dumb washer! The hoses must not be tight enough, how did that happen?" I turn the machine off, only to keep hearing a GUSHING of water. I scoot the washer out a bit so I can get a look behind it to see that the drain hose had came off the back and now the water was just gushing out everywhere, going on the floor, under the dryer, under the washer... I am looking for anything right there to clean up the mess. I find some towels and some sheets (which sheets don't really work so great) and start soaking up as much as I can. I get myself sort of lodged behind the washing machine and the wall and the washer is shoved up against the door so it can barely open. I hear the girls shouting and all excited. They then yell, "Let's go tell Mom!" They run into the laundry room, telling me there is a flood in the basement. I am thinking, you have got to be kidding! This is rediculous. I climb back over the washer, across the dryer, squeeze through the narrow doorway and go down to the basement to find the celing dripping with water and foamy bubbles and puddles on the floor. After some cleaning and testing, it turns out the water just came through the floor, but I thought the water lines where leaking. Phew!!

What a time, what a time! I am hoping by Monday we will have hot water, and then that will make things much easier. We got the whole washer things solved. It is great except for the part of trying to get hot water or warm water to wash clothes. Cold water seems to really make the soap just clump up and not do any good. Good thing for a big pot of water and a stove to heat it on.

The phone guy said that someone had taken like half the guts out of the phone box outside. I am wondering if someone was trying to fix things themselves, or hook things up themselves. Weird huh! The more things we find out the more we get nervous of things to come.

Sorry about the long post... I just had so much to say, or should I say vent about. Oh... another thing, they don't have DSL here... or not through Qwest like we had. We can get a "air card" is what they call it I guess, it is like faster internet which goes through verizon cell phone signals, does that make sense? Not sure how I like that. But... if you go over some many Gigabytes or whatever it is, they will charge you extra. How do they determine how we do that? I am not sure, but I am sure they will let us know. I haven't let the girls even touch the computer until I know how much it is going to be for the stuff Robert and I do on the computer. Okay, I really should get to bed, I am exhausted!!

Time for a catch up post!

Has it really been that long? It seems like months! I have been so busy and so stressed that I haven't had time to get on here to post, and yet when I have thought I would like to take a minute to post, then I haven't had a computer hooked up or had Internet access. (Apparently there is only dial-up out in our area now... FUN!) That is another story in itself, but first things first!

Before our move, it seemed like Amber was going crazy making mess after mess and and unpacking each box she could get her hands on. Some of them she wouldn't unpack, but just unorganized so the books would be all flopped down or the items would be arranged in a way that I would have to redo them so that I could get more in the box. What a time! We somehow ended up with Oreo's or should I say name brand Oreo's (since I am cheap), it must have been an impulse buy, since I normally don't buy cookies. Amber was eating the cookies, and she would eat only the middle filling part and then put the cookie back together and put it back in the container. You definitely didn't want to eat any of the ones that looked skinny or a little on the soft side since she would also kind of slobber or suck on them.

The girls one day were play restaurant where Emily would order their meals and then bring them back to them. I was selling some scrapbook paper and they stacked up to make a lovely table I suppose, and even seats too.


I think the cat must have figured out that something was going on with our packing and all, he started sleeping with Samantha, which is a big NO NO. But I couldn't resist getting a picture before I scolded him and kicked him out of there while I told him what a bad cat he was.


Last Saturday we had access to the house, we had closed, got our keys (well kind of) and I thought I would take the girls out and we would do the cleaning of the cabinets and shelves and the bathrooms and all that fun stuff. Robert's parents had gotten into town the night before so they were coming out to see our house and to help clean.

I get to the house, look for where I thought the keys were to be, can't find them. I am trying to use Robert's cell phone, which I am totally unfamiliar with, I feel like such an idiot with it, I have a hard time answering a phone call on it, much less make a phone call. I call our agent, he tells me where the key is again, I look for it to find a bees nest under the compartment that I have to get into to get the keys... I am thinking NO WAY! I brave up and open the compartment to get the keys and softly shut the door. I guess the bees where too cold to really care.

I go get the girls out of the car and tell them they can get out now, since I have the keys and we have access to the house. I unload all my cleaning stuff and misc. stuff I was bringing of Rob's and all. I shut the door and hear the "click" of the locks. I remember and notice at the same time that I left my keys (which were really Robert's set of keys) on the front seat. Great! No problem, when Robert is done with the Turkey Bowl, I will have him bring me my keys if they are not in my purse already. (I totally forgot to look for my keys or tell Robert that I locked myself out.)

I get in the house, turn on the water... no water! Great! I go to another faucet, nothing. I think back and remember that the water was SUPPOSE to be turned on. I go to the basement where I remembered seeing the water valve, turn it on, Yippee! Water is flowing! I am cleaning, the girls are helping a little, Robert gets to the house, his parents come, we talk and I clean more and get all done, we are ready to go back to our old house to go to a birthday party. As I walk out to the car, I remember I don't have keys! Oooops! Robert then has to go all the way back home, get my set of keys (which were not in my purse) and come all the way back out. Which then made us super late for our birthday party we were suppose to be at. Of course I am thinking, now I am stuck here, nothing to eat, the girls are starving, I am done cleaning all I can clean. And we are just stuck here!

Here are a few pictures the girls took and some I took too. This is the side of our yard, the back part. It is really shallow, but the sides are deeper, if that makes sense. We have two levels of rock walls on the side, which will be fun to landscape with. The yard is total weeds, mostly stickers! It will take some major time to fix up.

This is at the top of the stairs, looking into the loft area where the kids will have their toys and TV for movies or what not. It should be a nice place for them to play.

This is Lindsey coming up the stairs. The stairs have this railing all the way down and around the top edges too. It is kinda fun!

This is the top of the stairs, the railing goes around to the master bedroom, and you can see down to the front door through the railing on the stairs too, it is all open.

We seem to have a cat too! This cat seems to think it lives here! Who knows, maybe it does. The girls named it Carmel and now they have changed it to Pumpkin Pie, they call it Pumpkin for short.

A sweet moment

I have been so tired of my girls fighting and their lack of love toward one another. I keep trying to tell them that one day they will be best friends. Emily wanted to go to Savers the other day, so I told her we could after school, IF she could be loving to her sisters, since it seems like she is the one that starts it all. I even found a note on the floor the other day that said, "I hat you Lauren!" I am pretty sure it meant hate, and didn't have anything to do with things you put on your head. Of course when I asked the girls, no one did it. They even went to extremes of saying, "I have nicer handwriting than that..." I don't really think it was Emily, she spells really good, so I would have guessed she would have spelled it correctly, and Lauren most likely would not have written herself a hate note.... leaving Lindsey as the person responsible. It bothers me too, because we don't even allow the word HATE in our house, yet here I find this silly note. I am sure it was out of anger, but that is my whole point. It seems that every day they are angry or are mean to each other. I don't really remember being that mean or unthoughtful to my brothers and sisters as I grew up, but maybe I am not remembering correctly. I remember not getting along all the time, but not like what my girls do.

We tried to go to Savers after school, but before I even got Amber out of the car, we were having issues with the girls NOT behaving and showing kindness to each other, so I said I am not going in. Emily wanted a new skirt, since the skirt she was wearing is too small, I told her she needed o retire it, but it is her FAVORITE skirt. Too bad for Emily..., I wasn't going to put up with them acting out in the store. I dislike it so much when we are in the comfort of our own home, that at the store it so drains me and makes me so tired!!

This has been going on for some time.... I am SO tired of it, and I have tried several things, having them do secret acts of service for one another, having dinner discussions, going around the room and telling something you like about someone else or something that is special... I was wondering when I would see any happiness. Don't get me wrong, they do play together sometimes, but it seems like the fighting definitely out numbers the quiet playful times they have together. Many times too, Emily will pick one of the twins to play with but then leave the other one out, and very obviously dislike the outsider. I was hoping maybe with the new house and more space the girls would get along better.

This morning, I get the girls up for school. I had gone to Savers last night to return some stuff and look for a skirt for Emily. I found one that she would like, along with a pair of pants, and 2 shirts and a pair of snow boots for her. I was showing her the things and asking if she approved. She liked them all. Then she was telling Lindsey (who was protesting that she didn't get anything) that she could wear one of her new skirts. Lindsey was pretty excited about that. Then Emily told Lauren she could wear her skirt from the day before that she is suppose to "retire" to them. The whole morning the girls were being so good and Emily was letting them wear her clothes (which she normally NEVER does). She even helped Lindsey find a shirt to go with the skirt she was wearing. I thought, what a sweet moment! I LOVED every minute of it. Emily then got them all little jackets (of hers) so they could all be alike in the clothes they were wearing.... all wearing skirts and shirts with tank tops or shirts under them, and then boots, and these light jackets Emily picked out.

I was smiling so much inside! I complimented the girls on how well they were doing and how pleased I was with them for getting along. When I dropped them off, they told each other, "Let's play at recess! Meet me at the tree...." I was wondering where MY girls had gone, and who were these girls that were acting like best friends? Again I was so touched that for whatever reason, prayers answered, the girls growing up, the new move coming up.... whatever it was, I was so pleased and relieved to know that maybe someday they will not constantly fight and seem to be enemies all the time.

Maybe tomorrow or even this evening won't go as smooth as this morning, but for the sweet moment of this morning, I can take it knowing that somewhere in there, there is love and kindness. What a glorious moment!!

It's all in the family

I saw this pic, and thought the twins sure looked like Samantha... can you tell which is Lauren and which is Lindsey? Both of the girls were about 3 months old. Emily was just over 2 years.This is Samantha at about 4 months.

Pumpkins and snakes

I figure since we are moving (see previous post) I might as well get busy packing and cleaning up the outside of the house. Take down the cobwebs that I put up and the ones that have accumulated while we have been here. Looking at the jack-o-lanterns that are rotting away.... pumpkins don't seem to last very long once you cut them open and empty them out. Amber was playing with the pumpkins and then said, "what that? Oh, it a lil nake" and I am trying to figure out what she is talking about... I see the snake, am startled and say "OOOhhh!!!!" as I say backing up and basically freaking out. Then realizing what my reaction is and trying to stay positive and not scare Amber (one day she will see how yucky and scary and unnatural these footless creatures are) I change my voice and say in a nice story book type voice, " a snake, isn't that funny, he is in the pumpkin." Although I wasn't thinking funny, I was thinking nasty creature, scary sneaky creature.... and I decided to work on the inside boxing instead of worrying about the Halloween decorations (nasty snake!!).

Unfortunately as I got the camera he was on his way out of the pumpkin, instead of his little head sticking out the top, waving his little forked tongue at Amber. His scary defence worked on me!!

With tears in my eyes...

I feel much like Judy as she posted her thoughts on the changes of her RS calling and how she was having a hard time. Many years ago, we decided to move, started packing things up and then decided it wasn't time or that it wasn't a good thing anymore. Now, 2 kids later and many more friends... we are faced with that same problem... house too small, kids getting bigger.... It is time to move.

How I wish this day would never come... I thought maybe if I got all this "good bye" stuff out of the way I can emotionally move on and get things going here that I need to do. Even though I didn't want to face this day, I knew realistically it would happen someday since our house is just too small for us. We have been here for 8 years, when we got the house it was great for us, we had 3 bedrooms and one little baby. Then we had twins which stretched things out a bit but then we gained possession over the basement apartment. Now 2 more babies later we are bursting out of this house. I can't ever seem to be organized or find the things I have "stored" away. If we could dig ourselves a basement under our house that might fix our space issue, but I don't know how safe that would be or sane. I feel so blessed that we are financially in a spot to do this, and be able to upgrade our house to a newer and bigger model. In times of hearing of job loss and financial hardships, I feel we are as Nephi said, "Favored of the Lord..." (I guess those bigger than I wanted to make donations to the friends of scouting paid off.)

My mind is racing, I am not sure how to get anything out there... except that I sure love this area! I love all the neighbors here and friends we have made. I feel like I still haven't made all the friends here that I wanted to. I keep thinking of this one or that one that I didn't get to know as well as I wanted to. Every time we have talked about moving, I just keep thinking it wasn't time or it wasn't a good enough place to go... being spoiled with our abundance space in our backyard and such a wonderful street with lots of kids for our girls to play with... and the amazing friends I have here.

It brings me back to that exciting and scary time when I moved to Utah. I remember packing up all my stuff in a u-haul trailer. Looking at the trailer and thinking, what am I doing? Is this what I should be doing? It was so "bittersweet" because I was moving to Utah to get married to my best friend and start a family which I had so longed to do, but on the flip side I was leaving all I ever knew behind. Even growing up, I never moved or had much change in my life like this. I did move out of my parents house after school ended, but that was just a few miles away. I was leaving all my family behind and was really scared, yet excited all together. I remember too that Robert couldn't come get me so he sent his best friend and his wife to come get me and my trailer of stuff. I wanted to cry my eyes out the whole way here... but didn't want to because of the company I was with. Saying bye to my parents and family was so hard. Coming to a new place in my life which would strengthen me. I felt like I was leaving one life, and starting a whole new one.

Since then, we have moved a few times, but we hadn't stayed anywhere long enough to really be too attached. I am feeling pretty attached here, so this is really tough for me. I am excited to get in a bigger house that has room for our family, but wish we could just pick up that new house and drop it down on this house and stay put. Does anyone know how to do that?

I really don't look forward to starting all over in a new ward or in a new neighborhood. I don't like change really. The one thing that makes it seem easier is that we are keeping our house on 550 W to rent out, so we will be here from time to time to maintain the yard or what not. It will give us a good reason to come back often I guess. Of course it won't be the same as living here though.

I don't even know how to say good bye... I think of certain ones that I have really gotten to know well. I am afraid I can't and won't be able to even say good bye since I get so emotional, I am crying now thinking about it all. I have to stay positive and be strong for my girls though. Especially Emily, she has been excited to move until we told her we got the house and we are moving, then all of a sudden she wasn't so excited. She started getting all sad about leaving her friends. I know she will shed tears, and I will sob with her too.

I think about the callings I have had here, the people I have served with, the people I love here, the youth which some are not youth anymore that I served and so love. Sometimes I think how selfish I am being, going through this move, it is just a move. I think of those who have suffered great trials and yet I am whining about moving to a newer house, that I picked out and decided to do. I guess I should just "cowboy up" and get over it. I am too weak to I guess. Maybe if I would stop being so dramatic and just move forward it would be easier, but I haven't learned to do things that way. Instead I have to complain and whine and compare everything and look back to things that might have been or should have been or could have been... instead of focusing on the future.

I sure will miss everyone here.... I will miss the relationships I have made, will be sad to leave those I love and those that have done so much for me and my family. I always pictured us living here forever. I know this move will strengthen me and my family. Hopefully make my girls come closer together and help them realize how important families are, and how sisters can be best friends too. (Although I probably didn't figure that out until mich later in my life.) Maybe now that I have gotten this off my mind, I can get some things done around here. I have been just so foggy minded... trying to figure out how to announce this news to everyone. It's not really something I feel I can just say, "Hi there, we are moving! We bought a new house!" I am excited to move, excited but with tears in my eyes.

Finally Halloween and more

I have finally got my halloween pictures up here. This last week has been a whirl-wind and this week is even more busy, or would that be busy-er? The girls are doing great in school... I can't believe it is nearly Thanksgiving and then Christmas will be here right around the corner as well. How did that happen so fast?

I have a load of pictures here to put up, so here we go, randomly...



Isn't she so cute... what a doll, and she is starting to sit up by herself. It is only for a few minutes and has to be totally supervised, because you never know when she might crash.

Samantha is so fun, she smiles and giggles, I love it! She is getting to really use her hands too, she will grab my pant legs or my skirt on Sundays, or toys or things she sees in reach on the ground (which is a good sign I need to do better are keeping the floors clean and debri free). The girls seem to really like her as well. Amber was playing with her the other day too. I think the bigger Samantha gets, the more Amber will interact with her.

Amber in her "little giraffe" costume. When Halloween came, I thought she was going to be a spider, but when we put the costume on her, she didn't want to do it. I put on like 3 different costumes, and it was like time to go, and she still didn't have a costume. I finally just talked her into wearing this one... phew! Which was great, it was nice and warm.

Lindsey is a vampire, which yucky blood, and this is her best friend from school, Tess. Tess looked really cute too! Lindsey was so pleased Tess was there at the same time we were doing pictures so they could get one together.

Here Lauren and Emily are in the leaves that are in our front yard. Lauren really poses and makes great faces for the camera.

And as for the last posting of "Potty Training" it didn't work. We had more accidents then potty in the toilet. I guess I will try again later. I really thought she was really ready. She was showing signs, she would even wake up in the morning and say she was soggy and wanted to be changed. She did tell me when she went potty on the floor, but just wasn't getting into the toilet or even trying to. In fact the thing that made me decide to try again later was the following story....

On the second day of potty training, Amber had panties on, had gone potty once on the floor. I was going potty and asked her if she wanted to go to. She tried and got up quickly, and I kept telling her to sit back down and try it again. She just kept getting back up. As I was washing my hands, she wanted to wash her hands too. I thought, "sure, go ahead... I will go get Samantha dressed." Figuring this usually keeps her busy for a little bit washing her hands over and over. I came back into the bathroom because I heard her splashing in some water. I assumed she had spilled lots of water on the floor or the stool she was on and was now patting her hand in it. I came in to the bathroom and seeing that was what happened. I picked up Amber to get her out of the water, and she grabs my shoulder to hang on with her wet hand. She then says, "I went potty" and points to the stool. I was like, YUCK! Those aren't wet hands those are potty hands! Now for sure she needed to wash her hands and I wanted to take a shower! After all that, and the idea of her JUST being on the potty a few minutes before that and not going potty, I would just bag it and do it again in the summer time or something. Sooooo, we are still 2 in diapers, with the added formula expense. Oh well I guess!

Potty Training 101

Amber is 2 yrs old, normally I try this closer to 3, but Amber seems interested in going potty. Maybe beacuse the older girls... I got some new panties for Amber... the ones we have are all TOO small, even the ones I bought were too small. I couldn't find any 12 or 18 month panties... which is the size she normally wears. I stocked up on "potty treats" which include m&m's, dots, marshmellows, skittles, jelly beans... most anything I could find in our cupboards or in the kids candy that is small and not too sticky.

She went potty as soon as we got home, I put some panties on her, gave her the potty treats to pick out of and she then called "dad" to tell him she had panites on and she went potty in the toilet and got a potty treat.

We will see how this all goes, I think sometimes "I" am the one that is potty trained by asking her if she needs to go and making sure she gets to the bathroom frequently. My idea of potty trained is when they TELL you they need to go, so "I" may be potty trained here first, but hopefully she will get the idea.

I think if we don't have diapers for here anymore, that might almost pay for the formula that Samantha has started on. We will see how it goes. (fingers crossed!!) It seems like for the first 2 days at least, I am just cleaning floors, clothes, and furniture from the potty not getting where it is suppose to be! So far this morning, she is not keeping her panties on, she just keeps taking them off. Wish me luck!!

New Stuff around here

This whole week I wanted to update about Amber who turned 2 on Sunday, but then on Monday our window people called at 8:00 asking if we would like our windows, we hadn't expected them until the first week in November. I had Amber's 2yr appointment so I told them sure, but I would have to leave at 9:30. Therefore my week has been crazy with moving things and taking down blinds, curtains and all that. When they called I frantically went and took down all the curtains and blinds. Then when they got here after the appointment, I talked to them and found out they install them from the inside of the house, meaning I needed to move a lot of furniture!! Of course Robert at work, my house is a mess from the birthday stuff on Sunday, which is seems like the house always gets trashed on Sunday even when there isn't a birthday. I still don't have everything all put back, and most of the windows are still bare without the blinds or curtains back up.

We changed a big window from our dinning room into a sliding glass door, which I have been wanting the majority of our residency here in this house. We finally got it! Bad thing was our rabbit's cage sat in that space, not sure where she will go now, and there is about a 2 foot drop off from the door to the patio. The kids kept jumping in and out of the door, they love the idea of the door there as much as I do.

Robert's gone at a work thing, so I decided I would make some stairs, which went awful, that is a whole other subject in itself... Making a long story short - going out with a toddler in the shopping cart, a car seat with a baby in the back of the cart, and me trying to get four 92 inch long 2x6's, that alone didn't go great. Then the pre-cut stair frames I got, one of them broke, and so then I had to redo the size, but I had already cut the boards to the desired 46" for the steps, but now that is too far for the 2 braces, I need 3, so I changed it abit, but didn't want to re-cut the boards in case Robert doesn't approve of my carpentry skills. Last time I used his wood tools, I made a new shelf for the twin's closet so I could move their clothes rod down so that maybe they could actually hang up their clothes and not break the hangers as they tried to pull down their dresses. Robert wasn't too impressed with my skills, or the lumber I chose.... but I got it done and didn't have to ask him to do it again. And like the closet, the stairs are fully functioning now!

Here are a few pics of the new windows and door, and my handy stairs (which I am sure Rob will re-create when he gets home.)

So Amber is now 2, she is so funny. She just gets into everything, and she talks so much it cracks me up. Yesterday in our travels, she was saying something, some thing about a cookie, then she said, "I'm just kidding!" She mimics the girls all the time saying, "It's not fair" or "I'm bored" which is funny, but I hear those phrases too much that I don't want little Amber to say it. The good thing about the older girls is that Amber also picks up on things they do that are good, like we are at Walmart (which was an unsuccessful trip since they didn't have the ONE thing I went there for and then after I ended up getting some candles for our pumpkins, I realized I should have gotten the milk, cheese, and diapers I was going to go to Macey's for). So we are at the check out stand and Amber is singing, "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday...." The lady checking us out was like, she is smart. That was the first time I had ever heard Amber sing that song.

We got a few packs of those little mini-donuts that come in a six pack. I told the girls they could have ONE, and I opened all the packages, so they could choose which ONE they wanted. I heard a knock at the door, so I was tied up with that.... I come back a bit later to find Amber eating the donuts, just a bite or two at a time, but most all the donuts. She scoots a chair just about anywhere on the wood floor she wants to, to get whatever it is she wants... dishes in the sink, my soda, the sugar/cinnamon bowl, the butter if it is out, she is just into EVERYTHING! I have found her before at the sink with her toothbrush in hand, brushing her teeth using dirty water in the sink that is in the dirty dishes, or she has grabbed a cup out of the sink and drank the water in it... which is yucky dirty water. With the whole donut thing, Lindsey is freaking out because, "I wanted a chocolate donut and now they are all gone!!" After trying to calm her down and tell her I have a solutions for her, (she is still crying, "I didn't even get one yet...") I cut the bite marks off the donut because of course no one wants Amber's germs... it would be crazy for them to take a bite after someone has touched their food, and worse yet, eaten off it!

Amber's birthday went well, she LOVES suckers, so we made her a sucker cake. The frosting was suppose to be blue, but I guess the yellow butter plus the small amount of blue paste, made green of course. I didn't really care, so I didn't try to change it. I just thought blue would be pretty, but green was fine too. She was so funny to watch open her presents. That morning for breakfast we made pancakes, she helped stir them with an apron on (the pictures are on the slide show of Amber) and then I put two candles in her pancake and we sang to her and she blew out those candles too. She got a bike but appearently it is a little big for her still. It said for 24-48 months, but I guess since she is just small she will have to wait until spring. At her dr. appointment, she weighed a whopping 25 lbs (must have been one of her "fat" days, since she has never weighed more than 23 lbs here at home on our scales.) She is I think 33 inches tall, which puts her in the 35% for weight and 36% for height, so for her BMI she is perfect the doctor said. Emily as a baby was 26lbs at 6 months old. Emily's first halloween costume fits Amber now, and Emily was 7 months old. Samantha will catch up with Amber I am guessing (Samantha was 16 lbs at her 4 month appointment).

Speaking of Samantha, she is doing really good. She laughs and smiles a lot. She also has learned to scream in a really high shrilly voice when she is happy. She has made the transition to formula now, makes me sad a bit but wasn't much I could do about it. She never really took to a pacifier, which she has taken to her thumb just fine. She is so cute to see sucking her thumb. She gets the whole blanket thing in there too, she grabs a part of a blanket and holds it with the same hand that she is sucking the thumb on. I don't have any of those pictures yet.

I better get on wiht my day, I was hoping for a nap, but I can't seem to do that when I have so much to do (things I NEED to do like dishes and laundry and vacuum, and then the things I WANT to do like move some shelves to Emily's room and go through some misc boxes and piles of "stuff").

Tagged!!

So the tag is, 6 things I value, 6 things I don't value, and 6 people I tag...

I value (in no particular order):

1. Real Bathrooms How I love to be in a place with a real bathroom, I would much prefer it to be my own bathroom, but a real bathroom would be better than those yucky hole in the ground with a seat on it... YUCK! My definition of a real bathroom is one with running water (preferable hot water), and a toilet that flushes. Not that I have gone camping lately, but I MUST have a real toilet or I refuse to go. Unfortunately, I have taught that one to my girls too, they will need to go and then see what the toilet is like, and say I will hold it.
2. Living in today's world-by that I mean with the technology we have today to stay in touch with people far away, and being able to travel quickly (or quicker than many years ago) for visits. I really value this since my family is far away, it makes it nice to know that I can pick up the phone or get on the computer to talk to them so quickly. And when I travel it doesn't take forever to get there (even though it feels like it).
3. My Girls They are my treasures that I hold dear to me. They help me to stay focused on what is important and the way I should live so that I can live forever with them. They make me experence just about every emotion there is... I laugh because of them and then sometimes I cry because of them too, I would give my life for them.
4. My husband I don't really know what else to say, he is my best friend, he loves me always and will forever. I look forward to being with him "forever and always" just like we said over 15 years ago.
5. Sleep It may seem silly, but I SOOOO value sleep. I LOVE to sleep, which seems odd because I should be sleeping now instead of doing this... I think I could literally sleep all day long on a Saturday, or a Monday or Tuesday, okay on anyday!
6. Family My family has taught me many things... growing up in a large family taught me to share, love, work, get along, serve, forgive.... the list could go on and on. My parents especially set a fabulous example for me. They taught me the gospel and through their examples, they showed me how to be happy and all the other blessings from living the gospel. I am grateful for all they have done for me.

I don't value (in no particular order):

1. Money Okay so obviously we have to have money, but I really hate what money does to you. It seems like people act differently with their income level. I hate that it makes conflicts in the home when money is tight or being spent in the wrong way. I also hate that it goes so fast. I wish money was more s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y-!
2. Long Car Rides I say this, but then I think, I have to have long car rides to get to WA to visit my family... but bad things happen on long car rides. Everyone gets tired, they fight, make a mess of whatever they can find to chew up, tear up, or take apart. Sometimes on long car rides, I even get speeding tickets trying to get to my destination quicker-OUCH! Obviously the officer hasn't traveled with my girls before or he would totally understand!
3. Dry skin It seems like every fall/winter time I get such dry skin. I have dry skin normally anyways, but its worse in the colder seasons. My hands get all chapped and flakey and start to crack and bleed. I know what lotion is for, and I do use it. It just seems with all the diapers, food prep, and bathroom trips, I am constantly washing my hands. I can't keep up with lotion. My feet are actually worse then my hands. With my feet they start in the summer time and I get HUGE cracks in my heels which shoot up throbbing pain everytime I walk. This is when I use TONS of lotion on my feet, put them in plastic grocery type bags, put socks on my bags and sleep all night with them on. I am doing that tonight for a cracked foot.
4. Peanut Butter breath Sounds weird I know, but this is one of the worse smells I think I have ever smelled. I don't know what it is about it, the smell of peanut butter on your breath is GROSS! I like peanut butter, and recently have been eating lots of it. Just don't come talk to me after you eat peanut butter. I think it all started way back with my brother, he use to breath or blow in my face more likely after he would eat his peanut butter sandwhiches. (I am smelling it now... yuck!!)
5. Decision Making I really dislike making decisions, I would love to have a personal decision maker that would automaticlly make all my choices for me. I am not talking about like MAJOR choices, just the small meaningless ones. Such as where to go to eat, or if I should go get the pizza or let Robert go and get it. I learned this flaw of mine back in high school when I went to visit my sister and her family in AZ. They asked my brother (the peanut butter breather) if we wanted to go to the beach or to the mountains... I said "I don't know." Through out our few weeks there, when asked my opinion on what to do or where to go, my brother in law would respond in a girly voice, "I don't know." I don't say "I don't know" as often, instead I say, "I don't care" or "it doesn't matter to me." It drives Robert crazy!!
6. People that don't listen well I am talking about those that seem like they are listening or seem interested in what you are saying yet you can tell they aren't really engaged because when you stop to have them respond they don't, or you tell them something funny or sad and they don't react to it like they would have if they were listening. For example, you are telling something really amazing that your child did or that you learned and the listener (who isn't really listening) says, "oh really", or the famous, "uhuh" and you are sitting there thinking, did you just hear what I said?

People I tag:

1. Adrian
2. Brenda
3. Jamie
4. Candice
5. Lilly
6. Tiona

Man that took me forever! I couldn't think of anything tonight that I don't value! Normally I can come up with tons of things I dislike or want to complain about... I guess I am just tired!