A bit of an update

Our computer is down, so I am forced to use the unfriendly laptop, or I feel it is unfriendly to me anyway. I can hardly type or use the little mouse thing on it without messing everything up.

Due to our computer problems, I haven't even been able to get my email, or do much of anything on the computer, not even blogging! Crazy!! Hopefully this will be a somewhat quick version of what has been happening here in the last little while.

To start off Rob and I had our 10th year anniversary in March. Robert's mom was here in the end part of Feb. while Samantha was in the hospital. While she was here she suggested for us to go out and she would watch the kids. For Christmas, Robert got me a gift certificate for the Anniversary Inn, it is a bed and breakfast type place with themed rooms. There are two in Salt Lake area and then there is one in Boise I think to, and one in Logan if I remember right. For an early celebration, Robert and I went and stayed a night up in Salt Lake. It was a nice quiet evening. We went to see a stupid (it really was) movie, I won't even mention it because it was so lame... and then we ate at Olive Garden. We had our Wedding Brunch/Lunch/Dinner (whatever it was) at Olive Garden almost 10 years prior to that day. It was kind of fun. We stayed in the Enchanted Forest room, the bed was held up by trunks of trees, it was a fun room. All the rooms are decorated really cute, I think anyway. But I am no decorating diva either!

Emily had a project she was suppose to work on for the whole month of Feb. and of course the Saturday before the Monday it was due, she was wanting help with it. We got up early on Monday to finish it and then she started telling me all the other stuff it needed too, besides the cereal box decorated.... it was way too much. It took us most of the whole week after school to finish it. It turned out really cute, she was suppose to do a biography of someone, and she did it on Rob's mom. Unfortunately, the pictures are on my external hard drive, and I can't figure out how to get it to work with this computer.... bummer!

A few years ago, we had a fun family that lived behind us in Orem. They had all girls, and their last two daughters where the same age as our twins and Emily, just a few weeks off. They were my girls favorite friends to play with, I think mostly because they were so close. Emily says Haley is her best friend still. We ended up having a sleep over with both girls at our new house. The girls had a good time, but I forgot how tiring it is to have young girls try to mother the little baby. There was a lot of, "Just put her down... She is okay.... Leave her there please.... Don't carry her up the stairs...." But we got through it, and I would definitely have the girls come over again. They are good girls.


Emily's friend Haley


Kylee (the twins' friend) and Samantha


Emily and Haley, on the balcony where the spent most the morning and afternoon.

Emily on the balcony

Samantha is getting really big, she is crawling up things, over things and through things. She even tries to go up the stairs. She pulls herself to a stand on many pieces of furniture. Her latest thing that she loves is to stand next to the clothes basket and push it around.

She is crawling all over the place. I sure am loving her! It is amazing how you think your heart is so full of love for someone, and then somehow, your heart grows and has more room for more love.... it can be more love for someone, or love for someone new like a new baby to your family.

Samantha thinks she is so cool, going up the stairs. She loves to follow us around. She will also clap her hands and she is learning to wave... she still doesn't wave at the right time, but we are loving her little hands waving with her babbles.

Amber is still such a ham!! She is hilarious! If you ever need a good laugh, come spend some time with her... she will have you in stitches! She loves to also get her picture taken, she will pose and then say, "do it again... cheese, how about now....do it again...." Funny stuff.

A few night ago, all the other kids were in bed and I was putting Amber to bed. She was really tired and sad. I was taking her to say goodnight to her dad, and then she said, "can we pray first?" I think anything to push bedtime off for a moment works. But how do you tell her, NO, we already prayed, just go to bed. She wanted to say the prayer. When she prays she is so cute, I need to get a video of it. She talks so cute and then also her facial expression. She normally repeats herself a little. While she was praying this night, Robert was laughing, or trying not to. Amber stopped her prayer, looked at Rob and said, "Dad we are praying, you need to be quiet!" as she was putting her finger up to her lips to demonstrate the "Shhhh" sign. Of course then Rob totally lost it, and couldn't stop. He does have giggling problems!

We had a bit of some problems with our new table we got... it went from this...

To this. Our nice table, changed into a HUGE (too big for me and in my opinion, unnecessary) 52 inch LCD TV. The girls love watching TV which is often the Disney channel now.


Okay so that wasn't entirely true... we don't have to eat dinner off the TV, we got a new TV since the old table had some chair problems, so we traded it in for a new table, which was cheaper, and then left us with a big credit which then was used by Rob to get a TV which he has been dying for. I would have gotten a nice bedroom set for us, or even a cedar type chest for toys, or maybe even a cool bench with coat hooks for the front entry way... but Rob's mind was working in electronics. If I would have used it, we could have gotten a few things, instead of just one thing... but Rob is happy now! He will no longer complain about the need of a bigger TV.

Here is Lauren sitting at our new table... square, which I love, I would have preferred the High counter height table but Robert liked the lower ones instead.

And then Amber was working hard to hook up the old 37 or 38 inch TV. I think that is the size of it, maybe it was only 34, I can't remember, it seemed big enough for me!

Samantha also made a real mess of her thumb... this picture is really blurry but she has a huge sore on her thumb from sucking on it I guess, or biting it... I am not really sure what. It also has a cut sort of thing on the crease of thumb on the inside. Poor baby. Not really much we can do for it that I can come up with. It is getting better though. Her top two molars just broke through, so maybe that was a part of the chewing she was doing... hope she doesn't keep it up.

Here is Samantha standing up, or trying to stand up while she is still sitting on the ground too. It is like the perfect set up for a summersault. So fun to watch.

Here is just a cute smile of Samantha... she is so happy!

For Relief Society, we were having the birthday celebration dinner. They wanted people to sign up to decorate a cake or decorate a table. They set up 12 tables, one for each month of the year. Then if you signed up, you decorated a table for your month, either did 8 place settings or you decorated a cake. Since my b-day is in August it was kind of hard to come up with a "theme" or something. I talked to the lady that was doing the table. She brought over her table topper and then I decide on a cake. Her table topper was off white with embroidered mossy green leaves and big lady bugs embroidered also. It had some flowers embroidered in golden yellow. I had a different cake in mind, but then as I was working on it, I just came up with this one.

I was really nervous since it was my "first sign up" for the new ward. I wanted it to be just perfect. I didn't think it turned out perfect, but it was good enough. It looked so good with the table set up... I wish I would have gotten a picture of the decorated table with the cake too. The lady doing the table, did a fantastic job on her table setting. It was gorgeous!!

As I said Amber is still just a hoot! Just this morning she got into the lotion... she put it all over this chair, and herself and then the drawer that she tried to get a towel out to clean stuff up. Later I found more things too, like Samantha's saucer and a stool, and a dinning room chair.

Here is the tube of lotion, which is really diaper rash creme we got at the hospital for Samantha. It is pretty tacky stuff.

You can see how messy her arms and hands are. She is hilarious, but messy too!

Another funny story for Amber.... we were shopping at the store. I was with just my two little ones picking up some coupon items on sale... As we were walking around we heard a little child all sad, crying and protesting to the shopping trip with his mom. He must have been about 3 maybe. We saw him at one time and he was walking, but he was far behind the mom, and yelling, "I just want to go home mom!" At first I was just thankful that my girls were behaving, since I have often heard such whines and complaints. As we were walking down one isle, Amber said, "we need to get her." I was asking her who, and she just said, "her," and pointed down the isle. I wasn't sure what she was talking about. Later as this child (and there might have been more than one child crying in the store) cried out and was yelling, Amber would yell out, "We will be there in a minute to help you!" Then again we would hear the child and Amber would yell out other things like, "Just a second!" and "We're coming to get you!" I was just cracking up!

After that LONG post I feel a little updated, but still I am sure I am missing something. OH, and while I was doing this post, the phone rang. Our stake just got split into two stakes. (Stakes are the upper leadership of a ward. A ward is an area of houses that make up a church group. You go to a certain ward usually based on the area you live in. Such as the Winlock Ward, or the Toledo Ward, or Mesa 11th Ward. There are many wards in a stake, and the stake is like the upper management I guess you could say of a ward.) Our stake had 12 wards, so they ended up making it two stakes. Back to the phone ringing.... the phone rang and Robert has an appointment with the stake tonight. I am guessing High Council, but it could be a ton of things really.... I guess that means I won't be teaching with him anymore, I will be alone teaching those sweet energetic kids that I am growing to love!

Oh, and I am excited because my parents and my twin brother and his family are coming here to visit at the later part of this week. I am SUPER excited. The girls know that my parents are coming but not my brother, his wife and their 3 kids. Yahoo! I can hardly wait!!!!!!

(For the longest time I have tried to fix the lack of paragraphing at the bottom here, but it won't let me... sorry!)

Amber

Amber lately has just had me in stitches. Which is good. I seem to always need a good laugh. She says the funniest things, things that you normally would be upset about or she does something that you should be angry about but with her it is so hard to be angry.

When we drive in the car the kids love to listen to the XM Radio tuned to XM Kids. They have stories and silly songs, things the kids just love. On Saturday as we were out and about, the song that was on was a silly song, I have no idea who sings it, where it came from, or where to find it, or I would link it on here so you could here it. It goes: be-da-de-da-do-dah-be-de-da-do Be-de-dah-do-dah-de-do Be-de-dah-de-do-dah be-de-dah-de-do... and those are the only words to the song. They go through those sounds over and over in various orders. Amber is singing the song... mostly with do-do-do-do's. Robert said, "I didn't know Amber knew this song." I said, "it doesn't seem to be hard song to learn." Amber is still do-do-do-ing. Then she pauses, turns to Samantha and says, "Samantha sing with me!" Then she continued louder with her do-do-do's. It was cracking us up!

I think I told you about the farm she wanted to visit at Lowe's which was really just a storage shed. She also while we were in Walmart, I was looking or some material for Emily's curtains for her birthday. I noticed they didn't have what Emily had picked out already, and so I said,"Oh, it is gone!" (as I was kind of whining in a sad disappointed voice). Amber said to me, "Mom don't cry it will be okay."

Yesterday at church, we are sitting there, Amber had a piece of gum in her mouth. Normally she is pretty good with gum. She will tell me she is done with it, and just hand it to me or want a paper to "wrap her gum up in." Next thing I know is Amber saying, "Help me mom, I am all tied up!" I look over, and notice she has gum all over her hand which did look like string all wrapped around her hand and fingers. I am not sure what happened or how she got that way. I was holding Samantha so I passed her off to Rob so I could help "untie" Amber. Before I could get a wipe out of my bag she said to me again, "Uh-oh, I am all tied up, I need help mom!" I couldn't help but to laugh. Although if that were one of my other girls, I would be so angry! That would be NO GUM FOR YOU UNTIL YOU ARE 28!!! kind of thing. With Amber though, she can get away with just about anything.

Last night we made cupcakes.... Amber is eating one at the table. She is mostly just interested in the frosting, once that is gone, she is done. She is sitting there, with a frostless cupcake since she ate all the frosting off already. She is sitting there squeezing her cupcake out of the paper liner. She has crumbs everywhere, then she starts dusting off the crumbs (the crumbs now are her WHOLE cupcake crumbed on the table). She is dusting the crumbs onto the floor. I tell her that isn't nice and ask her to stop. She makes a few quick sweeps again of dusting the crumbs on the floor and does what she does best.... She looks at me with a sad looking face and in a real sincere soft voice she says, "I am sorry!" Again, how do you get mad. All I can say is, "It is okay, just don't do it again."

Those are just a few that I can think of from recently. She is always a kitty or a dog. I called her cutie the other day and she looked at me and said, "No I am kitty" Sometimes she will say, "I am not Lindsey, I am not doggy, I am not Samantha, I am Amber!" She does crack me up all day long! It is amazing that I ever get anything done!

Samantha at 9 months old

Okay, so she is nearing 10 months, but I have been lacking time for anything lately it seems! I have the papers from her doctor's visit still sitting on the computer desk to do this post. I figured I better finally make the post so I can file those papers away... in the basement with the rest of the unorderly "special papers" I am keeping.

Samantha was officially 9 months on the 22nd of Feb. At that visit she was 18 lbs 13.5 oz and she was measuring 27 in. for her length. At one point she was nearing 20 lbs, in Jan. but with her being sick with RSV she seemed to stop eating as much and lost a bit of weight. She is in the 50 %tile for her weight and 30 %tile for her length.

She is such a fun baby. I regret that she is growing up too fast and I fear that she is growing up before my very eyes. She is normally a very happy and cheerful baby. The older girls love her. Amber is even loving her most the time.

Samantha sits up, rolls over, begs for food, crawls, and loves to go under things and through things. She will crawl under a chair and sit there, or under her saucer and then just hang out there. She is exploring the idea of standing up, she will grab a toy bucket or a small object and then stand up next to it while she holds on. She will also come to me, grab ahold of me and then stand up and hang out there for a while. Once she is standing up, it is a hard job to make her sit down. She prefers to stand most the time.

She is quite a scrounger for food too, she will see a crumb of food (or anything, crayon, mud, fuzz) on the floor, and she is after it. She is getting to be pretty fast too. A few times I look around and think, "Where is Samantha? She was just here." The girls love to bring in little rocks from outside, Samantha has been found many times with those rocks in her mouth. Also in that mouth houses her 8 teeth and she is working on her bottom two molars...which makes her chew on everything, the couch, blankets, my shoulder or leg...whatever she can get ahold of!

Samantha has a laugh that makes you laugh too. She is extremely ticklish (takes after her dad I guess). You can just touch her on her sides or her neck or under her arms and she just giggles and giggles. I love it!

I am sure I am missing some other wonderful things she does... she has been found a few times crawling up the stairs, only to the second step, but it really freaks me out. I guess it is time to get the gate all set up.

Well that is about it I guess for sweet little Samantha. She is such a joy! I am glad we tried for that boy again, and got Samantha! Life just wouldn't be the same with out her!!

Married for 10 years

Today is our wedding anniversary. It has been 10 years. I think of that day 10 years ago, sitting at the salon getting my hair and make up done... driving to the temple in traffic due to a St. Patrick's day parade, and Robert anxiously calling my cell "Where are you? You are late!!" (Little did I know, that wasn't going to be the last time I heard him ask that question and tell me I am late!) I rememer being nervous, not because I wasn't sure it was the right step, but just the whole overwelming idea of "My Wedding Day" and wanting everything to be just so perfect...

Here I am 10 years later, overwelmed still, but for different reasons. I think about all the dreams and hopes I had for myself long ago, when I was a little girl and through out my childhood of having that wonderful husband and those great kids... being a mommy. As I was older, there was a time in my life I wasn't sure I would ever get that husband. I was fearful after a bad relationship that hurt my self-esteem I might not get what I always dreamed of. I feared I would have to settle for something much less than what I once thought I deserved.

Even now after 10 years of being married, I still am overwelmed that I got just what I always dreamed up... my "happily ever after" as I wished for long ago as a little girl. There are so many things that I have now that I am so grateful for, and all because of Robert.

Even though there won't be anything extra ordinary planned for today to celebrate our ten years of being married.... It will be a day I will always treasure, the day that all my dreams came true!

Joys of Motherhood

I love being a mom, I find it so joyful and rewarding... okay well most of the time. Lately it seems like my joyful and rewarding part of it has been more on the down side. I feel like I have been experience the less desired parts of it. The angry kids, the fighting, the tired mornings, and last week we were one by one going through the stomach flu complete with the vomitting and diareah. I cleaned up couches, tile, toilets, walls, doors, rugs, carpet, beds, and anything else I may have forgotten that came in the path of a sick child. The laundry was horrible, I stopped sorting laundry the normal way and sorted more in the "has throw up on it" and "doesn't have throw up on it" and washed things in those orders no matter if it was sheets, wash clothes, underwear or jeans... they all went in together.

Yesterday I was out shopping for Emily's birthday. I took Amber and Samantha with me... we were at Lowe's and Amber spotted in the parking lot the storage sheds all lined up. She told me she saw a farm. I was really confused by what farm she was talking about. I then realized it was the sheds. She asked if she could go in it. I told her we were too busy today so we couldn't go in it. She then said, oh, it is too small for us to go to the farm. She was cracking me up! It made me enjoy the mind of a child, and being that child's mom!

We later were at a fabric store getting some material for some curtains for Emily's window. As the lady was cutting our first bolt of fabric Amber got all excited and said, "This is fantastic! I am so excited! This is great! I love fabric!" You would have thought we were at Disneyland or something with her facial expressions and her tone of voice. I was laughing and told her I loved fabric too! I then told her I loved her too and how happy she makes me. How she makes my heart smile and makes me smile inside. I gave her a little squeeze and told her I loved her again. She then gave me a hug and told me she loved me too. Then I said, "No I love you!" and gave her another hug. She then gave me a hug and said, "No, I love you" again... this went back and forth until all our fabric was done being cut.

This made me think about how wonderful it is to be a mom. It is times like this when I so enjoy being a mom, and these are the times that help to override the not so happy times. I really needed this... from her or from any of my girls. It seems like things have been more on the down side lately, or maybe I have just been more on the down side... but this was really great! It kind of reminded me again what motherhood was all about, and that sometimes it isn't always fun, but it is always worth it. Opposition in all things right. Unfortunately that means that perhaps my kids might have to be total stink pots for me to be thankful when they are being good right!?

Later that night, Amber was standing on a chair, she leaned or something and knocked the chair over while she was still on it, and got hurt. She was crying and got an instant bruise. At night when I put her to bed, she asked for the normal songs... and then in her weeping, she said, "Mom will you pray for me?" Again my heart smiled, swelled, and melted all in the same moment. It made me realize that I (and Robert) have been doing something right if a 2 year old understands prayer. I prayed with Amber for her leg to feel better.

Again I got a nice reward for the day for being a mom. I know that not all days will I maybe find joy in motherhood right away without sitting and thinking for a time, but I know that the good will out weigh the bad. I also know I wouldn't trade it for anything. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than I am right now... being a mom of 5 wonderful kids that love their mom (and that mom is ME!!) How lucky I am!!