Almost there

One week left of school.

WE can do it!

I'm having a lot of fun with the launch of my new line, Personality, for Modern Yardage. My in-laws sewed something with each of the four colorways and it's been wonderful to have their help!

I find myself saying, "Hey! That looks like real fabric!" and "Oh, that's cute....wait, I designed that!"
I've been looking at these designs for so long now as computer files, that when they are in print I keep forgetting they are mine. Funny. 
 
I was short with the kids today. Lack of sleep. Extra things to do. Not enough hours in the day. I read all my friends blogs who are always making these great memories with their children. I need to be a lot better in this area. It's amazing how quickly the love I wake up feeling for them thins when the whining and disobedience begins. How does Heavenly Father do it?

I tried to start the day out with some scripture study and work on my Personal Progress, but I was having trouble with the log in and then real life started. I am just now remembering I never got back to it. Do you think I get an "A" for effort?

Beckham had his last regular season baseball game tonight. Playoffs start tomorrow.

Today was Sanders' last day of preschool. They had a water party. He must have had fun because he came home and didn't take a breath during his 20 minute recount of the afternoon.

I feel like I am super behind on my business web site. I know how to make a site successful, but it takes a lot of time. I'm just not sure I want to spend that time, but then I think I am missing out on this great opportunity.

But my young family is a better opportunity and that is just the way I like it.

New Leaf

I am finally feeling better.

I went with my mom to an expo and came home with a new chore chart. Family Do Dots .

 I saw it a few weeks ago and immediately thought this was exactly what I'd been looking for. I have been making chore charts for the kids for over a year now.

Seriously, a whole year.

I just could get excited about what I'd decided to do.

Do Dots was perfect. It came in one box, everything was done for me, everyone is on one chart, and today, at the expo, it was on sale!

I love the Family Night part at the bottom. When you have your assigned part completed you put your color magnet on the top. And since this is something the kids will be looking at everyday we will always be ready for Mondays.

I think I'm going to just do names instead of pictures. The kids grow up so fast and I want to use this system for a long time. 

I'm so excited for Monday!

Expo

Today was a set up for expo day. It's a long, fun process.

Here's the booth as we left it tonight. We still have a few tweaks tomorrow. But it's a really good start.

I am so grateful for my mom and Meghan and Alex for helping with the kids today!  Mom even went on the weather walk with Sanders at preschool which saved at least one psychology bill in the future. Thank you!

Annie and I rewarded our hard work with sushi tonight at the Mikado. Have I told you how much I love sushi? 'Cause I do.

Celebration

Last night Kevin surprised me with balloons to celebrate the launch. He even tried to get as close to my logo colors as possible.

I married a good one.

Like father like son

Kevin's dad plays the saxophone. Kevin plays the saxophone as well.

One was playing tenor and one was playing alto. Don't ask me which is which, I keep forgetting.  

They serenaded us with the "Star Wars theme" (not sure if that's the true name, but you all know what I mean) and "Born Free".

Kevin decided the talent should be kept in the family so the lessons began.

 Beckham caught on right away and is able to read really simple music. Beckham and Kevin even played a simple duet tonight. I'm excited to see where Beckham's musical talents take him. It's so fun to have these Daly men share this common interest. Families are the best!   

Even if they are loud ;-)

Jeremy

I have a brother-in-law named Jeremy. Although, if you had asked Beckham when he was younger, and even now sometimes today, his name is, "Germy."

He is the only brother-in-law, that I have, that has red hair. Also, he grew up on a farm and is the oldest in his family. He is not a farmer, he is an Actuary. I can't explain that well enough to tell you what he does exactly. Thank goodness you have Google at your finger tips. You're welcome.

Jeremy is a good sport and is always willing to try things once.

Lucky me, I get to spend a a whole weekend with him, his cute family, and the rest of my in-laws.

Lucky YOU, you will probably get to read more random posts.

Sleep well, you lucky people, you.

In a nut shell

Our friend, whom we haven't seen in awhile, asked about our kids. This is the email I sent. And I realized that while this is not a complete description, as there is also more good and more of the challenges that could be added, it was a pretty good nut shell of our family dynamics for the moment. Enjoy :)

The kids are mostly good. I'm sure I will miss this time shortly, but some days....I just want to sell one, or all of them, until someone else fixes their issues, but then of course I'd like them back immediately when they are perfect thank you very much! Luckily, most days are not like that.

Let's focus on mostly the good, while still keeping it real, shall we. Agreed.

Karaia: She is 9!!! It's nearly impossible to wrap my brain around that fact. She is gorgeous and has started worrying about what her teeth look like (poor thing. There is NO question she will need braces). She is a good student if she is not distracted by her friends. Her giggle is infectious. She is sweet and loving and never lets her or any parent leave the house without at LEAST two kisses and a hug. Sometimes two hugs if she starts heading her way and feels the first won't last until we are reunited. She will run back and remedy the situation and then happily return to her way. She also has started to have an attitude of the teenage variety....just to keep me highly aware of the law of oppositions. Sigh. She loves soccer and wants to be a cheer leader and a mom...not at the same time, heaven help us. But those are the long term goals. She is super tall and it will not be many more years before she passes my height. She is an invaluable helper when it comes to her little brothers and has improved a TON in her reliability this past year.

Beckham:  (7) Oh Beckham! This one is full of extremes. He can be SO funny, but he fancies himself the class/family clown...not everyone is quite on the same page with that self diagnosis. We try not to crush any spirits per say, but there are times when the same joke after the 20th time is just no longer funny...or was not funny the first time it was told. He has a temper that we are working on. He must run around the house 10 times or a half a mile if his temper gets the better of him. This has resulted in many loud, verbal, public shouts of how awesome we are as parents and what a grand time he is having under our care as he is performing the task he has earned...it's fantastic *eye roll* HOWEVER, every time he finally completes the physical activity he has earned he comes back very penitent and introspective AND willing to have the hard conversations and look at how HIS behaviors contributed to the situation without flying off the handle. It's hard, but I can see it working and if I can save his future wife from having to train the temper out of him it is worth it. He is also my most spiritually in tune child at this time. He recognizes and feels the Holy Ghost strongly and recognizes his error quickly. He longs to understand perfectly and asks many of the important questions. He wears his heart on his sleeve. It's never hard to tell what Beckham is feeling, good and challenging. See, I told you. Extreme. He's a fun one to watch learn because it often doesn't take long. Family is important to him. He has started baseball and is loving it along with playing soccer. Super busy.

Both Karaia and Beckham play the piano and have started to really, really bloom into very developed players. This is the fun part. This makes all the practice fights worth it! They will have been playing for 4 years this July.

Tennyson: He is 4 and will be 5 in June. Tennyson is stubborn. Period. He has this twinkle in his eye that melts anyone's heart, but especially mine. He is also my child that gets me the most frustrated the quickest. He is STILL working on keeping his underwear dry ( see we are true friends...I'm sure you care nothing for the bathroom habits of my 4 year old, but you asked about my kids and frankly, THIS is what we talk about most when we talk about Mr. T as of late). I can't seem to find his pay off when it comes to this subject. He has an excellent talent of being able to take whatever life hands him and find joy. This makes any punishment nearly ineffective as he just copes with his newly restricted situation. It will serve him well later in life, but right now I wish he would just WALLOW for half a second about his hard life that he chose because of his actions. Then maybe he'd decide it was a much better plan to make the effort to make it to the restroom. As it is, his mantra seems to be when he's had a privileged taken away, "That's ok. No big deal!" But not in a sassy way. But in a find joy in the journey kind of a way. It's extremely frustrating and tiring. And then he starts to giggle and it's all I can do to remember it doesn't do anyone any good to let him get away without a consequence. When he is choosing the right he is very good company and one of those people that just makes you believe you are amazing. He is very quick to forgive and truly believes all people have good intentions...all the time.There is so much unconditional love in that little body. He nearly shines. It's an incredible characteristic in one so young.

Sanders: (3) Is a big bully right now. He thinks he is on the same level as Kevin and I and tries to direct and coerce the others into the same line of thinking. He wants everyone to share with him and wants NOTHING to do with sharing with anyone else. He loves to play with you one on one and if you can convince him sharing is fun, is so, so fun to be around. His imagination is incredible and is often found lost in a world of fantasy he has created ready to invite you in if he catches your eye. He loves playing with the big kids. Don't you dare call him little. He'll have something to say about it if you do. He is completely potty trained!!! YAY! And rarely, if ever,has any accidents. (you can see now why we are so focused on Tennyson reaching the same goal) He is my music dancer whenever a song in the car strikes him as awesome. He can be very sweet and loves a good cuddle and a good book, but prefers if you don't sing. He likes to tattle on everyone and be vaguely naughty just to tell you what he's doing right. For example: He opened his door one night after I'd put him to bed to tell me, "Mom! I'm not slamming the doooooooor!" Shortly after that he opened the door again to inform me, "Mom! I'm not getting out of my room at night! Just out of my bed!" He doesn't like to be told what to do, but he does like to please you when he feels like it's been his idea. He is actually my most obedient child and gets a good joke.

So there you have it. My children in a nut shell. They make me work for the motherhood title, but I'm not sure I would change that if given the option. They are turning into wonderful little people and everyday there is more enjoyment as opposed to endurance.

well spent

Today started off with a soccer game. Tennyson seems much more interested in the ball this spring than he was in the fall.

Then we decided to help Grandma Candace clean up her yard and earn some Disney spending money. The oldest two did fantasic and the youngest two did really well for their ages. Thanks for letting us help grandma candace!

We were done yet though. We came home and planted peas and beans. And tackled a few more yard chores.

Tennyson told me tonight that all that hard work and soccer running made him tired!

Earlier today Kevin asked Sanders if he was a monkey.

"Noooo!"

"What are you then?"

"Me a man."

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Finally!

It finally looks like winter around here today!

The kids LOVED it! Well, Sanders really liked the "idea" of it and eating it, but the temperature forced him inside after about 20 minutes.

The three bigger kids rode the sled, played tag, had a snow man ball fight (you build small snow men really, really fast and then throw them at each other, and, of course, built a snow man.

While this was all going on, Ferb, decided to show off his snow skills and earned himself the name of the "Snow Subway". He was hilarious.

He would crouch down and then dive head first into the snow burrowing a tunnel for a few feet and then fly up through the surface and chase any snow balls he scattered on the way up. It was joyful to watch! Not only that but if you got his attention and threw a snowball up in the air he would go after it! I swear this cat is more dog than cat...in all the good dog ways and none of the poop on the grass ways.

Yay for snow!

SCRIPTURE TRACKER

1 Ne chp. 2 vs 10 -16

It just was

Nothing much happened today.

I meant to exercise and I didn't. Which means I never got ready for the day. Who wants to get ready for the day and THEN exercise. Not me that's for sure.

Tennyson had a make up pre-school day because one day of pre-school was canceled last week due to  the storm.

Sanders took a three hour long nap.

I worked.

Oh, we also had Lila over to play. She's pretty funny.

Karaia and I worked on a mosaic she got from Nana and Pappa for Christmas. I loved spending that one on one time with her.

Beckham taught FHE tonight. After his lesson on love we talked about the miracles that happened to Nana and Pappa. I wanted/needed my kids to understand what exactly a miracle was. We went over every detail of the whole ordeal. Miracle by miracle. I described what SHOULD have happened and then what happened and why that was a miracle. Beckham was a ball of tears by the end. He is my child who feels the Holy Ghost the same way I do. We can't help but cry. I asked him what he was feeling. He said, "Happy and grateful that Nana and Pappa are safe."

I didn't want Karaia to feel like just because she wasn't crying she wasn't feeling the Spirit. She said she felt calm and warm inside. Lucky her not to get the water works gene. She might actually be able to bear her testimony and have others understand it because she won't be sobbing through the entire thing ;)

So, I guess stuff did happen today. But only the stuff that's important to me. That's enough.

Prepare

Today brings a gathering of the community. The national guard has been called into action, church was shortened or canceled, and all abled bodies have been asked to lend their service.

Another storm is coming. The concern is that because of the big storm only three days ago there is a lot of loose debris that will be thrown around tonight doing more damage if it's not taken care of.

While it's a bit daunting to think of this new storm, it's incredibly heartening to see everyone coming together for a common good.

Beckham even went out and helped his dad clear a few trees. Karaia and I  held down the fort here and have been doing anything we can think of that might require electricity in case it goes out later. Meaning laundry, meal preparation, and an early afternoon blog post ;)

It's pretty wonderful to have children old enough to contribute to the solution rather than add to the problem.

Everyone stay safe!

If ever you doubt

Thursday brought hurricane force winds to our little part of the world. Trees were ripped from their homes pulling up the earth around them, shingles dislodged, fences toppled, and the general mayhem we've seen on T.V. but rarely seen for ourselves was suddenly right outside our doors.

Along with the physical damage of the landscape and our homes came the loss of power to much of Davis County and, at one point, the entire city of Bountiful. My mom and step-dad's home joined those without power for most of the day.

With the evening approaching they made the decision to purchase a new generator to keep their house and themselves warm. My sister and her four young kids had been visiting from Colorado and had been staying with my mom. They planned to spend the night there. You see, they had been told that the power would be restored by 5pm. Dave, my step-dad, thought he just might be able to get the generator running by 5pm as well. But by 6:30pm when there was no power from either source, corralling 4 cold, hungry kids in a dark house became quite challenging. So when I called to offer a hot dinner in a warm home that never lost power for an extended time during the day, Annie and the kids decided to change plans and spend the night at my house.

That was the first miracle.

Earlier in the day, Dave spent 9 hours using his chain saw helping neighbors remove trees that had either fallen or looked like they were on their way down. By the time he got the generator running, in an outside storage room that shared one wall with the house, at 7pm he was exhausted. Mom and Dave decided to head to bed shortly after the power came on at 11pm. Dave was experiencing dizzy spells now and again and mom felt more wiped out than usual. They attributed all of this to their busy, long, strenuous day. With Dave barley making it into his bed and mom not really knowing how to turn the generator off they decided they would let it run through the night to help continue warming up the house.

At some point the carbon monoxide detector got unplugged because it was thought to be malfunctioning due to the power outage.

They both went to sleep.

At 4:30am Dave woke up.

That was the second miracle.

Carbon monoxide had been seeping into the home through the shared wall with the storage unit since 7pm. Dave should not have woken up.

After waking up Dave realized he couldn't move well. He knew something was horribly wrong. Using what strength he had, which was already compromised from he long hours of clearing trees the day before, he woke mom up and explained they were in trouble. She found she also could not move well. Dave pushed mom off the bed and then threw his body to the floor.

From their room to the front door is only about 30 feet.

After hitting the floor, Dave made his way over to mom. With no ability to walk, together they began to scoot, slowly, toward the front door. Dave using any extra strength he had, after inching himself forward, to push mom even further ahead. They continued in this pattern for over an hour. Struggling to breath or move. Terrified of what would happen if they didn't. Hardly being able to think other than that they needed fresh air and that that air was outside.


At some point the front door opened.

Neither of them remember how that happened as the lock is higher then they had energy to reach let alone strength to push the door while turning the lock.

That was the third miracle.

During mom and Dave's long struggle to the door, Heather, a neighbor, had woken up early to meet her friend for a run while checking on the damage to her neighbors. Her friend wasn't there. She decided to continue with her plans and began her normal run route. Shortly she felt she should alter her route and run one street above. She had never run this way before. It was still in her ward boundaries so she new the street but she had never exercised along it.She said it was more than a random decision....something decided for her.

That was the fourth miracle.

One street above her normal run route two people were fighting for their lives.

As she ran along the new street, at about 6:10 am, she noticed mom and Dave's door open. Looking closer she saw my mom army crawling, with her hair in her face. I talked to Heather and she said my mom's face, a face of a person terrified and struggling for her life, will randomly flash through her mind and catch her off guard leaving nothing left to do but cry. Then Heather saw Dave behind mom also crawling on his belly. She ran to them and dragged mom out onto the porch landing. Then she dragged Dave as far as the door, but he didn't want to go much further because he was only in his garments.

Heather questioned them for a minute, but they were very dazed. She needed to get them warm. They were very hesitant to let her go in the house because of the danger. Heather told me she found out as much information regarding the location of Dave's robe, some socks, and a blanket as she could, held her breath, covered her mouth in the elbow of her arm and ran through the room gathering the items. She very much wanted me to document that Dave was VERY insistent that she get nothing for him. He only wanted mom taken care of. She said that he didn't want her to spend any energy or time on him, only on his wife.

On a lighter note for a moment, Heather shared with me that she had found mom a blanket and wanted to get one for Dave so she asked them where more blankets where. They both said, "We don't have any more blankets."  She tried to reason with them that they probably did, but neither one would consent to that idea.

Realizing that mom and Dave needed more help then she had, and not having a phone with her, she ran four houses down to a friend who is also a nurse. The nurse friend came running, attended to mom and Dave and called 911. The ambulance arrived within 5 minutes.

The house tested at over 400 parts per million.To put that into perspective, a carbon monoxide detector goes off at 30 parts per million.

After 4 hours of oxygen treatment mom and Dave were released.

That was the fifth miracle.

They are tired, but they. are. alive!



Their house was tested 100% neg. for carbon monoxide shortly after their hospital release

When you stop and think just how close that came to ending differently, it becomes hard to breath.

If Annie had decided to stay and spend the night at mom and Dave's, her children.....I can't even finish the sentence.

If Dave had not been woken up.

I know he was woken up by the Holy Ghost. There is no other explanation. None. People with that level of carbon monoxide poisoning don't. wake. up. They just don't. We have a mortician friend and when he heard the story he said, "My only experience with carbon monoxide poisoning is if you are poisoned enough to be taken in an ambulance, you don't get better."

If the door had not been open when Heather passed.

If Heather had not listened to the promptings to take an alternate path.

If the oxygen treatment had not worked.

I am SO grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who is so mindful of us. I am grateful for miracles. I absolutely have no doubt that's what happened in this situation. I would venture to say this would even be a challenge for those who believe in only coincidences to explain.

Personally, I know, I know, none of it was a coincidence. I am so grateful to know who I can thank for allowing me and my family more time. I know because of what I believe.

The rest of this season will no longer have the same meaning as years before. The meaning will be deeper. I will teach my children the truth with more heart. And I will not sweat the small stuff. It's incredible how easy it is to simplify when faced with almost losing something of great value.

And lastly, if ever you, you reading this right now, doubt for a fraction of a second that a loving, living, Heavenly Father exists and knows you, please book mark this post or print it out and reread it. I promise He is there.

I promise He knows you.

He has great plans for you.

He still sends miracles.

Of this I have no doubt.

Cousins

We had the Lawsons over today! SO fun!

You would think 8 kids would involve a lot of fighting and such, but they were very good all day.

I kept Karaia, Beckham, and Tennyson home from school to soak up as much cousin-ness as they could.

It's going to be a sad day when we don't get to see them whenever we want.

Thanksgiving day two

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom and that side of the family today.

The food was great and EVERYONE was there!YAY! The Lawsons were able to make it. The kids were in cousin heaven.

We even got to do a first run for family pictures with the new duds Grandma Candace got the kids.

The color scheme will be a bit different, but the black, white and gray are fantastic.

We also FINALLY finished decorating the tree this morning! The kids were SO excited. I told them we would start decorating at 8:05. That meant we heard this the rest of the morning, " OK! It's 8:02! Now it's 8:03!..."

Complete with "Christmas" morning hair and everything!

You decide

Tonight, for Family Home Evening, we played a rip roaring game of hide and seek per Sanders' direction as he was in charge of the activity.

We learned a few things tonight.

1. Sanders is an incredible hide and seek player. He was often the last or second to last one found because he was always SO still and SO quiet. No wonder he loves this game.

2. Either I am an excellent hider or Karaia needs to buff up on her seeker skills as she "checked" physically, feeling with her hands, my hiding spot in the closet TWICE and never found me.

You decide.

Up In the Night = Awesome

As I briefly mentioned before, my step-siblings band, Up In the Night, is so very talented.

Kevin figured out the whole video thing for me and now I can show you a bit of what I am talking about.

That little voice in the background is Sanders wanting to see what I am doing. Just pretend it's not there. My other sadness about this video is I didn't start recording right at the beginning of the song or finish recording to the end of the song. So very sad.

Still, the fact that they only learned and practiced this ONCE before preforming it is mind boggling.

Enjoy!

Family time

It was so nice to have Kevin home today.

I got to sleep in!!!!

We went everywhere as a family and just got things done.

It's nice to enjoy a little normal.

Gettin' Crazy

Kevin's home!!!!!

The kids were SO excited to see him coming down the escalator at the airport.

I was so excited to see him tucking kids in bed!

On another note, look who convinced his mom that summer time is a good time to get crazy with the hair styles.

He's been begging for this cut for months. It was a good compromise considering that what he really wanted was to be bald. As in Bic it please bald...just to see what it was like.

He is one happy boy.

Home tomorrow

Kevin comes home tomorrow!

That's all I can possibly think about.

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Things are the funniest at night

It's been a long, long, LONG day.

After days like today, the night always comes as a relief and things just seem much more humerous.

Case in point, right now we are giggling over getting soaked by a fire hose and our favorite quote of the night is, "I am not running on awesome."

That's super funny tonight. We'll see how I feel about it tomorrow.