Mancation

Several years ago, when we had cable, we were watching a special which was talking about how more and more men were taking trips together without the ladies! They called these trips a "mancation!" At the time, we laughed and laughed about it! Well, of course, a few months later, a friend invited him to go to Primm with a bunch of guys for a golf trip. (Yep, a "mancation.") I was so happy I had a fun word to call his little trip and I've had so much fun teasing him about it. But really, I love that he goes every year. I think it is fun for him to be able to go with all his buddies and golf for 3 days straight. This year there were 100 of them! How fun is that!


Plus, I don't mind being alone with the kids. Sometimes it's kind of a nice break to not have to rush to get beautiful and clean the house up just before he gets home! (Don't judge - you know you all do it too!) And...the best part is that I get to have some girl time! Last year Amy, Kris and I stayed up until who knows when making hair bows and eating chocolate and being silly. This year, Amy wasn't able to make it, but Kris and I still had a blast! We went to dinner and then we made these cute little valentine's day blocks! We stayed up until 2:30am (which is not big deal for a couple of old night shift nurses;) talking and crafting and eating chocolate and being silly. It was so much fun and I am so grateful for all of my sister-in-laws! I just wish we could have more of these fun girls' nights more often!

There's An Elephant in the Room

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend a Stake YW/RS training meeting.

It was AMAZING. It reached me. It touched me. It changed me.

It was entitled, "A Formidable Force."

In 1 Peter 5:8, it says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

In the animal kingdom, the lion is the top of the food chain.

It eats what it wants. It often picks off it's prey one by one. No group of animals is adequately equipped to ward off the lion, but there is one group which is the most impervious to the lion attacks - the elephants.

Facts about elephants:

The elephant herd is comprised of female elephants - attentive mothers who keep their offspring with them for an average of 7 years (which is huge for animals!). All behaviors exhibited by baby elephants have been learned through modeling from their mother. There is a term called "Allo" mothers. This occurs when a female elephant cares for calves of the other elephant mothers. The more "Allo" mothers a calf has, the better chance it has for survival.

Elephant herds have one elephant as a watch. When a danger is sensed, an alarm is sounded and all of the elephants circle side by side, shoulder to shoulder, facing outward. The young, the elderly, and the sick are ushered to the center of the circle. Baby calves run to their safe place the minute they hear the warning. This protective circle remains until the threat has completely dissipated.

As women, there are so many things that we can learn from elephant herds.

We need to become a unified living shield against Satan. We must stand for truth and righteousness. We must stand boldly, shoulder to shoulder, as women, against the very real threat that lurks about seeking to destroy our children, our families, and our marriages. We must all be "Allo" mothers, ever attending to all within our sphere of influence until everyone is safe.

We must become unwavering examples to those who look to us. They need to see us respond consistently when faced with temptations or threats. They need to see us do the right thing. They need to know that we are modest - in word, thought and action. We have to model what the young ones need to become.

We must teach gospel truths more effectively than Satan teaches his lies. We have to arm our children and ourselves with spiritual strength and confidence. We need to train or children to run from danger and to never be lulled into a false sense of security. We need to model better thinking and teach the best things.

We need to learn to be comfortable with who we are. We need to quit trying to be someone or something else. We have to have an understanding of who we are as children of God. Nothing is more important than knowing who we are and the power and influence that is ours. Elephants are comfortable in their own skin - as thick, gray and wrinkly as it is.; we need to be too.

We need to realize that a strong herd overpowers danger. Satan tries to pick us off one by one. He is working overtime because he knows that he is almost out of time. He will go after any one that gives him a second look. He tries to make us feel alone and like we don't matter. He wants to get us away from each other so that he can overpower us. We have to look for ways to unite. We can all do more to encircle, teach, and protect each other. We must help each other be and stay strong.

We must become a "Formidable Force" against that lion who is trying to destroy us.

This is obviously a very brief recap of an incredibly powerful and beautiful message, but I just haven't been able to shake what I felt sitting there hearing it. I'm so grateful that I was where I needed to be to hear it. After that night, I got these little elephants, which now sit on my dresser, to remind me of the lesson I learned from elephants. Who knew elephants were so admirable?! They just may be my new favorite animal!;)

They Make Me Smile

I love how happy this little girl is! I love her smile and spunk. I love how much she loves her brothers and sister...and how much she loves ME.

I love the way they fill a need in each other and I love that years from now they'll love each other even more than they do now...which seems impossible!

I love that he's in a miniature version of Cole, with a sprinkling of me.
I love that he'll play basketball all day long and that he won't quit until he's good at it.
He'll shoot the same shot 20 times until he can make it a few times in a row - that is SO me!


I love that she is determined to be happy.
She could be miserable and ornery and let her back control her life. She could decide to do nothing.
But she pushes through her pain and she LIVES. She is amazing.

I love their smiles!

I love that she wants her friends to come to our house to play.

She pogo-sticked all the way to her friend's house to invite her to come play! Crazy!

I love that he'll try anything and that he is a lefty.

I love that he is fearless and fierce and that he doesn't take life too seriously.

I love that he comes to help me when I'm doing housework and how he always thanks Heavenly Father for letting him stay on earth with his family and not die when he was born.

I love that they are mine.

Date Night

Last Saturday Kaitlin had a birthday party at Laser Mania! No fair, right?!

So I thought it would be fun to take the boys on a day date to feed the ducks! (With Alli as a tag-along!)

We dropped Kaitlin off and headed to the discount bakery for bread and a treat!

Next we stopped at Target for a return and a little perusing of toys!

And darnit...by the time we were done with those, there wasn't enough time to go feed the ducks and make it back in time to get Kater.

So we improvised.

We invited daddy and Kaitlin to come with us and made it an even bigger date!

Feeding ducks is one of our favorite family dates and it has been since October since we have been, so this trip was long overdue and so much fun!

This was my favorite little duck!

She followed Alli around and Alli thought she was so cool!

Last time we went to feed ducks Allison was scared of them. She stayed in the back of the truck and cried when Cole tried to get her out to put her back in her car seat!

She wasn't scared this time!

After we ran out of bread, we all practiced skipping rocks across the lake.

Only daddy can do it....and the rest of us are so competitive, it drives us crazy!

After awhile, the boys (following Cole's lead) started trying to aim at ducks!

They laughed when Kaitlin and I started yelling at them and telling them how mean they were. Luckily they didn't hit any and Cole was thoroughly lectured on being a good example!;)

An Emotional Answer

As I sat in the room waiting to have Allison tested to see if she really is allergic to milk...I just felt so...TORN.

On the one hand...I knew EXACTLY what I hoped to see on her little back.

On the other...I wasn't sure I could bear the burden of telling sweet Kaitlin that she was alone again.

I really wasn't sure what would happen either.

With the twins, I was pretty sure that they weren't going to be allergic to milk.

I felt confident that we had given their bodies long enough to figure out how to digest the stuff.

I was right.

With Allison, I really didn't know. She has had virtually no exposure to dairy.

Her initial exposure at 3 weeks old, through my breast milk,

was so much more dramatic than even Kaitlin's response, I was not entirely sure that 2 years had been long enough for her to outgrow that.

When she turned 2, we had to find out.

I just couldn't start introducing it without knowing for sure that her body wasn't building a dynamite defense against it.

I had to KNOW.

And yet, here I was...and I wasn't really sure I even wanted to KNOW.

(For those of you that think I'm crazy; I am...and I know it.

But in my defense, if you've never had a child with a severe food allergy, you'll never understand the vast emotions that accompany one. They range from guilt, to sadness when watching my child not be able to eat cake and ice cream at a birthday party, to the overwhelming effort it takes to make meals and lunches, to the exhausting process of reading every label and never being able to just grab what is on sale, to the fear of her somehow being exposed to it and losing her. On any given day - one or more of these emotions and thoughts run through my head.)

Anyway, today was the day we would finally know whether Alli joined Kaitlin in her exclusive club or not...and either way...the outcome was going to be hard.

Here she is posing (and happy) before they poked her! Then, she was one very angry little baby!

About five minutes into the test, this is what she looked like.

I almost puked.

I thought that top whelp was an indication that it was positive.

Luckily, my "nurse" mind overrode my "mommy" mind and I realized that there would have to be a CONTROL POSITIVE. After this picture, I wouldn't look at her back again! I waited for the doctor to come in and look and read it! It was just too stressful watching each little change on each bump! (Again...I know I'm crazy!)

Well, 10 minutes later, the doctor rushes in and said, "She's fine." Whoosh. It took my breath away, really. Then he left. (Gotta love docs.:))

I grabbed her and held her and couldn't help but cry a little.

Then, just to be sure, I checked her back myself. No sign of any of the other three pricks.

It was really true!

We packed up and I skipped out of that building feeling pretty light. The kids had asked me to go eat lunch with them at school, so I grabbed so food for Alli - Wendy's Chicken Nuggets...YEA!

(This was the first time Alli had ever had them since they have WHEY - a milk protein - in them.)

When it was time to eat with Kaitlin, that was when it got hard.

Kaitlin saw Allison's lunch and knew right away what the answer was.

Amazing girl that she is, she teared up.

Then she gave Alli a hug and said, "Yea, Alli. You're so lucky."

(Imagine my heart fill with pride and break at the same time.)

And this is where we still are...happy for Allison and glad that she doesn't have to deal with the hardship of a dairy allergy, but broken-hearted for Kaitlin and the fact that she still does and that now she has to do it without a partner.

I'm grateful that I have learned so much since having Kaitlin. I tell her all the time how sorry we are that we didn't know better when we had her. I would give anything to know what I know now about food allergies and to have been able to protect baby Kaitlin the way I have protected the others. We still have no idea why all of our kids have had such a sensitivity to dairy (I still think it has something to do with all of them being born so early), but all the doctors say it doesn't.

In any case, it's no fun and it's hard.

I am grateful I have the most amazing daughter who deals with it far better than I would and I can only hope that someday she'll grow out of it or that some brilliant scientist will discover a cure!

Spaghetti Monster

I know you have all heard of the Cookie Monster, but there is a Spaghetti Monster at our house!

It doesn't matter what else I have in the fridge - if she sees spaghetti, that is all she wants!

She loves it warm or even cold. She even loves spaghetti sauce over my Zucchini noodles!

She will eat spaghetti leftovers for every meal until I tell her it's all gone!

Even then, she climbs into the fridge and searches for it herself!

When I bring out the big pot that I usually use for the noodles, she starts dancing in a circle and cheering, "Setti! Setti!"

The main problem I have with her Spaghetti fetish is...

SHE'S. SO. MESSY!

She doesn't just get her face and hands messy...she gets her belly, her diaper, her hair, her eyelashes, the table, the floor, the chair, the person sitting next to her, the person sitting across from her.... (you get the picture)...messy!

But...she LOVES it...and I guess that's worth all that mess!

Ladd's Mini-Me's

"Allergic to Homework"

Uncle Ladd bought the twins these shirts for Christmas!
They were so excited to wear them all through the break and of course, they picked them out to wear to school on the first day back!
Call me crazy, but when they wear these shirts, they even act a little like Uncle Ladd - and you all know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!:)

Allison wanted to pose when I was taking a picture of the boys! They were so cute I had to include them!

An Atypical Day

The day before the kids went back to school, St. George woke up to a beautiful surprise!

It doesn't snow in St. George often, so when it does, it is never taken for granted!

Knowing that we aren't going to have to deal with it for the next several months makes it beautiful and special and I find myself doing all the "traditional" "snow things" to make sure that my kids remember the beautiful snow (in fond light) until the next time it snows!

As soon as they were up, the kids grabbed all their gear and headed out front to play!

Before long, the neighbors' kids had come over too and their was a giant snow ball fight going on!

I do mean GIANT, too!

There were big boys involved and they were chucking some pretty big snow balls and my little babies! (Hehe! It took all my self-control to not run out and tell those big boys to quit picking on my little boys! Of course, my mother hen instinct cooled a little when I saw how accurate my boys were nailing them back;)!)

After all that playing in the snow, I made homemade Apple Cider and Chicken Noodle soup and we watched a movie inside with the fire going! It was a wonderful day and I am so grateful for that snow and that one last day I got to snuggle and hold my munchkins before school took them away!

'Tangled' Mess of Fun!

Some of our friends gave us some movie tickets for Christmas.

What an awesome gift...and what a treat!

It seemed like there were so many great movies to pick from, but by overwhelming vote, "Tangled" won!

I am so glad it did! What a cute movie!

It is the first movie in a really long time that I have seen that doesn't have an "evil-feeling" nemesis in it, which was good because our kids are very tender, soft, non-desensitized kids. (Sounds better than scaredy-cats, don't ya think?!)

Anyway, the kids decided they all wanted to match and wear their BYU stuff - so off we went, our little family of Cougars!

Some friends of ours have the awesome idea of watching movies with their toddler in their car seat!

Hooray...HOPE!

Nope!

Allison wouldn't stay in it!

She wiggled out and made so much noise doing it that she disrupted the whole theater.

(One thing I found - at the expensive theater, people aren't nearly as nice and understanding as they are at the cheap movies! )

Cole and I ended up taking turns taking her out and trying to distract her with all kinds of various treats! Finally I took her bottle to the Concession stand and asked if they would mind putting some Sprite in it for me! That did the trick and she was out!
This was what I found when the lights turned on at the end of the movie!