My Kids

My kids have really and truly become my whole life in a nutshell. I never really questioned waiting a while after marriage to start having kids. I always wanted to let things happen and today, I am the mother of 3 beautiful kids. Each of them are unique and each of them, I love dearly with all my heart despite the tantrums and frustration that emits from them from time to time as they are learning and growing.

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have the opportunity to visit teach on a monthly basis, sisters or women in the ward from various backgrounds and ages so that we can learn and grow together in friendship, love and service. Each month, we are urged to share a message with the sisters we are assigned to teach. In the past, my visits have varied in subject depending on who the person was and how to get to know them for who they are in life. Some of them, I will have a prepared message to inspire them with and others, just a simple conversation of comfort and laughs. Sometimes, there is good food involved and other times, tender moments.

I really appreciated this months message in particular because it was meant to help give strength and encouragement to moms out there and give them peace of mind that their efforts are appreciated.

The message title was "Nurture the Rising Generation." There are always questions to answer in each month and the first question was, "What is my responsibility to the Rising Generation?"

I appreciated what Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the presidency of the Seventy said, "Our rising generation is worthy of our best efforts to support and strengthen them in their journey to adulthood....In every action we take, in every place we go, with every Latter-Day Saint young person we meet, we need to have an increased awareness of the need for strengthening, nurturing, and being an influence for good in their lives."

We need to be an example to our children and do the right things instead of just tell them. You never know when they are listening and watching and trying to become like you. One of the kids I use to babysit sent me a thank you note in the mail a couple years ago saying just how much my decisions as a teenager, helped her strive to make good choices and goals in her life. We really do make a difference in kids lives as we interact and teach them. The importance of being "an influence for good in their lives" is vital and we need to remember.

The second question asked was "How can I nurture the rising generation?" I liked a couple tid bits that are important to this question. How Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president stated, "Nurturing requires organization, patience, love and work."

I have found that statement to be so true. When I am truly organized and truly take the patience and work to show them I love them and spend time with them on their own, they behave better than when I am engulfed in doing other things around the house. It also helps with what Barbara Thompson, the second counselor in the general relief society, said that it makes a difference when others "say or do just the thing that is needed to reinforce what a parent is trying to teach."

Then all of a sudden, its not just mom or dad who are telling the kids how to do and say things, but its others who they look up to as well.

Finally, President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke some powerful words on the subject that we can draw comfort with in saying, "Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yours is a custodial relationship to them, that He was a parent before you were parents and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these His little ones....Rear your children in love, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Take care of your little ones. Welcome them into your homes, and nurture and love them with all of your hearts. They may do, in years that come, some things you would not want them to do, but be patient, be patient. You have not failed as long as you have tried."

So with these uplifting thoughts, I trudge onward in trying to be more patient with my kids and continuing to try the best I can to nurture them as they grow and learn and try new things. Have you tried today? My kids and your kids and all kids deserve your efforts to try.

Networking

I've mentioned before that Jared and I are on the yearbook staff as photographers for Hayden's school. On Friday, they had the big sellers for the recent fundraiser go on a limo luncheon with the principal. We were asked to take pictures so I went with our two cameras and snapped some shots for the yearbook. In the process, the limo driver asked if I could take pictures of his limos for his website. I told him that'd be great and we swapped business cards. I thought it was really cool that I could pick up a side job just by volunteering our services in the first place. Go Me!

Pasta Dinner

We decided last minute to go to Hayden's schools' PTA Pasta dinner. I was happy since I didn't have to come up with dinner to cook. It was suppose to be $5 for our family, but they didn't take our money. The food was good. The Spaghetti had really amazing sauce with it so I'll have to try and find out what they used cause it tasted awesome. Here's a picture of me and the two oldest. Addison was in her bucket seat down on the floor.

The Great Pumpkin Patch Adventure

It's been three years since we first went to this pumpkin patch. The first year, I went with our Joy School group and the pumpkins didn't last all the way until Halloween. The second time, we went too late towards Halloween and there were barely enough left. THis year, I think we timed it the best and we went as a family which was fun. We took a bunch of pictures and had a Girl Scout Leader help us out with a family picture real quick. I hope you enjoy them. More are on our site. We ended up with 3 pumpkins to bring home, two of which are pretty big and we topped the afternoon off with a new smoothie concoction that consisted of pomegranate, raspberry yogurt and the base of julius. Good stuff.

Cart Returns

This is just something I thought about today and wanted to make a comment on my blog. While I was out doing some grocery shopping with my girls, I had loaded up the car and was getting ready to return my cart to leave. Normally, I try to park somewhat close to a cart return so that I can return them with my kids waiting in my car. At the nearby grocery store though, the cart return which normally takes up one parking spot, had been pushed into the middle of two parking spots.

On this such occasion, a truck had decided it didn't care about the cart return and parked IN FRONT of the opening to put your carts in. I was a bit frustrated because I feel bad leaving carts (especially on a windy day) near my car as I leave instead of where they belong. All I could think about was, can this guy please get a ticket or something so that his truck can move out of the way. Come on. I guess this is just my version of Colbert's wag of the finger. I wag my finger at the driver of the truck who blocked my nearby cart return.

Lost Pet

I am all for returning lost pets to people. I think its sad if someone loses a pet because it escaped from their home. However, I just have to preface this with, I DRAW THE LINE when it comes to insects and all creatures alike.

The other night, Jared got ready to go get the mail in the evening like he enjoys doing. I was wrapping dinner up with the kids. All of a sudden, I heard Jared say, "Sarah? Come here."

I walked over as he stood at the door with it partially opened and he then asked, "Did you put up any Halloween decorations out here?"

I replied with, "No. Why?"

Then he pointed to the floor and asked, "Is that real or fake?"

I looked down and to my horror and disgust, I saw the HUGEST Tarantula I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. WAIT! MY WHOLE LIFE BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE IN PERSON. Seriously. This thing was huge. It had to be between 4 and 5 inches in length. GARGANTUAN! It was just sitting there in our open doorway on the inside of our house. I can STILL see the image in my head with the detail on the thorax and everything. I replied with, "No way! Where did it come from? I don't know if it's real."

Jared then explained that after he opened the door and walked out, he heard something drop from above him and then looked over and saw that sitting there. We then proceeded to stare at it to check for movement. We grabbed the camera and took pictures and then I went and got a broom and some on hand insecticide as if that would do anything to this HUGE TARANTULA. Did I mention it was HUGE?!

So Jared pokes it with a broom and it does move so it is alive and real and it crawls out of our doorway to the outside again. He grabs the spray and sprays it. It crawls over to the side of the house and he follows it while taking pictures. He gives it another good spray and then impales the thorax to make sure it is good and dead. He then sprayed the outside entryway really good, looking to see if anything else was lurking around.

When he got back inside the house, we realized that I had handed him a camera with no card so sorry for no pictures, but if you want to, you can peek around the corner of the house and take a glance at the dead carcass still.

Needless to say, we were both pretty buzzing after that encounter and I didn't want to go to sleep until I had some happy thoughts in my head so that if I woke up at night, I would still be able to fall back asleep. Thankfully, it worked out.

Relief Society Broadcast

I enjoy going to the Relief Society Broadcast each conference. They always have some message that is good to hear to reboot my system and feel good about myself and what I'm doing. The food before doesn't hurt either where we get to catch up with people outside the ward. I brought Addison with me and tried to time her feeding right but ended up giving her a bottle while there. She was super tired and was fussy because she just couldn't quite fall asleep there. Every time she got close, a kid would make a noise or someone would walk by. Finally, about 15 minutes until the end, she fell asleep and sure enough, when the lights went back on to leave and everyone moved about, she woke right up and screamed the whole way home and it took a while to get her to finally calm back down and pass out. Poor Addison.

I do want to mention that I loved the talk about MIND THE GAP. I'll try to post some highlights a little later. I didn't write notes because I was juggling Addison so I'll wait until the Ensign to read it over again.

First Pack Meeting

We had our first official Pack Meeting at the beginning of the month and it went pretty good. We only have 8 boys in our pack and although 5 of them were receiving awards that night, our attendance was weak with a whopping 3 boys present. Also, we are assigned a certain half of the gym to use for these meetings and when we got there to set up, apparently another group was using it and we had to move to the Relief Society Room which screwed up other groups who were supposed to be in that room. It was totally screwed up and a little awkward having it in that room. I felt kind of bad because it was the bishop's son's arrow of light ceremony too. He wasn't pleased with the move at all. Hopefully, we'll be in the gym in November and thereafter so things will seem smoother.

Side note: I was successful at sewing on my numbers, patch and emblem before going to the meeting and I think I look a bit silly in the uniform shirt, but oh well.

PTA Meeting

I volunteered Jared and I to take pictures at the school's County Fair coming up. They're going to have a Model T car there and we're going to be taking pictures of people with it. I went to a board meeting to get more info and nail down the details for the night and that meeting went so much better. It was in a classroom. I only had 2 kids. There were other little kids and they all sat at a table watching Dora on a DVD player while eating donuts. It was such a breeze. That's the way all meetings should be run :0)

Scout Store

As part of my new duties as Cub Scout Committee Chairperson, I have the responsibility to head down to the scout store across town to pick up awards, certificates and books as needed. At the end of last month, I took my first trip down there and didn't get lost finding it. I picked up a uniform for me to where to the meetings and handed my registration form in to the office. It worked out pretty nice. Now I just have to figure out how to use the account at the store for our pack with my new authorization. Then I wouldn't have to get reimbursed for any of it.

Park Play

A group of moms from school decided to get together at a park after school on Friday towards the beginning of the month. I prepped a bunch of food to bring with me so we could eat lunch and then come home for quiet time. I brought sandwiches and cookies and freeze pops because it was hot outside.

Surprisingly, both of my kids ate the lunch I packed for them which I found very exciting since it's a struggle sometimes and the cookies and freeze pops were a hit too. The six of us moms sat and chatted while the kids played on the playground and in the water.

An interesting part to our park day was the we were noticing a group of high school kids gathering in the parking lot. At first there were a dozen or so but that number soon grew into 30-40 kids. They all finally meandered on down to the very bottom corner opposite us. We were wondering why in the world they were there and what they were doing. It didn't take long for us to figure it out as we all of a sudden witnessed a circle of observers and two kids in the middle throwing punches. We couldn't believe it. One of my friends immediately picked up her cell phone and called the cops with info about it while others started yelling at them to knock it off and that we're calling the cops. The kids started to scramble and run while we tried to describe things for the cops as good as possible. As the barrage of cars peeled out, we kept yelling out the types of cars and their colors. I also took my nikon camera and snapped some shots of the kids leaving. It took the cops 15 minutes to get there and they were all gone by then of course. The area was patrolled for a little and as we left, the officer gave us his card so we could contact him directly next time it happens.

A rather eventful park visit if you ask me. Oh well, as long as the kids had fun and were safe, that's all that matters, right?

BUNCO!

I promised my husband back when we were going through some financial speed bumps that I would give up my monthly Bunco night so we can save more money. I went from January or February to September. I was so excited to go again. A friend of mine asked me if I could go and carpool with her. I got the okay from Jared and took off with her to Bunco. I brought Addison with me just in case she needed me while I was gone. It ended up working out great. Addison hung out in her car seat on the floor for the first bit and then when she started making noises, I held her while playing. I think she appreciated the attention and observation time because she was smiling and quiet while on my lap. She eventually passed out for sleep while sitting with me. Everyone there was amazed at how great she was and I was again grateful for my Addison. I didn't do great for Bunco, but I didn't do horrible either. I was able to get at least 1 Bunco for the night which made me feel good and I brought home a glass pumpkin with candy in it as my end gift from the exchange.

I'm glad I got to have such fun. It's refreshing to just get away for a couple hours to do something you enjoy that'll make you laugh.

Open House

I kind of wrote a more detailed account of how the Open House for Hayden went on his own journal, but just to let the rest of you know, we made it an outing with just Mom, Dad and Hayden so we could both spend time getting to know his new classroom and his teacher. It was fun having Hayden show us around his classroom by following the scavenger hunt list. We went towards the end of the night and it was a lot less busy to talk with the teacher which was nice. We went over a couple of things about Hayden with his teacher and made some goals to help improve him with his writing skills and straightening his speech back out because of some phase or something. All in all, it was fun and informative. We missed the powerpoint explaining the different words she uses to explain things so we can use them at home, but that's okay. As long as he has a stamp on his hand, we know he's been good that day.

ANTS......

I hate ants and earlier this month, I found a trail of them in my living room all of a sudden. First off, I was glad they weren't in my kitchen or pantry of food because that would've been disastrous, but they were still in my house around some crumbs on the floor so I followed them to the entry point and put down a trap and then called my pest control to handle the rest. Gratefully, they are gone and I don't know if they are totally gone, but I definitely need to watch out for crumbs more to avoid the situation again.

8 Years

On the 8th of September, I met my husband either years ago. We were so busy with the kids and our lives that we didn't really celebrate in any way. Jared beat me to saying Happy Anniversary when he got up and we didn't really do much other than that. I'm still very grateful for deciding to go to that football game though. We talked about it the other day when I was sorting through old clothes. Shui ge, wo ai ni!

Worst Meeting Scenario Ever!

I forgot to mention this and since I'm behind in blogging and need to catch up and back track, I figured I would throw this in here. As I mentioned before, Jared and I are on the yearbook committee for Hayden's school. THey had a meeting at the beginning of the month in the early evening that Jared couldn't make so I went with the 3 kids and I was prepped with food and IPod for entertainment and thought we'd be set. Boy was I wrong. When I got there, they told me it was going to be on the stage instead of the classroom. Immediately, my heart stopped with dread as I smiled and said, okay when in fact inside my mind I was like, "WHAT!! Are you kidding me?! We were supposed to meet in a classroom! You know. Isolated. Only One Exit Point! DO you see my three kids with me?"

I tried to be optimistic as the meeting started. I got the kids to sit down and be good but as other kids started to wander, my kids thought it would be cool to not listen and wander too. Do you know that there are quite a few exit points to a stage that my daughter Hadley can easily escape from?

Exactly. So needless to say, the meeting went long and my kids ran in and out of our meeting spot continuously. I don't think I caught much of the meeting. I got flustered and frustrated at the whole scenario and by the time I went out of the school building to go pick up pizza for dinner, I was choking back tears and sadly scolding my kids. I was so fed up that I texted Jared and told him I was DONE! If ever there was a time when I truly wanted to binge on chocolate when I shouldn't, THAT night was definitely it.

Thankfully, Jared convinced me to eat something else like cream puffs to curb my frustration. The next time they emailed me for the next meeting, I tagged the end of my email with "Please make sure it is in a classroom this time."

Okay. I'm done venting now. Boy was that a drain on me as a whole.