Ear Ear

This is my ear.  This is my ear that hurt for 3 days.  This is my ear that I finally went to the doctor for.  This is my ear that the doctor said was tiny and that she had to use a child's otoscope thing.  This is my ear that was infected.  This is my ear that needed the amoxicillin that I had to wait at the pharmacy for for 30 minutes even though I called ahead to make sure that it was ready.  This is my ear that the pharmacy gave me my medicine for but then asked if I had insurance because they hadn't run it through.  This is my ear that did have insurance that did save me $40 on my prescription.  This is my ear that still hurt for 5 more days even after being on the antibiotic.  This is my ear that was connected my body that had a finger that texted Dr. Chris for a consultation about why it should still hurt after 5 days of being on the meds.    This is my ear that finally is feeling better.  This is my ear that just got us another $75 closer to our deductible.  This is my ear.

A Few of My Favorite Things

This is NOT one of my favorite things-Kyle throwing his food on the floor.

Stake Conference

Sunday, August 14 was our Stake Conference.  Caleb got to go and do baptisms for the dead on Saturday with the youth in our ward as a way to help the youth get ready for Stake Conference.  They had Stake Temple Week that whole week prior to but we did not want to leave Cayden home not knowing the full impact of the diabetes on him since he had just been in the hospital on Monday.  They always have an adult session on Saturday night.  I wanted to go but decided that I should probably choose the Sunday session when we could go as a family since I would have a hard time sitting through both.  It was hot and uncomfortable during the Sunday session but I made it.  We had Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the 12 as one of the speakers.  I usually write down what the speakers say but was trying really hard to just make it through the meeting let alone write anything down.  I do remember he said at the very end of his talk that the atonement covers all unfairness.  That was something I needed to hear because of Cayden's diabetes diagnoses just the week before and all our stress and struggle with Connor and even the fact that someone who shall not be named was put into a prominent leadership position in our stake and I only found out right then in stake conference when they did all the sustainings.  I am glad that I went to Stake Conference and got to hear from our leaders and feel the spirit.

A Few of My Favorite Things As Of Late

My super neat cup I fill with ice and water and take EVERYWHERE!

Target gauchos-I love these and spend most of my days in them.

Dreyer's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream

Much needed for pregnancy heart burn relief!

We have been living on these tasty sandwiches the last month or so.

Must have air!!

This man right here!!!!

New Year's Resolutions

I don't like the word resolutions and I really don't like the thought that you can only make changes or decide to do better or be better at the beginning of the new year.  It is the traditional thing to do and the new year is a good time for a fresh start and deep breath.  So in compliance and in honor of the new year I have decided to work on 3 things this year. (there's a whole lot more things that I could and want to do but in an effort to not overwhelm or overload myself these are the ones I want documented).
1.  Read Jesus the Christ.  Yes, the whole book all the way through.
2.  Validate and have 10 positive interactions with each one of my kids each day.
3.  Try a little harder to be a little better.  (work on being a more positive person more or less)

I don't want to even attempt the old "I will read my scriptures every day" and "I will say my prayers" because EVERY DAY just seems like setting myself up for failure.  I've decided that I will do it as much and as best as I can and see how many days I can go and if I miss a day I won't beat myself up about it but "try a little harder to be a little better".

The Tale of the Snow Covered Tree

I have not taken the time to go through the rest of November and all the Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities but these thought have been on my mind for a few days and I thought I needed to get them out.

Since it has been so cold and snowy in Provo and that is where we have been that is where my reflections have led me. There was a group of pine trees going up the roa close to my mom's house that started me thinking.  Those trees don't look exactly like the ones in this picture but the feeling is the same. I feel like this pine tree right here above in the center of this picture.  Now you can see that it is not completely alone but does have some other pine trees in close proximity.  Other observance about this pine tree are that it seems to be covered the most by the snow.  All of the trees have snow on them but this one in middle seems to have more that it's fair share of snow.  The snow is heavy.  The snow looks wet.  The snow is cold and is weighing down this beautiful tree whose branches and boughs usually point upward. But on this day the weight of the snow is so great that is just seems to slump  a little forward and hangs dejectedly.  There is no sun in the sky to hint at a better day to come and the drifts of snow surrounding the tree are so high that even if it could wiggle its way forward toward a warmer piece of ground or shrug off some of the weight of the snow it would not make it very far.  I am feeling like this tree.  Now I was not feeling like this tree so much at the beginning of December because I had decided that I wanted to feel the spirit of the season and the spirit of the Savior this year and that the only way I could do that was to de-stress and eliminate some of the crazy busy and stressful things about Christmas.  The kids were not involved in any concerts, plays or programs other than 1 Valley Voices Concert that Cody was part of.  There were no karate testings or extra parties, only 1 school party for Cayden and our ward Christmas Party that I was helping with.  I did not get that assignment until the week before Thanksgiving so it's not like I had a long time to stress about that anyway. And as far as that party was concerned I really felt like the spirit prompted and guided our efforts and gave me lot of ideas that really worked out.  The snow started to fall on my tree that night of the ward Christmas party and it just kept snowing and snowing.  That blizzard lasted clear through Christmas and even now even into the new year.  The harsh winter just does not want to let up and this tree is just about ready to topple over.  At this point I am having a hard time taking this analogy and turning it positive.  I was on a roll last night but tonight I just don't have it.  So I am leaving this as it is for now until I can come back around out of this slump and wait for the sun to come out and melt some of this ice and snow in my heart.