I Have Become My Mother

That is not a bad thing either! I haven't been able to find any slippers as of late that I like. The warm fuzzy ones are still too hot for Logandale and the ballet type ones make my feet stink so I saw these at the dollar store and promptly threw then in the cart. I have to say I enjoy wearing them. My feet get so tired and so sore from my tile floor and plus if I am wearing slippers then I can't feel how dirty the floor is and I am less inclined to want to clean it! So mom, if you are reading this then thanks for wearing old lady slippers. Now I wear them too!

My Thoughts on Conference

I just love General Conference!  I love to listen to the talks.  I love to reread the talks in the Ensign.  I love to listen to them again because I record them on the DVR and I love to have them at my fingertips on my Iphone.  I really try to take notes but it is hard enough to listen with the kids let alone write anything down.  For some reason the first session did  not record and that was a bummer but I think it will be rebroadcast so I will try and catch it again.  I seem to always love the first session so I was pretty bummed that it didn't record.  Thank goodness for technology!
There were so many great things about conference.  Here a few that were especially pertinent to me.
First-that announcement about the missionary age changing.  I was in my room watching and I ran out to see if Don had heard it.  I literally had this feeling of a small tremor or shockwave come over me.  I knew that what the prophet was saying was inspired revelation and it was a change that had come straight from heaven.  I did not have any odd or contentious thoughts about it at all.  I didn't wonder about the how or the why or the fairness or unfairness of it.  I just thought it was inspired.  There were some people on Facebook who had some concerns and even some grumpy thoughts about it.  I was pleased to see Elder Holland address the concerns that others had but for me I had complete acceptance of it.  Caleb will be able to go now right after he graduates.  A fact that he was excited about and he came to us with.  That one year gap that some kids have to wait after they graduate worries sometimes because it seems that some get lost along the way or make choices that have mission repercussions.
Second-there were so many talks that had little snippets of what I needed to hear.  I prayed all week for help with the things that I am concerned about in my life and also the things that the Lord thinks I need to know.  Some of them were-
1.Elder Cook-the story he told about the guy named Little and how he wouldn't run in the Olympic race on Sunday.  This is something we have been working on here at home.  We don't go to the movies or to the lake or things like that but we do come home from church and watch TV and play video games and I usually nap with Kyle.  I just think that we need to be more diligent about the little things that help us keep that commandment.  Not so much of what we shouldn't do but what we should do on the Sabbath.  I showed the family that little clip from his talk for FHE Monday night as part of our lesson.
2.   I loved the talk on the Atonement from Elder Packer.
3.  I loved the talk from Elder Holland.  He is such a powerful and dominant speaker. 
4.  I loved the part in the talk from Brother Christensen, I think, who said that they had prayed that their children would have a spiritual experience when they went through the temple open house.  I need to pray that my children will have a spiritual experience and help them be prepared to have that, know what it is and understand.  Cayden usually wakes up happy in the mornings and when he does, he is cheerful and obedient.  He says things like "today is a great day" or "this is the best day".  I have tried to remember to talk to him when he is feeling like that and tell him that he is feeling happy because he has the spirit with  him.  I need to remember to do that more often.
5.  I loved the talk about the bee's from Elder Ballard.  He said that we need to ask in our personal prayers for the opportunity to serve someone each day.  That was great!  Plus bees fascinate me because of the many lessons and principles that are evident in this tiny creation. 
6.  Observe and serve from the  new Relief Society General President.
7.  I'm a Mormon.  I know it.  I live it.  I love it.  That was a powerful talk.
8.  I thought alot about the story about the pioneer mother who had nothing but 2 hard biscuits to feed her kids but when she prayed over them and had enough faith, there was enough food to feed them that night. Loaves and fishes and the promise of enough!  She didn't worry about the next day either!  Important lessons there!
9.  President Eyring talking about the pavillions that keep us covered from God.  That has such meaningful applications.
10. I can't remember who it was off the top of my head but someone told the story from President Monson about the lady he went to visit in the hospital and the other lady that was there and covered her head until the spirit prompted him to go to her and give her priesthood blessing.
Those are the ones that I can think of tonight as I am sitting here blogging away.  I know there were others and I am excited to listen to them all again.  I get frustrated because the kids aren't quiet or the house is a mess or it's time to feed them again when all I want to do is sit and watch but there will be time to ponder and learn as I get to study the talks again.
There were two songs that were especially awesome to me.  Did You Think To Pray and the closing song of the whole conference-God Be With You Till We Meet Again.  When the choir finished that song with their quiet Amen, it was so amazing.  It seemed like a fitting end to the song and a fitting pronouncement of "all of this was true and correct and from God" about the whole conference.  If my spirit could have flown, it would have been then.  That is what I think the voice of God would feel like if we were to have that kind of experience-quiet, still, piercing, enveloping goodness.
Every year while conference is on I think "dang, we should have gone up there to see it live and in person."  I don't think about it sooner then that so I could even try to make it happen.  One of these days though.  That is on my "bucket list", to see Conference in person.
Funny side note-Don and Caleb went to the priesthood session at the stake center at 7pm for the rebroadcast that they were supposed to record.  They forgot to record it so they sent all the brethren home after thanking them for their diligence and faithfulness in coming.  Don said he had never seen so many smiling men at the priesthood session.  

Blepharitis?

What is that? Well that is the eye infection that Connor currently has. He woke up Saturday with his eye hurting and the top lid swollen. By the late afternoon it was swelling alot more and since it did not look like pink eye and since giving him a Benadryl did not help, Don took him to the Urgent Care. So it is blepharitis-an infection of the top eyelid. He got some eye drops and an oral antibiotic. By that evening he could barely see out of his eye so it was a good thing we went to the doctor. Thank goodness for the Urgent Care being opened on Saturday.

A Note From Cody

After Cody left after getting his mission call I found this on my desk in the office. Now you must read it out loud so that you can get the full impact of the goofy voices that we use occasionally.

We Have a Mission Call

After many weeks of waiting Cody's mission call came on Thursday, September 27. I got the call from the post office at about 8am and immediately called Cody and Don. I didn't go to the post office until around 11 and then I left the envelope in the car the rest of the day so I wasn't as tempted to open it. I did google how to steam open an envelope but I did not use my new found knowledge. We were able to get Cody a flight down that afternoon. Don was in Vegas golfing so he was able to go and get Cody when he got in. We called everyone and setup a time for the opening. We tried to Skype with the family in Provo but our lovely DSL kicked us off right at the critical moment and they weren't able to see the big opening. Aunt Dena, Taylor, Lara, Grandma and Grandpa, Ms. Dalley and Jackie and Dani Pray came over to be with us. Cody will be serving in the Raleigh North Carolina mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. He reports to the MTC on November 28. We have alot to get done in just 62 days! We are down to less than that now! Cody had to fly home Friday morning because he had to go to work that evening. He ended up missing his flight because he was reading his scriptures and didn't look up for an hour and a half. I guess it could be worse and miss your flight because you were gambling at the slot machines. We are so proud of Cody for making this choice in his life and for the example of dedication and obedience he is.

Kyle Stats and Update

The cutest texting driver on the road. 

Wacky Wall Walker

This is the chair that I got the year I turned one.  It's amazing how things built FOREVER ago last!

I love this cute face.  It is my wallpaper on my phone.

This child is climbing on everything he can.  This is the luggage rack at the hotel.

He likes to stick his face in the water in the tub.

His swing he got for his birthday.

He likes to climb on this lap desk and get to my jewelry.

The cutest gangster EVER!  I found this hat at Walmart and just had him try it on for the photo.

Climbing the barricades.

After his first official haircut by a trained professional-my friend Shelby Turner.

Kyle has been walking now since before his actual first birthday.  You could hear him walking on the walls for support but not he is getting faster and faster and much more stable.  He started doing this cute bear crawl in August that we just find so funny.  He was crawling faster than he could walk but now he is almost running.  He started playing chase with Don and the boys.  He will crawl or speedy walk away when they come after him but then he turns and sits on his bum or turns and faces them head and laughs and laughs.  He is trying to drink and walk at the same time but doesn't quite have the balance yet so he falls down.  We call him a little orangutan because he is slightly bowlegged and he puts his arms out and they sort of wave like an orangutan.  He has climbed head first off the couch and also feet first off the couch.  When he wants to get down he pushes away and when he is sitting with Don in his chair he will just head dive over the side.  Don always grabs his leg and lowers him down but he is getting pretty fast.  He puts his hand to his mouth and says Waba Waba-what we call it -and will do it when we ask.  He gives kisses when we ask and sometimes just does it on his own.  He loves to wave bye bye and does it almost all the time we ask him.  He is putting his hand up to his ear like he is talking on the phone when anyone says Hello.  He must have seen that one too many times.  I have been teaching him animal signs like fish, dog and cat.  He did sign fish and dog once to me this week.  He will give me things when I ask him to like the clicker or the phone-two of his most favorite things ever!  He says ah ah for ah oh when he drops something.  He climbs on everything-the barricades we put up for him, the treadmill, the lap desk, and I even caught him pulling himself up on the end table by Don's chair the other day.  He opens cabinets and knows that there are things in there to play with.  We bought many cabinet locks for the double cabinets but can't really do anything for the singles other than just keep doors shut and keep barricades up so he can't get in the kitchen.  He makes this cute frowny scowly face when he is mad or when someone like a cashier at the store tries to talk to him.  He still does not like his bed and absolutely will not fall asleep in it on his own. If I lay with him or rock him to sleep and move him into it he sometimes stays asleep in it. He has yet to stay the whole night in his room and bed by himself but he has gone 6 hours.  He really does not like waking up in that bed!  He cries like we have offended him greatly and when someone picks him up he lays his head on their shoulder.  He has been on a terrible nap/sleeping schedule this past week.  He won't nap for more than 30-45 minutes at all during the day.  We thought at first it was just the Sunday struggle because Sunday always throws him off but it has lasted all week long.  During the school week he has been getting up sometimes as early as 5:30 but if I stay in the bed with him I can usually get him back to sleep.  If I have to get up with the boys or with Cayden for tutoring and he wakes up, he won't go back to sleep and then his schedule is off for the morning.  We all really want to be in bed by 9 because we have to get up so early but some days he just won't go to bed until he is darn good and ready.  He completely hates covers on him at night.  I worry that he gets cold but even when I cover him up he will kick the covers right back off.  He has been sleeping in long sleeve and long pants jammies since the middle of the summer even though it is so hot outside.  He has a million toys all over this house but he would rather play with cords and the mouse for the computer.  He reaches up on his tip toes and tries to pull off anything he can from the office desk and off of side tables.  He pulls cords out of the walls and the cables out of the printer.  He has this little vein that rings his eye and sometimes he looks like he has a black eye.  It really looks worse when he is super tired and several people have commented that he has a black eye to which I quickly respond that he doesn't  and that it is just his eye.  He likes to sit in his bouncer/rocker and watch Baby Einstein.  He pushes all over my room.  I strap him into it and let him watch Baby Einstein when everyone is gone so I can take a shower. It helps to know that for 10 minutes he is safely trapped in the chair and can't get hurt or get into anything.  He tries to stand on the little rocker but he can't quite figure out how to get back down.  He also stands on his little motorcycle from Aunt Dena and looks like Evil Kenievel.  He is at the point where we know he is telling things with his cute baby babble but of course we don't know what it is.  It must be very important though!  He still doesn't like to eat eggs but I can get him to eat mashed potatoes with gravy and oatmeal sometimes.  He loves grahm crackers and vanilla wafers.  He also loves string cheese and bananas but we have to not give them to him at every meal because of the adverse effects it can have on his digestive system.  I struggle with making sure that he is getting enough veggies.  We have given him cottage cheese, butternut squash, black olives, mushrooms cucumbers and green beans too.  I made a crockpot minestrone soup last week and he really liked that with 2 kinds of beans, yellow squash, carrots and celery. He can suck out of straw pretty good if I start him off with it upside down and let him suck on it as it runs out.  After a few times of that he is able to suck on it normally.  He has outgrown most of the 12 month clothes and wears mostly 18 month clothes.  He is getting quite the little temper when he doesn't get his way.  He went to the doctor this week for his 12 month check up and shots.  He weighs 22.6 pounds and is in the 47th percentile.  He is 31 inches tall and is in the 80th percentile.  For height and weight he is in the 61th percentile overall.  He got 6 shots this time and it was so very sad.  He did so well this time though and only had a little fever on Saturday morning.  The last time he got shots he was so sick and his fever was almost 102 all night long.  That time he was so fussy and cried and cried.  This time he was not even that fussy and didn't even wake up too much more in the night than he normally does.  He likes to be outside and since it has cooled down some,I have started walking again some mornings so he gets to be in the stroller.  We want to open the doors in the morning when it is cool but he heads right for the door and tries to escape.  He loves it when his brothers come home and will gladly go to them when they hold out their hands to him.  We are really trying to not always tell him No.  That is so hard though when he is constantly into everything.  He loves to take a bath and will constantly try and stand up in the tub and even put his mouth on the faucets.  He also likes to stick his face in the water.  He is quite the little arm pincher.  He likes to get the back of your arm and it leaves bruises.  He still does not like shoes.  He will help get himself dressed by pushing his arm through his shirt sleeves and lifting his leg for me to put his pants on.  He has almost outgrown his car seat.  We asked the doctor about moving him to a forward facing one because we just couldn't see him having to stay in this one for another 11 months.  The straps on this one are at their last slot and it is getting tighter and tighter on him.  Most of the car seats say 22 pounds and above and he is just barely 22 pounds but he is just getting too big so we will have to get him a new seat soon.  What a big boy!  We can't believe how big he is getting and what a little stinker he is!  He understands when I say sit down when he is in the tub or when I say lay down when he wakes up and I need him to go back to sleep.  He usually does those things too.  He understands when we say it's time to eat or do you want a drink or a bottle.  I seem to be paying more attention to what he does and doesn't do.  Partly I think because of the delays that Connor and Cayden had but also it really amazes me how fast babies learn and I find myself wanting to be a better teacher to him.  I don't remember feeling like that with the other boys-maybe I did but I just don't remember or else I was just so caught up in the day to day business that I didn't recognize those feelings or apply them.  It may have to do with the fact that he is our absolute last baby and I want to savor it.

ANTS!

The night I got back from my time out I crashed hard with Kyle around 10pm and when I got up in the morning my kitchen looked like the above pictures.  Ants had invaded my pantry and Don had emptied some of the shelves to spray them.  He emptied the shelves onto the counter by the sink.  Poor guy was up until 1am because he had to dump out boxes of crackers and cookies and rinse off the jugs of oil and syrup.  How did we find the ants you may wonder?  Funny story-Caleb went to the Stake dance and Don went to get him around 11.  I was asleep with Kyle and Cayden was still up and was hungry.  He called Don and asked him if could have some Cheezits and Don said yes and to count them out into a cup.  When Don got home the box was on the counter.  He reached into it to grab a handful of crackers and put them in his mouth.  As he chewed and went to close the box he saw ants on the counter, then he looked in the box and saw ants in the box and then saw ants in his hand.  He immediately hollered at Cayden to look in his cup and yes, there were ants in his cup of crackers that he was obliviously munching.  Cayden was a little concerned that there were ants in his stomach and said that he was going to puke.  But Don assured him that they were dead now.  Man oh man is it a good thing I didn't see any of the excitement because I may have really puked after I got done screaming.  Don cleaned up the best he could and sprayed down the pantry and then shoved plastic grocery sacks along the bottom of the door so the little suckers couldn't escape.  When I woke up Sunday morning I walked in to the kitchen and said  "what the hell happened to my kitchen?"  Don was still asleep but he heard me and hurried out to explain.  I told him thank you for not waking me up-since I had been going on less than 3 hours of sleep-and I told him I would have told him to go away or had a meltdown if he had woken me up in the night to tell me about the ant infestation.  So Sunday morning, even though my plan was to be this great and wonderful mother and make my kids a warm and nutritiously delicious breakfast, they got cereal and egos and we went to church.  Don thought that I would have wanted to clean it up but I told him it could wait.  The ants were all dead and would stay dead.  After church I was too tired to mess with it even then and took a nap.  The mess stayed on the counter and the pantry stayed a mess until about 7pm when I finally decided that it couldn't wait any longer.  Don was concerned that the ants had infiltrated the other pantries and cabinets but after a good looking over we decided that the little buggers had had their fun with Cheezits and vegetable oil.  The good news was that it happened Saturday night because Don had to leave Monday.  The bad news was that they invaded under my sink and on the side of my dishwasher, all in my toaster, on the run in front of the sink and were headed to my cereal cabinet on Tuesday morning.  I got up with the boys at 5:30 and Caleb saw the ants and we promptly hosed them with ant spray.  I had to let it sit for a while and spray in between the dishwasher and the cabinet and then I would spray again if I saw any survivors so the kitchen was a mess again for most of the morning but I got it cleaned up.  The cabinet under the sink is nice and clean now.  The rugs got a good washing and I went to Walmart the next day and bought a new toaster so all is well.  So far they haven't come back.  I dare them!