Saying Goodbye

Well the time has come. The house is in order. My sister in law Lynn is here to watch the kids and I am all packed. Can I say Chris isn't packed yet and he will do it around 10pm tonight. So I am here to say goodbye for a week. I will take lots of pictures and tell you all about it in a week. I want to thank those now who are going to help taking and picking up my kids from school while I am gone, so Lynn doesn't have to put all the little ones in the car to do so. I hope everyone else has a great weekend as well.

An upset mother

Our Easter was very nice. Sloane and Holden had a blast. The boys went with their dad on Saturday night. When the boys got home I could see that they were not OK. I asked them how their Easter was and they said their dad didn't do anything for them. They woke up Easter morning and got their sisters all up and were waiting to look for baskets. Their dad came out and said they did baskets on Saturday for the girls. So the boys asked where theirs were and he said that he thought they were too old. As the boys were telling me I could see the hurt in their eyes and I was doing everything in my power not to cry. I went into the other room and gave them what I got which wasn't much just a chocolate bunny, gum and a Reese's egg. I gave each of them a hug and told them how sorry I was. I also told them I would make it up to them. I also told them no matter what Easter will be here for them every year. Even knowing it is the next day I am still so angry and hurting for them. I want to go up and snatch up the Easter stuff that's left and fill a basket for each of them.

OK I am done venting.

Coloring Eggs

Chandler is alway the patient one and does multi-color on all his eggs.

Tevin is doing 2 at a time to get his eggs colored faster since he really doesn't enjoy coloring eggs.

Poor Harrison had to sit by Holden and ended up sharing his already colored eggs with Holden who couldn't get enough of the coloring.

Sloane who couldn't decide what she wanted to do, but knew she wanted stickers all over hers.

Holden who wanted every egg either blue or green and took Harrisons to make sure they were green too. His hand is still green after washing a few times.

General Conference Surprise

Well Saturday as we are watching the second session of General Conference they were calling brethren to new positions and we hear a name that we knew. Chris and I looked at each other and thank goodness for Tivo we rewound it for a minute and sure enough Chris' Uncle Larry M Gibson was called as 1st counselor to the General Young Men's presidency. We were so excited for him and surprised that Chris immediately called his parents in Illinois to make sure they heard the same thing we did. We all were surprised but then again not surprised cause he is a great man and is going to do a great job. He has such a way with people. Within the first 5 minutes of me getting to know him and his wife Shirley I loved them both. We want to tell him congrats and he will be in our prayers as he starts this new adventure in serving the church.

Things are better

Just wanted to leave an update. My Grandpa is out of ICU and has his own room. My older sister has been here for a week staying by my grandma's side and being there for her. It is going to be hard when she leaves on Sunday to go home. Hopefully he will be going home the middle of next week. He needs to build his strength up before they let him leave.

Our plumbing issue finally is fixed. I am happy to be able to do laundry again. (did I actually say I am happy about laundry!! I need a life) Tevin and Sloane are both doing well. I don't think the creams are working on Sloane. We go to the doctor next week. So we will see.

I am looking forward to this conference weekend. This is one of my favorite times of the year is when we can listen to our prophet and general authorities and I also get some scrap booking done. WOOHOO.

Chris and I have 2 weeks left until our cruise. We are not even close to being ready. I will most likely wait until the last minute like I normally do with things.

Anyway, nothing new going on. Take care.

A Silver Cloud

I hate the saying "When it rains it pours" but that is what has been going on at our house. Tuesday I took Sloane to the doctor about a growth on her foot. We were referred to a cancer doctor and was told she was going to have to have surgery and have the lump removed and then have a biopsy on it. Well today was the day we were told the surgery was to happen. So we prepared ourselves for the worst. When the doctor came in he looked at Sloane's foot and said we didn't need to do surgery and told me she has a skin condition. But to make sure he called in the other 2 doctors as well. All 3 agreed no surgery needed to be done and what she has is a condition called Granuloma Annulare. There are 2 different procedures that can be done. The first one is the one we chose to do and that is she has to put 3 different creams on her foot 4 times a day. Let me tell ya the creams were expensive, but worth it to have our daughter OK. The second procedure is a series of shots 12 total that they would do to kill it. We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks to see if the cream works. They took a picture and measured it so they will know for sure if it has gotten smaller or bigger. We were given a brochure on GA and it is caused by a reaction from her immune system. It is also a relationship to diabetes. We will have some blood work done in 2 weeks when we go back to rule out diabetes. She will be prone to these kinds of lumps, bumps, rashes whatever you want to call them the rest of her life. But when one shows up we just need to get the creams again. So that is our update on Sloane

Yesterday we took Tevin to the doctor and he was given an inhaler for Asthma. He has been having a lot of chest pains and has to stop often to catch his breath. So this afternoon I will take him in to get an x-ray done of his lungs. He has to take 2 puffs every 4 hours on his inhaler until his breathing and the tightness goes away then only will have to use it when he needs it.

Yesterday we also had some plumbing problems and called a handyman that we have hired in the past. Our water and plumbing is totally out of commission downstairs. No bathroom use or laundry can get done. He is suppose to come back today at 4 to finish fixing the problem we have with the water pump.

Then today my grandfather who lives here has been admitted into the hospital. He is in intensive care unit. He has been sick for a few days and then had a very high fever and had to rush him to the hospital. The update I have right now is that he has an infection of some kind that has taken over his entire body. My grandma said they are not sure yet where the cause of it all is coming from. So I am very worried about him.

On the brighter side of things. I weighed in last night and after a month of being at the same weight I finally lost 6.1 pounds in a week. WOOHOO.

Tonight is my last Stampin Up party I will do. I am quiting being a demonstrator. It will be hard to say goodbye to my clients. But I am burned out and I need to lighten my load and turn my focus more towards my family.

Anyway, that is our update. Thank you all for your prayers when we told you about Sloane. We are so relieved it was not worse. I actually had to stop and cry because I was so stressed out.
Thanks again. I am ready for the wind to blow this silver cloud away from my house.

Family Group

The ones who started it all. Eldon and Marilyn Heslop 60 years of marriage. What an example they have been to us all. We love you.

Ok here is the family group that gathered together for my cousin Caitlins Wedding and my Grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. We are getting pretty big. We haven't been together like this in 10 years.

First Day of Spring

Well I am happy it is now spring, but I am hating the fact that my backyard is being taken over with weeds and now I am sneezing my head off with Allergies. I have lived her almost 19 years now, last year and this year have been the only time I have ever had allergies. I hate them. I remember being so miserable last year and I hope it is not the same this year. I am happy that it will be 82 degrees today. I might take Sloane and Holden to the river.

This week has been spring break. On Monday the kids and I went to see Race to Witch Mountain and then were interviewed by our local news and was on the 9pm news that night. Woohoo 15 seconds of fame. The boys were with me till Wednesday and then they went with their dad. So Chris and the boys have been gone since Wednesday. Sloane, Holden and I have been a little bit lonely. Yesterday I spent the day with a friend scrap booking and then took a friend out to lunch and then went to jumping jacks. I am missing my hubby. I am glad he is coming home tonight. This has been a boring spring break. We usually are down in Arizona seeing the cubs but we didn't go this year cause we had a wedding and anniversary party for my grandparents last weekend. Which I have to say was a blast having the entire family together. We laughed and ate a lot and I got really sick for about 24 hours. I had a reaction to some meds I took. But all in all it was so much fun and I hated to see everyone leave.

As you can see I am just rambling.

New Calling

Well I am no longer the Ward Activities leader. I was only in it for a year and I wanted to do it for 2 cause I had that many ideas, such as Tale gate party, Easter Egg hunt and a brunch, peeps show etc...That is if the Bishop would of approved it. Oh well maybe I can pass my ideas on the the next leaders.

But my new calling is Achievement Day leader for the 10 & 11 year old. We meet twice a week and I am looking forward to it. We met as a group with the 8 & 9 year old on Tuesday and played get to know you games. There were about 18 girls there I think. It was pretty overwhelming. I can see why they wanted to split the group. Our next meeting will be at my house. I have a great partner to do it with. Her name is Ellen and she is a blast. I am excited to work with her.

Harrison got his stitch out of his toe and the infection seems to be gone. It looks really good. He only had to take 2 pain pills this last week. If it were me I probably would have taken more. I am a wimp.

We are looking forward to my cousin Caleb coming home from his mission tomorrow. We are going to St. George airport tomorrow to greet him. All the kids can't wait to see him. I think it will be really good for the twins especially since they are 4 years away from going on one themselves.

Ta ta for now.

Warning Gross Toe

Awhile back Harrison broke his big toe. He lost the nail and a new one grew back but it caused him to have an ingrown toenail. He has had this for about 2 months. Finally on Thursday morning I looked at it and it oozed out green puss. Right at 9am I called the Doc and got him in that afternoon. Well he ended up having minor surgery. They gave him 4 shots in the big toe to numb it and then from the tip of the toe all the way into the skin cut out his toe nail. They then cleaned it out real good and took out the nail bed so he wont grow anymore nail on that side. They then gave him 2 stitches. I watched the entire process and was grossed out. I helped Harrison sit up for a minute to watch but he couldn't take it and back down he went. This is what it looked like pretty gross. I wish I had my camera at the doc office to take pictures of step by step process.

He then got bandaged up and had to stay off his foot for 24 hours. He is on pain pills and an antibiotic for the infection. He goes this Thursday to get the stitches out and make sure the infection is clearing up. We have to change his bandage daily. And he is wearing my flip flops.

Today he wanted to make sure he didn't have to pass the sacrament at church tomorrow. He didn't want people looking at his foot. Poor kid. The doctor said it takes about 2 months for something like this to heal. But he is doing pretty good so far. I thought he would be in more pain than he is. Sorry if this post grossed ya out. I think it is cool.

weight frustrations

OK as a lot of you know I am apart of a biggest loser contest. I have been at the same weight for 4 weeks now. I am not cheating on my food and I have been exercising 5 days a week and still no loss. I was in tears yesterday crying on Chris' shoulder. He made a comment that maybe the weight I am at will be what I need to stay out for the rest of my life or he said maybe I need to try something new besides weight watchers program. Anyone have any ideas that I might try? Sorry I consider a blog a place to vent sometimes.

Tevin Sweeping

I was laying down with Holden and Tevin came in trying to put off sweeping the kitchen floor. I finally got firm with Tevin and told him to get it done.

When I got up Tevin was sitting in the rocking chair not even knowing I was taking his picture cause there was a new Spongebob on and he was too focused into that. I told him once again to get his job done.

A couple minutes later this is how I found him. I swear.

Then again not doing what he was suppose to be doing.

This is when he finally realized I was taking his picture. I had to get mad at him in order for him to get the floor swept. A job that should of only took 5 minutes ended up taking Tevin 35 min...... Ugh. What to do with this kid sometimes.

Chocolate Milk

Holden loves Chocolate Milk. He decided he wanted to make it himself. He first had to sniff it.

He then had to get a spoon and dig in.

But instead of putting it in the cup he put it right into his mouth. Yummy!!

I was very proud of him putting 3 spoon fulls in without spilling too much on the counter.

He then had to watch the chocolate sink to the bottom of his cup before he would let me put the lid on to shake it. Holden usually has about 6-8 cups of choc milk a day. He use to have over 12 and had to cut him back.

Cruise

Well, it is for sure on from April 16-21 Chris and I are going on a cruise to the Bahamas. We are so excited. We haven't been on a cruise since Sloane was a baby. This time there will be no kids with us. Chris and I have needed just couple time for A LONG TIME. We are both going to lose a little extra weight so we can indulge ourselves in all the great food that are on the ship. We are going on a Royal Caribbean Cruise line. Chris' sister Lynn is going to come down with her kids and come and take care of Sloane and Holden. The boys will go with their dad. I would like to really thank Lynn for doing this for us. We will return the favor whenever it is needed.

Anyway, nothing new is going on. I can't believe there is a little over 3 months of school left. The year has gone by really fast. I do have to tell you what Holden said yesterday. I was folding the laundry and he came in asking what I was doing and I told him I was folding clothes. He looked at the pile and noticed it was his clothes. He examined a pair of his pants and then smelled them. He then jumped in my arms and gave me a hug and a kiss and said "good job mom." I am glad that someone appreciates my laundry skills.

Sisters Weekend Slide Show

As you can see from the slide show I had a blast. For a moment I almost didn't go because Holden got really sick with a fever and throwing up. He had it for 2 days. But I still went and glad that I did. On the Friday after dropping off kids where they needed to be I met up with Chris in Vegas and had breakfast. We were only together for an hour and then he had an appointment to get to. I then had 5 more hours of driving. I have to say having a quiet car was WONDERFUL. I got to enjoy a book on my mp3 player.

I arrived at our hotel first. Alison and Heidi showed up about 30 min later. We didn't go out because it was down pouring rain. We were kinda bummed. So we talked, watched movies, ordered pizza, talked about our families. Then we went to bed.

The next morning we got on our Grumpy shirts and hats and headed to Disneyland. It was raining for a few minutes in the morning, but our prayers were answered and it cleared up. We rode everything in the park. The longest we had to wait in a line was 25 minutes and that was for the Matterhorn. Everything else was 5-15 min. It was fun. We even went to Fantasy land and went on all the kid rides. After finishing everything in the park we went shopping in Downtown Disney. We pretty much went into every store. If was nice not having our husbands hurrying us along since this is the part they hate. We then left the park and went out to dinner to Denny's and by this time it was raining again. We went to our rooms and got in PJ's and enjoyed some wonderful treats that Alison made (pumpkin cookies, pumpkin dip with graham crackers, banana bread and tons of chocolate).

The next morning which is Sunday it was raining really hard so we decided to hang out in our rooms and be lazy. We watched 27 dresses and then got ready in the t-shirts Alison had made for us that said "Sisters Weekend 09" we also wore hates that said Evil on them since we are the evil sisters. he he.... We arrived to California Adventure around 2pm which was good because they were closed all morning because of the rain. I had never been there so it was a new experience for me and loved it. We rode everything and the lines were 10 min waits. I have never seen the parks so empty. We loved the roller coaster the best. We rode it 3 times. Soaring over California was amazing too, it felt like you were flying. But my favorite part of the entire day was dragging my sisters on the Tower of Terror. The entire time in line I was teasing them. I was laughing so hard and I have to say Alison looked a little flush right before we got on the ride. We were in the front row and needless to say Heidi and Alison had their eyes shut the entire time and I was laughing and enjoying myself. We bought the picture that they take when your on the ride. I was smiling and sure enough Heidi and Ali had their hands over their eyes. It was a priceless picture. Alison bought her a pin saying she survived the tower of terror. For those who don't know what that ride is, you are in an elevator and it takes you up and then drops you and it does it about 4 times in a row. IT WAS A RUSH!!!!

I was a little bummed because my camera battery died so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted. Alison and Heidi are suppose to send me their pictures and if there any that are different from what I posted I will add them later. We left when the park closed and went to Denny's again for dinner. We were so tired. We went straight to bed. The next morning which was Monday we got all ready and packed up and watched another movie and then had to say our goodbyes. I didn't show tears until after I got into the car and was alone. I loved the time we spent together and the bonding that we had. I can't wait until next year when Heidi is the one in charge.

My drive home was a long one. Very bad weather. Rain in the lower elevations and tons of snow in the higher. I even pulled off to the side of the road so the snow plow could clear the road for me. It was very tense. My neck and shoulders hurt really bad, by the time I got home. I was happy to see my family. I did miss them. I got all the kids a big sucker and told them where I went. They were bummed they didn't come but glad I had fun. Holden loved the fact I saw Buzz Light year and Woody.

Anyway, this last week was busy getting home life back in order. But I hope you have enjoyed reading about my weekend. I will never forget it.

Sloane's Talk

I think Krissy is in the process of putting together a blog describing her trip to Disneyland with her sisters but I thought I would post the talk Sloane gave today in Primary.

Here's a note from Sloanie;

Hi, this is my talk and I hope you like it. I love you all and I can't wait to see you whenever. Do you think what I said about having NO sisters was funny? All the kids laughed! And I mentioned all of you in my talk.


Good morning Boys and Girls. My talk today is about families. I love my family very much. I have a Dad and a Mom and 4 brothers and NO sisters.

I’m so glad that I was born into my family and I know my family loves me very much. Heavenly Father sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for us so that we can return to live with him as a family. I’m thankful for Heavenly Father and Jesus and I love them very much. I know that we can be together forever as a family because of them.

I also have other family members that I love very much. I have Grandpa’s and Grandma’s and aunts and uncles and cousins and we all have so much fun together. I’m so glad that if we do what is right we can all be together again and live with Heavenly Father.

Heavenly Father wants all of his children to return to him someday and he wants them to be part of a family.

I know the Church is true and I love Jesus and my family very much. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

time goes by

Well I just realized that it has been a week since my last post. Nothing much has been going on except for me counting down the days till I go to California and meet up with my sisters. We are staying in Anaheim and going to Disneyland for 2 days. No kids, no hubbies, no strollers, no diaper bags, no potty breaks.....aah heaven. And it gives us 3 girls a chance to be kids again. So I leave tomorrow morning at 8am and will be back Monday evening. I plan on taking a lot of pictures so get ready for a slide show when I get back.

If any of you see my kids before I get back do not mention Disneyland. They have no idea that, that is where I am going.....hehehe.

Holden has been fighting a cold and has been very unhappy, especially today. I have been running on about 3 hours of sleep a night and the rest of the time dealing with Holden. I will be looking forward to getting some good nights sleep this weekend.

Anyhoo... stay tuned.

Girls after Harrison

OK well I had to leave Harrison home to babysit for me for a bit and while I was gone 2 girls came over and brought him some chocolate chip cookies. He said thanks and called to tell me. I told him they must like him. When I got home I found 2 girls on my door step knocking on the door I told Harrison to answer the door and the same 2 girls gave him some more cookies that they just got done baking that were Oatmeal chocolate Chip with nuts. He was very polite and thanked them again. I just giggled after he shut the door. He says "mom I am going to get so fat if they keep on feeding me cookies" I laughed even harder. I said for him to just be nice and not to hurt their feelings.

Anyway, I had 3 of the cookies which were actually pretty good. It blew my diet out of the water for today. Speaking of diet. Last night was weigh in and I lost another 4.1 pounds woohoo.
12 more to go.

Great to be 8

Yesterday Sloane had a meeting to go to called "Great to be 8" they talk about everything you need to know about being baptised and what achievement days are and they got to see the baptismal font. I wasn't able to attend cause I have been really sick. Sloane came home running into my room all excited. She told me everything about it. She is the youngest one. She will be baptised the first Saturday in December. If the white dress she wore when we got sealed still fits her she wants to wear that dress on her big day. If it doesn't she wants Grandma Feaster to make her a new dress. Anyway, I haven't seen her this excited since her birthday.

We are alive!!!

Well what got me to finally write was this morning I had a message from my dad who lives in California saying he checked my blog but there hasn't been an update so he had to call to see how I was doing. I love getting his phone calls but it did make me feel bad that I haven't written in awhile.

So I am just going to say we had a wonderful holiday season and glad it is over at the same time. A week and a half ago I started potty training Holden and let me tell ya he was so EASY!!! Finally something easy with this child. He pretty much was trained in 3 days. And haven't had any accidents in a week. What a relief to have that over and done with.

Kids are doing well. Wanting summer to come. Tevin in trying to get into a program that will let him start some of his college courses now. We will see if he will get in. Sloane has been having fun going to birthday parties. One last week and 2 this week. She is a popular girl. Chandler and Harrison are having fun hanging out in their room since I cleaned it out and got rid of a bunch of stuff. They love a clean room.

Chris is busy as usual. He has been in Vegas since Wednesday and will be home tonight. I am doing the same old thing. Nothing new with me except I decided to stop being a Stampin Up Demonstrator. Kinda of sad to stop, but I need a break. I also have joined a biggest loser contest at Sloane's school. It is kinda hard weighing in front of a bunch of people, but they all keep you motivated to keep loosing. It has been going on for 2 weeks now and I have lost almost 6 pounds. Today I am not being good. It is raining so I am making cookies and I keep eating the dough. When Chris gets home I need to go to the gym and work out for a couple hours to burn off some of those calories.

Anyway, no much else is going on. I will be better at blogging more often. By the way the Twilight movie comes out to DVD March 22ND but you can pre order it now on Amazon for 22.95 with extra footage etc....woohoo.