This is The Life

Last week was Spring Break for my kids and we were thrilled when our friends the Brienholts invited us to their gorgeous cabin in Showlow. We'd only hung out together a few times, but they took a chance on us and let us spend 4 glorious days with them and Alyssa and Darrin enjoying the mountain air. It was exactly what I needed to recharge my mom mentality. A few days away where I could just concentrate on hanging out with my kids. I got to play, laugh, hug and hold my my boys (when they would let me) without worring about the daily hassles, chatting on the phone or hastily writing articles. Such a blessing for me.

Here were some highlights:

Outside Play. The kids never tired of the perfect weather and room to explore.

Kids making new friends. Our kids were amazinly kind, happy and fun with each other. Brooklyn and Jace were constantly connected and even slept right next to each other few of the nights. We had to sit next to them so they would finally go to sleep, they just kept chatting and chatting. The little boys had a great time with Regan and Page was a dream come true helper. They are great kids and are already planning thier next rendevouz.

Moms making new friends. I didn't really know Alyssa or Jamie very well, and was a bit nervous to spend so many days together, but they are the greatest. The kind of people you are around and think, Wow! I REALLY like them. In fact, after we got home, I started planning another way to get together. We had so many fun, real conversations and they are both just inspirational kind-hearted ladies, and perfectly imperfect, which is what I love. 3 cheers for more great women in my life.

Uncle Leroy's playground and zipline. The kids spent hours at the playground Leroy build. They played tag, dug holes, and were out little monkeys. Leroy also just hooked up a zipline, and I"m talking a real zipline from 5 story platforms in the trees. I got my brave pants on and gave it a try...what a rush! Mike, of course, did crazy tricks to impress us all. And yes, I thought he was super cool. Many of the Brienholts were there, and what a friendly, welcoming family. They treated us like one of their own!

Cabin food. We ate, and ate and ate and ate, and it was all so good. Jamie and Alyssa are the dessert queens and they know how to do it right. Homemade hot fudge, lemon cake, vtoasted coconut, vanilla syrup. Talk about heaven. Mike was totally spoiled and I told him not to expect that kind of decadence when we get home, but it sure was good while it lasted.

Husbands a day early! The boys surprised us and came up a whole day early. They are the best. All the moms were so grateful to see them and to have a little help! Tyson is an awesome planner and has tons of toys and is so generous to share and provide a great time for everyone. My boys became addicted to riding quads (even Parker drove one himself) and we got crazy on the Rangers. What a blast it was!

Quads. Who knew how much fun a couple 4 wheelers could be? My daredevil boys hopped right on and never wanted to stop riding. Now I see why people like these so much!

Time to read. I rarely feel like I have time to read, but I love it. Parker wanted to take a picture of me one day, and this is what he found. It was heaven...and Jamie and Alyssa are total bookworms too, so we geeked it up and sat in silence for quite a few hours enjoying our books separately together.

Basketball, basketball, basketball. They had a hoop outside that was the perfect height for Jace. I swear he spent 3 hours a day shooting hoops. The coolest thing? Brooklyn was right there with him. The least cool thing? Most of those hours he chose to play without shoes. Can you say orphan?

Crafts. Sweet, crafty Jamie brought little crafts for the kids to do. That's not really my cup of tea, so my kids were overjoyed at the chance to finger paint!

A little HSM3. In a great big theater room with cushy seats all the moms, dads, and kids spent a few hours one morning watching the delicious romance of Troy and Gabriella. Am I allowed to admit that I LOVED the show? The dancing was awesome and the singing was oozing cheese. Totally worth a rent, even if you don't have kids. My boys tried to pretend the romance was disgusting, but I saw them peeking.

Celebrity hot tub. The adults got in the hot tub one night and watched a few basketball games while we soaked in the warm water...it was a great way to wind down. The kids got a kick out of being in there the next day. It seemed so posh to all of them and we had to force their little red cheeks to hop out.

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you to the Brienholts. New friends, full bellies, happy kids. What more can you ask for? It was the best!

From Bad to Worse to Grateful

Well, I never got to feed others yesterday beacause right before our company came, James and Parker were running to shut the front door. James beat Parker to the door, Parker put his fingers there to stop it and BAM! The door slammed so hard, there couldn't have been anything in the way. But, Parker ran to me in tears with blood gushing everywhere. There was so much blood I couldn't even see what was wrong until we ran it under water and I almost fainted. His left pointer finger was squirting blood everywhere, it was blue and purple and the nail was only half way on.

Mike walked in the door right as I couldn't handle it anymore. He took over, cool, calm, patient to my worried, frazzled panic. He was amazing. Our great friends shuffled Jace and James around while Mike and I spent 3 hours in the emergency room. We found out Parker had broken the bone in the tip of his finger, they tore the nail off, the stitched up the nail bed that was badly torn up, then stitched his finger to hold it all together. Makes your knees to weak, right?

What's really amazing is that Parker is so calm and brave. He stopped crying as soon as we were at the hospital, though I knew he still was in enormous pain. He sat on our lap, we talked, he asked Mike a million questions, we read a book about jungle animals. He talked with the doctor and nurses, cooperated for every x-ray and procedure. When it was time to take the nail off and do the stitches, Parker watched the whole thing and asked quesiton after question to Mike. It didn't bother him one bit. The only time he cried was when they gave him a shot in his finger to numb it. We might have a doctor on our hands!

The doctors said they had never seen such a brave, patient 3 almost 4 year old. He never asked to go home, get down, get something to eat, he just sat there chatting with us. He is so great. And today he hasn't complained of pain at all and he's been a happy little boy who really wants to ride his bike still.

So last night instead of being grumpy, I just felt grateful. Grateful for:

A little boy who is braver than I

Brothers who love each other and are concerned for one another

A few moments alone with Mike and Parker

Crushed ice and red powerade in the hospital soda fountain

A super cool husband who calms me, loves our kids and is perfect in a crisis

A caring husband who slept on the couch last night to make sure Parker was okay

Good friends I can call anytime to save me

Great frineds who will help without being asked and will go the extra mile to make your life better

Really good carrot cake

Doctors who know what they are doing

Good medical care

24 hour pharmacies

A healthy family

And mostly for the chance to be a mom. For the ability to care for another much more than you care for yourself. For the chance to feel the kind of panic I felt when I saw Parker in pain, because you know only deep, motherly love allows you to feel that way. It's not always rainbows, but I LOVE being a mom.

This is what I want to do today

*Sleep in
*Hang out with Mike
*Read a book
*Take a long bath
*Read my scriptures
*Listen to silence

Here's what I really did and am doing:
*wake up with James in the middle of the night
*wake up at 6 am because my kids won't stop playing loudly, crying about something, or coming into our room to tattle, so I just give up after about 30 minutes of pretending to sleep
*make breakfast
*take the kids to the park so Mike can have a meeting at our house. Sit on the bench eventhough I know I should be playing with them, but I feel too grumpy. Finally push them on the swings a bit then go home after everyone is crying or whinig for a drink
*Watch Mike leave for 3 more hours of meetings
*loose it when everyone starts crying again about things that "almost" happened.
*Threaten to lock myself in my room (funny enough, a worse punishment than putting my kids in time out. They absolutely freak out if they can't see me, hear me or touch me
*Get showered and dressed, not like anything I have to wear right now; dire need of spring clothes that are not in the budget
*Iron 3 sets of boy church clothes
*Make lunch
*Bathe everyone
*Go to visit a ward conference
*Go to our church
*Make dinner for us and others
*Watch the kids while Mike hometeaches
*Who knows....

Do you ever have a day like this...nothing really wrong but just not a great mom day? I woke up in a funk and I'm trying to pull myself out. Just writing this has helped; maybe I just needed to vent.

Happy 6th Birthday JJ!

Jace turned 6 last week! He couldn't wait for the big day. We started the count down at 14 days to go and every day it got closer he felt more entitled to special things...I explained that your birthday only lasts ONE day. And his ONE day was fabulous.

It started out with presents from the grandparents who are always so generous. My parents gave him some much needed clothing (he's growing so tall! and yes, it already feels like summer here) and a couple toys to keep him happy and the Romneys sent him a cool remote control car. Both grandparents also signed him up for some lessons which is the best present ever.

Jace got a breakfast of Monkey Bread and eggs and languished in a butter and brown sugar high all morning. Sorry teacher!

Right after school it was basketball party time! We invited TONS of kids (I have issues with drawing lines and leaving people out), so he invited all the boys from school plus all his neighborhood friends. I imagined only about half would come but after 20 kids arrived I lost count. What a fun treat for Jace to have so many people there that care about him. He is a great, fun friend. I tried doing the organized games I had planned, but gave up after 2 of them, so the kids ran around like crazy, shot hoops, and played freeze tag. I was a little distrought it didn't go according to plan, but my great husband reminded me, "Hon, they had a blast, they didn't want to wait in line for games anyway. Kids love to just run around." Phew, glad I have him.

They also ate darling fancy cupcakes that are WAY out of my league...big ThanKs to my friend KIM who absolutely saved the day in many ways and made my cupcakes a million times cooler than I ever could. Martha Stwart I am not, and I'm really okay with that. Just glad I have friends that are and are willing to share their talents!

Jace got absolutely spoiled with a zillion presents and loved every one of them. We have about 13 Bakugons if anyone wants to come over and play. Really, everyone was too generous.

Half-way through the party we brought out the ice-blocks and kids and parents had a blast going down the little hill at our park. Mike looked HOT as always in his basketball get up, and looked even more awkward ice blocking. Can you tell I've been doing Pilates? Look at that form!

All in all it was an exhausting, crazy fun day, and Jace is well worth the celebration. He is an amazing kid; so smart, quick, loving, busy, happy, athletic and friendly. He is so good to his brothers, always shares and includes them and we are so happy he is ours. I can't believe how much he's grown up this year. I'm not sure I'm ready for all this; I wish I could freeze him and snuggle him while he still fits in my lap. I just love him to pieces!