Cowboy Up!

So Cowboy has decided to be a cowboy for Halloween. We've got the ward Harvest party next week so I'll try to take pictures of Sheriff Trey.

Mooch and me Smiling at each other because he wouldn't smile for the camera. He needed my beautiful self to smile at.

This is Cowboy saying "stick 'em up"
This is his angry face which is pretty much the same as his happy face below!

This is the one picture we got of Mooch smiling and I had to go and screw it up by not quite framing his face. Oh well I take what I can get! As you can see Mooch is standing. He discovered he could pull himself to standing about a week after he started crawling last month. He thinks he should crawl upstairs too! He's currently working on the dare-devil stage of holding on to things and walking. Needless to say he's pretty mobile and causing trouble!

Golf!

Its been quite some time since I posted any pictures. So here are a few from our mini-golf outing a month or so ago. Yeah thats right these are a little old. But Enjoy!

The whiner is back!

Hey remember when I said I’d whine again? Here it is! Oh and for those of you who somehow find comfort in my life being not wonderful good for you! I’m glad at least someone is benefiting from my whining- oh wait I mean venting!

Okay so yet again my life is totally not my own. Really I have absolutely no control over anything including my own sleep. It’s so great! (I hope you’re picking up on the heavy sarcasm) To give you just an idea of how I feel . . . imagine going white water rafting. If you fall out of the raft you are supposed to point your feet downstream and swim at an angle to the shore. I feel like I have fallen out of the raft in really big rapids with nothing but a life vest on. Oh and did I mention that there isn’t a shore line only really high cliffs running down both sides? I’m keeping my head above water for the most part, but I have no control over what happens next. Oh and I seem to be hitting a few large boulders sitting in the crazy river that is my life. Yes, I had a little time to think as I drove back from Sacramento and the kids, thankfully, were sleeping. So that gave me time to come up with this whole river analogy in between bouts of crying.

The housing we had hoped to be able to get in Sacramento didn’t work out. It stinks but apparently we are supposed to be somewhere else. I know things happen for a reason- If I didn’t know that well I’d probably have been institutionalized by now. I’m more frustrated than anything that we had a plan, a good plan that would result in having my family together again, and it didn’t work out. We’re still going to have to move sometime in the next month-ish. We’re probably going to have to move into an apartment that is half the size of our condo. I just want to be with Chad again, is that really so hard to have happen? I’m just frustrated in general. Can you tell? Boo hoo poor me!

So in the words of Pocahontas “just around the river bend” . . . okay not really but once I started thinking about rivers that stupid song popped into my head. So on the drive home: I cried, thought about my life in general, and I sang Disney songs out loud as my way to cope with the stress. Does that mean I’m going crazy?

Oh and to clarify we can rent one of the apartments that Chad's company built. It just isn't something I want to do long term. So we're not in a really tight spot YET!

Apologize?

So one of my friends apologized for whining on her blog and I personally didn’t feel that she was whining. To me, whining connotes a negative feeling. I like to call it venting. She was being a single mom to 4 kids for a few weeks. Something no one could possibly do without feeling a wee bit of stress!

I would like to apologize as well, but I probably shouldn’t because that would mean I was sorry and that I won’t do it again. While I’m sorry that some of you have to read about our crappy days and I am trying to be a bit more positive about life. I’m going to be honest; I’m probably going to whine again. So know that I appreciate all the support we’ve gotten from everyone. I’m not saying things to get sympathy from anyone. Writing about it is just one of the many ways I’ve been dealing with stress. While Chad has been living and working in a different city during the week, we've both learned a lot. Apparently Chad learned that I could survive on my own if I anything happened to him. Somehow talking about him being dead was supposed to have comforted me. I love my super sensitive husband!

Anyways. . . I’m going to try harder to focus on the positive and then maybe, just maybe, you won’t have to hear about the negative! (I’ll save that for phone calls to my mother).

What I've learned. . . so far

Well it’s been a little over 8 months since Chad started working in Sacramento. We both feel like some change is on its way. Whether it’s moving over there or finding something else. Who knows? Either way there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyways two of my sister-in-laws are also in the middle of or just starting down the wonderful road of single parenting. It’s made me think a lot about what I’ve learned from all of this. I joked with my sister in law about making a list and then thought, why not? So here it is…

The Semi-Abandoned Wife: 25 things I learned while being left to fend for myself and my children

1. Take it one day at a time. Don’t count down how many days it will be until they are home again.
2. Personal Scripture Study
3. Take personal time every day, whether it’s to read a book or paint your toenails.
4. Try to get out of the house every day. It’s more for your sanity than for the kids.
5. Try to get one-on-one time with each kid. They need it that much more when only mommy can give it.
6. T.V. dinners while convenient are more expensive than actually making something
7. Keep the house clutter free it definitely cuts down on the stress
8. Get rid of things that are weighing you down like toys, clothes, and whatever else you keep but don’t use.
9. Potty training while dealing with a spouse being gone is difficult. So wait until the child is ready or you’re only going to make things worse for yourself.
10. Don’t read books that are stressful or emotionally draining it really only makes you feel that much worse. I highly reccomend Young Adult fiction Shannon Hale really pulled me through a couple of times.
11. DO NOT have a baby while your husband is gone unless you are willing to deal with the baby blues (or worse) on your own.
12. Talk with your spouse everyday if you can. Don’t just talk about how your day went either. Because lets be honest every day is pretty much the same. Write down a question for each other every day such as: what was your favorite vacation as a kid? You're trying to improve your marriage here.
13. Praying over the phone while it seems strange is very beneficial to your marriage and your sanity.
14. Playgroups and Play-dates are huge life savers. Your kids need to socialize with someone besides you even more so now that you are the only parent at home.
15. Go to the temple as often as you can. Not only to feel some peace but to experience real quiet.
16. Write in a journal or blog or something. While it’s tough it helps to throw the whining out into the universe and then you and your spouse don’t have to carry all the weight.
17. Prayer, need I say more?
18. Take a mommy time out every once in awhile. Three minutes in a corner is very beneficial some times.
19. Go get your hair cut at least every month and a half. Even if your spouse isn’t there to enjoy your beauty at least you can.
20. Take a shower do your hair and make-up every day. It somehow makes it easier to not pity yourself when you have actually done something with yourself.
21. Get a hug from someone every day. (the smallest arms make the best hugs)
22. CRY if you feel like it! You don’t have to be tough all the time.
23. Talk to another adult besides your spouse every day. My mom and sisters have saved my bacon!
24. In th words of my dad, "You are tough and good looking!" If you can do this you can pretty much do anything!
25. Love your spouse. The situation you are in is because of choices you made together as a couple. You need to deal with all the stresses and heartaches as a couple too! Once you start blaming your spouse for things it quickly leads to resentment, which quickly leads to your marriage rotting away. It’s not good!

Happy Anniversary

I can’t believe that as of this Friday it has been five years since we got married. Crazy! Its been wonderful being married to my best friend. He's a great husband and a great dad! I know he's made me want to be a better person. Love you Chad!

Here are a few of the bridal pictures I think they are totally awesome so I thought I'd include them. My Dad started doing photography stuff as a hobby about 10 years ago. I had the dress and we were going to Lake Powell so we thought what the heck lets take a few pictures if it doesn't work out we'll get them done in Utah. So here are a few of those. Frankly my favorite picture is the one of a few of my sisters and my mom in their swimsuits!

The day before our wedding Chad and I were in Star Valley helping his parents pack their home into a U-haul for their move to Reno. So after packing and cleaning for 2 days Chad and I drove the U-haul to Utah. So essentially I drove a U-haul to my wedding.

The day Chad and I got married started out very nice. But by the wedding breakfast a windstorm had picked up. Needless to say there was no power throughout the whole valley during our reception. Which worked out fine since it was outside anyways. Here are a few pictures of the lovely day. Going through them made me realize there was an inordinate amount of kissing. Ahh young love!





Yeah the look on Chad's face is that of guilt. He thought he was so stinking funny shoving cake up my nose. I let him know that someday and somehow I would get my revenge. I'm sure everytime he eats cake it is in FEAR! Good Times!

This is the week of blah!

As many of you well know being at home with the kids can get quite monotonous.  I’m just trying to do stuff to keep us all busy until its time for bed again. I don’t know why, but this week it seems worse than ever and its only Tuesday.

I’ve finally started getting ready to move. I’m no longer sitting in denial about it. We still don’t have a clue when or where or how we’ll be moving. But I’ve decided to get a jump start on the cleaning. By cleaning I mean washing my blinds, cleaning out my cabinets washing them and oiling the wood. I need to start going through all the baby junk. I’m trying to get a jump on things so that when whatever is going to happen finally happens, I’ll be somewhat prepared for it.

I feel like I’m 12 again and not allowed to do anything until I get my chore done for the day- TRUE STORY. But at least it has givin me some purpose beyond mothering my children. That and I won’t feel like such a slob if my mom comes out to help pack and move. I know she would be disappointed in the maintenance of my house. But really who has time to scrub the floorboards with a toothbrush?

By the way does anyone have a good way to get hard water off of a glass shower? I’ve tried everything from CLR to toilet bowl cleaner- which stripped the nickel finish on my hardware but did nothing to the hard water. I’m to the point where I’m about ready to bust a razor blade out. And since the last time I cleaned with a razor blade it ended in stitches through my thumb nail . . . okay we won’t get into that because it’s gross. Needless to say I’m fighting a losing battle being only armed with a squeegee and various toxic and useless cleaners.