Simple pleasures of a mother

I really need to get out of the house more often, I mean without my kids. My friend upstairs called Monday morning to ask me if I wanted to swap babysitting so she could finish up some last minute Christmas shopping for her children. I said sure, though I'm pretty much done with my Christmas shopping and I really don't mind doing shopping with my kids....or so I thought. This morning it was my turn to go shopping. So I took the kids upstairs, jumped into the car and headed to Walmart. I will tell you what, by the time I was half way into Wally's World with no kids, hadn't worried about parking close for their sake, etc. I was near giddy with childlessness glee. And then I saw a lady with kids about the same age as mine, one was screaming and she was telling him, "I am not buying that so just drop it," while holding the younger one down in the basket seat so he wouldn't stand up and fall and there was really only a small bit of confusion when I started high fiving everybody else who was at the deli counter with me, really I just did a small though unconcealable dance.
After bringing some of the shopping spoils to my husband for a quiet enjoyable lunch with him, not once did I have to chase either child or say no we are not buying anything out of the vending machines...ok only once to Rob ;)....I went back home to hugs and kisses with the determination to babysit swap more often.

Random

Cute Story. So I went to Carl's Jr. for lunch last week to let the kids play, yes the playgrounds at those places gross me out, but I will do just about anything to get out of the house with some other women and I justify it with thoughts of building my children's immune systems. Kaitlyn would take Hyrum up the steps and then help him go down the slide but once the kids get up in that labyrinth you can no longer see them so when I saw Kait emerge without Hyrum I asked her to go find him in there. One of the moms was leaving and I said if you happen to see Hyrum out in the nonplayground area let me know... he might be lost. Sure enough a minute later one of the moms brings him in from the other eating section. Kaitlyn then emerged from the playground, sees him, runs up to him, gives him a hug, and says, "Oh there you are Hyrum, I looked everywhere for you. You just about broke my heart." Cute story, huh? I'm not sure I even got off my seat. It will be amazing if my children and house survive this pregnancy.

Quick, easy, mom isn't feeling good, FHE. Oh that is embarrassing, I just looked at that picture and I was so focused on my family that I cut out the baby Jesus in a laundry basket at their feet. You may decide two things about this picture on your own. One, if Hyrum is an angel, shepherd, or just got out of the shower and two, if Rob just got sunburned on the top portion of his forehead or if the rubber band around his head is too tight.

My cute kids in front of the Christmas tree. Kait is wearing her new Christmas dress from Grandma Adams. I am pretty sure Grandma just likes shopping for her grand kids and all of the cute outfits she buys are not because she thinks I dress my kids funny.

Kait and I drew these. One of us draws the head and then folds the paper over so that the person drawing the body can't see what the head looks like. Kait loved it and we played for ever last night. Just a fun idea to entertain your 5 year old during sacrament meeting or in times of boredom. It is sad that my 5 year old draws as well as I do.

Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How much have you done?

1. Started your own blog (Actually not this one. Amy started this one.)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (I've never gone into debt for charity...?)
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre
20. Slept on an train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (php?)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (all the time)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (I wasn't conscious at the time.)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (see #52)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (Grew up a block away from one)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I'm not allowed)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Tied a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (2 or 3... depending on the definition of 'fired.')
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a Bone (does someone else's bone count?)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (everyday I prevent my son from electrocuting himself.)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

New Christmas Tree Decoration Trend

It is after 4:00 and I really should make dinner but I don't feel good so I am just going to sit here and blog until Hyrum wakes up and hence makes making dinner 10 times harder.

So far almost every year since Kaitlyn was 15 months old I have started out the Christmas season decorating the entire tree and then usually by about the day after setting it up all of the ornaments are on the top half of the tree. This year has been no different despite the fact that I refused to hang a single glass ornament no matter which great grandma's they were. When ever I find one of said plastic ornaments, more like half a dozen said ornaments, on the floor I place them on the top half of the tree which greatly slows my one year old's ability to pull them off. Anyway, I have been babysitting 3 kids once or twice a week for a friend while she finishes a class at school. And hurrah, hurrah, when I arrived Monday morning they had their tree set up as well. So now I got the joy of trying to stop 5 children 5 years old and under, from destroying somebody else's great grandparents ornaments. The first 10 minutes went great. Everyone was informed to stay away from the tree and they were merrily playing with a nice plastic tool box a good 10 feet from the tree. But the next 10 minutes didn't fair so well. My sports fanatic one year old, yes his daddy loves that ok I do too, was playing with a plastic 12 inch screwdriver when he walks over to the tree and swings the screwdriver like a bat hits a beautiful glass ball and yells "ball". I took away the "bat" after telling him to level out his swing next time, cleaned up the glass pieces and went to go throw them away, my mistake for the garbage is in the kitchen, and come back to him holding at least 7 other glass bulbs happily singing balls, balls, balls. I rescued those but they all ended up on the top half of the tree. The good news is that I think they liked the way we changed the decorations because when I showed up this morning to babysit there wasn't a single ornament on the bottom half of the tree, of course their 5 year old kept telling me that "if Hyrum goes near the tree am supposed to tell you Sister Adams" so it may have been something besides my artistic ability that inspired their great liking of my unique decorative style.

Thanksgiving

My mom couldn't believe that I hadn't posted the Thanksgiving pictures yet and it is 2 days after so here are a few. Sorry that some, a lot, of them were some how deleted but this is what was left.

NOT TWINS

Well I had my first doctors appointment. He did an ultrasound just to make sure that the baby's heart was beating. It was but I am NOT having twins. I tell you what, I marched into Costco and demanded my money back. After an hour long argument with the manager he finally refunded me for one of the tests. Good thing I kept the receipt.

Susan and Rick won the Peanut Butter Bar Give Away. I just read her blog and apparently she suspects our ploy of inviting ourselves over, she even made us dinner, but it is a little to late now for suspicions. As with any good scam you kind of realize it after the damage is done.

I am already in my maternity clothes. I look the same size as my niece who is 4 months farther along than I am. Is it farther or further? Anyway, I think I will breastfeed this kid until he is 2 in hopes of losing the weight of 2 pregnancies.

I didn't really go to Costco, to buy the tests or return them, I buy my tests at the dollar store... I really do; they are the best deal in town. The peanut butter bars weren't hi def. I may have been wearing maternity clothes even before I got pregnant.

Announcing the first annual peanut-butter bar giveaway!

You've heard the rumors. These are the best peanut-butter bars you could ever imagine. They're the real reason Oprah can't stay thin. Now is your chance to experience them for yourself. All you need to do is meet some simple qualifications and pass our little test below. One winner will be chosen.

Qualifications:

1. First, you must have hi-definition TV. And the bigger the TV set, the better.
2. Second, you and your hi-def TV must be available for presentation of the grand prize this Saturday, November 22nd, from 4:00 pm through 7:30 pm. In case of overtime, it could last another hour or so.

Now for the little quiz:

1. I always cheer for:
A. The Cougars
B. BYU
C. The Lord's University
D. The current and back-to-back MWC champs, and the only MWC team with a NC

Note: If you can't answer this question correctly, you get 0 (zero) on the quiz portion. This doesn't automatically disqualify you, but it does put you at a disadvantage.

You may also submit a short essay, but keep in mind that my daughter will be grading the quiz and essays, so no big words.

Random fun things

Shrek, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were all having lunch together.
Shrek said, "I have always thought that I'm the strongest man in the world, but how can I be sure?"
Angelina Jolie agreed, "I'm told I'm the most gorgeous of them all, but sometimes I wonder."
Brad Pitt said, "I'm pretty sure I'm the sexiest man alive but I've never had it confirmed."
They all decided that the best way to find out if their beliefs were true was to ask the famed talking 'mirror, mirror on the wall' to confirm for them whether Shrek was the strongest, Angelina Jolie was the most gorgeous and Brad Pitt was the sexiest.
They agreed to meet again the next day for lunch to discuss their findings.
The next day Shrek walked up with a smile. 'Well, true. The mirror told me that I am the strongest man in the world.'
Brad Pitt lifted his sexy face and said with a smile "well it is true I am the sexiest man in the world...
Angelina Jolie lifted her sad, gorgeous face and said, . . .
...
...
...
...
...
Who the Heck is Amy Jean Adams???

I just got that joke in an email and thought it was kind of fun. You can see why it doesn't bother me that Rob thinks Angelina is so hot. I had to make it say Amy Jean Adams so people couldn't say that it was Amy Adams the actress.

I just got a wheat grinder yesterday. We ground up some wheat and made whole wheat muffins. I wasn't feeling up to making bread. That isn't a good sign. Usually the only time I am up to doing something like that is when something is new like the grinder. Still it was fun.

I Was Tagged, Now You Are

Ok, if you see this blog you are supposed to go to your pictures file and look in the 4th folder, the 4th picture and post it. I promise that this was the picture that I came up with. It is from last years ward party not this one. The last few days Kait has been begging to be a ladybug for Halloween even though she was a ballerina fairy for this years ward party. I really don't know if she remembers that she was a ladybug last year or not but I guess she will be trick or treating as a ladybug again.

Gestational Tourettes

I have never really cussed in my life, not that cussing is overly offensive to me so long as it isn't demeaning a person or isn't too vulgar. I am fine with a person choosing to say that they stepped in dog crap or choosing to use a more descriptive way of explaining what they stepped in. Anyway, my last pregnancy I started randomly swearing. My husband likes to tell his friends that I started swearing like a banshee, but in reality I would yell "shit," while running to the stove to try to save our forgotten dinner before heading to Arby's. Once the baby died, hence my pregnancy, the swearing died too. So when I said "Oh hell" about something one week into this pregnancy Rob and I just looked at each other and giggled.
A lot of women like to figure out creative ways to inform their husbands that they are pregnant. I haven't decided if my next pregnancy, right after taking the pregnancy test, I am just going to let out a string of descriptive words from the bathroom or if I will just start randomly swearing again until Rob notices. I actually just found a web site that explains that, "Certain stressful processes during gestation or at the time of birth may increase the chance for a person to develop tourette syndrome". I can attest to both during gestation and the time of birth. I love the internet. I can justify anything I do with a few clicks of the mouse.

AHHHH TWINS!!

WE ARE HAVING TWINS!!!! I went to Costco and got me some blond rinse to bring out my highlights and pregnancy tests but all they had was twin packs on the pregnancy tests. I was annoyed then but now I am really glad. I took them both and they were BOTH positive. I wish they had boy\girl packs too, but I guess I'll have to wait until 20 weeks to find that out their sexes just like anyone else. It is so nice to know it's twins this early.

Already Sick

Well, I just took a pregnancy test and I am pregnant. I was only 2 days late and yet I was up for several hours last night unable to sleep, I was queasy through the night----well until I ate some banana bread at 4:00 a.m., and my stomach was a little sensitive 2 nights ago. Most woman do not get sick this early but I did with Hyrum, and didn't with the baby that died, and I was a lot sicker through the entire pregnancy with Hyrum then with the one that died so I SUPPOSE that I should be happy that I am all ready a little sick. Anyway, I am excited, I have been babysitting a 4 month old one day a week for a month or so and I was starting to get baby hungry though not pregnancy hungry. It is still too early to call and tell anyone yet so you blog readers could be the first to know.

Good day

It is a good day. Kait can finally pump herself on a swing which is nice because when I take my kids to the park, though I often get talked into it, I do not like to exert any effort in standing up and actually having to push my kids on the swings. I go to sit and talk to with which ever other mom I talked into going to the park with me.

Today, my husband is the best man in the world. Not that he has done anything different than normal just that I have started to see some things that I really need to improve on and man is he a patient man. I love him.

Cool, Rob just came home with another raise at work. Like I said, it is a good day.

Regional Stake Conference

So most of you are probably got to go to the big regional stake conferences that was telecasted to most of Utah county on Sunday. It was really good. Elder Jensen from the 70's spoke, then Pres. Monson's only daughter, then President Packer and then President Uchtdorf. Anyway, it was nice. Because it was being teleprompted to all most all stake centers, and because we were running a little behind, we just went to the big stake center that is at the end of our cul-de-sac even though it is in a different stake. They had opened up the stake Presidents office, the high council mans room and the Stake Presidents waiting area for children and had a T.V. in there. If was nice, but halfway through President Uchtdorfs talk, while I was grabbing Hyrum, Kaitlyn turned around on the couch she was on saw a fire alarm that said pull down and she pulled it. All of the lights in the building started flashing and speakers started saying "there is an emergency in the building, please use the closest exit," or something like that. The place was packed so I went out to make sure people new it was a false alarm while the clerk or someone frantically came running to try to find the key he needed to turn the thing off. Thanks goodness nobody knew us. We left after that.
Kaitlyn was petrified and ended up blaming me by saying that if I had of got us there on time we would have been in the big room with all of the people and she never would have seen that dumb fire alarm. It was rather embarrassing. She fell asleep in the car later that day and when I went to carry her into Grandma's house she kept mumbling in her sleep, "I didn't mean to do it, I didn't mean to pull it..." (Also you might not really want to mention this blog to her since I asked her if she wanted to tell Grandma and Grandpa about it while we were over there and she said, "No, it was much to scary." And then later asked me not to remind her of it,like I did at Grandma's and Grandpa's house, ever again).

Fun With Cousins

Kait got to have some of her cousins spend a few nights with her after their baby sister was born. In an attempt to win the battle of the favorite aunt competition, though I am not sure anyone but Mickie and I are competing, we all went to a little water park for fun. Here are a few pictures. Really the entire purpose of this blog is to post the freakin' awesome picture of ME that Rob took.

It is Great to have Weight!

As a fat momma I was on my treadmill trying to become a skinny momma when I hear my 4 year old screaming from the bathroom at the top of her lungs, I yell back, she yells, I yell, she yells, We can't hear so I turn off the treadmill and go into the bathroom to find out what the emergency is. "Mom, why do our eyes water when we really got to go and we're going?" Fat momma listens to a long, 4 year olds, explanation of why she thinks it is so and goes back to the treadmill.

I won the big splash competition at the ward swimming pool party last night. The other 10-12 year old boys thought I was cheating.

Mom never raised her voice to any of her 11 children!! (Written Susan Style)

Kait: Ha ha ha ha I have more grapes than Hyrum.

Mom, trying to teach her daughter not to say things that could hurt other people's feelings says: Kait, is that a nice thing to say? Would you like it if someone had more than you and laughed at you?

Kait: But Hyrum doesn't really know what I'm even saying.

Mom:
"He understands a lot and Hyrum is just learning to talk and when you talk like that you will teach him to talk like that."

Kait: Why does Hyrum always do what I do?

Mom: Because he spends most of his time with you me and Dad. So he does what we do.

Kait: Just like I do what you do?

Mom: Yep, that's why I need to try and always be nice.

Kait: Who do you act like?

Mom trying to follow her line of reasoning: I try to act like my mom. Is Grandma James nice?

Kait: Oh yeah! She is so so OLD, she could never say anything mean.

Mom thinks but doesn't say: "Kait, would you like it if someone said you were so so YOUNG?"

FAMILY REUNION 2008

If you want a better look at the pictures than click on the "view all images" tab.

St. George Trip

My cousin Matt was blessing his baby last weekend so we took Mom and headed south. Here are my favorite moments.

Kait, who swims pretty well but gets tired quickly, swimming up to complete strangers in the pool and grabbing on to their shoulders and then giggling and laughing as they pushed her over to the side of the pool.

Dad falling asleep with the lights still on and then after I have tucked the kids in and turned out the lights he rolls over and talks in his sleep. Kait says, "Dad, it is still the middle of the night, go back to sleep, you can't get up now." I whisper, "he is not really awake" but she can't tell it is me so she says,"I can hear you whispering now go to sleep."

Hyrum walking up the 3 stairs, like an adult not crawling, and back down the stairs at Brigham Young's house. Mom was not allowed to help. It was worth the chance of him nosediving and a favorite moment because he wasn't running wild trying to get into every expensive irreplaceable relic he could for a few minutes.

Mom in the back seat reading books with Kait and feeding Hyrum cookies for the entire drive. Kait finished all of her reading for the library reading program and she now knows most of her parts of speach, ;) and Hyrum had minimal crying. (I might always take Mom on our road trips.)

Finally realizing, with help from Rob, that Elder Eubank, the guide at Jacob Hamlin's house was Mark Eubank the former channel 5 weather man of 40 years. He predicted our drive home would be hot and dry, it was cloudy with showers.

Listening to Garrison Keeler, Prairie Home Companion, up and back.

Kait telling Mom that she loved the color of her hair and wanted to be just like her when she grew up, well she didn't know if she would be able to dress exactly like her but....

The chicken salad croissant sandwiches at Matt's luncheon. I love those.

Being with family, at least when the kids were asleep, which wasn't much.

Peas in a Pot

We are renting a basement apartment so I have no spot of my own to plant a garden so I asked the owners if I could plant some stuff in pots. We mostly did squash and cucumbers and stuff that you don't usually plant in rows but Kaitlyn loves peas so we tried some of those also. They are finally getting some pods and Kait is so excited and I am thinking about growing stuff like this more often because I haven't had to weed at all.

Blogging

This blog is a blog of Rob Blogging. Say that 5 times.

Old Faithful.

We are in Jackson Hole, Wyoming this weekend. We went up to Yellowstone Park today to drive around and show Kait what Old Faithful is. My parents came with us. We were talking about how things have changed up here since we had been here last, and Kait, picking up on our conversation, asked why it was now unfaithful. She also kept calling it a volcano, and when someone tried to correct her, she insisted that it was a volcano. Everyone knows volcanoes are way cooler than geysers. Well, maybe cooler isn't the right word.

We're staying in someone's vacation home that they rent out when they're not using it. We fit my parent's entire family in there. 2 Grandparents, 7 kids/kids-in-law, and 8 grandkids. And there is plenty of room. It's a pretty nice place. The views are beautiful. And yes, we are in Wyoming. I'm as surprised as anyone.

Here's a picture of what we think is a bear.















Can't see the bear in there? Yeah, we're not really sure it's a bear either. Could be though. We thought we saw it move once. Of course, it was a windy day.

Here are a couple pics from Old Faithful.

Grandma and Kait as the volcano erupts!


A little lunch on a cold day. I was waaaay under-dressed.

Aerobics and a new home

Usually after having a baby the baby helps me lose the baby weight through his frequent nursing but losing this baby at 5 months I gained just as much weight as going full term and have been forced to use Gilad on Fit TV to help me turn my BODY into a fat burning machine. Hyrum too is toning up and looking great.


Kaitlyn has built me a new home and now I just need to buy some land to put it on. If anyone knows of a good deal on land in the Payson\Benjamin area let me know. Preferably the more rural part with more land and fewer houses. :)

Haircut

Wow, that's a little short. I hope all of my boys like having there dad's haircut because that is all Kait and I know how to do.

Amy
(I am signing these in hopes that Rob will add a few blogs himself.)

Spanish Fork

Well, I guess we are going the blog world. I'm not sure I am really comfortable exploiting myself for all to see but I enjoy reading everyone else's blogs so much that I've decided to join the band wagon. We are currently renting in Spanish Fork, Utah while playing the real estate game of trying to figure out the smartest time to buy.
I am in charge of activity days with the primary age girls and Rob is the emergency preparedness specialist in the ward. The primary president, a little prematurely, asked if the bishopric had asked us to be in the nursery yet something I will be excited about since Rob or I tend to hold our own private nursery in the hall with Hyrum every week anyway only now someone else will be in charge of the snack and Hyrum can get used to the nursery a little early. Rob's not quite as excited but I think when he starts really delving, is that a word, into the lessons he'll learn to enjoy it. Anyway, hopefully we'll find some fun things to write about.

Amy