the bushes are gone

The missionaries came over Saturday afternoon and helped Dallin get rid of all our evergreen bushes. They even dug out the roots -- definitely back breaking work. The 3 of them worked for about 3 1/2 hours, and then the Elders went home to clean up and came back over for some pizza. We are "paying" them back with referrals and inviting investigators to our home.

All the bushes are gone and so is the random cement flower box that was the end of the front walk.

This is the next project. The hostas on this side of the house will be moved to the other side of the house -- where we just took out all those bushes. This is going to get cleaned out and my vegetable garden will go in here. It is the only side of the house that is not shaded by any trees.

check this out!

You'll want to mute my music on the side bar for this one.

Taylor Swift's Love Story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHxXaY7NR3w

Coldplay's Viva La Vida:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE

Now the 2 of them together:

pig tails

I tried to do big pigtails in Addie's hair today. Usually I just do a couple small ones. What I discovered from this is that Addie needs to learn to hold still, and Mommy needs to practice more so she can do it faster.

Not to be out done, Tyler wanted his picture taken, too.

mom and addie

tyler's first soccer game

Tyler had his first soccer game on Saturday. He did very well for not having really played before. There are 6 kids on a team and the games are 3 on 3. There is no goalie, and the goals are similar to the little backyard goals you can buy just about anywhere. They play 7 minute quarters, and switch out the 3 players each time. It was so funny to watch the kids just run after the ball in mass form! Even the teammates are fighting over possession of the ball! Most of the time Tyler was content trailing the pack, but every once in a while he'd get a good kick on the ball. One time he was the "break away" kid who took the ball down the field and he actually scored a goal! We were so excited for him, and he just nonchalantly turned around and gave us a smile and a thumbs-up sign. :-) One game down -- 5 to go!

getting ready for kick-off

tyler just did a goal kick

leading the pack

headed for the goal

just before he scored a goal

success!!

Tyler got a "big boy bike" last summer, and the last couple of weeks with the weather being nice he's been riding it around really trying to balance off of the training wheels. This was no small feat because he always favored one side. He's done very well at staying off those training wheels, and Dallin and I have been talking about taking them off his bike. The thing with Tyler though, is that you've got to do stuff like that when he's ready to do it. If we were to push him to do it before he felt ready, he'd never ride the bike again. Today while he was riding his bike I mentioned to him that he's been staying off the training wheels very well, and I said, "Maybe we should take them off today."

"No. Not today."

"Okay." Not more than a minute later:

"Mom, let's take them off." And so we did. And here he is literally minutes after we took off the training wheels.


The best part about watching my kids learn something is the excitement they get in their eyes when they realized they can do it! Tyler was so proud of himself!

easter weekend

We did our simple Easter egg hunt and goodies Saturday night. Easter is one of those holidays where I don't go all out in the secular sense. It feel like it is such a holy celebration, that I really try to avoid any association with the Easter bunny. The kids were with me when I bought the candy, eggs, hand bands, and their one toy. Only Grandma & Grandpa Ensign's gifts were surprises. And the kids knew that it was I who hid the eggs.

Here are the kids gifts pre-opening:

Tyler found an egg. The kids each had 3 eggs to find. Tyler had Spiderman eggs.

Adeline had flower eggs.

Here's Adeline with her flower head band.

Opening presents. Grandma and Grandpa Ensign gave Adeline a bunny. She has slept with it every night since.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Tyler some books on tape. We have found that is one of his favorite things ever! This week the story of choice has been The Three Little Pigs. He listens to it literally ALL THE TIME. This is probably why he also enjoys listening to old time radio with his mom and dad. His favorite radio show is Sam Spade.

Tyler and his bunny ears. When I got these head bands at the dollar spot at Target the kids were so excited they wore them throughout the store.

Sunday morning Easter outfits. I like getting the kids new summerish Sunday outfits for EAster, but Tyler didn't get a new Sunday outfit this year. I looked all over town and couldn't find a short sleeve dress shirt -- which is usually what I get him for his Easter outfit. So instead, I made him dress very well that day. Adeline's dress was given to me by a friend in Dubuque whose daughter used to wear the dress. I always commented how much I loved it, and so when my friend's daughter outgrew the dress, it was given to me. Thanks, Kim!

the trees are gone

Yesterday our 3 pine trees came down. Unfortunately, Tyler was at school, so he only got to see the very end of the project, so I took a lot of pictures so he could see what happened. We decided almost as soon as we moved in that we wanted the pine trees down. We live on a corner lot and so had a large front yard and a small backyard which is made even smaller by the large deck and tree in the middle of it. We wanted to have more yard space in the front -- and there are parts of the lawn that have been under the shadows of those trees for years. I have moss growing in areas because of all the shade! So, after getting a couple estimates from places around town, we scheduled with a company to come take them down.

Addie was fascinated! She and I stood on the front porch in the freezing morning air to watch the guys cut down the trees. I did convince her about 1/2 way through the project that it was warmer inside, and she could still watch them from either my bedroom window or the storm door. It only took about an hour and a 1/2 for the trees to cut cut down, and completely mulched. The part that took the longest was cleaning up all the landscaping stones and lava rocks that were under and around the trees. Tyler was able to see them grind the last stump just as he got home from school. And he's been watching our new patch of dirt for grass ever since!

Here is the before picture:

Addie outside to watch all the excitement.

All the in between pictures:

Addie watching through the storm door. I don't know why she decided she had to hold her nose.

Here's the after picture:

interesting experience

I had a very interesting experience this evening. I was asked to go dress the body of a sister in our ward who passed away over the weekend. I never met her -- she lived in a nursing home, and was very ill -- but she lived to be 94. She was a tiny little thing, which helped a lot.

When the Bishop first asked me to go I wasn't so sure about it. Of course I said yes, because it needs to be done, and I'm able to do it, so I should do it. But I was a little apprehensive. But really, it was just such a simple but neat experience.

where to begin...

Last weekend -- March 6-8 we spent in Dubuque. My brother Brian had his high school musical that weekend, and we drove 3 hours to see it! They did a really nice job on The Music Man. I was very impressed. The first night we were there, however, Dallin & I had a very nice dinner date to celebrate our 6 years of marriage. Our anniversary was on the 8th. Saturday morning my mother and I went to a gardening class offered by the ISU Extension office in Dubuque. A lot of the lectures went over our heads, but we learned a little bit about gardening. This is my first year with a yard, and I'm determined to grow something this year! Before going to the gardening class however, I was hit hard with a sharp pain right under my rib cage. I honestly didn't think anything of it because I've similar symptoms before and they always seemed to be due to constipation or something. I also had an upset stomach. But that all went away before we had to leave for our class, so I didn't think anything about it. I figured I had just eaten something the night before that didn't agree with me. Not surprising with you're pregnant.

Tuesday evening Dallin & I bought a new dishwasher -- yippee! I will have to get pictures later. I didn't remember to charge my camera battery before the guy came in to install it on Thursday. Thursday night will always be burned into my brain...I woke up around 12:30 or so feeling just uncomfortable. Again I thought it was just constipation. I hadn't really eaten very well that day, or had much water to drink, so I tried to just walk off the pain, go to the bathroom, etc. Well, I went to the bathroom. And the pain didn't go away. In fact, as the night went on, it got much worse. To top it off both children decided they needed to be up too, and I think both of them spent part of the night in our bed. I went out on the couch and watched some 3:30am news to try to get my body to relax enough to get to sleep. I dozed for a few minutes here and there, but never really had a good sleep. by 5:30am I called my OB's office. The answering service paged the doctor on call. An hour later he had not called me back. So I had him paged again. This time he called me and told me to try to take some Tums or Tylenol, but if I thought there was a real problem to go to the ER. Well, I tried the Tums. I felt nauseas the moment they were in my mouth. I took some Tylenol, but threw those up an hour later. By this time I had emptied my stomach and you can imagine how pleasent that is to throw up on an empty stomach! Dallin left for work about 7:00 Friday morning, and he called me at 7:30 to see how I was doing. I told him he needed to come home. I couldn't stand up, I couldn't walk, I couldn't sit. etc. A little before 10:00am I told Dallin this was not okay, and that I needed to get to the hospital. They checked me into the OB floor at the hospital around 10:30. I told the same story to everyone who came to see me that day! The OB on call that day was Dr. Olson. And now I know why everyone loves her. She is the only female OB in town, but besides that, she was fanstastic. It's always nice to have a doctor who knows what it's like to be pregnant.

As soon as she found out where my pain was -- right under the right side of my rib cage -- and that I was in my 3rd pregnancy, she gave a tenative diagnosis immediately. She said it was either a gastrinal problem or my gallbladder. She ordered an ultrasound for me -- and let me tell you, that was the most painful ultrasound I have ever had! I will no longer complain about needing a full bladder for an ultrasound again! When Dr. Olson came to see me she said that the ultrasound showed that I had several gall stones in my gallbladder, and that it looked inflamed and possibly infected. She discussed the case with the surgeon, and he agreed with her diagnosis. So I was admitted the hospital Friday afternoon, and they gave me some Morphine for the pain. I got the little button I could push for my own pain control. That is the most blessed thing ever! Not only did it give almost instant relief, but the machine doesn't allow you to OD. Nice. But I gotta tell ya, that Morphine gave me some pretty funky dreams! They also put me on some antibiotics Saturday night because my white cell count was high.

Saturday morning about 11:30 I went into the OR for my surgery to remove my gallbladder. I spent the rest of the day and 1/2 of Sunday in the hospital. I'm now at home feeling better than I did yesterday, and TONS better than I did on Thursday! The surgeon said my gallbladder was definitely infected. I am so glad we got it taken care of now! My diet will need to change a little bit. Not too many greasy foods like hamburgers, pizza, french fries, but I think I can handle that! I'm just glad that the baby's okay, I'm okay, and I'm on the way to a great recovery!

And as pathetic as it may sound the biggest downer for me during the whole weekend was that I missed the awesome Friday deals at the local grocery store...

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

my ah-hah moment today

My mom posted a couple weeks ago about how she had an ah-hah moment during Primary that day. I had mine today. I need to give a little bit of background here. Our Primary theme this year is My Eternal Family. My dilemma in teaching this this year was that in my tiny primary -- only 9 active families represented in the primary -- there are only about 3 or 4 who have the ideal family with active member parents married in the temple and kids BIC, etc. I'm not not sure about this, but I'm pretty sure that's an interesting ratio compared to larger primaries. Anyway, so what we've been concentrating on is the pattern of the family that we are to follow. I taught a lesson using the analogy from Elder Holland HERE. I used my own examples of making dresses using patterns and how hard it was with the pattern, and the dresses are no where near perfect, but they would have turned out much worse if I didn't use a pattern. Heavenly Father has given us patterns and we find them in the scriptures, in the Church magazines & General Conference, and our main pattern this year is the Family Proclamation. So every Sharing Time that I teach I try to point out the pattern we are being taught.

Admittedly, I didn't have a lot of time to prepare this lesson. I was filling in for my counselor whose mother died last weekend. I didn't read through my scripture passages too closely because I thought I knew the stories and the lessons in there.

Today I taught about the responsibility of fathers. I had several pairs of Dallin's shoes and we talked about all the different responsibilities he and other fathers fulfill wearing their various shoes. We also read parts of 1 Nephi 1 & 2 and talked about Lehi as a father. With Jr. Primary we talked about how fathers are the leaders of the family, and that they teach the family, provide for, and protect the family. Pretty basic stuff. It wasn't until I was teaching Sr. Primary that I got my ah-hah moment. I realized the obvious pattern. When Jeruselam was in danger of destruction Lehi went and prayed for his people & his family -- his stewardship -- then he received instruction for his family, and then he lead his family. When Nephi's bow broke and he had to make a new one he went to his father -- the patriarch of the family -- and Lehi again prayed, received instruction, and then led (or told) Nephi where to find food.

So the pattern is: 1. righteous fathers pray for their families, 2. they receive instruction, 3. they lead their families. It was awesome. And one of those, "Duh, why didn't I figure this out before?" moments.

i swore this day would never come

When I was a teen I swore to myself that I would never be like my dad (and my mom sometimes) and listen to AM talk radio. I swore that I would listen to FM radio and know all the new songs and artists and be a cool mom. I realized many moons ago that I have become just what I didn't want to become. I would rather listen to AM talk radio than to the FM stations. Don't get me wrong, I still listen to my CDs, and if there is nothing on AM then I will venture to the FM side, but I find that the songs on the radio I enjoy the most are the songs that were popular when I was in high school. I feel so out of touch, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest -- which is probably what is so disturbing to me!

lulu's boutique

Cute stuff here at Lulu's Boutique. I love other people who are creative for me! She's also having a great giveaway. Check it out here.

family picture

Get your own Family Sticker Maker & MySpace Layouts.

just some fun

Hopefully by summer she'll be at least tall enough to get her toes on the ground!

Dallin had done something to make Adeline upset, so she took off down the road -- she's so much like her mother, I'm in a for real treat later on -- Tyler went off and tried talking her into coming back. They ended up walking to the corner together and coming back.

I think Dallin has decided that Saturday nights are pizza nights. He picked this one up at Papa Murphy's on Valentine's Day. This was the extend of our holiday celebrations.

mmm...yum

To anyone else this may just look like a regular canning jar filled with a dark substance. But to our family this is the elixir of life: real homemade Wisconsin maple syrup. My sister's in-laws make their own syrup every year. And every so often when Stacy's family visits our parents she brings my parents & us a couple jars of this heavenly creation. This jar will not last very long as I will make pancakes & waffles as conduits for the elixir as often as possible. Have no fear, because there is another jar in the fridge just begging to be opened! So, here's to you, Penny & Dennis up in the great white north of Wisconsin, and to your incredible elixir of life. Our family thanks you. Yum!

Des Moines River Ice Jam

I think this is self-explanatory. I was standing on the road for this picture, but I was still standing on ice. I can't even tell you where the shore is supposed to be. You can kind of tell because of the grass showing in places. I've never seen anything like this before.

This is looking up river. You can see where the ice has crept up almost to the road.

More of the same. This is taken looking down river from the bridge that was in the background of the other pictures.

This is the furthest down river the ice jam goes. It's about a 2 min. drive from the bridge. It's not the best picture ever. We were sitting in someone's drive to get this picture.

sick

This morning while Tyler was at school, I spent most of the morning in the bathroom with an upset stomach. I managed to pull myself together enough to go pick him up, and then Tyler threw up 3 times on the drive way while bringing in the garbage cans. (When Dallin got home he mentioned that what we had done to the drive way was interesting.) Tyler felt better after that, in fact, asked for some food. I gave him some crackers, and I had a couple, and we managed to keep those down. I had emailed Dallin to let him know that we wouldn't be meeting him at the library, but that I did need him to come home and get the books that needed to be returned. I also called the Elders to cancel our dinner appointment. And I talked to my friend whose kids I'm supposed to watch tomorrow. She mentioned that her youngest was also sick today and couldn't keep anything down. Adeline wanted a snack later so I gave her some carrots. Tyler wanted some too, and since he had kept the crackers down for a couple hours I let him have some -- and myself. After Dallin came home and got the library books and Adeline, I promptly disposed of my carrots -- and felt SO much better! Tyler was doing very well keeping his food down, but he was getting really tired, and kept leaning on me as I was washing dishes. Just after Dallin got home -- with pizzas -- I know he was helping so that I wouldn't have to fix anything, but it just makes my stomach growl from hunger & I'm so bummed because I can't eat it right now -- Tyler disposed of his carrots in the middle of the living room floor. The nice thing about the wood floor is that clean up is pretty quick. The bad thing about the wood floor is that the clean up area is HUGE! And usually this stuff doesn't bother me, but cleaning up after Tyler this evening, I thought I was going to go through it all again myself. Through all the tummy troubles though, I got one load of dishes done, and 4 loads of laundry through the washer & dryer, which will get folded tonight during my prime time down time. I also managed to drive the kids to the train tracks to "find" the train we could hear from our house, and all of us got dressed in clean clothes & Adeline has eaten 2 meals so far. I also took Tyler to school & picked him up from school. I've also done 3 easy crossword puzzles, and finished a book. Ahh...isn't it great being a sick mom? Apparently this is some bug that's been making the rounds. I really hope Adeline has a strong stomach constitution like her father. She's never had the stomach flu before, and I'm not looking forward to going through it with her. I just think it's worse for me when they can't fully communicate about how they feel.

happy birthday, tyler!

When I first asked Tyler what he wanted for his birthday breakfast he said, "cake." I suggested coffee cake, and he thought that was a pretty good idea.

After I went grocery shopping he noticed that I had bought frozen waffles -- then he said he wanted waffles instead.

You'll probably notice that there's no syrup on his waffles. That's because they're still frozen. That's how he likes them. Frozen waffles -- frozen. I admit he got that from his mom. I like 'em that way too.

I did great with the gifts this year -- despite my hubby's lack of confidence in my ability to shop for a 5 year old boy (my own son) on my own.

Man, I am the coolest mom ever -- this week.

Okay, and notice the books on the floor. The 360 loop isn't enough for this kid. He likes to stack up the books under the track to make the car jump off the track after it's done the 360 loopy thing.

Tyler blowing out his number "5" candle set in his mac & cheese birthday dinner. Mac & cheese with a side of green salad with tomatoes and ranch is his favorite dinner.