Quarantine Crafts

I got to play nurse for two weeks this December. My job consisted of  wiping buggery noses, and moistening the crusty eyeballs of my offspring. It was not a pretty sight. The kids were kind enough to share their germs with each other, and since they were highly contagious we went into quarantine mode. Poor Kevin got some 24 hour flu/sinus infection plus pink eye, and so I was doting on him as well. I was fine, as I usually am, but towards the end of the week my nose began acting like Niagara Falls. Still I felt fine enough, although I sounded like a chain smoker, and thought for sure I had beaten the system by not succumbing to the diseases. Nevertheless the week everyone else was feeling better, I got pink eye and bronchitis and Dallin got a nasty ear infection. I felt pretty awful and since my last pair of glasses were purchased 9 years ago, I was as blind as a mole without contacts in. Amongst watching plenty of movies, we managed to muster up a few crafts to keep us from going crazy here in the house.

One was writing letters to Santa, which I already posted about. This took up a good amount of time and they were very thoughtful in what they wanted to ask for. They also had a hard time making up their mind, but who can blame them?!

 I learned how to cut out paper snowflakes, and we decorated them with glitter. Glitter usually intimidates me as it sticks to everything, and it was the last thing I wanted in my swollen pink eyeballs, but it really wasn't bad at all. We looped ribbon on each snowflake to make them into an ornament. The next week the girls handed them out to elderly people at an assisted living home.

The girls had been bugging me about making a "snow glo" for forever. Working with glass containers made me nervous, as they tend to drop everything they touch, but eventually I cracked. They weren't too hard to make, although I'm sure I could have made them a little better looking...or a lot better looking. The girls liked them though, so it was fun.

 When the kids had recovered and I was the only one sick, we went for a short walk to the park. Consequently the girls started collecting things off the ground, and I managed to talk them down to one pine cone, one rock, and one leaf each.

The girls asked if they could paint them when we got home which sounded genius at the time. Whatever keeps them happy! Brooke wanted to bring Santa her painted rock as a gift which I thought was very cute.

And that is how we survived.

Letters To Santa

 Dear Santa,

Can you bring a hike rope so I can go to the mountains? I want to go hiking up there. I want you to bring some hamsters for me for a pet. I want you to bring a phone so we can call people.  I want a purse to hold stuff.  I want a book that I can read so I can relax in the sunlight.I want a robe that is purple and that's all. I have been nice today and for a hundred of weeks!

-Brenna

 Dear Santa,

  This is for you to open.  What I want for Christmas is a robe with rainbows on it.  I want to have a mountain rope that can hold onto people while we are on the mountain.  It should also have something to hold on my waist. I want a purse too. I want to have a phone to call people that is for girls.  I would like to bring a gift to you.  What else I want is gonna be a princess bed and a castle to hide in with a door.  I really love you so much! I would like a new computer too, that really is real and has a key too.  I could have a pet hamster in a cage that is real with a hamster inside of it.

- Brooke

The girls wrote letters to Santa the Monday before Christmas. It was interesting being their scribe, as this list was full of new wanted items that I had never heard of until that point. Poor Santa was in for a shock when he got this, considering he had already done so much Christmas shopping...I'm sure. The girls took their letters to "Santa's House" (aka Bass Pro Shop) and dropped them in the appropriate mailbox. We could only hope that Santa would come through with some of their Christmas wishes:)

From The Book Of Brenna

"You have so many freckles, I can't even name them all!"

{said to me, by Brenna age 4}

"Your bum is so, SO big!

It even can fit around all the sides of the toilet!"

 {said to me, by Brenna age 4}

"Please bless that we won't pee our pants."

{said during a prayer by Brenna, age 3 at sleepover}

"When you get to be as old as dad,
your head will be as big as his head."
{said to me, by Brenna age 4}

"Like when my mom had Dallin, and he came out of her bum!"

{said by Brenna age 4, to a ward member}

"Daddy, watch out for wolves!"

{said by Brenna, age 4 to Kevin as he was leaving for work}

"It felt like there was a wrapper in my nose, but when I peeked inside, all I could find was a booger."

{said to me by Brenna age 4. The following afternoon she blew a rolled up crunch bar wrapper out of her nose, no joke. When asked why there was a wrapper in her nose, she said she forgot to take it out the night before}

I asked Brenna what she thought of an apple at Sprouts when we were shopping. She grabbed it, licked it, smelled it, and then said it was good enough to buy.

Painting Pumpkins

 A few weeks before Halloween, we did our first pumpkin carving as a family. We were ill prepared and without any carving tools, so we had the girls paint theirs, while Kevin struggled to cut his with a kitchen knife. We already bought some carving sets for next year, so yes we learned our lesson. The girls had fun scooping out all the pumpkin gut,s and I got excited to bake the seeds.

Brenna asked me to help her with her pumpkin which was fun for me. It turned into a feminine version of the classic jack o' lantern. We made sure to give her a hair clip, jewel teeth, and plenty of makeup.

Brooke on the other hand, didn't want any help until the end, and she ended up doing most of the painting herself. I think she was a little concerned when hers looked nothing like Brenna's. Even so, it turned out very glamorous and spooky looking. It reminded me a lot of those bratz dolls.

Kevin pulled off a very nice looking jack o' lantern, which was no surprise given his talent. I think he was hoping for something more intricate, but when all you've got is a kitchen knife, you go simple. The kids loved how it looked all lit up.

 After we were all done and it was bedtime, Brooke asked us to put their pumpkins on the dresser in their bedroom. We were cat sitting at the time and the visiting cat and Toby (our cat) weren't getting along too well. So in the middle of the night, Brooke woke up to the sound of cats growling and hissing at each other, and she thought it was the pumpkins. Needless to say she ended up with bed with us, and those pumpkins were removed from their bedroom promptly.

48 Days Later

I've wanted my own garden for a while now, but never had much of a backyard for one. With our new place came a plot of land in the backyard that had already been used for gardening. Once the weather cooled down to about 100 degrees last month, I got the urge to till some earth. We picked up some supplies at Lowe's and I went to work.  

This is what it looked like when we moved here.

Not much to look at, but it definitely had potential.

 I was grateful for the sprinkler system that was already installed to water the garden.

 Here are my helpers/potential destroyers of the garden. The girls were really excited to help, and I was excited for it to be a family activity. I wanted it to be a positive experience, but I noticed that sometimes the more they *helped* the more stressed I became. I wanted them to be involved, but I also wanted the garden to grow. They were great helpers overall, although Dallin was not allowed near the garden. He is still in that dirt eating/destroy-everything-mom-is-interested-in phase. Funny how protective you can become over a stretch of dirt and seeds!

I earned this here blister by not thinking things through. Yes, I bought gardening gloves. No, I didn't wear them when using the shovel and rake, because I thought they were mainly for keeping my hands clean. Not so much!

After a couple shifts of raking, weed pulling, rock plucking, and manure spreading, the garden was a go. I was still skeptical though, I mean this is Arizona, and I had nothing but the back of the seed packets to direct me. Even so, I tended to my garden every day, picking up rocks, and making sure the sprinklers were doing their job.

    Seven days later, I about peed my pants when I saw a few specks of green poking out of the soil. The lettuce sprouts were the first to appear and I was thrilled that something was actually happening. I think I took 20 pictures of these silly sprouts.

Here's the garden 48 days later....

Like my ghetto aluminum foil signs? Yes, they are unique and have survived several rainstorms and the wrath of Dallin. I give them 4 thumbs up.

The carrots are the happiest plants I have ever seen! They are so fluffy and springy looking. Makes me wish they left them on the carrots at the grocery store. Maybe it would entice me to buy them more often.

 

Spinach that is pretty much ready to harvest once I muster up the courage.

 Here's the green onions.

 They are still pretty thin and wispy, so I'm curious how thick they will get.

 Here's the lettuce. It's close to being ready to harvest I think... Unfortunately our turtle and the neighborhood birds are fans of organic lettuce sprouts, and they ate off most of them before I got bird netting.

 We also planted broccoli and cauliflower, but I got lazy and decided I didn't want to cover the whole other side of the garden with netting, since there were only a handful of plants. The birds and our turtle seem to enjoy the leaves off of these.

Overall it's been really fun to have a garden and a new little hobby.

 I'm excited to see the veggies of our labors:)

Sweet And Sometimes Sour

I try to keep my blog really light and upbeat, so when something negative happens I don't usually document it here, unless I can make light of it. For example, I never wrote about the time when the girls were two years old, and squeezed through our front gate while I was getting ready for the gym and how I had to call 911 because I couldn't find them. I also decided against writing about my most recent SVT episode that earned me a ride in an ambulance. At the time they seemed too negative and not something that I could ever make suitable for the blog...or people who might be reading my blog. After thinking about it, I realize that there's nothing wrong with including some of the bad with the good, because like my blog description goes"sweet and sometimes sour, but always with real filling." So this post is me finally being real about the sour parts of life at the moment. It is not meant to be a pity party for myself, or an attempt to discount all the really sweet things that are happening in my life, because really I am so blessed.

 Saturday night I borrowed a DVD from a friend that was an introduction to a system that helps you identify your energy type. I was excited to find out which one I belonged to, because it seems very beneficial to learn more about your tendencies, personality, and sense of style which I desperately need!(This is not the sour part in case you are wondering). It was just an intro, so it went over each type briefly, showing a picture of a woman that was that specific type along with other things in nature that coincided. Type 1 was for bubbly and friendly people that have high energy and a positive outlook on life. Type 3 was for the woman who was a very determined and hard worker, and could accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Type 4 was the confident and opinionated woman, who was bold. None of those seemed to fit exactly right. Type 2 was explained as the soft and subtle woman who was very detail oriented and well, a worry wort. A picture of an elderly lady with white hair popped up on the screen and yes you guessed it, that was my energy type. The one I didn't want to be. Friendly, hard worker, or confident sounded great, but mine was the quiet subtle one with the granny picture. Not really what I wanted to hear. From there it all went downwards, not because there is anything necessarily wrong with that type of person, but because I was once again reminded of all the things that I didn't like about myself. I must say that the video was not to blame at all, as it was very positive, and feeling negatively about myself was my own choice.

  When I woke up Sunday morning, I tried not to think about what me and that granny had in common. I got ready for church, but I could tell that my emotions were already a little raw. At church I made an effort to really study the sacrament hymn. I told myself that Jesus Christ died for me personally and that must mean that I am special . As much as I wanted to believe it, I couldn't. The question "Why?" kept coming to my mind. "Why did Heavenly Father make me this way?" "Why am I so lacking in talents and gifts, and why is it so hard for me to make friends?" "Why do I have to be the quiet boring one?" "Why couldn't I be the confident one, or the one that makes friends easily?" I entered the gospel doctrine room full of men and women and felt like filler. I didn't contribute, I just filled in the open space. I noticed the people around me. I wished to be that bubbly outgoing woman who gave the lesson, or the strong and confident one who wasn't afraid to voice her opinion. Envying others talents or gifts only made things worse, and by the next hour, my small shred of happiness had faded. Finding myself close to tears, I left relief society and drove home.

  Once there, I talked to Kevin who had left church to put Dallin down for his nap. I poured out my emotions and told him how much I didn't like myself. How confused I was as to my purpose in this life, because I felt that I had so little to offer. I talked to him about all the things I'm not: the crafter, the fashion queen, the chef, the health nut, the marathon runner, the adventurer, the martha, the betty, the college degree achieving, type, and how at times I wonder what I am exactly. Questions like "What makes me special? and " What do I have to offer?" were repeated over and over in my mind, but try as I could, I could not find an uplifting answer. I told him that all I really know is I'm a mom. I do mom things. I live a mom life. I give most of my day to my three kids, and I come up for air when bedtime comes. Then I stay up late trying to soak up the quiet that is rarely heard in our house. I attempt to socialize via facebook/email/blogging so that I can feel like I have had some connection to the outside world, and then I go to bed. Around 5 or 6am it starts all over again. I told him that what I do every day can be challenging, and there a lot of times that I feel very inadequate. I've always wanted to be a mom and have lots of kids, but at times I've questioned whether this work was meant for me. I expressed wondering what I  was thinking when I thought I could take care of 3 small children, 3 years old and younger, and do a good job of it. I'm the girl who stopped playing a game of rummy as soon as the cards didn't seem to play in my favor, and boy being a mom of three sure doesn't play in my favor sometimes. Kevin was as always, a great support and was kind enough to listen and really hear me out. He offered some advice and perspective that helped.

  To be honest this last year has been extremely trying, but I tend to keep these kinds of things to myself because yes, I'm the "quiet" type, and I feel so comfy in my little box. There have been several times in the last few months where I have really questioned my ability to be a good mom, and since that has always been my dream and is currently my main calling at this point, feeling that I'm not good at it anymore has sent me into spurts of depression.  Days when I would wake up in the morning and just feel sad, really sad. Many times when I didn't feel at all like myself, and not always knowing why I felt the way I did. Going to bed close to midnight and waking up for Dallin  430am feeding for the last year probably hasn't helped, as I'm sure that lack of sleep is part of it. Things have gotten better since he is finally sleeping later into the morning, but I would be lying if I said I don't struggle at times.

 I struggle with the job of a wife/homemaker/mom and with feeling that I am not good enough. Seeing all the "supermoms" out there who manage to keep everything together and then some.  I struggle with the feeling that I don't really amount to much as a person, that I'm boring and lack talent and gifts, and that is why I don't have close friends. After the girls were born I was convinced that the only reason people talked to me was because I had twins, because what else is interesting about me? Every woman I come in contact with seems to have so many amazing gifts and talents that are so obvious, and at times I am intimidated by those who seem to be able to do everything, and do it well. I admire so many of you women out there, and I could probably make a list of your qualities and talents that I wish I could have too.

 I know things will get better as I change my perspective and learn to love myself for who I am. For now I'm OK with just admitting that this phase of my life has it's own unique challenge, and that I have a lot to work on. I hope to be able to turn some of my weaknesses into strengths, but at the end of the day I hope to be happy with the woman who has never been able to run more then a few miles, or gotten a college degree, who considers herself socially retarded, and isn't the loudest most interesting person in the room. I have been blessed with the gospel, a great husband and healthy kids, and I'm so lucky to be a stay at home mom. Even with all that I still feel down at times, as silly as that might seem.  I know there are sources of strength that I can call on, whether they be family, the scriptures, conference talks, and ultimately my Heavenly Father, and that gives me hope.

Thirty, Flirty, and Fun

 Guess who turned 30 on October 12th?! 

Kevin did!

and boy is he handsomer then ever.

 He took the day off of work so we could celebrate the occasion properly.

 There were waffles with fruit and cream for breakfast. Then, a fancy pants hair cut at the barbershop, followed by an hour massage.

 We had our traditional Joe's BBQ for lunch, which included pulled pork sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. Kevin was sent on an exciting and eventful scavenger hunt.

 He had to follow 6 puzzling clues that were hidden all over the house, and eventually led him to his presents. I gave him some new earphones for his i-pod (he burns through those things quick!), the new Pearl Jam CD, and I paid for half of his IPhone 4S that we will be picking up the beginning of next month.

The girls gave him this Transformers key chain that we found on our last picnic under a tree. 

Birthday dinner was at the Keg. and his favorite dessert Angel food cake followed at our place.

To commemorate his 30th year on this earth, I have put together 30 fun facts about Kevin.

30 Fun Facts About Kevin

1. Kevin knows all the words to about 95% of Pearl Jam's songs, and not just the ones on the radio. I find it very impressive, especially since I have a hard time deciphering any of the words when I hear them on the radio. Like the other day when I heard a Pearl Jam song on the radio and I thought "Hey, I should remember a word in the song so I can tell Kevin I heard this song," and yet I couldn't decipher ONE word. Not a one. Having three kids talking and squawking in the back of the car probably didn't help either.

2. Kevin is really good with remembering family members birth dates and years. He can tell you how old each parent was when different children were born, and has no problem figuring out how old people were in family pictures. I struggle when it comes to remembering how old all my siblings are, let alone their birth year, but he figures them out for me all the time. He is like a mathematician.

3. Kevin can use Photoshop to do some pretty cool and crazy stuff with pictures. Like swap heads in what I like to call Kevin going all Hannibal Lecter on the family photos. It is quite amusing. Plus he introduced me to the concept of resizing photos so they don't take forever to upload onto the blog. I don't do it because I'm lazy and prefer doing things the hard way, but I am glad to know that it is an option.

4.Kevin wears a size 12 shoe. Yes it's true...and that rhymes.  His size 12 along with my size 10 means our kids all be blessed with large pizza feet, but I'm sure those pizza feet will take them places.

5. Kevin is great bug exterminator. I remember when we were dating and we would watch movies at my house sometimes. My house was in the middle of a culdesac, and for some reason had issues with roaches every now and again. Well as we are watching a movie, a dark shadow starts creeping across the carpet. I was so embarrassed and didn't know what to say, but he just grabbed one of his shoes and kersplat went the bug! I'm pretty sure that happened a few more times at my house, and he was never afraid to take care of the matter. He continues to defend me and our children from the occasional bug.

6. Kevin has never experienced heartburn. I find this weird, but at the same time how lucky is that?

7. Kevin's calling at church is to teach in Elders Quorum a few times a month.  He is a natural teacher, and doesn't have to do a lot of prep in order to present a great lesson.

8. Kevin has muscles and can lift heavy things. For instance, a 40 pound box of chicken. He can even lift me up and carry me a few feet, while only shaking a little bit. That's pretty impressive.

9. Kevin has a great head of hair! He will complain that he is getting grey hairs already, but that is easily remedied. The wonderful thing is, HE HAS HAIR, and it doesn't look like it will be leaving his head anytime soon.

10. Kevin has a kidney disease called IGA Nephropathy. Not a fun fact, but it's not anywhere near life threatening at this point so I will allow it. It is something we monitor every few years, and his health is pretty much perfect as of his last nephrologist visit. I do find it funny that we both have old people's diseases already, and find ourselves in waiting rooms filled with people three times our age. Kevin has his kidney disease, and I have my heart disease. We are definitely soul mates.

11. Kevin has a cookie named after him. Actually the cookie's real name is "Devil's Food, Chocolate Cookie Cake," but we call them "Kevin Cookies," because they are his favorite. I think the people at Walmart found out that Kevin loves them so, because they raised their price by a dollar last year. I went on strike for a bit, and magically the prices went down by 70 cents. Fancy that.

12. Kevin is an Irish Twin. Him and his older sister Alison are only 11 months apart. So right now Kevin and his sister are both 30 years old.  Try to wrap that around your brain.

13. Kevin despises made up or "crazy" baby names. He tends to like more traditional names, or ones that can actually be found in a baby name book. He is also not a fan of names that aren't spelled phonetically. I love running kooky baby names by him, just so I can see his reaction. I don't foresee any Pilot Inspektors being born into our family.

14.Kevin LOVES San Diego, and would move us all there in a heart beat if he could. He cherishes our vacations there, and when it's time to leave he gets all sad and fussy. It's like trying to get a child out of Disneyland. I don't blame him though, I love it there too!

15. Kevin isn't super picky when it comes to clothes. He doesn't like shopping, so he lets me buy him stuff every now and then, which I enjoy. He has some clothes that he wore in high school and the same swim trunks from forever ago. I am grateful for a husband that is not high maintenance when it comes to clothes:)

16. Kevin didn't know how to roll his "R"s until I taught him. He went from sounding like a dying pigeon to sounding like a true Spaniard with a little instruction and practice. Ask him to say rojo next time you see him.

17. Kevin's signature was inspired by the signature of Kevin Johnson from the Suns. Since he has such a similar name, he just practiced it and that's how his signature came to be.

18. Kevin stays pretty up to date with the latest political mumbo jumbo. He watches Fox News every night pretty much, and we have discussions about who is running and other goings on. I think it's great that he is so interested in politics and what is happening in our country.

19. Kevin is very resourceful. When there is a problem he is there to fix it. So when our turtle Tiny Tim was getting into my garden and feasting on my baby lettuce sprouts, he built him a little sanctuary out of bricks to keep him out.

20. Kevin can get ready for the day in 10 minutes or less. This is one talent I wish I had.


21. Kevin is very open minded to new things. When I wanted to do cloth diapers he was supportive, and when I wanted to hire a doula for Dallin's birth he agreed.  Kevin is always so willing to support things that are important to me, even if they aren't what he is used to.

22. Kevin wants to serve a couple mission with me when we are old and moldy. I think it's a great idea.

23. Kevin concentrates best when doodling on paper. I noticed this when he was going to school at MCC because there would be tons of cartoon pictures and random things drawn along side of his notes and homework. When I was looking through his missionary calendars/journal there was plenty of doodles too.

24. Kevin is a great friend. In the last few years he has helped many people he knew in the application process at GoDaddy. So far he has helped 6 people, 4 of which have jobs there currently.

25. Kevin is very artistic as most of you already know. When he was in middle school he was chosen to help design and paint a mural in Phoenix for a stay in school program. Pretty fancy schmancy if you ask me.

26. Kevin is a great provider for our family. He not only works a 40+ hour week, but he also took on an extra job of scanning old family pictures in order to save up money for Christmas. He has scanned over 1500 pictures in the last month or so.

27. Kevin doesn't get stressed out very easily. Even if he has a hard day, or is under a lot of stress at work, he doesn't bring it home and always has a positive attitude. He evens me out in this regard.

28. Kevin was planning on going to a college in Utah when we first started dating. So there we were at Starbucks, sharing a vanilla bean frappuccino (don't worry it's caffeine free), and I ask him what his plans were for the next year. At the time I was hoping that he would stare deeply into my eyes and say..."marry you and make you the most lucky woman alive of course", but that wasn't the case. He said he wanted to go to some university in Utah, and from that point on it was my resolve to never let that happen.

29. Kevin still stays in contact with companions and some of the people he baptized while on his mission to Kentucky. It goes to show what a wonderful missionary he was.

30. Kevin is an amazing person! He is so easy going, and friendly, and has a great sense of humor. Kevin knows how to make people laugh and is always willing to help others.  He is smart, hard working and dependable, and he's a great dad and husband.

The End