Count Your Blessings....Name them one by one......

I know, I know! It has been forever since I posted. The longest since I started this blog. When we moved in October we decided not to get cable tv or the Internet since we both have iphones and internet at our offices that we are already paying for. It has been nice not to have the t.v. to add to our extensive list of distractions. However, I miss having a normal size screen to check facebook and read blogs. Google reader on an iphone is annoying to try and catch up on. So here I am at my office updating my blog instead of working. Quick summary of the last 6 months.
October:
Moved into our new apartment. It is smaller that what we moved from but super close to work and winco and the my sis-in-law who watches Keldon. We love our new ward and got put into callings soon after we moved in. I was the CTR 7 teacher in primary and Chris got put in with the 11 year old scouts. Keldon has been going to nursery and loves it. Chris drops him off and he doesn't look back! Keldon was Elmo for Halloween and Chris and I were pirates.
November:

We had Thanksgiving at my dads house. Not all the kids were there but it was simple and nice. My sister-in-law Patty and I were crazy enough to make pies and rolls. I think we ended up with like 7 or 8 pies for desert between everyone. We were especially proud of our French Chocolate Silk pie with oreo crust and heath and caramel whipped into the whipped cream. My allergies got the best of me and I paid severe consequences for the next week. Dinner was pretty grub though. Mom would have been proud of our pretty pies. I got my IUD taken out.....trying to get pregnant!
December:
For Christmas we stayed in Tri-Cities. The whole holiday season was pretty chill for us. Keldon got spoiled and I swear everything in our house was red with ELMO! He got pretty Elmoed out and we nicknamed him Kelmo because of the obsession. He was pretty impressed with his Grandma's talking Elmo and loved his puzzles from mom and dad.
January:I got switched from CTR 7 teacher to sunbeams, so now I have a crazy bunch of 3 year olds to entertain for 2 hours. I love being in primary and have fun with the kids although they drain my energy and test my patience! Found out I was pregnant at the end of the Month. Due in October! Was really sick with a viral infection and sinus infection that kicked my butt. We all got the sickies.
February:
Chris and I got a night away at Cameo Heights Mansion which is a really nice Bed and Breakfast outside of Pasco between here and Walla Walla for Valentines. We went the weekend before and Grandma watched Keldon for us. Other than being dead tired and pregnant sick, we had a great time. We had an amazing dinner and I want to go back every year for special occasions. Chris has been busy gearing up for the upcoming lawn care season and is doing projects to get prepared. We hired a gal to do our books this year. We love her! I am so excited to finally be organized have someone track things that knows what they are doing. She has gone back and cleaned up our books from last year, getting reading for taxes and so forth. Chris built me a new computer for my birthday and set up 2 monitors at the office and upgraded our quickbooks software to 2011. Pretty soon, we will be changing my massage software over to a new online program so things will be even more easy and structured.
March:
I had my first ultrasound on the 2nd and got to see the little baby tadpole. Things look great and I love my new Dr. I switched OB's and couldn't be happier. The office is nice and clean and updated and has all the latest gigets and gadgets, including an ultrasound room in the office so no more going to the hospital for ultrasounds.For now, my official due date is October 11th. I am hoping only a few more weeks of morning sickness.

Overall, the last 6 months have been the happiest days I have had in a long time. Besides little coughs and a flu bug, we have been blessed with good health and strong bodies. Keldon is getting so big and is such a good helper. He is going to be a good big brother and I am looking forward to the next 6 months as his vocabulary continues to grow. It is so nice to be able to understand him and communicate with him on a more "big boy," level. I love being a mom. It is hard but so rewarding. I am trying hard to spend time with him reading and making him feel special, especially with the new baby coming. Daddy and him have been enjoying swimming at the gym on Saturdays. He sure loves his daddy!

Moving!

I had a mental breakdown a couple of weeks ago that went a little something like this 1) I hate living in East Pasco 2)I have no friends in Pasco that have little kids that I hang out with 3)I drive too far to the babysitter and to work every morning 4)my husband is hardly ever home and I spend most evenings alone 5)I would like to have neighbors that I can borrow an egg from without having to get a Spanish translation from the Internet to communicate. This major breakdown has come and gone through the last 4 years but this time is was the last. WE ARE MOVING! And I could not be happier. Last year, Chris lost his job as the on site property manager at the park we live in so it has been even harder for me to be here and grin and bare it this past year. I have been suffocating in our house and have had a really hard time. Probably all the changes of my mother passing away, a pregnancy, then a new baby and a major change in work pace for Chris and I both in the last 2 years. Not to mention my dad getting married on top of it all 6 months after my mom died. Its all been a little too much. I have been trying hard to get through the "Stage," but am ready for a new beginning. A new young ward that meets at a decent time. A place that is 2 minutes from work for both of us. Close to the grocery store and central to everything else in town. A swimming pool for Keldon in the summer and for my sanity! It's time. I am excited and looking forward to the next year. It will definitely be a change. It is not a glorious house, or a fancy apartment. It is just simple, and I can handle simple. I just need something new and different. We move on Thursday and since it is General Conference on Sunday we will be able to enjoy the weekend absorbing the newness. I have been packing a few things each day so hopefully when it is time to go I am not so frazzled. Wish me luck!

Wednesday Date Day with Mom

The smell of sawdust mixed with pig poop and elephant ears, crowds of people, booths and millions of strollers and balloons, lemonade.....you guess it....THE FAIR! I haven't been to the fair in a long time. Chris hates the fair so since we have been married we have only gone once. I decided to take Keldy to the fair today because it was kids day and my sister was taking her crew as well. Growing up I have found memories of the week before school....the infamous week of the Benton Franklin County Fair. Where I met all the boys I was sure I was going to marry and also where I spent hours sweeping sawdust on barn duty as a dedicated member of 4H. Ha ha! They fair is a funny place. You get to see all sorts of people come out of the woodwork. Kim and I met at Lampson Stadium in Kennewick and took the transit bus down to the fairgrounds. It was super hot outside but Keldon did really good despite the blistering heat. He was pretty chill and just hung out in the stroller the whole time. We had the pleasure of getting nearly ran over by a pig on his way to the show-ring and he even left us a treat of poop on Keldon's blanket that was hanging over the side of the stroller. LOVELY! Kim brought her camera so I am super excited to see all the cute pictures of the kiddos and the animals. Keldon got to hold a Rabbit and he pet all sorts of animals. His favorite was a little hen in the chicken barn. We rode out to the horse barns on the tractor trolley and made our way in and out of all the exhibit halls.

I was choked up a bit as I saw a display of beautiful quilts that had been entered in the fair to be judged. I always told my mom that she should enter some of her quilts. She thought it was a silly idea. Each quilt had a story behind it and they had a notebook with all the stories behind the quilt. Next year, I want to enter one of my moms quilts in the fair. When she was sick, like sick sick, no hair and feeling awful she made a quilt for my dad. She wanted him to have a quilt and she was so busy making them for everyone else all the time that she never made him one. She was busy making it up till just before she had hospice come in. I was so impressed with her perseverance and love.

Overall, I had a good time. It was hot and Keldon was in dire need of a nap so we finally took off around 4. A good day at the fair. We will sleep good tonight!

Good Mommies....

Being a good mother means......

Letting your baby play with the pots and pans even if they are right under your feet and its loud and annoying

Cleaning up broken up pieces of crackers out of the couch cushions, the car seat....your hair and any other cracks babies find to smash things in

playing peek a boo even when you don't have time

reading the first 4 pages of a 12 page book....over and over again because your baby wont sit still

wiping hundreds of nasty boogies and wiping hundreds of poopy bums

finding enough patience to let the little tantrums go without freaking out

playing tickle monster with a snotty nosed, crying baby at 3 am

rocking with a blankie all night long, knowing you wont get a nap the next day

playing cars on the kitchen floor

eating banana cream pie and vanilla wafers for a snack because you're only one once

sharing an ice cream bar even though you know it will take 10 wipes to clean up the mess

Motherhood is a challenge.... you give and give but in the end, when I see this little face, it is all worth it!

Today I am proud to say, that I was a good mommy

FAB 3 Weekend

This past weekend was my older sister Sherri's 30th Birthday. I knew she was dreading it a bit and wasn't expecting anything fancy to happen so I came up with a little something fancy myself. Sometime last week I got the idea to drive up with my other sister Kim and surprise her. We had plans to pretend to be robbers and mug her down at the beach, or to kidnap her from the house and drive her to a Karaoke Bar or something wild. I had the help of her husband so I knew we could pull it off. Friday after work, I picked Kim up and we headed to Mukileto..... After getting stuck in bumper to bumper traffic of course. We arrived at Sherri's just before dark and snuck around the back side of the house. The plan was to do what our family calls the "Grady Call," which is definitely an inside joke/thing. It basically entails making a very distinct call a little something like this..."Boo, Boo, Boo, Who, Who." It is weird I know, but unless you grew up in Finley and a house full of weirdo's you just wont understand. Anyway....No matter what and where, if you are part of my family and hear this, "Grady Call," You know it is a Carver, some where, some how.
Sherri ran outside the front door as we ran to the back yard to hide. She said that instantly she knew I was there at the house, but certainly wasn't expecting Kim who had left 4 kids and a husband at home. Yay! Sherri about peed her pants and screamed all at the same time.

The weekend went like this:
--Friday night stayed up late talking in bed with all us girls cuddled up.
--Saturday morning Sherri had church stuff and soccer to attend to so Kim and I taped her bedroom up and got ready to paint. Darin went to the store to get paint mixed up. We slapped a coat on, then left to get new handles/knobs for the bedroom furniture and ate lunch at Bento where the girls enjoyed sushi (not my thing, uhhek)
Back to the house, then to Ikea for a 3 hour rondavue of the worlds most fabulous store. I, by the way, ran from the front of that store, all the way through to get a throw pillow that we wanted but had apparently grabbed the display one. I almost passed out but I did it none the less 2 minutes before closing time. After wards we went to Baja Fresh and then back home at 10. Slapped another coat of paint on and let the magic happen.
--Sunday morning went to church, came home and ate a marvelous homemade pizza then I gave Sherri a massage while Kim finished decking out the room to look like a pottery barn magazine. We went outside and took a bunch of goofy pictures and then drove home and got home about midnight... Oh and Kim freaked out because she thought we were gonna run out of gas just past Yakima but we made it to Zillah!

Warning! Blogs are quite personal

Apparently, some people actually read this blog and dislike that I share my personal opinion and express my feelings about PERSONAL things. If I was brave enough like my fellow blog friend Cassidy I would post a disclaimer like she did so elegantly....

****Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed within represent my own and not those of my husband, daughter, son, unborn child, goldfish, withering house plants, or any other living thing within our house, unless specifically stated. Any complaints or dissatisfaction should be made known either directly to me (via comments, email, Facebook, carrier pigeon, etc.) or God himself, who I'm sure will intervene with the usual plagues, floods, locusts, or lightning bolts should I get out of line.****

Ahhhh...people that have opinions about people that have opinions. Such is life. Move on!

Your're invited to a Pity Party

LIFE IS HARD! It doesn't have to be, but sometimes we just make it that way. This month has been an especially challenging one for me. We have had a lot of things going on. Chris is really busy with getting his new lawn care business going and has been working super late hours and long weeks. I am a really needy when it comes to affection and like to be noticed and appreciated so I get my feathers ruffled easy when things are hectic. My business is doing well but is not quite on auto pilot and in order to make money you have to work so I feel like my priorities have been a little out of whack. I feel like the rope in the middle of a tug of war. My son spends more time with other people than he does with his parents, my house is always trashed because we are always on the go and I never buy groceries cause we don't ever make time to eat and I throw most of it out! AAHHH... Trying to balancing everything is making my brain hurt. I think too much, I talk too much, I care about other people too much and it sucks me in and drains my energy, and I try to hard to be perfect. I don't take enough time to smell the roses and all the while I am missing all the fun. Keldon will be 1 this Saturday.
That is right 1 years old....already. I know!

Am I who I want to be?

I'm I doing the best I can?

What is missing?

I wish my family was closer and that reality didn't hurt so bad.