I have a family here on earth, they are so good to me....

I am thankful for my sweet little family. We are blessed to have all of our family in Tri-Cities with the exception of my sister Sherri and Chris's sister Natalie (both in Seattle). This year has been a year of many trials, health challenges, and business challenges to name a few. Through all of it I have not been freaking out as much as I would have expected. With all the ups and downs it all boiled down to my family. My family is what I care about, my family is all that I really have. Businesses and work opportunities will come and go, health may be great or poor. But with everything what are we and what do we really have if we don't have our family. Things many seem hard right now, but my hope and my prayer is that in 20 years from now I will look back and smile and know that putting my family first, staying home and being a mother and the wife that I should be will be the best decision I ever made. My relationship with my husband has grown stronger through all this and I am so much more thankful for him. For the provider and honorable Priesthood holder he is. He is always calm and collected when I am frazzled and unfocused. He always has a solution to the problem and if he doesn't, he doesn't stop till he finds one. I admire his work ethic and his need to constantly keep trying. Sometime he needs a little direction but I think he is finally finding his way. Having a severely sick child and failing businesses humbles a person. It sure has humbled me and it is exactly what I needed. I don't like the circumstances we are in right now. Giving up my practice after 8 years has been as emotionally hard on me as well as financially. I take pride in my work and I feel complete when I can help someone else feel better and get out of pain but I always felt like I was depleted by the time I got back to my family. Instead of working a lot and making a little time for my family, I am making all the time for my family and working in my free time. What a concept huh? I'm focusing on one day and a time right now and I like it.

Im back for good!

I have been through so much lately and I can't get all of my crazy thoughts out of my head. I just realized that its been more than 2 years since I blogged. Facebook took priority over blogging and that can't happen anymore. I need to vent somewhere and blogging is a place for me to be able to put it all down.... the good, the bad and the ugly. Besides, we all get sick of the people who post 4 times a day on Facebook. I can't turn into one of "those people," right? I am officially a stay at home mom as of late and life has changed a lot. Instead of take out and a quick adventure to the McDonald's playground to ease my good mother conscience, I am baking bread and making crock pot meals while I plan the weeks activities; soccer, preschool, play dates and dinner. I'm getting old. I am turning into my mother. And its the best feeling in the world. I am exactly where I need to be and it feels good. Boy does it feel good.

Yay for Summer!

It has been forever since I have blogged or even really facebooked a lot of stuff. I have been horrible at even remembering to take pictures of everyday stuff. However, I have remembered to sit back and smell the roses. Other than puking my brains out the first trimester of this pregnancy and the occasional aches and pains in my low back and hips, the last 6 months has been great. I am in love with life lately and it is such a great feeling to be happy and positive about things.

Updates:
Keldon- talking in massive quantities! Favorites include....counting to 10, singing "COW" (Old MacDonald had a Farm) going swimming, going on the boat, drinking juice, wearing his new blue sun glasses, doing everything by himself, going to daycare and playing with his "friends."
We found out a while back that he is allergic to milk protein, so he is all non-dairy now for the most part, I am not super strict about it but his eczema on his cheeks is all gone now and his immune system seems to be a lot stronger.
We start swim lessons tonight for the next two weeks. Keldon is pretty stoked. He loves to swim and is getting so good at it its crazy. Chris takes him almost every Saturday to the Gym pool for there little Dad and Keldy date and he is getting very confident. He can swim all the way across the pool by himself with his little floaty suit on. It will be good for him to learn without his float this week.

Chris is busy with Lawn Care. He is learning to balance work, play and family a little better this year but has been a little stressed dealing with employees. He has bought some new equipment and vehicles in the last year and has struggled to keep them tuned up on going. The business is growing though and he is getting better at organizing his time and staying focused on the big picture. He is good at that part.

Me..... ummmmmm. I am pregnant and busy at work as usual. I have had a little rough spell with workers ans business growing pains as well. I finally broke down and hired and employees which has been bitter sweet. I am learning it is harder that just renting space. I had one of my favorite therapists leave and now I am scrambling to decide what to do with my clients and the office while I go on maternity. The months are going by so fast and pretty soon, it will be October and life will just get crazier. I have had a great 2nd trimester. The baby is moving a lot, mostly at night and is a lot more chill than Keldon was for sure. I am carrying him completely different. Higher and way farther back which is causing quite a bit of pain in my si-joint and sacrum. I am hoping it gets better as I cut back my work hours. We haven't decided on a name. We actually don't really talk about it anymore because it causes too much tension. Ha ha! I guess it will be baby until we see him and decide.

We are still loving our ward and all our awesome friends. I love summer bbq's and boating, swimming and get togethers. Last weekend we went to the Hermiston water park with our good friends the Gibbons and there little boy and had a good time. We might be buying Chris's Grandmas house on Union street were the shop and his office are in the next few months and might have to move wards. But we will have a house finally too so we will see if it all goes through or not. I need a new car right now and we don't have a money tree out back so hopefully everything will all work out. My transmission is about to poop out Im not really ready to deal with that right now so I am crossing my fingers!

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