Homemade Strawberry Milk

Have you ever had a time in your life when you feel completely overwhelmed? You know-like you are drowning and no matter how hard you try you just can't get your head above water? That's been my last couple of weeks. I love my life-wouldn't trade it for anything. I love my husband and each one of our children. They are all such a blessing to me. HOWEVER I am one person-there are 5 of them. My job is to take care of them-their laundry, their meals, help with homework, find time for each of them, make sure we read scriptures and say prayers, try to keep our house clean. I drive my kids to school, activity days, soccer, dance, young womens-trying to keep the car clean is almost impossible!! In the midst of all of the responsibility I want "fun" time with each one of these awesome 5 people, too. Date night with Casey and atleast a good conversation or reading a book with each one of the kids is a must. I am in the Young Womens Presidency of our ward-love my girls and the women I serve with-this takes some time even though I love it. Lots of work but seriously the best calling in the world! I am a visiting teacher. Then to squeeze in "me" time-scriptures, reading a good book, time at the temple, down time. It can be crazy!

Yesterday I decided it's a new week so I ran to Costco to get some milk and fresh fruit-strawberries, grapes, peaches, pineapple-we all love it and it sure makes good snacks for us while we are home and to send with Casey to work. I also got a good start on the laundry, swept & mopped the tile, cleaned the bathrooms, glanced at my lesson for Sunday and made some phone calls that needed to be made. I am telling you this for a reason...

Today Alyssa needed to go to dance immediately after school. Shay wanted to stay home and hang out with friends. I cut up some strawberries & grapes and left them in a bowl for them to have a snack while we were gone. When I came home there were 3 giggling girls in my kitchen. They were THRILLED-I knew I would not be from the looks on their faces. (REMEMBER-I BOUGHT FRUIT & MILK TO LAST THE WEEK SO I'D BE PREPARED & I HAD MOPPED THE FLOOR!!!!) The cute girls decided to make homemade strawberry milk. Instead of using the Quick syrup they got out the strainer, mashed a ton of strawberries, mixed them with quite a bit of milk and sweetened the concoction with sugar-lots of it. As they were pouring and measuring and stirring they had a few spills. So trying to be helpful they used about 7 washcloths and 4 dishrags-some soaked in water, some not. The counters were smeared with trying to be cleaned up yummies, my feet are sticking to the floor. My blood is boiling-I can't say anything because I am trying not to cry. I calmly talked them thru why this probably wasn't a great idea-they excitedly explained why it was and tried to give me the glass they saved just for me.

Thankfully Casey walked thru the door right when I wanted to crack. He smiled, then he laughed, then he tasted their awesome drink and said it might need to go in the blender with some ice-he'd help them fix it. Such a relief to have him home to downplay the situation before I flipped. I am so grateful for him-he is so much calmer than me! I have so much to learn from him. I think he's chilled me out a ton-I obviously still have a long way to go. I think tomorrow I'll go back to Costco for more strawberries and milk and then I'll invite these cute girls back over to replay the afternoon-this time I'll enjoy their creativity, their yummy recipes & their smiles and giggles. I will for sure wait to re-mop the floor til they leave! ;)

Scripture Time At Our House

I have mentioned before we have "scripture treats" at our house after we read scriptures. It has been so awesome! The little bribe has made it a way more spiritual experience for us~WAY less chaos when we can earn a piece of candy. I love it. My cute kids even ask to read scriptures before bed. I always have a little hope that it's because they love the scriptures and not just for the candy. I know either way they are learning to recognize the Spirit we feel when we read them as a family and their testimonies are being strengthened. It's awesome!

Tonight during Sawyer's turn his verse had the word "hell" in it. It's always such a confusing moment for him-WHAT IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO? That is a swear word and he gets in trouble when he says it. I always remind him it's ok-it's teaching us about a place in the scriptures so he can read the word. So he hesitated a little-gave me a quick glance to seek approval-and read it. He giggled a little. When he finished the verse he asked me, "Mom, what kind of language do they speak in hell?" I am pretty sure it wasn't a real question-just an opportunity to say that fun little word one last time tonight. ;)

Jaycee is the only person in the family that can't read. It really bugs her. We used to whisper the verse in her ear but she is so beyond that now. She can read. She is just sure of it! So when we are done we let her "read" us one last verse. It's always hilarious to hear what she comes up with. Never fails the verse she reads always begins with "Behold"...funny she has caught onto that. Pretty common word in the scriptures, huh? So tonight it was, "Behold, we can only say bad words when they are in scriptures. And not potty words unless they are in scriptures." She rambled on a little more then her closing words were "Chapter 14 verse 32." She just makes that part up, too. Cracks us all up.

In all seriousness I am so grateful for these simple moments with my sweet family. I wanted to be a wife and a mom more than anything in life~it has been better than I could have ever imagined to grow and learn with these awesome people I have been blessed with. I thought I would be "the teacher" and it felt like so much pressure. Pressure because I love them so much and want them to live lives of peace & happiness that only the gospel can bring. It's interesting to see that it's the experiences we have as a family that teach us together-we are growing so much and becoming so much. I learn so much more from Casey & our kids than they will ever learn from me. They are just awesome!!!

The Healing Fields

We have driven past this every year and never taken the time to walk thru it....I of course spent a lot of time yesterday reflecting on the sad, scary memory of September 11, 2001. I love our country-always have. But somehow that day brought a deeper love and appreciation for the blessings we enjoy-for the peace & safety we all cherish in this country. It's amazing how "back to normal" everyone has gotten since that day-for a long time it felt like life just stood still. I'm grateful for the awesome music that is played on the radio every September 11th-really makes it such a special & sacred day. It's so good for all of us to be reminded! I love to see the flags in everyone's yards-NEXT YEAR we will have one for sure. It made me sad to wake up Friday and not have one flying in our yard. Alyssa & Shaylee both came home from school yesterday rattling off stories their teachers shared with them at school...my first thought was The Healing Field that I've never taken them to. SO we went tonight as a family. Sawyer & Jaycee just thought it was fun to run thru the flags, but Alyssa & Shaylee "got it". I'm so grateful for that! Now I think I'll reread "Let's Roll" by Lisa Beamer-amazing book. We all remember that story. If anyone wants to borrow my copy you are so welcome to it! ;)

Kids School Pictures

Jaycee's 4 year old pics....
Sawyer Kindergarten.....
Shaylee-4th grade---LOSERS didn't send her cd so I just took a picture of it with my camera-not high tech enough to have a scanner! LOL She's super cute!
Alyssa's 7th grade picture...

Yikes! They are all getting so big and are such good, cute kids! Love them all so much & am so grateful to be their mom!

My friend from Sudan.....

I had an experience today that is still haunting/inspiring me...I just wanted to share! Read if you want-don't if you don't-it's all good! I had to drop off some food donations and boxes we decorated for our YW/YM combined activity this week at the food bank. I had cute Jaycee with me and thought it would just be a routine errand. I backed into the dock and got out to unload-a few men were hanging out waiting to help. The man that came to help me was the blackest man I have ever seen-can I say that? Don't know how to say that "correctly". He had an accent when he spoke-was very polite. Honestly it was his shirt that intrigued me. I wish I had a picture-it was OBVIOUS that it was from Africa. It was a black shirt with a very colorful/busy yellow design. The collar was sort of v neck and crocheted around the edges. Pretty fancy and casual all at the same time. I wondered about this man as I looked into his eyes-don't eyes always share a story?? I really wondered what those eyes had seen-what his life had been like. I just wanted to see what he has seen and know his story. His journey was for sure so different from mine! SO....I asked about his awesome shirt. He told me his mom had brought it back for him. That led to him telling me he was here from Sudan-that they were political refugees. Ohhhh-I wanted to know more. I wanted hours to listen-maybe a photo album to see. He spoke of guns and being shot at. Of blood and unrest. We started to talk of the blessings of America-I shared with him that I had never experienced what he had, that I've always been blessed to be here. That it made me sad that although I am a good person and pretty humble ;) I felt like we as Americans never have enough. He shared his perspective...SO INTERESTING...he said "People are hungry. They get food-they want better food. 1st thing I wanted when I came here was a tv. I got my tv-now I want a big flat screen. We are all the same. We are human."

Take that. Interesting we are all very much the same. I will always remember this special man from Sudan...grateful for a moment to be humble and realize how alike we really are just as humans. I hope this sweet man continues to work hard-that he makes a good life here and contributes something to society that nobody else can-and that someday I will see him again so I can buy him lunch and listen more. Funny that sometimes we are blessed to meet people that will mold us-he touched my life and I will never be the same. Weird who ends up in our path on this journey of life-I don't at all believe that anything that happens is ever a coiincidence-I'm grateful for all the little lessons I learn from everyone I meet. People are amazing! I'm even more grateful tonight to be in my safe home-with my family-in this awesome country.

My Crazy Sawyer

Tonight he was shooting our dang wasp nests with a dollar store squirt gun....I told him it wasn't smart but he thought it was hilarious. Good thing he can run fast and they didn't get him!
These paintings from kindergarten were in his backpack today. The flower I totally understood-so sweet-he loves his mom and made it for me. Love that boy. The other painting I needed an explanation. Ready for this??? The blue is the sky-then blood, then dirt, then blood, then dirt, then yellow ink & then grass. Yikes. He's all boy. What a funny kid! He cracks me up.

Hello!!!!

Alyssa's first day of Jr High.....
Sawyer's first day of Kindergarten.....
Jaycee's first day of preschool.....

Wow! We have been crazy busy-probably just like the rest of you!!! Angie-saw your comment-yes I do live in my car! It's nuts! One kid in jr high, one in elementary all day, one in kindergarten & one in preschool. PLUS everything else they do-seriously...how does everyone do this? ;) Between busy and my camera breaking at girls camp (that ticked me off...but I love my new camera!) the blog has been a little neglected. Oh well! The kids are all in school and they love it. It's fun to see them grow and learn and become. It's awesome! Shay started school before everyone and her cute pic is on the card from the old camera-dang it! I'll have to get that put on a disc and post it. She's a cutie!