March Service Project

Our March service project is a little different. I was able to purchase several gift certificates from restaurant.com for a quarter of the price. I wrote a note to go with each gift certificate. The notes were all the same... just basically that whoever receives this is awesome and amazing and is better than they might think. There are 10 of them. We put them in envelopes and the boys are delivering them to houses in the neighborhood today. The rule is that they have to go to houses where we don't know the person. They are just taping them on the door and leaving. We really hope that whoever receives these will know that they are awesome and amazing and better than they think!!

Cedar City with NO Pictures

Friday morning, the quorum and I drove to Cedar City. It was beautiful. The sun was shining from Provo all the way to Cedar. The boys all had their DVD players and watched movies quietly. The speedometer broke around, oh say Nephi... but never fear! Apps are here! Jackson downloaded a speedometer app and we were good to go! Haven't stopped using that puppy ever since! When we got to Cedar, we went potty and then headed to our paradise of a hotel... NOT. This place was one point above something you would see on the Discovery Channel. Oh well. Then we went to lunch and to the movies. We saw Croods. I don't get out to see many movies. And, when I do I rarely feel the need to own the movie that I saw. I will own this movie. It was darling! Then, we went to the Community Center. Why? Because the indoor swimming pool at the hotel was really an outdoor swimming pool. Nice. The boys swam at the community center for four hours while I studied. It was heaven. Really, it was! After that, we went back to the hotel. This is when it got really fun. I pulled out the hide-a-bed... the one that I was supposed to sleep on... Layed down... ALL THE WAY down...onto the floor. That's right! Broken bed. I had Jackson come in and look at it. "There is no fixing this piece of crap, Mom!" Awesome. I slept on the couch with my heart monitor equipment on a chair next to me. Colton started to not feel so good, so he ended up on the floor next to me. Don't worry... NO bedding for the so called hide-a-bed, so I wrapped him in towels to keep him warm and turned the thermostat up to 78! Living the dream! When we woke up and ate breakfast, the boys decided that they just wanted to go home. That was our trip! Yep... making memories one hide-a-bed at a time!!

Celebrating Nana's Birthday

Last night we celebrated Nana's birthday! Her birthday is actually on Friday but the boys and I will be on a little trip. We went to the Olive Garden. Oh, so yummy! There was an opera singer there who sang happy birthday to her. The boys were imitating him all night long! Then we went home for some Baskin Robbins goodness! We love our Nana!!!!!

Career Day

Today is Career Day at the boys' school. They all got dressed up today to show what they want to be when they grow up and take care of their Mama and their Nana! Braxton is a police detective! Kaydon is a Meterologist! Colton is an elementary school teacher!

A Tired Heart

I was in the hospital Tuesday night. I started out with the intention to go to the School Health Clinic - they asked me to go to Insta Care - I drove myself there, but after taking my vitals they said that I needed to go to the Emergency Room. They took good care of me there. I had an IV, blood work, chest x-rays, an EKG, urine tests, and a super fun laying, sitting, standing test. That last one didn't go so well. My dad has a heart condition. He has had two procedures done on that heart of his. He is also on medication now. It's genetic and it is more-than-likely that I have the same condition. I had an episode with my heart a week ago. On Monday night, I passed out. In front of my children. It scared them quite badly. I felt worse and worse as Tuesday went on. My heart is tired. Besides having a heart condition, the blood work showed that I might also have Mono. That's fun. Right now, I am wearing an external heart monitor 24 hours a day for 30 days. It's a little cumbersome, and sometimes frustrating, but it's going to be a good thing for me. It sits in a super stylish fanny pack on my hips and goes with me everywhere... even to bed. This has put an extra burden on my mom. She is so tired. She is trying to do everything around the house, make sure my kids are okay and check on my every few hours. She is exhausted. My children have suffered considerably. They are so worried about their Mama. Monday's event really scared them. A lot. Jackson is a bit of a wreck right now. He just can't let me out of his sight. He even struggles to go hang out with friends at night when I'm home. He doesn't like me to close my door or the bathroom door. Please pray for my boys. They need some extra strength and comfort right now. Please pray for my mom. She has already raised three kids! She shouldn't have to be doing this again! Please look at these flowers and smile. They're from Paula. Yellow is my favorite color. These flowers make my tired heart so happy!

Ice Cream

With the big boys (Joshua and Jackson) gone Friday night, the "little" boys and I went to Sub Zero. Why? Because that's how I roll. A huge cup of ice cream goodness in a freshly made waffle cone bowl. That is heaven. Did you know that my first job was at TCBY Yogurt? It was. I LOVED that flipping job. I worked at TCBY for like six years total. I'd work there now if they offered benefits... not kidding. Those were good times! I seriously loved every minute of every shift at that place. Those are some good memories! Ice cream/frozen yogurt/ice cream cakes/ice cream pies... Mommy likey!

Fish and Cookies

Jackson went on a scout overnighter on Friday night. They went ice fishing. He caught a cutthroat trout. The boys were FASCINATED by this animal! They kept touching its eyes and its teeth. They talked to it. The thing was already dead, but who cares?! Nana cooked it up last night. I didn't get to taste it because I passed out (literally), but I heard it was yummy! Jackson and Braxton made chocolate chip cookies on Sunday. Safety first! Braxton attempted to put liquid smoke in the dough instead of vanilla. Not good. They could not get their measurements right, or follow the steps on the directions. So what?!?! They made me and Nana laugh our heads off. They also ate all of the cookies and they are still living. Chalk that up to a success!

Lunch with the Girlies

Seriously LOVE these girlies! We had planned to go to Arbys, but Janie really wanted a "handlaburger." She informed me that I could find those at Arctic Circle. What Janie wants... Janie gets! After lunch, we went to the store to get some Easter eggs and candy. Lilly may or may not have had a months worth of jelly beans in like 4.2 minutes flat. How can you resist that face?!?! I can't wait for our date in April!

Races and Picks

Joshua is off to Vegas this weekend, protecting the drivers of the race cars. He loves to go do this twice a year. He loves this time with the safety team. He loves to be out on the track doing his job. He loves everything about it, I'm pretty sure. The boys like to look for him on the tv. Hopefully the weather will help make it a fun weekend for him! The boys have been begging for mommy time. Kaydon cried when I went to work today. The boys are all out of school today. So, I gave them two jobs for today. First, write Auntie Paula a thank you card for the rocket she got them and the girl scout cookies. Second, they need to write down one thing that they would like to do with Mom this weekend. I'm excited to see what they request. Jackson will be at a scout camp this weekend, so it'll just be the three youngest and I. I plan to make this weekend about the boys as much as I can. We all need that!

Quack Quack

I have boys. I also have Aflac. (Quack Quack) Braxton decided to chase after Kaydon, who was supposedly spying on Braxton and Braxton's friends. While chasing Kaydon (who is much faster so it was pointless to chase him anyways), Braxton fell on the cement, landed on his left wrist and drug his face along the cement. He called me just as I was preparing to go to class and told me he needed to go to the doctor. Those Insta Care docs get a kick out of us! One doctor there calls us the "Chain Saw Club" for obvious reasons. Remember when Braxton was cut my a chain saw... yeah that was awesome. X-rays, tears, nausea, a few laughs, a brace and explicit instructions to not do ANYTHING that could jeopardize his face or his wrist and we were back home. Orthopedist appointment in a week and if the swelling on his lower orbital bone doesn't go down in three days, we are off for a CT scan. Sweet!