Thanksgiving Trip Collage

 

Sisters

It isn't everyday that I catch sweet expressions of sisterly love, but here's one!

 

Recent Photos

Here are a couple of photos we took this past weekend.
Santa's mailbox

 

The quilt shop elves

 

We found some mistletoe, but couldn't kiss on demand!

 

Me and my sweetie~

 

New kid pics and our rural life

I just discovered these pictures - I don't know who took them or when, but here are a couple of new ones of our girls.

 

 

A couple of weeks ago we did a day road trip to the temple. We really live in a rural area - it is simply amazing what we see! On our way, we got stuck in a herd of sheep.

 

It must have been national animal herding day, because a short time later, we got stuck in a herd of cattle. Interestingly, they were both heading into each other - we missed the eventual collision!

 

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Wow!
My cousin posted this on her facebook page and I ran across it this morning.
After my last emotional breakdown & whiny poor me post I really needed to hear this. Elder Oaks stated, "We need to be thankful for adversity, and ask for guidance getting through it." I definitely haven't been Thankful for the things we've been struggling through right now - just trying to get through them and make heads or tails of them.
In the Spirit of Thanksgiving
I'm grateful for coming across this video clip this morning!

I would definitely be lying if I pretended like everything was perfect. Some days are way up, and some not so up.
Last week I went in for an emergency surgery to try and stop the excessive prolonged bleeding I've been dealing with for the past month. I'd been working with my doctor, trying different medicines, doing different tests and nothing seemed to be working. When it started to speed up with the last medicine experiment, he called for our plan B - the surgery.
Well, I was hooked up to my IV, the anesthesiologist had gone through everything with me and was ready to go. Just before they wheeled me through the doors, I noticed a nurse huddle outside the drape and my Dr. joined them. He came back to tell me that my routine blood tests had come back and HcG had been detected in my blood. Essentially, I was pregnant.

After 6+ years of trying (well, 10 total) and several previous rounds of fertility drugs, this came as quite the shock (this wasn't a result of fertility drugs this time). In a daze, we shuffled home. On top of this all, my husband has been on crutches for the past week and hasn't been able to help. He's been worried and stressed about work, and it's been quite the mix.

After heading to the lab yesterday, the Dr. told me that my numbers which had been 102 on Friday were now only 147 - he would have expected at least 300+ by this time. So, as it appears, this is a very abnormal pregnancy and if my body doesn't expel it naturally, we will have to have re-schedule my surgery.

To be short, I thought I was okay, but I think devastated would probably be a better term for it. On the rational and spiritual side, I'm fine. I'm at peace and I understand that I don't always get what I want (wait...I don't?). This morning at 3:30 am however, the emotional side kicked in and it isn't so great. I thought I could escape it by reading (my usual escape), but it only worked temporarily. My kids were frustrating this morning and wouldn't get going. I finally told them they were on their own. I'm afraid they took a slice of bread to school for their lunch - that's the kind of mother I am today. My house is a mess and I have so much to do, I'm having a tough time finding that starting spot.

I realize that this will pass, and there are much worse things in the world - like leprosy - that's one I really wouldn't want. I also know things will get better - they always do, but today, I'm struggling. I guess today I haven't had everyone calling or stopping by, and I finally have the luxury of being sad and crying about it. Yesterday my phone rang and rang. Talking about it - doesn't really help. I'm just looking for some emotional healing that I know will take time, patience, and a few tears.

Create

I saw this video clip this morning and loved it - especially regarding not letting the critics paralyze.
Create

Update on our lives

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks - they just seem to fly by lately.
First off - a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I got the chance to attend a concert of one of my favorite artists - Vienna Teng. She's a classical pianist and she's amazing. While trained as a classical pianist, her music is somewhere more along the lines of Norah Jones (but not so jazzy) and Tori Amos. She's a fantastic musician and the concert was truly a treat. We were able to meet her afterwards as well. We hadn't been on a date for ages, and this was definitely a great one!

This last week I ended up playing for a funeral, taught lessons, went on a field trip, went to the dr. office and ran errands and worked on getting some filing done. My husband recommended that we go paperless with all of our bills. Quite a daunting task, but I'm really falling in love with the idea. I just don't know why I thought I needed to save all of my trash/sewer bills from the past decade. What a revelation! So, I've been shredding and shredding old bills and statements and trying to tackle my bill hoarding problem. :)

While my husband hurt his hand a while back, and we recently got over the H1N1, he started running again this last week. Unfortunately, on Thursday while running, a bulldog came after him and as he turned to assess the situation, he sprained his ankle. I say - never a dull moment.

This weekend was one of the first free weekends we've had in such a long long time.
Since the weather was still nice, we decided to travel to the temple. While we usually attend a closer temple, we decided to travel a little farther.
My parents met us there and played with the kids while we enjoyed some time together in the temple. It's been a VERY long time since we've been able to go in at the same time. What a blessing it was to enter into the Lord's house and enjoy the sweet spirit of peace there and reflect on the covenants which I have made with God. After a great lunch/supper and goodbyes, we headed back home. While we enjoyed our book on tape, we decided to try a shortcut. Unfortunately, the shortcut, really wasn't a shortcut and at one point, the road completely disappeared. It just simply wasn't there. We ended up on a really old unused dirt road (right after dusk) and while our gps told us to turn again in 3.5 miles, we finally decided to hightail it out of there and head back the way we'd come. It added an extra hour onto our trip, but we enjoyed spending the day together, and were relieved to make it home in one piece. If we had hunted we could have just loaded up the car - there were SO many wild animals on the roads!
We spent yesterday in church and then spending time with some friends whom we haven't seen for a very long time. I ended up with the giggles and couldn't stop laughing for half of the evening. We collapsed once we finally got home.

Now... onto a new week filled with new adventures!

Class field trip

My daughter's class is doing a unit on the gold rush and on mining. I accompanied her class yesterday to their gold mining field trip. We went 1,100 feet into the mine and learned all sorts of nifty things.
Here's the mine

 

After the mine tour, they got to pan for gold.

 

The outhouse

 

The beautiful places we live

 

The mine shaft

 

 

Friends

 

Halloween Bats

It is nice when your kids want to be the same thing for Halloween - it cuts down on the brain work of how to make everything work. Our Halloween was gorgeous and we skipped out on the ward party so that we could celebrate our annual tradition of trick or treating in the village. The best part is that it is always from 1-4 pm. It was so warm we didn't need jackets, it was light outside and we could take our time and enjoy it. Later on, the kids visited some of our neighbors in the neighborhood, and then came home for hot cocoa, showers and bed.
Here's our daughter as she dressed up for the school parade.

 

I couldn't get a good shot of our youngest child at school, so we just get the black faces they decided to go with for the real thing!