Our Week

Goodness...we're halfway through the first month of the year! Can you believe it. I think I am finally starting to feel like life is getting back to a normal routine after Christmas!

SO! Our week was not too exciting...in fact...I am hard pressed to remember anything worth writing about! (give me a second here while I consult my calendar...) Oh yeah! Monday was Brandon's moms birthday! We went over and had a little party with the rest of the family who live up here. It was nice to visit and sing to Mary Louise!... I am sure I did other things that day...made breakfast, did dishes, picked Kaitlyn up from school, made lunch, cleaned up from that, put Weston down for a nap, tried to keep the girls entertained without the aide of the television, helped the girls clean there room, made snacks, cleaned up messes the kids made, went to the bank, signed Kaitlyn up for dance class, went to the store, realized I had left my debit card in the ATM at the bank...rushed to the bank before it closed to get my card, got home, made dinner (I think Brandon actually made dinner on Monday...) did the dishes... cleaned the kitchen (again)... got the kids to bed........that's pretty much how everyday goes...with a few different variations....so exciting...I know! Honestly I got to the point this week where I was sounding a lot like my kids..."I am SO bored!" You'd think after three years I would have adjusted to small town life! I honestly don't get out of my house much...because there's really no place to go. Winter is the worst for me because it's cold and we can't even go to the park or for a walk...I get a little "stir-crazy" being cooped up in the house ALL day long. Adelin and Weston don't know any different...but Kaitlyn will sometimes say to me (and she did this week)..."Mom, I miss living in Mesa." When I ask her why, she mentions all the fun things we used to do... swimming, going to the zoo, going to the mall, spending the night at Grandma's...it's hard to not tell her, "I wish we could move back too..." besides, I don't know if I really want to or not....and even if we did move back to Mesa then I'd hear, "Mom, I miss living in Snowflake" and when I asked her why I am sure her answer would be, "I miss my friends, I miss playing with my cousins, I miss riding horses..."

I have noticed a "trend"...I have about a week out of every month where I sure that I am going to go nuts if I have to stay in this town any longer and I am so sad about not having family (my family) around...and I realized this week (finally) that I am homesick. What's the cure for that?

On to the other wonderful highlights of the week!

Weston learned how to say, "Jesus"...it's dang cute too! He's growing up and gaining opinions that he has no way to express...so he points and whines and gestures (kind of like charades) until we figure out what he wants. It will be so nice when we can just say, "juice" or "hungry"! He has another black eye...who knows where it came from! If he didn't run into something I am sure his older sister aided him in his injury!

Adelin is still wearing skirts and sandals. She likes to pretend like it is summer...which is fine when we are in the house...but if we are going somewhere, we have to just about pin her down and put pants on her. She loves skirts! She's kinda funny that way. She wakes up and before she even come out of her room she takes her Pull-up off, puts panties on, and gets dressed in a skirt and shirt. If she was unable to find a clean skirt...she will sometimes rummage through the dirty clothes (unbeknown to me) and come out dressed and ready for a bowl of cereal...even if I make pancakes or eggs...she will eat a bowl of cereal first! ALSO! This week, Adelin finally mastered riding her tricycle. We've had a couple warm days and she got out there and with a little help from her big sister...she's mastered it!

Kaitlyn has been riding her bike a TON too. She'll even go out there in the cold. She zooms around the drive way and up into the yard. I have doctored a few wounds caused by her new found love for biking. ( to be honest...I love performing first aide...so even though I hate to see her hurt, this is fun for me...sick, I know...) She's been reading more and more and helping out even more with housework. Today she helped sweep the floor...I went to finish the job and found all the crumbs she'd swept shoved into a corner of the kitchen and hidden by a rug. Nice.

Brandon relieved his poor house bound wife yesterday and I went to Wal-Mart...alone! Our cupboards would have put Old Mother Hubbard to shame! It was a good thing I didn't take any kids because that cart of FULL! I don't know how much longer I will be able to do "major grocery shopping" with only one cart! (yikes) Brandon is also playing on the ward basketball team. His games are all too late, so the kids and I don't go...but he has fun and I always hear from people about how good they think he is. He's such a great husband...he puts up with me...and that in itself (not mentioning all the other things he does) is a major feat! ALSO...he enjoyed watching the Cardinals beat the...well...whatever team they played in their play-off game today! (judge us if you must for watching TV on the Sabbath...but you know what the Lord says about those who judge others...)

I signed up to play Volleyball with our ward. I chicken out and didn't go to our first game. I have a very hard time playing sports in this town...well...with competitive people in general. I don't like it when I am playing with a group of adults and I feel like I am getting picked on for not playing as well as they do... they play a "friendly game" like they are trying out for the Olympics! (oops...what did I just say about judgin others??? Hey! I am working on it too!) BUT...I have talked to a few other people in my ward who feel the same way as I do and we've decided that we're going to brave it. So...I might go to my game this week...maybe.

Today was a good day! I got to go to Sunday School and Relief Society! I am nursery leader and have been in there since Weston was 4 months old...we now have 4 people called to nursery (including myself) and so we rotate one person out every week...but we still have that other person in case we need them. It's work out pretty well so far! After church, we had Jon (Brandon's cousin), Dawniel (his wife who I LOVE) and their 3 cute kiddos over for dinner. I made a new recipe. It's French Dip Subs. They turned out pretty good. All you do is put a roast in the Crock Pot along with 1/2 C. soy sauce, 1 tsp. rosemary (which I think I'll skip next time), 1 tsp. thyme, 1 tsp, garlic powder, and one bay leaf for 10-12 hours. (I forgot to mention that you need to cut as much fat off the roast as you can so that your drippings aren't to greasy.)...anyhow...you shred the roast and serve it on a roll...and you use the drippings as your dipping sauce. Very easy...which is key for anything recipe I use!

I guess that's all for now! I have to say that I am SO excited that there isn't school tomorrow! Thank You Martin Luther King Jr. and all you and others sacrificed so much for Civil Rights...and thank you to whoever decided to give kids the day off school so that I can sleep in!