I have been wanting to take the kids on a trip. We've been saving and about a month ago found a great price on airline tickets. It's been fun planning our trip and finally telling the kids a few weeks ago. They have been counting down. I'll blog more about it later.
We are so excited that we are going to DISNEYLAND!!!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Trials
Part of the reason I haven't blogged for a while is that it is often hard to talk about trials that you are going through. It is better after a little time has passed and perspective gained. The past month has been one of frustration, disappointment, and sorrow. The saying "When it rains, it pours" has been very true lately. Just when I think that it can't get any worse, something else happens.
I have mentioned before that my mother-in-law has been in and out of the hospital. About 3 weeks ago Rick was about to take his next test when the boys and I woke up with some intestinal issues. We sent Rick to a hotel to avoid the bug as he was to take his test the next day. That night the kids and I were feeling better but got a call tat my mother-in-law had fallen again (just 4 days after coming home from the hospital). I spent the rest of the night trying to convince her that she needed to go to the inpatient rehab to get stronger. (FRUSTRATION)
Rick ended up getting the bug about an hour before his test. Needless to say he didn't pass the test, he didn't even finish it as he was in and out several times. This just puts us further from him getting the jog he wants (DISAPPOINTMENT)
I have struggled whether to share this last information but am hoping that it will be cathartic or something. That night my brother called to let us know that they had found out that my sister-in-law in in Stage IV cancer. The cancer has metastasized and in her spine and shoulder blade. Her type of cancer has a 17% survival rate at 5 years. I still get choked up when I think about it. She has 5 kids ages 1-12. To talk to them it doesn't seem to be a big deal. They are such an example of faith and understanding Heavenly Father's plan for us. I on the other hand question why, why, why... and tear up far too often. I know that there is a bigger plan, I just think that the current one pretty much stinks.
I have mentioned before that my mother-in-law has been in and out of the hospital. About 3 weeks ago Rick was about to take his next test when the boys and I woke up with some intestinal issues. We sent Rick to a hotel to avoid the bug as he was to take his test the next day. That night the kids and I were feeling better but got a call tat my mother-in-law had fallen again (just 4 days after coming home from the hospital). I spent the rest of the night trying to convince her that she needed to go to the inpatient rehab to get stronger. (FRUSTRATION)
Rick ended up getting the bug about an hour before his test. Needless to say he didn't pass the test, he didn't even finish it as he was in and out several times. This just puts us further from him getting the jog he wants (DISAPPOINTMENT)
I have struggled whether to share this last information but am hoping that it will be cathartic or something. That night my brother called to let us know that they had found out that my sister-in-law in in Stage IV cancer. The cancer has metastasized and in her spine and shoulder blade. Her type of cancer has a 17% survival rate at 5 years. I still get choked up when I think about it. She has 5 kids ages 1-12. To talk to them it doesn't seem to be a big deal. They are such an example of faith and understanding Heavenly Father's plan for us. I on the other hand question why, why, why... and tear up far too often. I know that there is a bigger plan, I just think that the current one pretty much stinks.
Field Trip
Levi's preschool took a field trip to Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum. The boys had a good time in the education center and looking at all the planes.
Skiing
At the end of December I found the "Utah Pass of all Passes" on sale for $30 for the year. Seriously such a good deal. We get a tons of activities throughout the year and have already got our money worth. The big draw for me was 6 days per month of skiing at Wolf Mountain. Levi overheard Rick and I discussing it and said that he wanted to go skiing. For that price, I could take him. So I have since taken each boy twice and have had a lot of fun. The boys picked it up very quickly and it was fun to spend some 1 on 1 time with each of them.
The second time Levi and I went he said "Mom, I don't like the going down the hill part so much, I like the break part" Me, "the part where we get hot chocolate?" Levi "Yep" You can never go go wrong with chocolate.
Jace is fearless for the most part and wanted to go on the lift the very first day. On our second day he got down the bigger hill with only 2 spills right when we started. That was more due to me not controlling his speed as well as I should have.
The harness was definitely worth getting. They picked up skiing with less work on my part.
Christmas 2011
We had a busy but fun Christmas. Here are a few pics from our activities. We went to Christmas Village in Ogden and the boys had fun seeing the different little houses with scenes inside.
We even were able to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. Levi asked for Ultimate Optimus Prime and Jace asked for a sippy cup, a bear and a frog.
We rode the FrontRunner to Salt Lake and went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was snowing lightly that night and it was beautiful. There were a lot of people but it wasn't too crowded.
December 23rd was the Cook family party. Since my mother-in-law has been in and out of the hospital since September my 2 sisters-in-law and I got together all the gifts. The younger girls got LaLaLoopsy dolls, older girls got various things and all the boys age 3-18 got nerf guns. I was in charge of the nerf guns, 33 in all. It was an all out war at the church. It was a lot of fun.
Christmas Eve we planned to spend the evening with my parents, but at the last minute decided to catch a matinee with the boys prior to going to my parents. We went and saw Arthur Christmas. It was super cute. Jace fell asleep in the first 30 minutes but Levi LOVED it. I'm looking forward to adding it to our DVD collection to watch each year. Following the movie we headed to my parents and enjoyed spending time with them before we headed home to read the Christmas story from the Bible and get ready for Santa.
Christmas Day was a lot of fun. The boys woke up around 7a.m. and we didn't have church until 1p.m. We took our time opening presents and enjoyed the morning. Santa came through for the boys and even knew to bring a few Wii games as he knew that Mommy and Daddy had bought a Wii for the family gift. We opened a few presents, played with them, opened a few more, had breakfast and continued this pattern until almost noon. Rick got me a Kindle and I have had a good time reading some books, which I rarely get to do.
I left my camera at my parents house on Christmas Eve so I didn't get many pictures on Christmas Day.
Where to start
So I said in my last post (over a MONTH ago) that it has been busy. That is an understatement. It's been a very trying time for all of us and I feel that I need to document it somewhere in order to remember how grateful we need to be for the blessings we have.The week of Thanksgiving we were called with some heartbreaking news. My sister-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. I can't imagine
how they felt. She was scheduled to undergo a mastectomy in December and began chemo in January. As I looked at my schedule I had Dec 12-15 off and offered to come stay with the kids while she had surgery. They said that they could just have someone from their community stay with the kids but I told them I rarely have a day off, let alone 4 days in a row, I was coming to do what I could while I had the chance. The boys and I went up on Sunday and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. We had Santa pancakes,
made Christmas ornaments, fingerpainted with pudding and had a good time with cousins. Going from 2 kids to 7 was definitely a challenge, especially at bedtime.
About the same time my assistant who sees home care patients for me was in a car accident and was taken off of work, again and again. In fact the newest date for return is mid-March. This normally wouldn't have been a problem but I had already accepted shifts based on only doing supervisory visits for her. Suddenly I had an extra 20-25 hours of work to do. So it has been super busy since.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I'm a little, okay let's be honest, A LOT behind in the blogging department. To say the past 2 months have been busy would be an understatement. We have been extremely blessed and by many standards are very lucky. Life has kicked us down, dragged us in the mud, and yet we're better off than many others. I have new family pictures to post, events to document and things to be grateful for. I have 1 last project that needs to be done by the end of the week and then I hope to catch up on our events of late.
I'm a little, okay let's be honest, A LOT behind in the blogging department. To say the past 2 months have been busy would be an understatement. We have been extremely blessed and by many standards are very lucky. Life has kicked us down, dragged us in the mud, and yet we're better off than many others. I have new family pictures to post, events to document and things to be grateful for. I have 1 last project that needs to be done by the end of the week and then I hope to catch up on our events of late.
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