Robert

Today's Robert's birthday. He's 7. ..... I can't believe he's 7. It just seems like moments ago when Mike was driving me to the hospital the 2nd time (the first time was a false alarm).

I remember watching everyone rushing around when the time had come for me to push. I couldn't feel anything because I had the epidural so it was quite humorous watching everyone rushing around. But then it hit me -- the reality of my life never being the same. No more just me and Mike. No more just MY time. No more... sleep! Life was never going to be the same and that terrified me. And still I truly had no idea just how much my life was going to change.

My sweet baby entered the world October 28, 2002. He was 9 lbs 6oz, 21 1/2 inches long and as healthy as a horse. All the other babies in the maternity ward were sickly and had to stay in the hospital for weeks, but not Rob. He was ready to go home the next day. Such a stud right from the get go!

Today he's 67 lbs and 4'3" tall. Can you believe that? I was watching him walk across the playground to his classroom today and noticed that he's already got a little strut to his walk and thought "What happened to my baby??? It's like he bypassed his youth and headed straight into adolescence!"

But the best thing I love about my son is that he's a better person than me. He has a heart of gold and he's a stronger person than I could ever be. And even though I was terrified for him to come into my life, he definately changed my life for good.

Happy Birthday, Robert!

Highlights From Summer

Just a few highlights from summer.....

Carly's Birthday

The Getty Museum

Grandma Sandy!!!!

(can you find her through all the hugs?)

Grandma Sandy with Logan

Beach with Family and Friends

Carly & Grandma Sandy

Robert & Shawn

(Hiding the bodies I presume)

Dolphins!!!!

Carly & Andrew

Rob & Carly hangin' with their posse

Ahhhh!! Good times! And then......

The First Day of School :(

Where Did All My Energy Go????

I feel like I never get anything done. Seriously. I wake up and the activities never stop. And yet NOTHING gets done. How does that happen? Seriously, I want to know how that happens. I wake up and get dressed at 6:30 -7a. I make the bed and spruce up the house. I get the kids up. We eat breakfast, then I help the kids get ready for school. They clean their rooms and we're off to school by 8-ish. I take the dogs out for their morning run then head to the gym. If there's time I'll squeeze in an errand before I come home, maybe do a chore or two, shower, grab a bite to eat and then go pick up Carly. After Carly comes home is where I can't figure out what happens. Sometimes, I can squeeze in a couple more errands, but sometimes I'll come home with the intent to do something off the endless 'to do' list, but something happens. It's like I get sucked into this black hole and before I know it it's time to go get Robert.

When Rob comes home, forget about it. I'm done. Completely fried. I pick up Rob at 3:30. We go straight from school to either Tennis or Karate. Then home to eat dinner (usually 6p by now) While I'm preparing dinner, I'll run through spelling words, addition flash cards and 'love words' (which are really sight words). We eat dinner and then it's off to baths and bed. 8pm and nothing has gotten done: the dogs automatic waterer hose still needs to be repaired, more sprinkler heads need to be repaired, the gopher still needs to be killed. My bills, papers, movies, kids toys & closets still need to be organized. And that's just a small portion of what all needs to be done. And I'm so tired. So so tired. It's 9:30 and I'll be in bed by 10 which is actually late. I'm usually in bed shortly after I clean the kitchen by 9. So the question still remains.... where did all my energy go? I used to be able to do it all. Now? Nothin'! I get nothing done!

Needless to say, I want my energy back! Seriously, I'm begging for just a little bit of my energy back. But then again, the more I think about it, I'm too tired to care.

Starting Over

I'm not even going to try to fill in the huge gap between the last time I wrote and now. So I'm just starting over.

Honestly, life is hard, but good. Mike is gone a lot but continues to do his best at being a great father and husband. I've been trying to chip away at all the household projects I've got on my list: killing gophers (still!), fertilizing and tilling the flower beds, an endless chore of repairing sprinklers and many other mini projects. It's funny how even though both kids are in school now I still have no time to do all that needs to be done AND keep up with just the regular every day chores.

The kids love school. I'm so greatful for my kids. They're so good! Carly is a blast to hang out with and Robert is just so good. There are so many qualities I see of Mike's in him. Honestly, this is both good and bad. :) But mostly good. They both love school. The first day they were so excited. They both got up early early like it was Christmas. So funny! Here they are the first day of school.

I'm still trying to get used to the daily schedule but it's coming along.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how life is. We think we're in charge of our lives and to a certain extent we are. But for the most part we aren't. There is no doubt in my mind that the only control we have in our lives is how we deal with what happens to us. That is the only control we have. We may think that if we make all the right choices and if do all the right things then somehow, some way we are exempt from all the bad things that happen in the world. But, oh, how naive that is! Things are happening in my life that I have no control over. But I do have control over how I treat my family and friends and what my attitude is going to be for the day. I have control over ..... really what else do I have control over? I mean, really I try to get things done and something ALWAYS comes up so that I don't get the things done that I want to get done. But really what is more important than the way we treat our family and friends? Especially when the times are tough? That truly is the only thing we have control over. Anyway, I'm sorry to be so serious. I just felt the need to share.

Life is good. :)

A Lot to Blog About...

Stay tuned for the upcoming posts:

Carly's Birthday party
Beach Days with friends
Grandma Sandy's arrival
And many more thoughts to pass on.

I realize I'm a slacker. But I hate posting without pictures and my camera is SO SLOW in uploading pictures and, let's face it, I'm lazy. But stay tuned, 'cuz you maybe tagged! hehehe :0

Disneyland

It's been just about a year since we went to Disneyland. We were well over do. I took Rob out of school and met Stephanie & Sydney Lovio and Liz Rose and kids down there and had a wonderful day. It would be an understatement by saying we had a good time:

(Back Row) Aladin, Jasmine, Sidney, Stephanie, (front row) Sara

Sidney was so excited when she saw Jasmine. She was beside herself. She so desperately wanted a picture with her, but wouldn't do it without her mama. And, of course, Little Miss Sara couldn't resist the picture either. We love you, Sara!

Robert wanted a picture too, but he didn't want a picture with Jasmine. Afterall, he only has eyes for his mama!

Heading over to California Adventure. Haven't yet gotten all the way through California Adventure. It's a great park, but it's not Disneyland :)

We found the perfect post to watch the parade come through at California Adventure. Don't you love the wonderment of childhood?

We ate dinner in Fantasyland around 7:30pm and the kids were still wound up. Can you blame them? Afterall, it is Disneyland!

I know I say this a lot. But I really do love California and all it has to offer. The weather was absolutely perfect and the fact that we were able to go with such great friends made it an absolutely supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day!

Olympic Day

Opening ceremonies consisted of a parade (below) and lighting of the torch (above). Very cool!

Rob's class was Team Egypt.

Robert had Olympic Day at school. And for weeks the kids were practicing for their events. Robert was in 3 events: Broad Jump, Relay Race and Ball Throw. I was a little worried about the relay race because, let's face it, he's not a very face runner. So I asked him how he felt about all his events. He said that he was okay with all the events except for the relay race because he always came in last. No matter how hard he tried he always came in last. Needless to say, it broke my heart. So being the athlete that I am (hahahahahahahahaha!), I gave him a few pointers.

1. Don't forget to breathe.

I asked him to run for me so I could see how he was running. The little stinker was holding his breath at the start. No wonder he was coming in last!


2. No matter what you do, don't worry where everyone else is in the race. You just worry about you and handing off the baton. Just focus on handing off the baton.


3. Run as fast as you can the whole way. Don't stop until you hand off the baton!


I was so nervous the day of the games. After all, I really didn't want my little boy to come in last. But just in case, I was preparing myself and what I would say if he did. But Robert was as cool as a cucumber.


His first event was the ball throw. He got up and threw the ball and did fantastic. The next event was the broad jump. He didn't do bad on that either. Finally, it was time for the relay race. He was the middle leg which I knew was good strategizing on the coaches part. The gun goes off and they're off. Robert's team mate was in the lead when he handed off to Robert. Robert took off as fast as he could go. I was screaming at the top of my lungs, "Go Baby Go! Go Baby Go! Woo!" He kept running as hard as he could. The other racers were gaining on him. I'm still screaming, "Go Rob!!!! Go Baby!!!!". He's nearing the hand off. I'm screaming like crazy 'cuz the other racers are on him and Bam! he hands off the baton just ahead of the other racers and his teammate takes off. I'm jumping up and down screaming. I didn't really care how the race ended I was just so proud of my little boy. It was obvious that he ran his little heart out.


Honestly, I don't think any of my pointers really helped him (except for maybe the breathing part). But, I should have known that he would have done just fine. After all, that little boy works best under pressure. This isn't the first time I witnessed this. He's prooved me wrong before. And although his team didn't win he put his whole heart and soul into his part of the race. And I couldn't have been prouder.

Spring Break

We started off with going to the beach with friends. We invited the Lorenzen's and went to the beach. We all had a blast. Even the dogs.

And we ended with going to the beach with friends.

It was no doubt a great week. We even spent a couple of days at the pool. Man, I love California!

Easter

Easter is one of our favorite holidays. After all, it's the beginning of spring and this year it kicked off our Spring Break. Unfortunately, Mike was out of town, but all was saved when Robyn and Tyler came up.

We started off with the annual Easter Egg Hunt up at the church:

This was Andrew's first Easter Egg Hunt. He didn't have any problem with finding them eggs!

Counting their loot...
After the thrill of finding Easter Eggs, we came home and decorated cookies:


Carly's Cookies...
Robert's Cookies...


Without Mike around Easter weekend would have been a dud, but thanks to Robyn and Tyler we had a great weekend. Thanks for the memories!

Certificate of Achievement

About a week ago we got a letter from Robert's teacher saying that he was getting an award of achievement in scholar. That's all it said. We were also asked to keep it a surprise which was not easy to do since I wanted to pump my son full of questions on what exactly this meant. After all, how many kids were receiving this award? And what does "scholar" mean? Does that mean an award in academics? So patiently we waited.

Tuesday, May 12th was the big day for the Awards Ceremony. I got there just in the nick of time. Mike showed up by the skin of his teeth also. Anyway, after a lovely number presented by the music department, Robert's Kindergarten class was the first to be presented. I was somewhat expecting everyone in his class to be getting something, you know, being politically correct so as not to hurt any one's feelings and all. But when Rob's teacher, Mrs. McCaslin got up and said that these were her students whom she believed to have excelled above and beyond, my heart began to swell with pride and my eyes began to fill with tears. Robert was the only one to have received an award in the category of scholar in his class. He excelled in both Science and Social Studies. What a guy!

Mother's Day

Carly paints beautiful watercolored pictures. She uses beautiful colors and blends them perfectly together. I love her pictures so much I save them to make greeting cards out of them. This is what she gave me for Mother's Day:

Nice!

Robert loves me. Mike told me that he was thinking for days on what he was going to say in his Mother's Day card. This is what he came up with:

He quoted a scripture... "because Mom loves the Lord." he told Mike.

This is what Rob made at school for me. It's an actual wood frame painted white. He drew the flowers on with a paint pen. It's my favorite gift ever!

Mike made me breakfast in bed which consisted of cinamon french toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and fresh squeezed orange juice (he actually picked it up from somewhere). Delicious!

After church and my excrutiating lesson, I was sent back into my room to relax and take a nap. I was brought lunch and my sweet husband recorded the "House" marathon for me. To top off the day, the kids and Mike made me chocolate chip cookies and sent me off to bed.

At the end of the day I told my husband what a great husband and daddy he was and do you know what he said? "Yeah, well, don't let the word out 'cuz I have a reputation to uphold."

Don't worry, Babe. Your secret's safe with me!

Best Friends

Laura Lorenzen is Carly's best little girlfriend. They have so much fun together. They play dress-up, shopping and just plain 'ol love to be together. Needless to say, Carly just loves it when Laura comes over to play.



Well, Laura came over the other day and things got pretty quiet while they were playing in Carly's room and so I went to check on them and here's what I found:

Painting eachother's nails! Is that the most adorable thing EVER!!!

What Is A Peacemaker?

Okay. So I gave the lesson on being a peacemaker in Relief Society yesterday and I'm still confused....

I know what a peacemaker is: someone who helps others be happy instead of angry (blah blah blah). That goes without saying, but what if something needs to be said or something needs to be made right and others don't like it? I mean take the Prop 8 situation, for instance. That certainly didn't create peace in our community or our country for that matter. In fact, it created quite the opposite. Allbeit, we weren't the one's screaming obsenities at passersby, but we were the one's who stood up and said, "Absolutely not." and that did not create peace.

So it goes in our daily lives... or at least mine. I'm not a mean or rude person. At least, I don't think so. I know there are those who would beg to differ, but honestly, my heart is in the right place. I have come to terms with my "honesty" and rather like it. And this is where the confusion lies: Is a person considered not a peacemaker because one is honest and forthright? Being forthright and honest can sometimes cause contention. Also, sometimes we must stand up for what's right and not back down. And that almost always causes contention. How can we go through this life -- this life where we have to fight (literally fight) for truth and righteousness -- without causing a degree of contention?

And how about in our marriages? I mean seriously. Sometimes, it's a fight that creates peace. I mean, honestly a fight can bring out truth and the truth creates understanding which in turn creates peace. But that fight had to happen before there was understanding and peace.

So, this is why my lesson was so hard for me yesterday. I am not a peacemaker. I have peace. But I'm not a peacemaker. Sometimes I am. But not always. And sometimes I feel (and am even prompted) to speak up -- to say the thing that is sometimes the hardest to say -- the truth. And here's a truth I must say now .... I hated that lesson!

Face to Face Tour

Last weekend Mike and I went to the Billy Joel/Elton John Concert. I can't even begin to tell you how fabulous it was! We're standing at our seats (because it was so hard for me to sit down -- I was so excited!) and I turn to Mike and say, "I think I'm going to cry." These guys are some of my most favorite rock stars ever! And if you ask me they are two of the last true rock stars left. They sounded amazing and can still bring down the house.

The link below is the dynamic duo singing Piano Man together. This wasn't the concert we saw. This was in Tampa, FL, but it's almost exactly the same and will give you a good idea of what we saw. The stage set up is all the same and Elton is even wearing the same costume. However, I think our concert was better. Billy heard the crowd singing during the first chorus and stopped playing and let us sing. It was so cool! Anyway, here's to Billy and Sir Elton! Love You!!! WooHooo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1pbvoD214Y

Big Bear

On our way to go-carting, alpine sliding & tubing.

Hanging out on the porch swing.

Ski School for Rob.

Ski school was a little harder than he expected. He thought he'd be doing jumps and flying through the air by now. Instead he kept falling down. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy with skiing. Can you tell?

Hangin' out at the cabin.

It was so much fun!! I love cold weather. I really do. That is the ONLY thing I miss about Utah. In fact, it cracks me up what Californians think is cold weather. The first day we were in Big Bear it was 65 degrees. The second day it was a little cooler due to the storm coming in and the third day was spectacular! It snowed and was blizzardy. We spent the morning in the cabin with the fire blazing. I loved it!

Our Trip to Monterey

I Love California!

Dennis The Menace Park

Pebble Beach

I have more pics but these were some of my favorites. You can tell from the kids how great the weekend was. It was absolutely fantastic and very much needed. More than anything, though, I fell in love with California all over again. We had so much fun!!!