Wahoo!

I have been Nausea Free for a day and a half! The temptation now will be to increase my demands but I don't want to overdo it like I usually do. Wahoo to feeling better!

Dirty Toothpaste

I am guessing most moms have the same issue as I do with toothpaste. Kids can not keep a bathroom area clean when they dispense the toothpaste themselves. I use their bathroom to wash my hands and I come out stickier than when I went in. I grab the toothpaste to brush Simeon's teeth and I feel like I grabbed a big wad of gum and I can't break free. Wiping the counter and sink became one of their daily chores because I was so sick of the mess and that made it a little easier. That did not take care of the icky toothpaste on the tube itself and I was determined to find something that helped. Since my dad has been here he has been using the bathroom the mess was confined to and the kids now brush in my bathroom making the need even greater. I found the solution and it was so simple. I remembered using this kind of paste when I was younger and I wonder what took me so long.
No more squeezing the paste so hard that it won't stop coming out and then there is nothing left to do but use your toothbrush to smear it all over the sink. No more lids to put back on. They push a button, it goes on the brush and when they take their finger off. . .something closes over the hole. Magic if I do say so myself.

Quilting 101

When I started sewing Roger told me he wanted a quilt made out of sheets. I completely did not understand how to make a quilt but decided I could come up with a quilt for Roger for Christmas 2003. I sewed 3 sides together of 2 sheets then placed batting squares in 1 at a time and sewed around each batting squares making a queen size "quilt". After 3 hours my project was finished. As silly as it is this has been a nice cool blanket that we have kept under out nice, hot duvet cover and down comforter. With back light you can see my masterpiece.


A few years later I enlisted my sister in law Lena's help to teach me how to quilt. I made a little doll blanket and felt more knowledgeable. I decided to make a quilt for Rory. I copied an idea from Pottery Barn kids and started making the quilt with no pattern. It made my brain hurt. While I was making this quilt that would turn out to be smaller than twin size, we switched Rory's twin size bed for a queen. Thwarted, I almost gave up but eventually finished. It lays on her now full size bed and she loves it.

Roger started craving a quilt that would cover our now King size bed, that would be super cool and super soft. His birthday was coming up so I secretly extracted colors he liked together and found a pattern from an awesome quilter in my ward. I bought a sheet set online to be the backing of the quilt. The week of Hero camp I went to a few fabric stores and eventually found a line of fabric that was just the right colors. Off I started without knowing exactly what I was getting into nor the price that I was up against (I won't tell you how much but it was A LOT).
I only had a week till his birthday so I kept it a secret until then. I spent 3 hours almost everyday for 3 weeks on this quilt in addition to keeping my house in order and kids entertained. I sewed and sewed. After a few weeks I took it to a nearby quilter to machine quilt this 100X100 quilt. She gave it back the next day and I was sure I would be able to bind it in a week. Hah! Hah, Hah, Hah! Hand stitching took me almost another month! As of a couple days ago I am DONE!!! Not as exciting for anyone as much as for me, I know. Here are a couple notes
-I did not expect it to be so busy looking- ie- I could not see the end when I started
- "Warm and White" batting really is nice and cool
-The quilt shrunk a bit when quilted
- sheets are nice and soft but does not please the quilter
-Josh is an AWESOME ironer. Seriously awesome to not have to iron the whole thing

Here are 3 bags I made in the meantime. I really like them (especially the giraffe print)!

I realized I have not taken very many pictures of the bags I have made (cuz I have made many) so I tracked these bags down at church. I made them earlier this year.

Good Fun!

School Clothes at Last

I finally bought Rory a new outfit because I loved the boots and the whole outfit was on sale. Pretty Cute huh?

I Love to see the Temple

I finally made my way to the San Diego Temple last Tuesday with my dad. What a beautiful temple!! It made me think of the other temples I have been to.

Growing up in Houston our nearest temple was the Dallas Temple so that is where I did baptisms.

The first time I went through was at the Mnt Timanogas. I love how white and bright the Celestial Room is.


A few days later we were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Honestly I really only remember feelings and people, not so much the building.

I don't think I will ever go to a temple as much as I went to the Provo Temple. This is where I stood staring at a huge painting of Simeon seeing Jesus at the temple knowing we would have a son named Simeon someday.

Roger and I took a day trip to the Manti Temple the Easter weekend before we had kids. We were the witness couple in this amazing building. This is still my favorite as far as each individual Endowment room goes.

This is Roger's home town temple. We have been able to go there a dozen times sometimes with his family. This temple is the same as the Dallas Temple.
Jordan River is where we went to do my sister Kimberly's work after she died.

We went to the LA Temple once before we moved down here for my Jenny Girl's wedding. It then became our temple for a while. Nat got married here too.

We have been to a couple weddings for my step sisters at the Oakland temple.

We participated in sealings for my grandparents at the North Carolina temple

We moved to Fontana shortly after the Redlands opened.

Hallelujah when the Newport Beach temple opened! So nice to have a temple close by. I love the mural and the walnut.

When we went to Hawaii last year we found a cute college girl to babysit so we could go to the Laie Temple.
Roger's brother recently went through the Sacramento Temple and we were able to be there for that.

Finally this summer I was able to go to the Houston Temple. I was able to help with the building of the temple but left for college before it was finished.

I am so thankful for the inspiration I recieve from any temple. They are a little peice of Heaven on Earth.

Girlfriends Rock

I love girlfriends! It dates back to my sisters.

When we added 4 more sisters when I was in 7th grade and the girlfriend love grew. This is us at my bridal shower.



In highschool, I had some amazing girls that helped shaped me into who I am today. Cristina and I knew each other since we were babies. This is us in Hawaii last year.I am taking the picture of some of my girls when we went to New York our Senior year.My college girl friends were cool beyond words. I just tried finding a good picture of us and realized, as I am sure they already have, that I am doing something obnoxious on all the pictures.
Here we are at Nat's wedding. I was due that day with Simeon.

Here is my other best friend from college. What a gem of a girlfriend. Isn't she beautiful?


More Recent
I love love love my sisters in law! Emily definitely challenges my weirdness and she is awesome!
On the right is my girl Amia. She was my life boat when I started making babies. She has so much wisdom and I could still be my crazy self around her. We bonded deeply going to the temple weekly when we lived in Provo.
Here are some fun friends when we lived in Huntington Beach. Don't let the spiritual picture fool you. These were crazy girls.


This all brings me to the girls I live around now. These girls are also priceless to me. This is a small group of us at the beach where we had so much fun without kids. Again I am a dork in the pictures but apparently that is who I am. These girls are helping me raise my kids literally and also help me be me which is hard to do so deeply entrenched in kid world. A few of us sang a group song in Sacrament meeting today and it only helped deepen my love for them. I truly feel blessed to be around such down to earth beautiful inside and out girls. I love my girlfriends!

PS- If you are in my crazy pictures and don't want to be let me know

Smelly Kelly

This is so not cool. Smells are making me so sick! Before you say"Duh!" let me tell you that I have always kindly lost my sense of smell when I was pregnant. When Rory was a bug in the belly I would make Roger smell JT's diaper to see if it was full of junk. He would practically barf saying "Yes! that smells so bad" and I would say "Oh, something smelled a little tainted but I couldn't tell what it was".
So here I am in all fairness with a heightened sense of smell that has always plagued women and I am not so happy.
My worst offenders
-left over spaghetti heated up in the morning for the kids lunches
-my new dishwasher detergent
-the rag on my sink that was newly out of the drawer last night
-washing dishes in general
- my DO for my BO
-wiping Simmy's bum- that is a given though right?
-the leather cleaner I used on my car
No yacking yet. Just the intense desire.
You can not even say that that means I am having a boy or a girl just that this is my 4th and its my turn.

Instead of Cookies

I vetoed cookies and made these Doughnut Holes. They actually made me late to pick them up. The recipe called for strawberry jam to be squirted into it. My bag got a jam in it and a hole appeared spraying jam on my shirt. The kids forgave me when they saw me holding sugar. Yum!

1st Day of School

The day has come. I just dropped my kids off at school and I am not very happy about it. They are as you can see.

Rory is in the same class with a few of her closest school friends including this young man that she really bonded with last year. When I mean bonded, I mean this is the boy that she kissed. They managed to get past that and be really good friends.

She got a teacher that I have heard is Mormon so that is cool but I don't know her so that makes me nervous. There are a few kids in the class that if I could have picked her to not be in a class with I would have been happier.

Josh is in the same class of a boy he sat next to all of last year and they get along really well so I am happy about that.

Josh managed to get the same teacher as last year (he was in the combo class with her and she was a second grade teacher) I am ok with that but not ok that the 2nd grade bully is in the class too.

I was up at 2am for a couple hours unable to get back to sleep. I tried to get over the kids that were in their classes and the worry of how I was going to take a picture of both kids going into the classroom at the same time on different sides of the building while keeping an eye on the disappearing Simeon but my brain would not let it go. I woke up tired and the morning went a little different than I imagined.
My kids did not get- (with which I feel a little guilt)

• a good night sleep. Soccer went until 7pm- dinner was from730-8 and School blessings lasted until 9pm
  
• a mother who was showered and ready before they got up. Instead I threw on some workout clothes to not be in PJs. I tried to get Simeon to go for a walk after but he did not want to.
• a nice healthy breakfast. I was too tired last night so I did not work up a batch of Cinnamon rolls nor did I feel like making eggs or french toast this morning. Josh had Honey Smacks and Rory had oatmeal.
• new clothes neatly laid out ahead of time. Their drawers are full of hand me downs from friends so I did not buy new clothes or shoes. Rory put on a hideous ensemble so I went upstairs and found that no cute clothes were clean. I went to bed before finishing the laundry. Josh tried to wear nice shoes with shorts and a school t-shirt. When I vetoed that he chose to match the nice shoes to nice clothes instead of throwing on some tennis shoes.

My kids did have

• The making of a nice lunch. We did take time to make up menus and buy good food. They had fettuccine alfredo in their thermos, mandarin oranges with a vanilla pudding dip, a salad in their nifty salad containers, a danimals and crackers.
• a mom who was nice. I fought freaking out because of emotions and a need to hurry
• a prayer and a kiss

I am not happy to be back on this schedule and to have the summer be over. I am not thrilled that they will be gone for 6 hours a day. I am nervous about how to fill the time alone with Simeon with out the TV being on too much. I need to clean up after this morning's tornado because my dad is on the way. I am sick and tired. Will it all be ok? Let's see if I can manage to make cookies before they get home so we can sit down and talk about their days.