Mike's life: He has been pretty at work. But he still has been coming home about 6ish to hang out with us for the night. They are in the process setting up a store front in Las Vegas (just less than two hours away). Mike manages all the manufacturing part of the store, so he's been working hard getting things cuts and ready for the Vegas store, and finding a store manager down there. They will still do all the manufacturing here in St George, so we all get to still live here, and find someone to manage the store down there. But I think he still loves the fact that he gets to work with his Dad and brother every single day, so it's ok that it's super busy right now. His "normal" schedule is M-Sat, with Wednesdays off, but right now he maybe sleeps in an hour extra on Wednesdays and goes in. He's a super cute hard worker:)
Mike and I were both called as the Webelos leaders about a month and a half ago. He had been a Bear Assistant Leader before, but I had never been in Cub Scouts before. It was a lot of responsibility! But we went to training after training and started doing a bunch of research on what good leaders do. We were just getting to where we were starting to feel like we could do this. Then Bro Jackson (from the Bishopric, came to talk to us last week. They were releasing us. The only thing I could do was laugh. At least I don't feel like I didn't do my calling. But I am really going to miss our Webelos we had in our home. They were so much fun.
Mike was called as a Gospel Doctrine teacher. Um hm. Probably the scariest calling I could be asked to do. He was not jumping up and down in his seat excited, but he said yes of course. He should start teaching the Sunday after next. We'll see. I think it will be good for us to read the scriptures together as a couple again and get to discuss gospel doctrine. Exciting times! It looks like we won't get to finish our Marriage Class, but that's ok. I'll go support him in his class! :)
Raquel's life: I was called as the Relief Society 2nd Counselor (the same calling I had in Casper, how funny!) I guess I still have more to learn in this calling. I absolutely love Relief Society. I just went to my first meeting and they passed all their wise knowledge on to us, the new presidency. Oh my. I was impressed how ORGANIZED the previous presidency was. This is going to be very different from my experience in Casper. A whole new world. I love learning so I'm excited to see how this goes. I was that one jumping off my seat when he asked me to serve! But now, I'm stressed and slightly freaking out. I had a good bawling session in the middle of the night and got all my tears (I hope!) out and am almost ready to get working! :)
I've been so stressed this past year. Moving is very difficult for me and I didn't even know that about me till now. I've been terribly up and down moody. My poor family. I went on some ADD medication for about 6 months. It helped, but now it's time to be without meds. I don't take it anymore, but it's been pretty hard getting into a routine and regaining my energy back. I had lost weight (down to about 107 lbs) so that was my #1 reason to stop the medicine. Every single day has been a struggle to just be happy, but I'm getting there. I need to be around people/ADULTS! more often. Maybe now with my new calling, I'll be serving so many others I won't have time to worry about myself.
I have a few friends here in Fox Cove that I've started running/working out with 3 morning a week. It's been the biggest help to get some energy. And it's fun to workout with friends and get to chat.
I sure love my little people that we have. They are amazing children. I need to be a kinder mother to them. I can see in the way they are treating each other lately is the way I treat them. I need to be a better example. Our two different school schedules have been very hard on me and all three of the kids. You have no idea how happy I am that school is almost out. Lincoln: 3 more days! Sequoia: 4 more days! Wahoo!
I've been trying to read my fun novel (The Actress and the Housewife, Shannon Hale) a little more often. It makes me happy and calm when I sit down and read. I am reading the Bible for the first time ever, front to back. I'm in 2nd Kings right now. It's been a bit slow at times, but I am determined to read it all, and hopefully sooner than later. One, because I love it and I love all the stories I'm learning about, and two, because I miss reading the Book of Mormon. Seriously, there is power in that book. I miss the feeling I have when I am reading it. I absolutely love the Bible, but there is a special power in the Book of Mormon. I'm so grateful that it is a part of my life. If I could just read the scriptures and pray more often, I know I would be happier each day. I will work on it!
I love my craft store! I love to make the wood crafts. I'm working on the ladder kits right now and can't wait till I have them all and never have to do a ladder kit for the rest of my life (yes, I'm beginning to despise them!) but I love making the decorations for my home. It is hard work, and I'm a slow crafter, but I really enjoy it. I am constantly cleaning, I love to go to DI and consignment stores (when I get a chance) and find treasures. And find more fun crafts to work on. I'm sure Mike is sick of me going there because instead of finishing what I start, I have a bunch of half-way made decorations/things in our garage.
I sometimes work at Wood Creations to help fill in when someone can't make it, but for the most part, I just do craft classes about 2 or 3 times a week. I love it! I love to get out of the house and talk to women and have a good time and help them make cute crafts. And on those nights, Mike has been wonderful to go home and be with the kids while I am at the store. I've got the perfect extra little job:)
Every single day, my goal is to be a better mother, wife and person. I'm not going to lie, some days its a lot harder than others. I'm a work in progress.
Lincoln's life: He is such a sweet boy. He is honest in all he does. He is a home body; he would prefer to be inside watching a show or playing video games or something like that versus going outside to play. (Just like his Mommy on that one.) He is just finishing up his first year of the Chinese Immersion Program. It has been amazing! He doesn't speak or sing in Chinese as much as he did when we went to Arrowhead and had Ms Ping as a teacher, but he is still doing well. He can count past 100 in Chinese, sing many songs, read some books, and have a simple conversation with his Chinese teacher. I can tell a big difference at home vs in the school setting. Its more natural at school. He doesn't love it, but he's doing well:)
Lincoln is a rock star at reading. He has progressed throughout the year. I love it. I'm hoping to set a "summer reading time" in our house, daily. Books are so much fun. He is a mathematician; he's very good with numbers, and beginning to figure out dividing and fractions. I love watching his mind work through his expressions. He thinks just like his Daddy.
Right now his obsession is Clash of Clans. Him and his Dad have a whole army and all that fun stuff and play it together. I love watching them. He loves time with Dad. He just recently got to go to the Fathers and Sons on the stake campout. He had a blast!! I was so happy they were able to go. Candy, just him and Dad, camping, and cops and robbers into all hours of the night. Fun times.
He is tired quite a bit. The kids have been going to bed between 7:30 and 8pm. I don't think that's late at all. They usually get a good 12 hours of sleep in. Just last week I got an email from Lincoln's Chinese teacher saying he seemed to be tired all the time, and that he's been falling asleep in class. She asked if maybe I could put him to bed earlier. I've been trying, but they seem to already go to bed kind
Sequoia's life: She is our sweet, independent, creative, shy, fun-loving girl who wishes she were a boy. Still. Quoi is so much fun to spend time with. She is as happy as can be playing by herself, as well as one on one with a friend or her best friend Tragon (or Koban when she's at Grandma's).
She is starting Kindergarten in a month! She is so excited and I'm excited for her. She is finally going to be going to the same school as Lincoln. They will be at Horizon Elementary. This year they are not doing the Chinese Dual Immersion program for Kindergarteners, so Quoi will get to be in normal school speaking English the whole time. I'm glad, I think it will be easier for her to adjust to a school setting. Then hopefully next year she will get in the program! She wants to as well so I hope it works out!
She is our little mini! She is still quite small for her age. I love that I can pick her up and hold her so easily. But she doesn't care. She has a big heart and personality, she'll be just fine. She is my cleaner! She loves to clean her room, do the dishes, pretty much anything. Especially without being asked. I love that about her and I know I can count on her. She is fantastic. She would rather be outside playing in the dirt, riding her awesome scooter she got for her birthday, or playing in the water.
She loves all superheroes, she just started playing Skylanders with Lincoln, she loves to read/look at books while she's in bed at night. She is starting to read simple words and she loves art! She loves coloring, painting, play dough, pretty much anything she can make. She will even help me with my wood crafts. She's done many projects and is so creative. And this girl is beautiful. Inside and out.
Aurora's life: Oh my stars! Where do I begin with her? She is my "I'm going to die young of a heart attack from too much stress" child. Every waking moment with her is an adventure. If I look away for 10 seconds, she has disappeared and is doing something naughty. I've found her in the toilet, literally sitting in the bowl with her feet down the hole (with vaseline smeared all over her face and body), she's locked herself in the bathroom multiple times and drinks the toilet water by dipping toilet paper in and sucking the water out (puke, I know!), she climbs up onto the high bar stool table and chairs we have many times in a day, she can climb up to the top bunk now, and does it every chance she gets. She has gotten up on table and dumped a whole full box of cereal out on the table and floor (30 secs later, she was into the can of powdered sugar bowl). Just a couple days ago I went in to check on her because I could still hear her awake during nap time. I walked in to see that she had pooped and decided to take care of it herself! She took the diaper off, used a WHOLE thing of wipes to wipe her little poopy smeared bum. Then she opened the clothes drawers and continued to wipe her bum with shirts from the dresser (and any stuffed doll she could find). Of course in the this time frame of wrecking havoc, she didn't have a diaper so there were THREE big pee puddles on the floor throughout the room. It was so bad that I was past the point of anger. I felt nothing. I just put a new diaper on her and put her in the other room with Linc and told him she was not to come out till I was ready. I swear I can't even make up things stories about her. And it's a daily huge thing with her, so I'm just exhausted by the time the day is over and she is in bed. And she's a huge reason I don't write down as much as I should be. I'm so busy chasing after her all day, I can't write it all down!
She is a smart little girl. She knows what is going on. I know she is already figuring out right and wrong. She understands almost everything we say to her (whether or not she chooses to do it depends on her). She can speak well and is starting to use some simple sentences. I thought for a while she was going to be a slower talker, but she picked it up fast! No was her favorite word for a while. Now I'm guessing its "mine!" Sequoia is "Sissy" and Lincoln is "Bubba." She is "Baby" or "Auri" She is going to have Mike's brain.
And she is just now starting to love "bookies." For the longest time, she refused to let me read to her. She had to hold the book and if I touched it in any way, she would throw it on the floor, wait till she knew I wasn't going to get it, then pick it up and open it where she wanted. Every single time. But now she's letting me read a couple pages little by little. She is just very independent (which is so hard because I'm a hovering mother!) and has to do it by herself.
She doesn't eat very much lately. It's not even just being picky. Even the things I know she likes she sometimes won't eat. I hoping its just her canine teeth coming in and it won't last long!
If/when I start to get really stressed by her and need to get something done without her by me or being naughty, I have to shut her in the toy room by herself. She hates to be alone, so I have to listen to screaming fits, but it's worth it sometimes. There was one day I put her in the room because I couldn't last one more minute before I lost it. She screamed for a while then calmed down. When I was ready for her to come out, I opened the door to find her with a MARKER in her hand! She had colored all over the entire room. Walls, mattress, sheets, dresser, toys, pictures, and herself. Again, way past the point of anger to even do anything. If there is potential of mischief, she will find it.
But she is a sweetie too. She has to give everyone a hug and smooch before anybody leaves bye bye or when she goes night night. She loves to be with her big brother and sister. They are her world. Of course she still pulls hair, bites, hits, screams, shuts off the tv and xbox while they are watching or playing, and isn't the best at sharing, but she sure love this little munchkin! And we know she loves us! (We might not have anymore children because I'm at my max right now, but I'm so happy we have her.)
