We Are Moving! - February 28, 2012

Tuesday - February 28, 2012
We got the house that I posted pictures of.  I really liked the house when I first saw it because it is in our price range and has almost everything that I was looking for.  After looking at it on Friday, I took an application.  Roger and I prayed about it and planned to take the weekend to decide.  By the time Monday came around, I was convinced that it was the house for us.  I turned in our application on Monday.  She had two appointments to show the house that day and another person called asking to see it, while I was there turning in my application.  So, I was a little worried that we wouldn't get it.  Also, there was a little craziness having to do with neighbors from our old neighborhood, made me worried we wouldn't get it.  The Realtor called us on Monday evening to let us know that we got it.  I was hoping to move in April, but she said that she wouldn't hold the house that long for us.  The longest she would hold it was until March 15th.  So we are moving on March 17th.  Our landlords here were very nice and let us out of our lease without charging us anything extra.  They lived in this house while they saved up money and built a nice big new house on the property, so she understood that it is a hard place to live.
I took some pictures of the kids waiting for the bus this morning.

 The rest of the pictures are just the kids playing.  They keep jumping on their mattresses that are set up in the living room.  They don't love their bedrooms.  They all feel more comfortable and sleep much better when they are all together.

Party at Linda's - February 25-26, 2012

Saturday - February 25, 2012

On Saturday, Linda drove all the way up here from Highland to pick me up so I could go to a family party at her house.  It was so much fun!  I'm so glad I got to go.  We celebrated Missy's Birthday and made a video to send to Grandma Mathison on her birthday.  The video might be a little boring, because we spent some time singing karaoke on it.  While putting the video together, this is the part that made me laugh.  Mathew (my nephew) came into the kitchen and sat on the chair in front of the camera.  Someone let go of a rocket balloon and it flew over his head.  It scared him.  His facial expressions are so cute and funny.

Here are pictures from the party.

We spent the night at Linda's.  My dad has been working hard to fix up the basement for Shelley and her kids.  This is the bedroom that he just finished.  Shelley and her kids are staying in the large room all the way upstairs.  So, they let us sleep in the newly finished room.  They put a TV in their for us.  We brought some of our home videos and the kids fell asleep while watching those.

Sunday - February 26, 2012

My nephew, Ben, was ordained as a Deacon.  It was nice to be able to go to church with my family.  It was their ward conference, so sacrament meeting lasted extra long.  We were sitting in the back on hard chairs and the kids got really restless.  We ended up standing out in the foyer before the meeting was over, but it was still a good meeting and I'm glad we were able to be there.

A house That I Think would be Great for Us - February 24, 2012

Friday - February 24, 2012
All of the kids went to school today.  We had a hard time waking up this morning, so they were late to school.  That means that I had to drive them to school.  Since I was in town, I called about a house I had seen on KSL.  The lady met me over there and I got to walk through it.  It is a lot like our old house, just smaller.  It has a large fenced in backyard, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a small living room upstairs, a family room downstairs, and lots of storage space.  It is close to the elementary school and right across the street from a park.  We are praying about it this weekend and will turn in an application on Monday if we still feel good about it.

I do not like renting at all.  I can't wait until we can buy a house again.  This house looks nice and I think I can be comfortable here until we can buy a house again.  I'll keep you posted if we decide to move here or not.

 See how small the living room is.

 The upstairs bathroom is like our old house (It has a door leading into the master bedroom and a door leading to the hallway).

This is a picture from google maps of the park across the street.  It's hard to see the playground, but it's over there.  It looks fun.  There are a few baseball diamonds and four soccer fields.

The kids came home from school and went straight outside to play.  They played outside until it was dark.

Roger is at work again tonight.  It has not been a wonderful work week for him.  Two of the guys on his shift have called in for the last two days.  One of the guys didn't have vacation or personal time left to use, but he hasn't come in.  If he comes in tonight, they will only write him up, but if he doesn't come in, he will get fired.  Roger has had to do extra work, because those two haven't been there.  He was worried about tonight, because another guy was going to be coming in to work about 5 hours late.  So, if those two don't show up, it will be really hard on Roger to keep things going.

I'm feeling blah.  I need us to move somewhere comfortable and I need to know that we won't be moving again for a while.  Like I said before, I can't wait until we can buy a house again.  I'm determined that when we buy a house, that house will be the place that we will stay.  I don't like to move!  I want to stay in one place!  We lived in our last house for 8 1/2 years and it had become my comfort zone.  I don't like leaving my comfort zone.  I look forward to establishing a comfort zone and knowing that I won't have to leave it.



My little ones do not feel well - February 22, 2012

Wednesday - February 22, 2012
This morning Alissa had a tummy ache, Brinley had a scratchy voice and told me her throat hurt, and Parker's nose was running nonstop.  Alissa's tummy said that she felt bloated and gassy, not throw-upy.  Brinley said that she was fine and really wanted to go to school today.  When I tols the kids to get ready for school, they all did, without any complaints.  Non of them said, "I'm sick.  Can I stay home?"  So I thought, since no one was complaining and they were all getting ready, that I would just send them to school anyway.  They were already, with their backpacks on and everything.  We walked towards the door and I turned around to look at them.  Alissa was a little hunched over, because her tummy was still hurting and Parker was wiping his snobers on his shirt.  They all looked so miserable.  It clicked in my brain, "What are you doing?  These kids are too sick to go to school."  I felt bad that I had even woke them up and had them get ready.  I apologized for making them get ready.  I told them that I could tell that they were all feeling miserable and they didn't have to go to school.  They all needed to stay home and get better.  Parker and Alissa were relieved, but Brinley was sad.  She really wanted to go to school.  She is in Kindergarten, so school is still really fun for her.  I decided to let Brinley go.  She was happy about that.  Parker was so lost with out Brinley here for him to play with.  He almost didn't know what to do with himself.  As soon as he heard the bus pull up to drop Brinley off, he went racing outside to meet her.  I love how well Alissa, Parker, and Brinley play together.  They love eachother and look out for eachother.  It makes me so happy!

Roger worked last night, so he slept all day, woke up and sat around for 2 hours, then left to work.  I don't love the days when Roger works.  I miss him. 

I'm super tired and emotional today.  Everything makes me cry.  I took a long nap this morning, so that helped a little.  I watched a show called Secret Millionaire.  On the show, a millionaire lives in a poor part of town and lives like a poor person for a week, while meeting people and looking for places to volunteer.  They are basically trying to find and meet people in need, so that they can help.  At the end of the show, they reveal that they are actually very wealthy and would like to give these people money.  On the episode I watched tonight, the millionaire gave $40,000.00 to a volunteer program that taught music to under privileged kids.  She gave $30,000.00 to a volunteer program that gives bedroom makeovers for children who are sick and their families are struggling because of medical bills.  She gave $10,000.00 to a family with a five year old daughter that had luekemia.  She also gave $20,000.00 to a volunteer group that fed the poor.  As I was watching the ending, where she surprised all those people with money, I was bawling my eyes out.  The kids kept asking, "Why are you crying, Mommy?"  Good times!

Before the kids went to bed tonight, Alissa's tummy was hurting really bad.  I'm sure she will be up in the night.  Brinley's cough is making it hard for her to sleep.  Parker was complaining that his tummy hurt also.

Brinley is sick - February 21, 2012

Tuesday - February 21, 2012

I woke up to the sound of Brinley crying and then throwing up in the bathroom.  Not the best way to wake up.  I went running in there to help her.  She was burning up.  I felt so bad for her.  I got her some medicine and put her back to bed.  She was excited about not having to go to school today.  She fell back asleep for a little while.  When she woke up, the medicine had kicked in and she felt a lot better.  The fever hasn't come back yet, so that's good news.  The bad thing is that Alissa and Parker are feeling sick now.  They don't have fevers, just really yucky colds.  They are all congested.  I feel bad that I sent them to school.  I'll probably keep them home tomorrow.  Poor kids.

Alissa had activity days today.  They encouraged her to learn about being smart with money.  They told them to do some work for someone so they could earn money.  Alissa is so excited to earn money.  I told her I'd pay her $5.00 if she packs all the toys in the play room for me (I've decided to pack up most of our stuff, that way I'll be ready as soon as we find a new place to live and the moving will go much faster).  Also, I will pay her $1.00 to fold the laundry (there is a big pile of laundry that needs to be folded) and another $1.00 if she puts it all away.  She got half way through the laundry pile before it was time to go to bed.  She asked me not to fold it so she can finish the rest tomorrow.  I like it when I don't have to fold and put clothes away.  It is so nice!

Parker had a good day at school, except for when he fell over the soccer ball at P.E.  He had a bruise on his knee from the experience.  He got another ouchy when Alissa was taking out the garbage.  She was getting some garbage bags from under the sink.  When she closed the door, Parker's finger was in the way.  He got his finger smashed in the cupboard.  It was bleeding and Alissa felt so bad about doing that.

Roger is at work tonight.  He just sent a text telling me that his tummy is sour, so he won't be eating anything tonight.  I feel bad that he is not feeling well at work.  I really hope the night goes by fast for him.

No School Today - February 20, 2012

Monday - February 20, 2012

The kids didn't have school today.  They were very happy about that.  They spent the morning playing outside with the neighbors.  At noon Roger drove Alissa over to her friend Chanelle's house.  Alissa played over there until 6:00pm.  Parker and Brinley played outside for most of the day.  Roger took a nap after he got back from taking Alissa to her friend's house.  He slept clear until about 10 minutes after Alissa came back home.  Roger gets very bored on his days off.  He doesn't know how to just be home and relax and enjoy himself.  He gets antsy.  He needs to be out doing something.  Roger didn't have to work so he was bored.  He needed to take that long nap to help him stay up all night so he would be ready for work the next night. 

Roger was so bored and didn't know what to do with himself after he woke up, so he followed me around and teased me.  It was a lot to handle.  I love spending time with Roger, but when he's bored, it's rough.  The kids were all in bed, so I wanted to relax and get caught up on some of my favorite shows.  Roger made that very difficult for me to do.  He is very funny and we laughed a lot, but he really needs more hobbies that he can do at home so he won't be so bored.

Church Playground - February 19, 2012

Sunday - February 19, 2012

Today wasn't too eventful.  We slept in.  We love when we can do that.  Then got ready and went to church.  Here is a picture of Alissa's cute hair at church today.

After church the kids wanted to play on the playground again.  Here are the many pictures that I took while I waited in the car.

Parker pinched his had in the swing somehow.  He's okay.  It just hurt for a little bit.

Not Very Exciting Day - February 18, 2012

Saturday - February 18, 2012

We went to the bank and got my name on our bank account today.  We also went in to cash Roger's paycheck.  They cashed it but told us that the money has a hold on it until Tuesday.  Then they will call it in to get the hold releases, so we should be able to access our money on Wednesday.  So frustrating!  We were out of groceries and counting on this money to buy us some food.  Our food supply was so low that we hadn't eaten breakfast that morning.  So when they told us we couldn't get our money, we had no idea what we were going to do.  They bank saw our concern and said that they could let us pull out $200.00.  So we went to the store and bought some groceries.  That was as exciting as our day got.  Oh... yeah.  The kids played with cornstarch and water.  That entertained them all morning while we waited for Roger to get up so we could go run our errands.

Playing with Flour - February 17, 2012

Friday - February 17, 2012

Alissa's hairstyle. She's decided that she wants to have a different hairstyle every school day. I didn't love this hairstyle, but Alissa saw it online and really wanted it.

 After school, we made some Chocolate Chip Cookies.  While watching the kids put the flour in the bowl, I remembered a game we could play with the flour.  I don't know what the game is called.  The loser of the game had to grab an almond out of the flour without using their hands.  Alissa lost the first round.

  Brinley thought it looked like fun, so she purposely lost the second round.

  Alissa lost the third round, but Parker really wanted to have a turn to get the almond out.  When Parker put his head down to get the almond out, Roger pushed his face down in the flour.  Parker ended up getting flour in his eye.  So we helped him clean his face off before I had a chance to get a picture of him.  He decided that he wanted to have a picture with flour on his face, so after he got cleaned up, he dipped his face back in the flour.

 After the game, the kids still wanted to play in the flour.  They had a lot of fun and made a big mess in the kitchen

Alissa and Parker were so excited when they got home from school today.  They said that they had the best bus ride ever.  Their regular bus driver was not there today.  They had a different bus driver and this one was much nicer than their regular driver.  They were so excited that they got to open the windows on the bus and she let them take stuff out of their backpack so they weren't bored to death for the whole 45 minute bus ride.

Waiting for the Bus - February 16, 2012

Thursday - February 16, 2012
I made the kids let me take their pictures on the way out to wait for the bus.  We left a little early so no other kids would be there.  Alissa was embarrassed and worried that the other kids would see me taking her picture.  Here they are walking down the driveway.

 The bus stop is right across the street from our house.  So here they are waiting.  See... We really do live in the middle of nowhere.  There is nothing around.

 After Brinley got home from school, I took her to her friend, Mikenna's house to play.  Then I came home, cleaned the house, washed the dishes, and made Roger's dinner before heading to pick Alissa and Parker up from school.  I picked them up from school today so we could get their friend, Erin, and bring her to our house to play.  When I picked Brinley up from her friends house, we decided to bring her friend over to our house so they could play a little longer.  The kids had a lot of fun playing with their friends today.  Parker was sad because none of his friends could play, but he was still able to have fun with his sisters and their friends.

Roger's at work tonight.  He text a little while ago and said that his back is hurting really bad.  I hope the night will go by fast for him.  Roger got a letter from his work today.  It said that he has worked for the company for 10 years so they would like to give him a gift.  There was a website, listed on the letter, where he could go to look at the different gifts available.  He chose a $150.00 watch.  His work has been so terrible in the past few years.  They keep getting rid of the nice things that they used to do for their employees.  It's good for them to do something nice again.