Hubby Said it Best

He took the words right out of my mouth. Ok well maybe not but he sure does make a good point. 

Click Here to see what Hubby had to say about the new year.

Have you checked out my Creations Blog lately?

Happy to be Me

As I sit down to write this post I have mixed feelings. I seriously thought about deleting my blog and Face book all together. I didn't post on either one for nearly 4 months. Yes I did that on purpose. I have my own reasons that I won't go into. But over the last few weeks I have been thinking about lots of different things. I've decided that I cannot let the bad define me. I am who I am. I have a hand full of people who genuinely care about me, and I'm not talking about the "oh yah I know her" type people. It is the people who care about me, who lift me up when I'm down, who love me despite of my short falls, who give me guidance when I need to vent, and enjoys a good afternoon lunch with no kids =). These people know who they are and I love them all so much and I only pray I can be there for them as much as they are for me.

Today I'm breaking my silence and going to stop being a hermit for a little bit because I have so much to share. Last Sat was one of the best days I could ever imagine. It started at 7am when I got up and was getting showered. Chad called to inform me that he had done it. After Years of frustration, tears, stress, moving, patience, being tore down, interview after interview, Chad has finally been promoted!! We are so excited for this new opportunity. Although He will still be working the night shift it hasn't been as hard as it was years ago. So we will take it =)
As the day progressed it just got better from there. at 8am I went down to pick up our tickets and my parking pass to be able to take the Young Women of our ward (you probably didn't know but I"m the Beehive advisor now) to the cultural celebration that we put on for President Thomas S. Monson. You see Our Temple has been under renovation for over a year and it was being rededicated this weekend. So Sat night I got to sit in an arena with 9,000+ youth in the presence of our Prophet. And to make the day even sweeter I got to have lunch with one of those amazing people I mentioned earlier.
Words can't express the feelings of happiness I had that day.

Although this next item happened a few months ago it was a huge decision and we made it with heavy hearts, lots of prayers and tears, and weighing good and bad. We had been talking about it for months (see post HERE )In the beginning of the year we took Carsyn to take the ISAT just to see how we were doing with is homeschooling. Well he scored awesome! Then towards the end of the summer he came to us and asked to be able to attend Public school. He needed a change. I also needed a change. The contention in our home was off the charts. I felt that Corbyn was being left behind because of our focus on keeping Carsyn caught up. So after months of contemplating, we decided we would enroll him ONLY if they would let him be in 5th grade. We were told they probably would give us a hard time about that because he was only supposed to be going to 4th. We were also told by people that someone they knew was aloud to skip a grade but really struggled and advised us not to. Well for one he wasn't "skipping" 4th we had just done it already. Well when we went down to enroll him we put down 5th and nobody questioned it. We took it as one of the signs we were doing the right thing. Later on We had his IQ tested and he is a smart little turkey. In 1 section of the test he scored in the 99th percentile. So with that he was accepted into the GATE (Gifted and Talented) program. Carsyn loves school so much and is having a great time. He just finished up his first trimester with straight A's
As for me it is a love-hate situation. I just always pictured myself as one of those amazing Mom's who home-school 10 kids and they were all musically talented and perfect. For for me to admit defeat and face the facts that I am not going to be able to do that, was really hard to do. But I learned that it's not about "Me" and "My Needs" it was about Carsyn and his educational needs. I was no longer able to provide what he needed. My homeschooling will continue with the other children until the day comes when we feel they need something more.

On Oct 22nd I made a commitment to get healthier and lose some of the extra baggage I have accumulated. So far I have lost 8lbs. my ultimate goal is 20 so we're getting closer. Once I've lost  20lbs I will look into losing another 10 but right now 20 is my goal.

Anyway this post is getting long so I will wrap it up by saying I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father and the  love that he has for me. I'm so grateful for my Husband and my boys they are all so awesome and I couldn't ask for more.

Too Much Reading?

So today we took Carsyn in for his yearly eye exam. His eyes are terrible. The Dr. asked if he read a lot Ummmm yeah he reads at LEAST 2 hours a day. Well the problem is that his eyes aren't getting enough "exercise" looking far distances (He is near sighted) So the Dr said he really needs to set time limits in his reading to take a pause and focus on something far away. He was NOT a happy camper. He started to cry in the office at the thought that he wasn't going to be able to read more then 15 min at a time. Luckily his reading breaks only have to be about a min or so.

We just got a chuckle because we didn't know anybody could ever read "Too Much"

The Time is Here =(

Today is the day. The day that we had hoped would never be reality. But the fact is, it is reality and it starts tonight. Chad has been rotated to the over night shift at work. This is not as easy shift. It is hard. not only because of the average 2 trucks of freight every night that has to be put away in a store that only has like 2 people. But hard for our Family. Our boys are so energetic and our house is so small and echoey. I will worry every morning about him driving home and hour and 15 min after not getting enough sleep the day before. Now don't get me wrong I know that Chad is certainly not the first person to ever work the night shift. And I know that NOBODY enjoys it and it's not easy for anybody. All I can think about is 6 years ago when he was on nights. I was pregnant with Corbyn and it was a hard pregnancy. I was sick the whole time. And Chad could not be there. It was miserable and hard to let him sleep. he was depressed and so was I. I'm just praying that this time around I will be able to help our family endure this time in our life. I must be Chads support. I must take the reins. The rotation will be for 1 year (unless he gets promoted or transferred) The boys and I will have to spend lots of time outside, at parks, the library, friends homes, etc....I almost feel that I'm not welcome in my home because Chad has to sleep. It will be such an adjustment because I'm so use to being able to call or text him all day long. It helps me to get through my day. Well that is now no longer an option. I can't talk to him all day or all night because I will of course need to sleep so I'm not tired for the kids. He will work 4 nights on and 4 nights off. so that is a little better then the schedule he worked before. He will have to leave the house at 6:30pm and wont be home until after 9am. so in order for him to attempt to get enough rest he will just come home, eat, then straight to bed. Basically I will not see or talk to him for 4 days at a time. And since he will not be able to carpool anymore our fuel expense is going to nearly double. So once again we will be cutting back.

I know it's not the end of the world. I have friends who's husbands work out of town 5 days a week. I also have friends who have been on the night shift since I've know them. I just pray I can become and help my family become as strong as they are.

Ok sob fest over.

College at 9?

So Carsyn has been asking me for a while to get him a human anatomy book. He LOVES to learn about how the body works. I've been shopping around and I had one all picked out for 5th grade and I figured I would get it as part of his curriculum next year. While at the DI today We ran across a book that was "Body Structures and Functions" So I tossed it in the cart. I get home he is SUPER excited to read it so it was his book of choice for Quiet time. Then he is telling me all about what he learned. So I did an internet search of the grade level for this book I found that it is a COLLEGE level book! I told him he is more then welcome to read and learn from it as long as he is comprehending it and doesn't get too frustrated. I then went through and found the reproductive section and will tape that shut lol.

Happenings and Changes

So I wanted to just give some random updates about whats happening around here.
 1. as posted in a previous post Chad and I finally got the old stinky carpet out of the bedroom. We had to get it done because we will be having house guests in a few weeks and they will be sleeping in our room. I really did love my purple walls and they will be missed but the change was welcome. Especially since we are keeping resale or renters in mind in the next year or so.

2. Carsyn had the choice at the beginning of the year to whether play soccer or baseball. Corbyn chose soccer and did great but that season is over. Carsyn chose baseball and it started last week. It's going ok he seems to enjoy it but I wonder if I will ever find his Talent. LOL. Love that boy!

3. Chad hurt his back last night and we have NO idea how. So today's plans got completely thrown off. Instead of finishing getting the garage cleaned back up We spent the morning going to a massage therapist and then a chiropractor. Found out His back definitely has problems and it's going to take several visits to get straightened out. He is pretty sore tonight debating work tomorrow and that is NOT like Chad at all.

4. Speaking of work. Remember in a previous post I talked about UNWELCOME changes? Well it's probably time to come to terms with it and admit it out loud. Chad has been informed that he will have to go over nights starting June 22nd. This is so not a good thing for our family. Our house is so noisy with our high energy boys I just don't know how he will get enough sleep. He will have to leaving the house by 6:30 pm and wont get home until 9:00am  in order to get the hours of sleep he needs he will have to get to bed shortly after getting home. I wont be able to txt or talk to him all day. He will work 4 nights on 4 nights off so basically I might as well leave town when he's working because I wont see him anyway =( =(

5. This summer I've noticed I would rather be doing yard work out in the heat then inside doing dishes and laundry. As a result the dishes and laundry are complaining but my yard looks neatly trimmed and green most of the time =) so if you stop by unannounced we will just sit on the porch

6. Not sure if I ever mentioned this but a few weeks ago we were discussing Carsyn's schooling and deciding where to go from here. We really needed to have peace of mind on what we're doing so we had his take the ISAT's and Carsyn who is supposed to be a 3rd grader took the 4th grade level test and scored advance so that made us feel better.

7. Cooper is growing so fast he climbs up everything I will post pictures later to prove it.

8. Corbyn is becoming a sneaky mischievous little stinker. I think I will have extra gray hairs with that one.

9. Cole. He has a temper (sadly he gets it from me) but it's a bad one. But on a good note he is actually POTTY TRAINING!!!! so far he is my youngest potty trainer. the older 2 were closer to 4. With a little more work and another good week I thing he will be good to go. He only wears diapers at night now.

10. Ok I will finish up this lengthy post with myself. I've really been struggling with my weight I'm not happy that I've let my self go this bad. but I'm starting to do things differently. I started running a couch to 5k program and I only have 5 runs left then I'm "supposed" to be able to run straight through. at this post I'm struggling but pushing through. Tonight I ran 25 min non stop I think it was about 2.5 miles. maybe a little less because I don't run during my warm up and cool downs.

So anyway sorry this is a long post but I will wrap it up now. I've also been trying to do better with my blog so now that you're all caught up on us it will be easier to keep you up to date.

Hope you all have a fabulous day.