What's a mom to do?!

Refer to the picture of the sweet (but not so sweet!) boy on the last post as the subject for this blog. That adorable little boy got in so much trouble in primary yesterday that he had to sit in the back with a member of the bishopbric. As if that wasn't enough, Jace pinched him- several times! He was mad that he was in trouble and when Brother Barrington wouldn't let him go back to sitting with his friends, Jace pinched him! What kind of child does this and what does this say of his mother?! As a child (and even as an adult) I would've been so intimidated by someone like that, but not Jace. I came out of Relief Society (I had to teach again) to find Brother Barrington holding Jace (as Jace struggled to get away), waiting to tell me what had happened. I have never been so embarassed in my life- at least that I can remember. Needless to say, Jace got spanked by his dad, yelled at by his mom, but still I wonder if he gets it. He's very smart and can argue logically because a lot of the time he truly doesn't think he's wrong. I have no un-tried idea how to teach him respect, he feels a huge sense of entitlement to do whatever he wants, and I'm running out of creative punishments! What works with your kids?

Oh, and just so you know he's not ALL bad, Jace can also be my sweetest child. He will randomly wrap his arms around me and tell me he loves me to the moon, to the sun, to the mountains and to the stars, and then back again. He then will tell me that I'm a "cutie pie" and how pretty I am. Go figure?!

Spring Break!

If this is any kind of preparation for summer, I'm in trouble! I adore my kids and we've had some fun over this past week, but what little down-time there has been between activities has been tough! My older kids are at an age where they really don't like eachother and they've both made it their mission to make the others life miserable (or get the other in trouble!). This has the same miserable effect on me, as well. Jace is at that "annoying little brother" stage (do they ever grow out of this?) and has to be everywhere and do everything the older kids do, and Brylee has become quite spoiled and only wants to play with things the other kids are playing with. It's SO obvious! They'll give her what she wants and find something else for themselves- only to have her reach and whine for their replacement toy. She's become such a stinker! I know we're in trouble with this one- she is so strong willed and stubborn (which is why she's still here). They say her lungs are weak but you would never know that by her screams! Anyway, in spite of my ocassional struggles with my kids and their "stages", I adore them and they are all wonderful! I can't believe how fun and helpful my older ones are, how smart my pre-kindergartner is and how sweet my baby can be. Brylee has been healthy for almost 2 months now and has tons of personality! We all adore her!



Anyway, between all the fighting and tantrums, we managed to get in some fun activities. We went to the petting zoo and Thanksgiving Point with Abbie and fam as well as some friends and their kids. We all had a good time and I highly recommend it to all of you. I was so impressed with my kids and their comfort level around animals. I have my husband to thank for this because I'm quite the opposite around anything stinky and slobbery (except my baby, of course). Even Brylee was petting all the animals while Abbie's kids cried! Poor Abbie! It was a good time.

There were other fun activities throughout the week, but only after moving both Monday and Tuesday. I LOVE MOVING! Strange, I know, but quite liberating just the same. I love knowing I've gotten rid of tons of stuff and I'm moving into something that's absolutely spotless without me having to clean it! This move was actually quite easy, as there was no furniture to move. Anyway, our little rental home is your typical farm house- adorable! It's so cozy and clean with new carpet and paint throughout. The owners are in our ward (so is the house) and we are their first tenants since the remodel. I was able to get started on my furniture shopping out of necessity and purchased a sectional that will go in the bonus room (which is huge!), an informal dining set for the kitchen and a bedroom set that will be Logan's when the house is done. This home we're in temporarily has tons of built-ins, so bedroom stuff was only needed in the master.

OK, once again my post is super long- do any of you even read the whole thing?!

Sloooooow dayyyyyyyyy........

YAY! The day has finally arrived that we are moving on to the next step- a rental house! We've nver had to do this- we've just moved from one house to the next- whether our projects were completed or not. Anyway, my post is titled "Slow day" because regardless of all the projects I have going on at home, today I committed to filling in at the furniture store. It's SO dead! No customers in 2 hours- I think the weather must be too nice for shopping. So, for those of you who don't know, I have this awesome relationship with a furniture store- I fill in as needed (once a month, at the most) and get to purchase all my furniture and mattresses AT COST! YAY! So worth it! This is the only way I could ever replace all the furniture I sold with my house, which is no easy task! Too many choices, but they're fun choices to make.

Now about my new house that I promised frequent updates- it's awesome! I like it more than I ever imagined! We felt like we were sacrificing by chosing a smaller plan than we started with, but this house has so much more personality and it's got plenty of space. Anyway, because I can't find the cord to transer pics from camera to computer, I haven't posted any yet. However, I'm happy to say that they are now framing the roof- all interior and exterior walls are finished! It's so much fun to see the actual size of the rooms and picture myself living there. We have a HUGE master bedroom, which was an accident I'm quite happy about. We added 2 feet in length to the original plan, then the concrete guys added another 4 when they poured the footings (the "accident"). Needless to say I couldn't be happier. We've always had small master bedrooms so this is a nice little treat!

I can't blog without saying something about at least one of my kids, can I?! I'm proud to tell you that Logan has been chosen to be a pitcher for his baseball team. This may not sound like a huge deal, however he's never officially played baseball in his life- he's 11! Every summer he's gone back to SC to stay with his grandma, so he's missed baseball season. We decided to keep them (him and Kaleigh) home this summer so he could play. His first practice was Saturday and he had the best arm on the team! He's such a natural athlete I don't know why I worried about him being behind in sports. He catches on real quick! I wish I had a picture, but refer to above.

The Faith of a Child...

I was going to post about this (sometimes) sweet little boy last week, but forgot until reading a friends blog reminded me. Anyway, Jace is so curious and asks me questions ALL DAY LONG, literally! He wants to know where everything came from, how it was made, why it was made, etc. Anyone who's ever watched him (my dad, especially) will tell you that Jace can talk for several hours at a time and not come up for air! He follows my dad around like a puppy dog and wants to be a part of everything he does! Anyway, we talk a lot about Heavenly Father and Jesus, because they happen to be the answers to a lot of his questions. He knows that they created everything and that if we want or need something, we can ask in prayer. Well, Jace went outside the other day to play with (or watch) the pigeons. He came back inside after just a few minutes, sobbing. I asked him what was wrong and he told me one of the pigeons was on the ground, dead. He then said "I said a prayer and asked Jesus to made him come back alive and he didn't!". What's a mom to do?! Because we just had Easter, he knows about the resurrection and that we will all "come back alive" someday so I just stressed to him the "someday" part. Animals will be resurrected, too, won't they? Anyway, Jace was upset all day long and since then we have discussed death often. I had an uncle pass away last year that Jace knew quite well and he often asks me what uncle Greg is doing and when he'll come back alive like Jesus. He's asked how he died and I told him because he was sick. Well, now Jace is paranoid of getting sick and is a total germ freak! Kids aren't supposed to be like that- they're full of germs! I must admit some of his questions give me a run for my money- he's a smart little thing! I can most of them, but when he says things like "how can Jesus be everywhere?" and "how can Jesus know when I'm lying?", I've resorted to answers like "cause he's Jesus and he has special powers". Now Jace will say he can do things that he obviously can't do- like turn his ears up so he can hear better- and he'll say Jesus used his powers so he could do that. Funny kid!

This is the place!

I just love Utah! I've lived in other places and they all have different things about them that appeal to me, but there's something about Utah (county, that is) on Sundays and especially conference weekend. The people buying our house were here yesterday setting up a pen for their sheep (my kids are stoked about this!) so I left at about 11:40 to go get pizza for lunch. Spanish Fork was as quiet as it is at 3am (don't ask me how I know this). Streets and parking lots were almost empty until about 12:05. Little Ceasars was suddenly packed with people and Macey's parking lot was full, with every check-stand open and super long lines. I was talking to my sisters about this when Abbie reminded me of going to Cosco last conference weekend. We went during the break and of course it was packed full of people- all of them checking out the famous samples. There were people lined up (literally!) to try everything, except the coffee demo, which was completely void of people. It's just these little details about our religion that set us apart from others (not "above", just apart) and it's comforting to live in a place where so many are faithful. We are sometimes referred to as "those Utah Mormons", in a derogatory way, obviously, which I think is very unfair. We're just a bunch of people doing the best we can and trying to appreciate what we have- the Gospel.

Along those same lines I am also thankful for my wonderful family. Yesterday I took my kids up to where everyone else was camping for the weekend (Jonathan worked on the new house). When the last session of conference started, 4-wheelers were turned off and everyone stopped what they were doing so we could all listen to conference (except the little kids, of course). My parents have always been such good examples and it's just understood in our family that things of a spiritual nature come first. I am so thankful for this! My dad, brother, brother-in-law, and nephew all left camp to go find the nearest church to hear the priesthood session (Jonathan went to the session at our church). Anyway, on our way home last night we passed 3 different churches- all packed with the cars of our local priestood holders. Once again it was an awesome sight and a great feeling to see so many faithful people taking advantage of the opportunity to hear the counsel of the living prophets.

All this talk about conference and yet I forgot about it! I called my mom yesterday (before I went to get pizza) and she said "Aren't you watching conference?"- translation "Why are you calling me in the middle of this?!" Does this make me a hypocrite? Anyway, I just love conference and I'm about to miss it again if I don't stop blogging!

It's SOLD!

Finally we have an offer (a good one) on our house! After several months on the market we can now relax and enjoy the anticipation of our long-awaited dream home next door. It's funny how these things always work out- you'd think I'd learn to just stop worrying! My family always jokes about how whatever we do in real estate we always come out "smelling like roses". Although it doesn't feel like that at the time and they don't realize all the stress, sweat and tears that go into our projects, they are right- it always works out in the end (knock on wood!). We are definitely risk takers and this property that we're on was SO worth every bit of the anxiety (we bought 30 acres with a home, subdivided, sold 2 lots, building on 1 lot and have only needed to sell the existing house on it's 7.6 acres).

Anyway, I've always kind of felt that there was someone very specific that was going to be my neighbor and took some comfort in the thought that maybe they weren't quite ready to make the move just yet. So true! The couple buying our home currently own and run a girls home. They've had a buyer for this property for a couple of years, but just recently decided they were ready to sell. They just happened to be long-time clients of my moms, she realized we had what they needed, and althought the price was more than they planned to spend, she brought them through and they loved it! Mom saved the day cause the Robertson's were running out of money and they're up to their eyeballs in credit card debt! Thanks Mom! Anyway, not only are they buying the house, they are buying EVERY piece of furniture I own- even the "not so nice" stuff. They're selling the girls home furnished and want to buy this home "as is" with even a lot of the decor- it's perfect. I had hoped to get all new stuff, anyway, and we only had to come down 10K from our asking price (the purchase for the furniture is seperate). We LOVE these people! They are keeping 4 of the foster girls (the nice, safe ones) and one of them has even watched our kids. So nice! Anyway, they are paying cash so this whole transaction is pretty much done and we have a rental home in the ward that's just waiting for us to move in. Anyway, since I never post pics and I happen to have some saved on the computer, her are a few of this monstrocity we've been trying to sell! We've done a lot (I wish I had the befores!) and it really is a very cozy home- just a little dated on the outside. Not much we could do about that without lots of cash!