more on pregnancy

Running this pregnancy has been weak to say the least. I found a walking friend that really keeps me going fast... but she got tendentious. I've not worked out sense Monday of last week... had to take the car in first thing Tuesday morning, hospital Wednesday, fained "recovery" on Thursday, walking friend texted she could not go on Friday, Slept in Saturday (but went on a hike).... got dressed to work out yesterday-never went, but probably walked half a mile at the zoo...and today I did not get up because I saw that it was going to be 100 by 7am...never mind I have a treadmill in the other room- but the morning sun hits it...

Lazy...

So, I thought I'd be depressed about the possibility of getting fat if I let working out go by the wayside this pregnancy. It is not like me not to work out. I run almost everyday when we go on vacation to Mexico.

This situation is sort of giving new light and is kinda' manifesting who I am in regard to exercise... I love to run, I love the benefits of working out like the extra energy and I thought the major incentive to me in working out (although I would never wholly admit it) was to stay skinny (although my bum and upper thighs never got skinny enough with running alone).... However with these days of laziness I have worried a little about turning into a fatty (I'm already fat from pregnancy...Maesyn named all of the flamingos at the zoo and asked if it was ok that the fat one was me- is there such thing as a fat flamingo?.) I find myself worrying more about the atrophy of my muscles, are my feet starting to swell from inactivity?, will my recovery be prolonged? what am I doing to my health?
I know there are lots of inactive people, and although I love to sleep a little longer and get up and get dressed in real clothes right away... i need to get back in the saddle.

After explaining my dismay with not having my motivator to get up and "walk with" - Remember she got tendentious? It is easier to get up when you know some one is waiting on you...He said he would get up to run with me (he has a night time running friend- but his dad just passed away so Nate is taking a break)... However, Nate and I pledged that we could not be regular work out partners... it is hard to get out of bed when you know that person you are planning to meet is still sleeping next to you. When he and I work out it is up to me to get him up. I hate that responsibility...although if I want to work out it is up to me.
He said he would help at the getting up part.... but he let me continue to sleep this morning.

Christopher Creek

Hungry to use my new rain and shade canopy, we had a camping trip scheduled for this weekend. However, half way through the week things started going wrong, wrong, wrong... and we concluded that if we went camping that the forest would probably burn down. So instead we took a day trip and picnic to Christoper Creek.
Fishing on the rocks. Jake loves to fish and Nate has really gotten into it too. Nate caught a trout and let it go (well, it let itself go) and the kids kept catching crawdads.
These kids were bottomless pits and always starving the whole time. Maes was pretty worn out after fishing for crawdads and eating.

oh you want to know about our bad week. Ok.

Tuesday night I cramped all through the night. Afraid that it was pre term labor we went to the hospital just before 6 am and stayed until lunch time. They hooked me up to monitors, gave me fluids and ran tests. As I waited I worried:
What will happened to the baby if she is born at 26 weeks? Will she be ok?
What if they put me on bed rest? Our tight budget includes me working for 6 weeks before the baby arrives. What will we do?
What about our 2 vacations that we were saving for and planning for. The kids have been talking about Mexico for months.
Then I cried with all of my worries.
Their conclusion.... kidney stone. Yeah, when does someone say "Thankfully it was just a kidney stone."?
I spent the rest of the day with dull cramps and rested. Nate stayed home from work to help with the kids. By the end of the day I was so depressed at all that I had not accomplished that I was in tears (again).
Jake also pooped in my parents pool.
On Thursday I tried to pull things together, I felt well, but I was scheduled to go to day camp. I had already spent hours coordination all of the adult leadership as well as making sure that everybody had all of their gear together and the correct paper work. Now I was unable to go (my follow up appointment was scheduled during day camp and I was not sure what I was allowed and not allowed to do). I scampered to find help as I continually told my kids "After I'm done doing all of this work for day camp...." to any request they had. I only planned to spend a little bit of time on cub scout and day camp preperations, but then I found out a parent that was scheduled for the following day was called into work, so I had to find a replacement not only for me, but for Friday as well.
I was happy that a mother stepped up in the end and found care for her child (who happened to be sick) so that she could cover for me... there are angles.
All the boys were off to camp and I went to my appointment. My regular Dr. was not there, but I needed a follow up. I found out that my attack was just minor, my kidney was inflamed but they did not see a stone in the ultra sound. (I was worried that there was one in there and I had more pain in my future). My big question was "Can I still go to Mexico on vacation? " the answer "I would not recommend it." However, all my tests looked good and she told me to check with my regular Dr. when he got back from vacation (the earliest I can see hims is 4:40 pm on Tuesday- we leave on our trip on Wednesday in the dark AM).
You see, a kidney stone attack can send you into preterm labor, so it was not about my discomfort (which I was willing to go through even on vacation-so we would not have to cancel - Maes has been asking about our trip for months, remember?). If it happened again it could make me go into pre term labor. To stop it I would need to go to the hospital and I I would not want to go to a hospital in Mexico.
So I called Nate on the way home to tell him what I heard. Of course he said "That Sucks" we all know it sucks. And then he said "Planning a new vacation will cost more money and take some time." We all knew that as well. So in my hormonal and slightly depressed pregnant state I cried...wait....I bawled. And hung up on him and then when he got home I bawled some more as I explained to him that he was supposed to say "It is ok, I'm glad that you and the baby are OK. We will plan the most fun vacation that we can and don't worry about a thing." Now to rail on Nate like that was sort of crappy. You see, Nate is the PRACTICALLY PERFECT husband- and just because he did not say the exact perfect thing at that exact moment does not mean I should rail on him.... I know that most wives (hopefully) think that their husbands are great, but if you knew all of the things that Nate does to be so great then you might start to covet him, and that is a sin. So I won't share them with you all at once (but he has been known to say that I can have all of the shoes I want because girls are supposed to have lots of shoes.). So, Nate is pretty great and I would never ever trade him for another husband and sometimes I feel bad that he is stuck with a nutty wife that gives him grief.
But now I will go on with our bad week.
On Friday morning Maes woke up asking how many days until Mexico. I told her that we might not be able to go until next year, but if we cannot go then we would plan another very fun trip. "Nothing is as fun as Mexico." (we all know that as well). I sent her to her room and cried.
I checked my e-mail. The person that I was counting on to cover our missing parent for day camp (only for part of the day mind you) had sent an e-mail that said she could not help with day camp. No "sorry", no explanation. I cried again. You see, I told our scout master that I would cover if we could not find anybody. So, I put off my kids again for one more day that week as I prepared for day camp.
I also had to take our car in to get its emissions checked (yeah, the certified vehicle did not have it's emissions checked by the dealership before they sold it to us, what else did they forget?) On a good note, our friend from our ward works at the dealership and I don't have to go back there. She will bring me a check to reimburse me and then also bring us our plates!!! On a bad note, I cannot find my credit card that I last used to pay for emissions.
I took my kids to Nate's great Aunts house to be watched. Maes cried and cried because, although Grandma was there to watch her-( she was there to help our great grandma Wheeler while Dianne was out of town) Maes thought the house was scary. Jake was fine until he saw his sisters angst, then he clung to me. It is hard to leave your kids like that.
So, out of the house and into the van to take the boys to day camp. Oh, I lost my keys while I was there and got blisters because I was wearing converse with crappy socks (yeah, no chaco's
I called Nate to drive out to bring me our spare set. Found out that Maes had thrown up about 3 times on my parents couch and carpet.
Nate drove out, and once we got there, the staff member that had my keys (the entire time I was looking for them) also arrived in the parking lot and clicked open our car. It just happened that way. He did not need to go open my car with the keys, just turn them into lost and found so I could retrieve them. He was a jerk...but I won't go on about that.
Saturday... slept in. Kids whining. Bath time a disaster. More fits and fights with the kids. Sent Nate to a baptism on his own. Got mad at everybody. Put the bunk beds together, cleaned the house and finally we set out to Christopher creek. Our friend said it was a half mile hike at the most. NOT TRUE. Maes hated it, her feet hurt right away and then she was STARVING. When we arrived we saw that the area was not really kid friendly...cool but not easy for them to get around. Maes let us know over and over again that she liked the place with the orange rocks better (Sedona). Jake did pretty well. He is a good hiker and did not complain. But he is little, there for slow. On the way out Maes said she was so tired and tried to just crawl out. Not Ok. As we hiked I told her the names of all the plants that I knew. She loved it (I need a book of Arizona plants so I can tell her more). It made things easier. We also told her that she had to hike fast and in between Nate and I or else the mountain lions would see that she was slow and an easy target (true, but sort of mean). Although I am very impatient with the kids at home, I think I win in patience with them while hiking (I'm not all that patient, but I think I was a little more than Nate, just a smidge).
The car ride home... Jake kept yelling (then whispering) to Maesyn to "shut off" he though he was saying "shut up" and he knows it is naughty. Maes would yell and scream in response "Jake is saying the bad word that Tanner says. " Jake did not get any french fries for his behavior.

And that was our week...

Wait... at the creek the lid to our bait worms fell in the water. Nate noticed it floating out of his reach. Although there was litter everywhere we are a slight bit granola and would not allow ourselves to contribute (in fact, on the way out Nate pointed out all of the trash and we were a bit sad that we had not brought trash bags to help clean up a little... although we really did not have means to pick up trash as our hand were full of kids and their stuff). At any rate, it was getting late and cool and I did not want Nate to get his clothes wet swimming and then be cold and risk a chafing on our hike out. So I suggested he get naked and swim out to get our little bait lid. It was fun to watch, and Jake pointed out Nate's bum cheeks ( my kids love bum cheeks) and then asked where daddy's swimsuit was.

bunk beds and other preperations

My kids will now inhabit bunk beds. (well hopefully, they are in their room at least). You see, we are not going to move into a bigger house any time soon, so we are now making preparations to stay here longer rather than making preparations to show our house an hopefully move out.
One of the necessary things was to get bunk beds in the kids room. We will have a 3rd child in that room at the end of September and we needed to make room for a crib, a changing table/dresser and all of her goods. We got rid of our old crib and changing table and are scanning craigslist for just the right ones to replace them.

We recently added a second clothes bar to the kids closet to make room for all of the babies clothes and now Maesyn can reach all of her dresses that are on the lower bar. Jake's dresser is in the closet as well as a tote of rug making fabric and the Sunday fun tote. Some baskets of fun books and a few of their DVD's are in there too.
Currently their shoe baskets are in there, but they are hard to get to, we will move those into cute baskets under the bunk bed and then make way for food storage or water bottles in the vacant space. Some totes of clothes, diapers and keepsakes are also taking up any space they can in the closet. All the while I'm trying to avoid the look of clutter.

Now that we don't have a trundle under the bed there is also space for some of the food storage that we have been keeping under our bed. Once those cans find their new home there will be space for all 4 of Nate's guitars (hopefully) and some pull out drawers.

Because we won't be getting a new king size bed any time soon, I am on the hunt for a longer dust ruffle for our tall bed that is on stilts. That way we can hide the plastic pull out drawers and the guitars that peep out under the shorter bed skirt.

We also painted this dresser. (the kids and I). They loved it so much they even painted the back of the dresser, parts of the insides, their feet, faces and some of the kitchen floor. It is an old dresser that I had when I was a teenager. It had seen better days and was looking for a fun, off the wall sort of color to brighten it up. Come to think of it, the bunk beds were beds that Nate slept in as a teenager we are really good at recycling furniture around here.

In addition to these things that we have already done, we are going to get our buffet (I think that is what it is called, it is being stored at a family members home) in our living room where I can store craft supplies (freeing up space in the play room). We will then put the toy box/bench in the play room and also get the nice wood table that my mom has been staining for about 2 year in there. It will hopefully look as quaint as it can with the treadmill and bikes on the walls.

Our laundry room will need some more shelving to better accommodate a realistic food storage. The shelves will be visible when the door is open so I'd like to put "cuter" items on it like the sewing basket and what ever is not hideous to look at as clutter (so I will not have bottled chicken on those shelves- they look like fetal pigs).

It is difficult to store all of the stuff that we have in this small space. I totally can, but I want to avoid the look of clutter. Getting our house ready to show has put me in that mood and I am trying to keep a lot of stuff out of site becuase I like how fresh it all looks. Our tooth brushes are now at home on the medicine cabinets and we have other things stored neatly out of site that we happen to use often. It has been very refreshing I think.

Although I am not getting an extra room, a garage or a back yard, this preparation to stay is sort of fun. I don't have to do any major moving- just rearranging and acquiring a few items. I also don't have to look for a renter or buyer for a while.

We will be keeping our storage unit. A visit is due in the next few weeks as we reaarange it for long term use. Itmes that will be needed will move to the front (baby clothes, toys that will need to be rotated and holiday decor). Items that are just to be stored will stay in the back (keep sakes, old books). Some things will return home. (I'm not sure what- for sure baby stuff, but I'm kinda' hoping to find the cup holders to the car seats so Jake can use a cup holder in the new space of our min van).

We are hoping to enjoy our July (I'll be less busy than June as swimming lessons and my 2x weekly art classes will be over- just Wednesday art classes and hopefully quality time and fun for us) as we get the house together. The goal is to have it all done by the end of the month. That way, when the chaos of the school year starts, (Maes will be in school, I'll be teaching 2 days a week until the baby, and I'll do an at home art class weekly as well as weekly art classes at a pre school- and who knows what else in addition to my normal schedule) we don't have to worry about house and baby prep.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to Nate!

Right now the kids and Nate are in the Living Room watching home videos. We need to keep making those. The kids like to watch them and it is a fun Sunday activity.

As far as gifts he sort of made bank this year. We did not make the digital transition about a week ago and have been without regular TV for this entire time! It really was not bad as we are not HUGE into TV. The kids did watch a lot of movies, but it was nice for me not to waste time in front of the TV at night.

The TV we bought right when we got married was pretty bad, so we knew a digital one was in the future. Wal Mart had a GREAT deal, and I managed to keep it a surprise. We gave it to him last night when he came back from his Mission Reunion. Jake helped to set it up. We sort of have it figured out.
He also got a fancy pants shoe rack because our shoes take too much room in the closet and a new camping chair because ours keep falling apart!

Happy Graduation Present

In honor of being done with school (possibly forever), Nate got a 1957 Gibson ES 125.
There are lots of cool things about this guitar. I don't know what they are, but I'm sure I'll have him post about it himself. His friends that are into music were thrilled. It looks about like this but without the pick guard. Once he is back from his reunion with his mission buddies I will post pictures of the real one.
When he first got it he showed it to EVERYBODY...you could tell who was into music and who was not. Our friend that loves TV (he knows and loyal watches shows that I have never heard of, they also have an awesome TV) sort of glazed over when Nate told him all about it. kina funny to watch- in a painful sort of way.
We think it is a good idea for the wife of a full time student for the past 7 years to get a gift. His coworker suggested the ipod touch. I'm totally not interested, but I think he is. We will have to think about Christmas on that one. I've already got some cool surprises up my sleeve for Father's day- and part of the surprise is that I've kept it a secret!
I think that our new van (post coming soon) is a good enough gift, and the fact that we got some gap insurance on the loan because we have not had a car payment in over 5 years and I'm a worrier!
I think it would be cool to get a gift when I quit working- well working at the job that pays me money- because we need the extra money! (i'll always be working-just like i've been doing sence I woke up this morning- I could say I get paid in love, but I mostly get yelled at by my kids because we are not doing fun stuff and I put them in time out for causing a mess while bathing that took 5 towels to clean up)
For now, the rest of our little tax return will sit in savings where it belongs...until we dip into it for our trip to Mexico, then our family trip to San Diego... but then the rest of it will sit in savings where it belongs...until some catastrophe happens and we have to dip into it!

Maesyn Turned 5

Sometimes it is hard to believe that we have a 5 year old. She will be going to Kindergarten in the Fall. Maesyn is very grown up. She is 5 going on 13 (when she back talks) as well as 5 going on 30 (when she tells me "I don't like the way you are talking to me.")
I think she started talking about her birthday plans in December. Here is how everything went down:

Water party, and the final location choice was Grandma Garner's
Play Pool. How many kids can you fit into one of these?
Water balloon toss. Can you see how organized it was?
Slip and slides.
Sponge toss. The kids loved this the most. Nate finally had to walk away.
Friends. Loie is moving this summer. She is about a month younger than Maesyn and 2 sizes bigger. Maesyn is just little like her mom and dad, Loie is tall like her dad.
Pinata. I think Maes had forgotten about this request from months ago, but when I saw this one at the party store I had to get it. She and Jake were really sad when the kids smacked the wings off. There were almost tears.
Maesyn's cake. I am dedicated to making their cakes each year and hopefully getting better, maybe that is one of the reason my kids get to have birthday parties every year, so I can practice decorating cakes! One day I will be as good as my mom. This one was pretty easy. Now that my parents live here I get lots of tips (ok, and tons of help). The frosted graham cracker is an addition by Maesyn. She wanted to write her name as well, but I had already done it.
Lighting the candles.
Lots of fun gifts.


And of course the picture of the little brother eating cake. There is one of him from last year too! Notice the party favors. Maes picked them out. All of the kids enjoyed their butterfly sunglasses! All of the left over buckets and water guns are heading with us to Mexico for fun in the sun!

All in all the party was a super success and I was exausted, eventhough I had lots and lots of help! Each year I say that I'm going to go low key, but we always add a few extra things.
We love our 5 year old!

Tag

I should be doing the laundry that I put off yesterday, but I am wasting time on the computer. Today I need to:

• Make sure Jake is feeling better after his barf fest last night.
• House work, but minimal
• Take Maes to spend her birthday gift cards
• Call all the Honda Dealers - unless you are selling your van for a screaming deal. (I hate car shopping)

Here is the tag:

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Did a 4 mile walk (running is hard this time around)
   
2. Took Kids to Swimming Lessons
   
3. Updated Art Class Blog
   
4. Got stressed out with Sallie Mae for outsourcing phone calls to India and not knowing anything about Nate's loans.
   
5. Spent too much time on the phone doing several "Phone Chores"
   
6. Went to the bank
   
7. Took the kids swimming at my parents house
8. Got Barfed on by Jake several times.
   

8 things I look forward to:

1. Having a Mini Van.
   
2. Trip to Mexico (hopefully in a Mini Van)
   
3. Our independent family trip to San Diego, Sea World and Lego Land! It is so liberating that we are able to do these on our own! (again, hopefully in a van)
   
4. Any summer camping trips - minus the multiple times I'll have to pee at night because I'm pregnant.
   
5. Having our baby in September (I don't enjoy pregnancy)
   
6. Nursing my baby- I hate boobs but nursing forces me to relax and sit down. It is a good trade off, but once those boobs are back to A cups again I feel pretty, oh so pretty.
   
7. Nate getting paid better. He loves his job so it would be nice if they gave him a raise now that he has his MBA.
   
8. Having a house with a back yard (and a 4th bedroom). That is looking so far away (our house is no longer for sale or rent, we need to stay here until the higher pay so we can afford a bigger home- blasted economy!- but at least we can afford this house and have jobs).
   

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Focus better
   
2. Run this entire pregnancy- I guess if I were more motivated
   
3. Find a Mini Van and buy it TODAY
   
4. Sit in my own back yard and enjoy the great evenings we were having.
   
5. Make time to read books
   
6. Be more patient with everybody
   
7. Cut hair for Maesyn and Jake (i'm cheap)
8. Have more time in the day to get more stuff done.
   

8 shows I watch on TV: (we are currently without TV at all- it is nice. The the kids watch movies or Oliver multiple times a day- but when we did have TV I was not much of a TV watcher, I had a few shows that I liked but I only knew what day they were on, never the time or the station so I would just flip during those evenings and try to find them..so here it is..

1. The Office
2. 30 Rock
3. My Name is Earl
   
4. CSI- any - but we are not allowed to watch "police shows"- my kids have seen to many tv killings)
   
5. Law and Order
   
6. American Idol
   
7. Last Comic Standing- I don't even think this is on all the time.
   
8. The Biggest Looser
   

8 people I tag:

1. Kelly C
2. Jill S
   
3. Sarah G
4. Sara M
5. ROC
6. Amy R
7. Christina
8. Anybody else that thinks this will be fun- or needs to waste time.
   

off the market

In November we casually put a "For Sale By Owner" in front of our home. If it sold before Nate finished with school then we were ok, but if not we would get aggressive about it after he graduated. After graduation we did another market assesment to see how much we should be asking for our home. The results were not good. The only houses that had sold were bank owned and the were selling for what we paid 7 years ago and even less! Although our home was in good shape we did not feel that someone would be willing to pay $40K more for a home that did not need new doors, new carpet, paint and flooring. So we exchanged it for a "For Rent" sign.

As our family grows and our staition in life changes we are faced with adjustments. We will have a car payment for the first time in 5 years. We are excited for the added space of a mini van, and hopefully less fighting! We are glad that we are choosing something that some of our sibblings call "nerdy", and remind us of it when we mention again that we are wanting a mini van. I think they think we are just setteling. We are excited about the better gas mileage, cheaper tires and maintance over the SUV and who would not love doors that open and close ON THEIR OWN!!! We used to be anti mini van, but we are glad we waited until we needed a larger vehicle to buy one and have "come to our sences". It is the best choice for our family and our needs. Some how I feel like after they see ours they will understnd and embrase the mini van, but I really don't think that will happen.

Along with the new and exciting letters behind Nate's name there will be student loan payments. He has some of his undergrad cost and the cost of 2 graduate degrees. We have a monthly pay back number for consolidating and I will get an amount for not consolidating today. We knew this was coming and knew it would be a big amount! IT IS!!! But worth it.....right. I mean now Nate can add a signatuer at the end of his e-mail that says
Nate Garner MHSM, MBA
And when we do phone surveys and they ask the highest level of education I can say "graduate" in refrence to my husband.

Ok, there is more to it than that. But this economy makes things hard. I feel like we are the lucky ones. Nate was in a program that allwed him to work full time, and he actually has a job in his field that he LOVES. People that were in full time programs and did not already have jobs lined up are having a hard time. We are lucky.

However, with the new car payment, insurance (we will have full coverage on both cars) and the student loans.... we are just making it. I will work some extra days in the fall that will offset some of the cost of my maternity, but it won't cover all of it. When we did our budget for the year with Nate's current pay and only including our regular monthly expencies then we were short just over $700 for the year. That does not include Birthdays, Christmas, Weddings, Oil Changes, Tires (The van we are looking at has new tires, as does the Matrix), Dr. Appointments or other non regular expencies. We have $150 a month for spending money, and although that was generally used for dates and fun stuff, i feel that it will now cover oil changes and Co pays.
However....
I will teach art classes at home and make up to $50 a week (i hope).
I will teach two family art classes a month for $100 a month
I will teach one hour a week to pay for Jake's care while I work the first 6 weeks of school.
I'll just have to pay someone to take maes for a half day while I work, and Pam might do it anyhow.
All of that money could help with the unexpected, as I deposit those checks in our local bank.

SO, things are good.

We no longer have our house up for rent. I don't think we can afford to pay more than what we are paying here, and if we loose a renter for a month or 2 we don't have the money to cover that either. We will not move until Nate is making more money.

Here are some good points..and a few bad, but mostly good.

I no longer have to worry about finding a renter this summer and can relax.
We are planning to rearrange furniture and storage (keep the for fee storage untit) and I like organizing. We will will organize the storage unit so that we can get to the things we might need and put the unneeded stuff at the back. We will hang new shelves in the laundry room, make way for a computer in the play room and move some furniture. A bunk bed and crib for the kids room and hopefully a dresser that will double as a changing table. And an extra bar in the kids room closet so Micah won't have to be naked.
I don't have a place to store and use my own kiln, so I'll be at the whim of my parents.
We don't have a back yard to enjoy, but we do have family in town with back yards.
I think I am mostly happy that I know what we are doing this summer and that I don't have to worry about the unknown or making ends meet with the possibility of being without a renter.

For now we will pray for a good job. Once he gets that new job or raise we will put the house up for rent again, or sale if the market is better. It would be cool to live here while making tons of money that we can put in the bank!

little ones tugging at your apron strings

I always thought that expression to be a bit old fashioned....
maybe I'm old fashioned.

Oh and you see that (extra) junk in my trunk?
Notice that I actually have bosoms and they are being supported by the most expensive bra I have ever owned in my life?
That is how you can tell I am pregnant... those are the signs that show before any bump....and the bump is starting to show too.

Assistant Scout Master

Nate is the assistant Scout Master, which means camping trips monthly. Unfortunately next months trip is over my birthday, so I think he will stay home! This month they went fishing on their trip. I don't recall where they went but they caught a lot of trout. Some of the Scouts would not touch the fish. My kids, Maesyn especially, loved to hold the fish and she even helped me prepare them for our dinner. We will have to camp at this place as a family. Jake would love the fishing...especially if he caught something.

Today

Today I hope will be a good day. It is over cast and therefore a bit cooler. I can keep my front door open in the morning and evening....until the smoke from my neighbor comes pouring into my house.

This morning started out well. We loaded up the kids in the bike trailer for a bike ride. There were some complaints and whines about not having Chocolate Milk. You see, Jake can have chocolate milk when he potties in the toilet. He is fine with plain milk I guess. Maes can have it if she sleeps in her own bed the whole night. She is not fine with plain milk, nor sleeping in her own bed. There was frustration, but the weather was nice and after some reprimanding and then complements in talking with a nice voice we were on our way to the "Air Plane Park."

We try to go on morning bike rides 3 times a week with dad. We get out just after 6 am and we ride together to a park of the kids choice. We take the trailer from Nate's bike and then he rides home to get ready for the day. Sometimes he even makes the bed. He did today, so it could be a good day.

The kids and I play at the park before it gets too hot. Usually about an hour.

Today's plan was to possibly hit the ranch market after the park, but I battled back and forth. Was I starting to feel sick, was it getting too warm. On our ride back home I was pretty set on dropping of the bike and hopping in the car, but Maes suggested that we ride all the way to the market, so she could sleep. The clouds covered the sun and I was not too sick...so off we went. We saw a few bunnies on the way, and that appeased Jake.

Then at the market we found great deals. I am reluctant to shop with the kids, but I have to remember it is possible and we did great. We loaded up the cart with 2 small seedless watermelon, Jake loved that they were small, a pine apple, 2 cantaloupes, 2 golden honeydew (i think honeydew taste like dirt, but i'll try this...they were only .50 a piece). 2 lbs of strawberries, 18 oz of black berries, 2lbs of peaches, a bunch of bunches of broccoli, some onions, a 5lb bag of red potatoes, some sugar nap peas, spinach and three colors of peppers, some zucchini and one avocado (they were not a good price, but Jake wanted one). We also got 5 salt water taffies, because everybody was nice in the store.
So, one full cart (they are small carts) and less than $15 later we were out to figure out how to get all of the stuff in the bike trailer. It FIT!
A few bickers on the way home but, we made it. And the kids actually ate something for breakfast!.

So lets let the day continue to be good. I have an art class at 11:30 and a small list of chores. The kids need to practice swimming, maybe the sun will come out for that so I don't get too cold while working with them.

Yesterday, by contract was not so hot- well some parts .
I did workout, but I felt bad in the morning and lazed about. There was grief from one child at swimming, but a bribe of the slip and slide shopping trip (for her birthday) helped get things moving. Jake did surprisingly well though. I had to get the house clean for a potential renter, it took me the rest of the morning into the afternoon and they did not show.
Dinner was good, salmon, edamane, green beans, and herbed potatoes.
FHE went ok, but there was grief at walmart that resulted in a loss of an ice cream shop trip, but good behavior in FHE lesson earned milkshakes. (am I too mean? or too easy?)
Oliver was watched for the 3rd time that day.
I have decided with getting my clutter put away that I don't really need to have stuff out. I will now store the bath toys under the cupboard and tooth brushes are in the medicine cabinet, even though I have a cute container for them. It feels so fresh and clean... so although people don't come to look at my house, I hope I develop a good habit of keeping down the clutter!

Now to really start my day:
Finish bathing the kids
Make the kids beds
Shower and shave legs
put groceries away
Fold laundry
switch laundry
load dishwasher.
make brownies
Totally dooable in 1.5 hours... but factor in the kid stuff and hopefully I get half of it done...
Then:
Do work out videos??
Mail Nate's watch in
call student loan people
order quicken
swim with the kids
I'm sure there are other things... except more grocery shopping... I am out of money and sticking to it!

e-mail to nate.

I realize that I -email Nate a lot about my day and it is a journal in some ways. Here is a hectic morning I shared with him this week. I totally love my kids and staying home with them. Even with the hard things (Maesyn told me she hated me this morning) I never wish to work full time and be away from them. In fact, I hate that I work part time and am not with them. When I am busy we have too many mornings like this one and not enough for just fun and lovin'.

From: heidi garner [mailto:heidileagarner@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 11:01 AM
To: Nate Garner - MedPro X
Subject:

Hey.
I know I only have a few things on my plate, but with kids it makes it take a load longer. Just going to swimming lessons was a huge pain. They both whined about it. Maesyn has got to stop. And they both whined through their lessons. Maesyn was a huge pill, she can do it ALL but will get out the the pool and cry to me about crap and then miss the instruction part and then miss out on getting help because she whines. It is annoying to me an Sarah. She is for sure not a favorite in swimming lessons like she is in other classes. I told her that she has got to stop it. We said a prayer before lessons and I told her to keep saying prayers. I told her that whining makes everybody bothered, she does not get what she wants EVER from it and she can do almost all of the stuff they are doing in lessons and that the things she trys for the first time she usually gets done. I explined on how she misses out on getting instructions and getting help because of it too.

Jake is annoying as well, but he is little and althogh he is one of the cry babies, it is expected at his age. Maes is possibly the youngest in her class, but the only whiner. I think she is too old to behave this way and i am telling her that because she is not acting like a 5 year old that maybe she can keep being a baby and whine and not turn 5 or have a party. I am trying to be patient, but that 30 min of lessons is begins first thing in the morning with her whining and then continues through the half hour lesson.

I called howard. The car can be fixed today, he fixed one more thing and thinks that there is a noise from the back, could be the tires, but not to worry now.

I scoured the sallie mae site for an information release form, I could not find it so I will call them later today after I work out and teach my art class and get the car. For now here is the fax number to Direct loans so you can write a letter giving me permission to axcess your loan information. Here is the fax number -------------. Your account number is your SS number.

Oh, in addition to the hectic morning, the closet door fell off. I think I need to take that piece fromt he top that goes in the rail and see if they have extras of those at home depot. The way we rigged it is not working.

Ok, I love ya
have a good day.
Heidi

MBA graduation

We have been married for nearly 7 years, and Nate has been a full time student that entire time. He has even taken classes each and every summer. What do you get out of that? An associates degree, a Bachelors Degree, a Masters of Health Sector Management and an MBA. He did not walk for the first 3 degrees, but we really wanted him to celebrate this MBA, it is major accomplishment.

We were only planning on going to the MBA part of the graduation on Saturday, but when we heard that the President was going to speak at the ASU graduation we decided to take Maesyn.
Now, Maesyn is not much for politics. She is only 4 and that is fine. She does not know about issues such as the economy and its dismal state, nor about immigration or abortion. I am not cloistering my little girl, I just want to preserve her innocents and that bliss that comes with being ignorant of these things. SHE IS 4! I am saddened when I hear little ones discussing some of these issues. I prefer she have conversations about webkins, swimming and "shaking her bum cheeks."
She does not know who we voted for. We might have told her, but I'm sure she has forgotten by now. She went with me to vote and watched the election on TV. After Obama was elected she asked when she would get to see him. I explained that it would probably be never. When she would see him on TV she would recognize him as the President. We have respect for the office and try to remember to pray for our president (that is all we can do now right?) in our prayers.
Sooooo. When the opportunity arouse for us to give Maesyn the chance to see a Living and Acting President of the United States of America.. we jumped at it. After all, we just had to get the tickets (easy), stand in the heat for a while (not too bad, even for this pregnant lady) and then eat expensive stadium food as we waited in the shade for the sun to set.
Here is the girl taking advantage of the opportunity of a life time!
We had great seats and could see the snipers.
We watched the cars drive into the stadium. Who knows who is in this one.

We waited through the speeches as Maesyn got so bored and restless. Obama began to speak and I thought after Maesyn saw him that we could just walk out. She would have liked that as she had been sitting a while. But we listened to his whole speech, which was not bad and then flooded out of there with about 1/4 of the other guests. (maybe less).
We rode the new light rail back to our car and headed home.

Maeyn's take on the evening:
"He is so boring and does not talk about kid stuff."

THEN.......
On Saturday May 16th we had the MBA Graduation. We took Jake along. He dropped a bag of Cheeze its onto the sound people. They probably hated it. The guest speaker was really brief and kinda' lame, but it was great for the kids that were again bored and restless- even though they had food (now gone) and markers and crayons and walks with Grandpa Anderson, and Lap sittings with Grandma and Grandma Garner.
After we went to lunch for Mexican (I probably threw it up later)...and celebrated the weight off of his shoulders.

NEXT....
Find a better paying job or hope for a raise from his current employer. He loves his current job.
AND....I've already begun making calls about our student loan payments.
It cost a pretty penny to add MHSM and MBA behind your name!

Mother's Day

On Mother's day I got a sun and rain shade. I'll be a happy camper...when ever we get to go camping again!

Toad in our yard.

So, we had a toad in our yard for a while. Maesyn loved him (or her) and gave it a tour of our house and held it and loved it. Jake said he would hold it "next time". It peed on Maes a few times.

In contrast. I had a small wart on my foot. I did not want to do anything about it, it might hurt and then effect my running addiction..So I let it go. Sometimes they just go away on their own. Bu then another one sprouted. No big deal. Then one night I saw about 20 small dots on my feet. A "colony" as Nate described it.
So off to the dermatologist and then back with some compound w and instructions. The bottom of my feet are pretty eaten up from the acid.
One night when saying prayers my feet were near Maes.
"Ew, disgusting, get your yucky toad feet away from me!"

Wild Life World Zoo

At the beginning of May we went to the Wildlife World Zoo with Tara and Mandi and Tara's room made Sharon and Cousin boy Reagan. This is a new zoo and it was not crowed ed and not really manned with lots of employees. Thus we reached into cages and pet animals that would not eat us.. and Reagan shared his sippie with a Lama.
It was an amazing zoo, but they do not allow outside food. We picnicked in the hot parking lot, but then I took some snacks in for my pregnant self to much on.
All in all we had a great day. How often do you get to feed a Giraffe?

Feeding the birds some apples. They would land right on you to eat! Maesyn was very brave to feed the birds.
Aunt Tara and Nate and Jake and Maes. Jake was content to just watch!
Lamas.
Feeding the Giraffes. You just drop the food on their tongues.

They have really long tongues.
It is kinda yucky!

Oh and they did have a fun petting zoo, no pictures because two goats started to eat my skirt and I had to leave.
And they had some prairie dogs that were nursing like 500 babies while standing on all fours. I felt a special closeness to them.

This is a long time between posts and for part of it I will cry the typical Mormon mommy plea of being busy. But when I look at it, how busy am I? I am the mother of just 2, and one is barely school age. I work 2 days a week. But then I add on my list of small things. Little things that would take 10 min to an hour to do and work on. Private art classes I teach on occasion, cub scout den meeting, pack meetings and planning. My husband still being in grad school, summer planning, getting our house ready to sell/rent, grocery shopping, coupon clipping, running, bike riding, taking the kids to the park and to see their grandparents... of course there is that insistent need to check the blogs of friends, family and people I don't know...some of which I think are stupid, but I want to see what stupid things they are doing in their lives. (just the people I don't know, I don't think my friends and family are stupid). All of this piled together with kids makes for a busy day. Simple acts that could take a few minutes double in time, and messes are made as soon as they are cleaned up. And I like a clean house.

Now, I have not always been busy sense my May 12th post. The week after school got out I ENJOYED MYSELF AND MY KIDS. I was free from work, maeysn was out of school. We had a relatively free week from any schedules and commitments. (ok, we had my brother in laws wedding on Friday, but most of the week was ours). I did not understand why mom mother in law said she loved her kids being home in the summer? Was it not more calm when they were at school all day? NO, she had tons of things going on with her 9 kids... student council, and track meets and prom... always busy...with those kids "at school all day".
Although Maesyn has just finished her first year of pre school, I enjoyed that we did not have to be out of the house at a certain time in the morning.
We went on morning bike rides with dad - 6am before he had to be at work. (we are keeping that up 2 or 3x a week). We would see him off and then play at a park for as long as we wanted, or until I felt sick.
Then home to do what we wanted with the day.
One day included a spontaneous trip to the zoo, that ended up being 6 hours long!
We swam at the homes of our grandmothers and helped get wedding stuff ready.
We went shopping with dad for a beautiful dress for Maesyn for the wedding.
We did have some commitments of a wedding dinner, a wedding , a reception, one dance practice and a recital, but still our week was pretty calm.
I LOVED IT.
This week we started swimming and I taught an art class on Wednesday.....the busy begins.
For the rest of the month I will teach art classes an hour each day from Tues-Thursday, we will have swimming on Mon and Wed.
I think we will go to the zoo every Friday (if we can)!!!
Scouts is on Thursday night.
We will rest again in July...maybe!