Our Fun Day at Pumkin Land

We had the whole place to ourselves! That makes for a REALLY good time, because the mom's don't stress out about where the kids are ... and believe me, they were ALL over! I canNOT get over how so dang cute Mr. Ethan is!!!!! He is ALWAYS smiling. Well, he gets really serious sometimes too. But, it doesn't ever take much to see that cute dimple of his.

Also - conference today was amazing, huh? I REALLY needed to hear a lot of what was said. We are so blessed to be Latter-day-Saints and have the gospel in our lives. I'm sure grateful for my family ... where would I be without you guys?!

What Do You Say?

Every Monday I meet with my supervisor and discuss many things pertaining to my job. Yesterday we were talking about a theory of human behavior that is based solely on observable behavior. One of the criticisms of this theory is it denies any human emotion (what does Love look like?). I began telling my supervisor that I did not buy into this theory and said: "This theory might work if I were a rock or a single celled orgasm.... I mean organism." I wished at that moment I WAS a single celled organism hiding underneath a rock... I still had 30 minutes to go until I could leave his office.

Now, me -- Michelle -- the other day, I was early picking Aaron up from school. So, I let Krystal come sit up in the front seat with me while we waited for the bell to ring. When the bell rang, I told her to climb back into her carseat. She said, "NOO, Mommy! My sit with you in the FRONT!" I said, "No, you have to be 12 years old to sit in the front seat. You're 2. You'll be safer in your car seat." She said, "Well (yes, she said 'well') -- me 5 like Aaron! My sit in THE FRONT SEAT! My big!" Needless to say, I ended up putting a kicking and screaming toddler back in her car seat before we could go.

So, what do you say when someone slips and says 'orgasm' instead of 'organism' .... or your 2 year old argues with a VERY (in her opinion) reasonable explanation? What DO you say?

Some of My Favorite Finds ...

Aaron and Krystal snuggled up to read together:

Krystal's self entertainment. Here she is "calling the doctor" and telling him all about her sick baby bear. Gotta love those crossed legs!

Aaron being weird! Look at that talent. Can any of YOU do that? That's some pretty amazing tummy suction. haha. He cracks me up.

Personality Tests

Here's Michelle's results:

You Are An ESFJ

What's Your Personality Type?

The Caregiver

You are sympathetic and caring, putting friends and family first.
A creature of habit, you prefer routines and have trouble with change.
You love being in groups - whether you're helping people or working on a project.
You are good at listening, laughing, and bringing out the best in people.

In love, you value harmony and mutual understanding.
You will apologize or give someone the benefit of the doubt, if it means getting over a fight sooner.

At work, you are good at building relationships and connecting with people.
You would make a great nurse, social worker, or teacher.

How you see yourself: Organized, dependable, co-operative

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Opinionated, critical, and know-it-all

Here's Tyler's Results:

You Are An ISFJ

The Nurturer You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal. A good listener, you excel at helping others in practical ways. In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music. You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for. In love, you express your emotions through actions. Taking care of someone is how you love them. And you do it well! At work, you do well in a structured environment. You complete tasks well and on time. You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist. How you see yourself: Competent, dependable, and detail oriented When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, dominant, and stuck in a rut

What's Your Personality Type?

Hmmmmm .... what do you think? Thanks Melisa - for sharing this with us. We had a lot of fun with it! Am I really critical and a know-it-all? NOOOOOOOO way! :) heehee. Tyler was worried that people thought he was DOMINANT! That made me laugh out loud - he's not too worried about people thinking he's boring ... now, THAT would bother me. :)

The Best of Times and The Worst of Times

Grandparent's Day was celebrated at Marissa and Aaron's school on Tuesday (nearly a week ago)! It's about time I posted how much fun the kids had. Grandpa Brent went to their classes to participate in the question/answer and read aloud sessions. Then he took them to the hospital to meet grandma Pat at work for her lunch break. Thank heavens for grandmas and grandpas! The kids had so much fun.

Tyler and I were sooooooo sad that we had to miss the Taylor family reunion this year. We heard that we really missed out on a lot of fun. Thank you all for helping Marissa and Aaron feel comfortable there. They had a blast.

For those of you that don't know - we spent the weekend in the hospital with a very sick Krystal. She had had a fever for several days ... but Wednesday night and Thursday morning started having these weird seizures - and became very lethargic. After many tests - the doctor told us that her glucose levels had become extremely low (which caused the seizures) and she had been trying to fight off a bacteria growth (that showed up in her lab cultures). She is home now and doing much better. She needs to finish the course of antibiotics and follow up with a neurologist. Our pediatrician is also doing some tests to determine a possible metabolic disorder (which would explain why our kids hit rock bottom so fast whenever they get a bug). Anyway - we are anxious to be healthy for a LOOOOOOOOONG time, hopefully. Krystal is really a trooper. The nurses could NOT get an IV in her arm or hand (just left several bruises with all the tries) ... but succeeded to get the IV in her feet (yes - both feet. The first IV got pulled out and another one had to go in. stress.) So, she spent a lot of time saying, "my foot hurts so bad!" On Friday, we were SO ready to get out of there ... but we weren't released until midnight. Krystal spent probably 6 or 7 hours in the play room there (Ty -n- I were seriously ready to go crazy). She couldn't walk on her feet because of the IV, but she didn't let that stop her. She just cruised around 90 miles/hour on her knees. We had to chuck her jammies, because they now have holes in both knees. She really cracked us up.

Going Ons ...

I finished reading Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. SOOO good. Thank you for the recommendation, Leisy. I can't wait for her other books to come in. I'm getting closer! I'm number 11 on hold at the library now for Goose Girl. Anyway - I add to Leisy's recommendation of these books. Princess Academy was really cute and good. I might start reading it outloud to Marissa. The 10th book of the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites came in today (I've had it on hold at the library) ... and I am WAY excited to read it! Yippee! I read the first 9 books about 7-8 years ago ... and then waited and waited and waited for Heimerdinger to write the next one. Then - I forgot about how horribly book 9 ended, so I didn't buy his 10th book when it finally came out. Now that I've finished that series again - I am very anxious to start book 10. It BETTER have a satisfying ending. Anyway - I highly recommend this series.

Krystal woke up with the flu today. Honest to goodness - if we can't go at LEAST a month without some kind of ailment .... Anway, keep her in your prayers, please.

We got all of our crap in storage (well, I can't officially call it crap ... seeing as I plan on keeping it all to put in our new home). BUT - we WILL have room for it now. So, the condo is starting to look very clean and "sale worthy." We also repaired the walls and painted in the kids' room - looking SOO much better. I love seeing it all come together. I think we'll be ready to put it up for sale in a week.

I've included some fun, random pics in this post as well ... some of the highlights of the week:

Krystal falling asleep in Missy Dee's arms -

This girl is very good at entertaining herself -
Making no-bake cookies with Daddy -
Krystal washes her own hair now - :)

Patience ... Little by Little

So, I've been working to get our condo fit to be sold. This means that we have to eliminate as much STUFF as possible ... and still be able to raise 3 children in our tiny space while we try to sell. Sound fun? Well - these boxes are just a start, believe it or not. I've managed to finish the kids' closet ... all 3 clothes in one closet + one dresser ain't too bad. How does it look? And then - I'm nearly finished with the piano room (store all room) closet. Am I doing okay? I'm anxious to get a storage shed to put all of our extra stuff in and watch each room TRANSFORM (hopefully)! So -- little by little we are getting there. I've got to stay patient.

Marissa (with help from me) did FIVE hours of homework tonight (and I'm NOT exaggerating - ask Tyler AND Marissa). I knew that she would have a lot tonight (long story), so I really tried to dedicate this afternoon/evening to helping her and encouraging her. The good news is - she finished EVERYTHING ... and will hopefully ace her tests these next two days. The not so good news is that Krystal and Aaron were pretty much on their own for the second half of the day. They did SOOOO good (especially since I did not allow the tv to be on so as not to distract Marissa). Anyway - they were very patient. Krystal fell asleep on the kitchen floor in the process of trying to get my attention while I was finishing up with Miss. So sad. I ended up rocking her for an hour after to try to make up for it. But, she was zonked the whole time ... so, I hope she'll forgive me. She was being so patient. :(

And finally - Tyler ran 2 miles straight today (without stopping to walk)!!!!!!!! He is getting there little by little. He's trying to patient with the weight loss - it'll keep coming off as he keeps up the training. I'm so proud of him. When that alarm goes off at 5:45 in the morning - (and we don't go to bed SUPER early, mind you ... he goes to bed a little sooner than me) - I am just way impressed that he gets out of bed to RUN! I can't even think about pouring a bowl of cereal that early in the morning most days! So .... good job TyTy!

Routine

Now that school has started -- we have worked into a regular schedule -- and life is very much so the same day after day after day after day. AND - it's bu..u...u...usy! Therefore, blogging has been put on the back burner. SO - just a few tidbits of extra-ordinary that I enjoy on our ordinary days...

Krystal sitting at the piano - playing and singing as if she is a trained professional.

Asking Aaron to get ready for bed - and watching him start undressing on the spot only to have to walk down the hall with his pants around his ankles. Oh .... maybe that's Tyler I'm thinking about (like father like son, eh?)

Krystal seeing someone on the computer and blurting out ... "dubyou dubyou dot?" Do we get online a lot, or what?

Marissa being able to EASILY memorize the song "Fabulous" from High School Musical. Should we make up a "presidents of the United States" song to the same tune?

Ice cream covered faces at the close of Family Home Evening tonight.

Krystal's little voice echoing whoever is saying the prayer.

These are the tidbits that keep me sane. Routine .... routine .... routine. Ya gotta have it - it's good - but, sure helps to have smiles along the way.

Domestic Violence and Toilets (not related - unless you consider the toilet a member of the family)

What a week I had. It started off with a training I was asked to attend for my job. My employer at Wasatch Mental Health provides treatment for perpetrators and victims of domestic violence. Since I provide treatment for domestic violence perpetrators, I spent 24 hours in this training. Most of the information wasn't really new to me, but I found myself struggling for the empathy that I need for the perpetrators. We listened to numerous 9-1-1 phone calls (from West Valley) of children calling for help, because their fathers were beating up their mothers. We saw countless pictures of victims and their various injuries due to the abuse. We even watched a video of a woman getting beat by her husband ... this video was filmed by their 13 year old son. I learned that domestic violence isn't confined to trailer parks and wearers of wife-beater T's. It is not just a "poor people" problem. In Utah County - doctors, lawyers, police, and school teachers have all been arrested for domestic violence. It is real.

My weekend consisted of MAJOR toilet issues. But, that's a blog for another day ... and much family is involved anyway - so, y'all know the pain.

Our Hall Bathroom

Well, we're nearly finished! I REALLY should have taken a before picture ... but, seriously, I was just too embarrassed. Those that remember my bathroom floor ... well, bathroom altogether (but floor especially) can witness the HUGE improvement. James, thank you so much for putting in the tile so beautifully perfect ... and helping us with the baseboards. We also found some closet doors for our laundry room on ksl classifieds. So - thanks for the tip, Kent and Leisy! We were really stressed out about those doors. They're like $150.00 a piece ... and we got these for $20.00 a piece. So - hooray!

I don't know what to put on the walls above both towel racks. I need suggestions, please. Also - do I need to caulk around the toilet? Anyway ... praise and advice would be much appreciated!