My week as a troll

There have been some requests for my story of what happened last week.  Okay, there was one request.  But I know everyone else is dying to know. 

Memorial Day was amazing.  The short version: Running, Mountain Biking, Swimming, Volleyball, Family, Cafe Rio.

A. MAY. ZING.

Because of all the busy-ness and my habit to procrastinate.  I had BIG plans to wake up early, skip my run, and work on lesson plans, and routines for my kids this summer.   I didn’t want them to have one day to play video games and other nonsense and think that is what to expect this summer.   Because I had big plans.  

5:00 AM:  “Bella’s Lullaby”  flows nicely in my ears.  (that’s my alarm clock song right now.)   I tried to open my eyes.   OUCH!   PAIN!  

I can’t.   so I keep them close and fall back asleep. 

5:30 AM:  same thing.

6:00 AM: again.  you get the idea.

At about 8:00,  It’s just too late to sleep anymore.  Dang it.  I didn’t get up and plan.  My whole summer is ruined.   But wait, there is something worse than that.  I can’t open my eyes.   

I tried to open them very slowly. no. that hurts.   Come on, Sara, slowly.   After about 30 minutes of this, I get them open.  I go to the bathroom to see what it wrong with them, but the light is excruciating.  I can’t take it. 

I must have an eye infection.  It will be better soon.

I squint my way down the hall and check on the kids.   They are all huddled around the computer playing a very educational game, but I still don’t like it.   What is worse is that one glance at the screen makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry.   I then proceed to Mark’s office and do that. 

The longer I was awake the more used to the light I got.  So we all got ready for swim lessons.  It’s only a 5 minute drive, but I was so lucky I got there safely with all the squinting, and watery eyes, and blinking.  That was stupid.   It was chaos getting the kids to their classes.  At least it felt like it because I couldn’t   see.              I got the help of a lifeguard, and  squinted just enough to be able to walk.   I felt Stupid.   I finally sat down, put my hands over my eyes and created a little hole to watch Abigail from.   I know.    It must have looked so weird, but it felt so good.   About then, I realized that I should not be there.   As soon as I got home, I went to Mark’s office, laid down, and put my arm over my eyes for at least half an hour - maybe an hour.  

BIG MISTAKE.

I literally could not open my eyes after that.   It hurt so bad.   Keeping my eyes closed, I felt my way downstairs to get Abigail a bottle.   And then I cried.   Emma always says that grown ups don’t cry because she never sees us cry.  Well, she saw me that day.  A lot.  After a prayer,  it took me 30 minutes or more to open them.   I should have been worried at this point, but for some reason, I still thought it was an eye infection that would pass.   I wanted to call the doctor, but I wasn’t sure who to call, I couldn’t drive, and it just seemed hard. 

After a couple hours of getting used to light again, (and by light I mean a house with no lights on and all the blinds closed) My mom called.   “how are you doing Sara?”   “Oh, horrible.”  I said. 

She told me to call the doctor.  RIGHT AWAY!!!  

Mothers are a blessing. 

My little brother, Gunnar, drove me to the eye doctor.  Even though he had lots of work to do.   He waited while I got my prescription eye drops.

Gunnar is a blessing. 

So, what was the matter with my eyes?  I had two ulcers on my cornea.  Just on one eye.  I’m not sure why they were both hurting so bad, maybe one had sympathy pains for the other.    Corneal ulcers are not a huge deal, but it not treated, they can cause blindness.    So thanks goodness for my mom who is so wise and sent me to the doctor.   

The next four days consisted of living in a dark house, having my own chauffeur, putting eye drops in every hour, seeing the eye doctor every day, being incredibly tired and doing lots of schoolwork with the kids.  (I love schoolwork).  I also created a great schedule and charts and things for this summer.  (I love charts)

I know there are thousands of things I don’t think about and appreciate.  Sight was one of them.  Probably because it’s so obvious.  Of course sight is great, la de da.   But Imagine living without it.

It’s AMAZING!!, and I hope I will think more often about the great joys in my life and give thanks. 

Random Friday

So I want to write a post, but I have nothing to write about. I could write about Gabriel graduating from preschool, or something about my political experiences of late, perhaps the weather that is so beautiful. Mark and I have a great new calling teaching Sunday school to 15 year olds. They are such a nice, quiet bunch.

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I was at the 'What Women Want' show helping my friend Krista with her gorgeous bows. www.sweetabigailhairbows.com I was walking around shopping and sampling. A girl asked me if I wanted to try her lash extender, I said, "sure", She worked her magic, and my eyelash looked great. I waited for her to do the other side, and finally asked her. "Sorry," she said, "you have to buy my $35 stuff to stop looking like a freak with lopsided eyelashes." Nice.

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I miss my old ward. Not to say my new ward/neighborhood isn't great, but I miss my old one. I miss the outings, the mother's lunches, the immediate friendships, and most of all, the basketball. Oh how I miss the basketball. In a purely basketball sense, I will look back at my time in Jordan Willows and remember how I had it great for a while.

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I asked Abiagil what she wants for her birthday, and she said, "spider"
"A spider?" I asked
"Big Spider." she said
"uhh, like in a cage?" I said trying to act like this was a perfectly normal conversation.
"yeah, love spider."

great. I have a 2 year old girl who apparently loves spiders. I will have to dedicate a whole post to this subject, but I can say this, there is seriously no way I am going to buy a spider for my little girl. no way.

Treasure Hunting

Sara is gone to the Republican Convention this weekend, leaving me and the kids to get into all sorts of trouble.

I discovered recently that my sister, Julie, is into geocaching. For those of you unfamiliar with the “sport,” you go to www.geocaching.com, or another similar site and load locations into your Global Positioning System (GPS) (if you struggle with the word ‘geocaching,’ you may call it ‘Treasure Hunting’). I was shocked how many there are in our area. I’ve since learned that Southern Utah is a hot spot for this.

Once you’ve loaded a few coordinates on your GPS, you go hunting!

Sometimes, it is just a matter of getting out of the car or taking a walk on a nice path.

And then there are the places that you probably shouldn’t take your kids to.

 

But, with Mom out of town, my voice of caution was also unavailable for the day…

Okay, so it is not as dangerous as it looks. Like the kids, I enjoy pretending I am Indiana Jones searching for the Holy Grail—okay, perhaps that’s just me.

Often times, the hunt will take you to beautiful locations. 

 

Once you arrive at your location, you have to search for a container. Usually, it is small—the size of a film canister or a tube of toothpaste. But, some of the treasures are larger and allow you to trade your toys or trinkets.

 

Occasionally, you will leave empty-handed. But, just looking is fun, and you can always go back to the same location for a second chance.

If you haven’t tried this sport, I highly recommend it. Especially if you have children. Don’t have a GPS? Borrow mine. Or, if you’re spoiled enough to have a smart phone, you probably have a better GPS than most.

We miss Mom, but we are surviving.

If you’re reading this Sara, I want you to know that everyone is okay. Don’t worry about us. The local sheriff assured me they would find Abigail before nightfall…

 

 

 

 

Easter

At the end of our little circle is a house that has been empty for a while.  It’s very overgrown, and makes a great place to have an Easter egg hunt.  Which we did as a neighborhood.  

  As soon as it was over, my kids enjoyed their loot right in the middle of the street.

 

Saturday, we searched for a school or a park to have a family egg    hunt  at, but had no luck because everything was too crowded.  So we ended up in a  deserty area.  There were pricklies and a little barb wire,  but it just made it more challenging.

I was so happy that Dave, Chandler and Marcus were able to come.  We had fun with almost everyone on the Gabrielson side except Chris and JJ’s fam.   We had some great games of Dominion until the wee hours of the morning.  Got in some basketball, and a little time in the batting cage.   We even snuck a little conference in there.  It was a great weekend.

Give me 5!

Gabe turned five during the moving craziness.   I have never spent less time planning for a party.  It was amazing.  and wonderful.  I am still marveling at all the time saved. 

We decorated our empty living room with streamers and a sign (it’s become a family tradition). 

At Gabe’s school,  he got walk around the sun with the earth 5 times to represent 5 years.  And of course pass out treats.

We had a party a Nana’s where we did presents and cake.  Earlier that day I went to the store and let Gabe pick out his own cake.  It was Pirates of the Caribbean if you can’t tell. While Gabe was at school, I got him his present.  A new bike!    Gabe’s guest was his cousin Dane.  We all love Dane because he’s so funny. Then we headed to Jump on It, and had a BLAST.  We love Jump on It, including Mark and I.   We run all over the place, and I usually am just dripping with sweat by the time we leave. I was capturing the kids in my dungeon.  It was fun.     It was a pretty fun birthday!  I’m so glad Gabe has made it to five.   Gabe can be such a refreshing joy.  I’m so glad I have my little guy to snuggle with and play video games with. This birthday seemed big to me because he’s no longer a toddler.  He’s a kid now.  A boy.   Happy Birthday Dude! 

What a month!

  I have been putting off writing a post because there is so much.

We are finally moved and settled into our house.  I LOVE IT!!!  It is a darling little house with a very practical yet fun floor plan. (I’m all about the floor plan)   It took a few weeks of work before we moved in to get it ready.  Mark and I took out the flooring in the kitchen, living, room, laundry room, and hall.  We laid down laminate wood floors.  We had to do quite a lot of painting, and the yard work was crazy.  Thankfully our parents did most of the yard work.  Thanks again wonderful parents!  They helped so much.  It was a lot of work, but we enjoyed learning new things, and Mark likes to do physical work. (I could have lived with hiring someone.) 

The neighborhood is awesome.  We live of the corner of a cul-de-sac and there are 35+ kids on the circle.  Emma, Gabe and Abigail has lots of friends to play with. 

Mark is supposed to be studying for the CFA exam in June, but has not been able to stop working on the house.   I’m not much help when it comes to helping him studying, because I love to work on the house too.   He won a volleyball tournament with Bob last weekend, and continues to work hard at his job. Thanks sweetie :) 

We celebrated our 8th year anniversary by going (what else) snowboarding.  It was soooooooooooooooooo fun.  Thanks for Sondra and Aunt Linda for babysitting for us.  It was a great day.  I landed 4 beautiful 360s. :)(the self-portrait snowboarding picture.  we have so many of these. It’s funny. )

I got my real estate license before we moved, and have been so busy I haven’t been able to do any work yet, but I look forward to it.  

Emma is still loving her school.  She recently sang in the school choir, and performed many times including once at Tuachaun.  She loved it.  She continues to do so well in school, and at home.  She is so sweet and mature.  I love the way her brain works.  She is very curious and asks a lot of questions lately.  She says she just wants to know everything.

 

Gabriel has discovered video games, and wants to play them non stop. When he’s not playing them, he is acting them out.  “Okay mom, your are on the blue team.  Do you want a sniper rifle or a rocket launcher?  Let’s go throw grenades at Dad.”     Yeah….  after a long talk about how real guns hurt and we shouldn’t pretend to kill people,  he only plays Mario Kart and Sonic now.  When he is not doing that, he is playing with Abigail, going to school, gymnastics, or riding his bike around with his friends.  He continues to be such a great listener.  I love that I only have to tell him to do something once (most of the time)  He has also taken on more responsibilities at home by cleaning the toilet and setting the table everyday.  He also is a big help with Abigail.

   

Abigail just had a big day of Potty Training.  She did awesome.  I have a system, which I got all ready.  Mark was taking Gabe and Emma away,  and before they even left,  she went poo-poo and pee-pee all by herself.  I was kind-of like, “well, now what should we do?”   She loves her Dora underwear.   Abigail is getting so big.  She wants to be just like her brother and sister.  She wants to have friends over because they do, she wants to play video games because they do etc.  I’m glad she has such good examples to follow.    Emma said she’s not a baby anymore because she talks and walks and doesn’t wear diapers anymore.  It made me so sad because she’s really isn’t a baby anymore.  She is one awesome kid though and I love to experience her grow. 

I was thinking today how blessed I am,  If I could have any life situation I wanted, I wouldn’t ask for anything different. What a great feeling!   That’s not to say there is nothing I wish to change about myself, because I have lifetimes of improvements that need to me made,  but I love the Gospel, my husband, children, country, family and home so much.   I really don’t deserve it all, but I am so grateful I have it.

Boardin’

Mark and I are on the most amazing vacation ever.  It all started a few months ago when Mark won a sales competition at work.  The prize was a trip to New York to see the New York Stock exchange.  While that sounded fun, it didn't sound like the most fun ever. So Mark did a little switch-a-roo, and here we are.  In Paradise.  Besides being so sore I can't walk without moaning a little, and not being able to extend my right arm all the way, it has been perfect.   Well, if I had learned how to do a 360  then it would have been perfect.  But I’ve still got tomorrow.  

It’s so comforting to know that our kids are being taken care of so well.  Even, though Gabe  received 4 stitches on his forehead yesterday, he and Emma and Abigail are having so much fun.  Emma told me yesterday, “I miss you Mom, but I’m having so much fun.”   I told her the same thing. :)