Scout service project

Troop 948 were supposed to go camping in Zion this weekend.  Because of bad weather, they changed things up a bit.  They met early saturday morning (40-45 deg) bundled up for some cold, hard work.  They were going to be cleaning up a scout camp. 

I'm not sure they were expecting to find snow in April.  Mason said it was awesome to be playing in the snow.  He said he had a great time.  Work can be fun,

YW garage sale

The weather was crappy this weekend, but that didn't slow down these girls from trying to raise funds for girls camp. They've been collecting items for a garage sale from the ward members. It was a good excuse for me to go through some boxes that I hadn't unpacked since we moved in over a year ago. The girls have a good time whenever they get together. So despite the rainy weather it went well. They even improvised and sold hot chocolate along with their baked goods. This will be the first year Brianna will be at camp without her sister.  After going to camp for 6 years, Chelsea decided she didn't want to go this year.  She must be crazy.  Doesn't she know that she'll miss it when she's old like me???

Gilcrease Bird Sanctuary

More time for Cord and Mommy this week as we joined his preschool on another field trip. We visited the Gilcrease Bird Sanctuary. It's a little place that is a safe haven for animals of all types. I was surprised how many different animals there were there. A lot of birds, ducks, swans, turtles, peacocks, ostriches, llamas, goats, donkeys, pigs, fish, etc. There were ducks following us around as we wandered around. I let Cord take a few pictures of his favorite animals. Cord loved feeding the ducks and wandering around the goat pen. I love our little time together. This week I registered the little guy for kindergarten next year. We are hoping to get into the all day program so I can move to a day shift position and we won't have to depend on a babysitter. So it's bitter sweet for me. We won't have any more time just him and I while the other kids are in school. He'll do great in an all day program but it's hard to see time going by so fast.

Cord went around to say Hi to each bird as we read their name tags.  We saw some pretty hurt birds that were healing. 

There were a tone of ducks around, some of them were pretty mean to each other.  We had a good discussion about how to be nice to others when your playing. 

"I'm not cute!  I'm COOL"

Being in this goat pen made me super nervous.  They were really tame but their horns had me on edge.  Cord loved it.  The goats tried to eat my camera bag and the keys hanging on my pockets.

The cockatoo shelter was SO LOUD!  All of them screaching.  Cord found a couple of birds that would dance with him.  Cord would bob back and forth and they would copy him.  FUN!

Day of mourning

Tonight will be my first night shift back to work after my surgery.  I've been off for 8 whole weeks and have LOVED it!  I love being home when the kids get home from school.  I love sleeping at night and have the day to run errands.  I've been working night shift for over 17 years.  I've blamed a lot of things on this lifestyle that I don't feel I have any control over.  I don't cook major meals every night, we don't have family home evening, we don't have a regular bedtime routine which includes kids brushing teeth, we don't read scriptures as a family, my house isn't clean most of the time, I don't exercise, etc. This is because my schedule is so sporadic that it's hard to get into the routine of things.  Before the surgery I was looking forward to a "normal" life and to be able to develop these routines. 

Now I'm looking back over the last 2 months and realizing, I didn't do any of those things.  The first couple weeks were tough and really knocked me down.  But then I still didn't do any of the things I had planned.  I didn't even do one single scrapbook page.  It may be time to give up on that goal. 

What I was able to accomplish was a lot of temple work over the last 2 weeks so I guess that's a bonus.  I was able to do the complete work for 5 of Mike's grandmas/ great-grandmas plus a lot of work for other family members.  I love being in the temple and feeling the peace there. 

I was talking to a friend about how discouraged I was that I didn't accomplish all the things to achieve a "normal" family life that I was hoping for.  She shared an article with me about how there's a lot of pressure out there for mom's.  When you compare yourself to others or look at pinterest and get discouraged because you don't make a super creative breakfast for your kids, it's easy to get discouraged.  But the important thing to remember is that you just need to be there for your kids.  They don't care that they don't have waffles shaped like ice cream cones, they would just love eating their frosted mini wheats with you and have a good conversation before they head to school.  I have to keep this in mind and remember just to be there for my kids when I can.  Over my time off, Cord and I visited a lot of parks and read stories.  The kids and I had some good times together on our spring break vacation. 

So as I head back to work (back to feeling like crap all of the time), all I can do is the best I can do and hope the Lord will feel the rest in.  I need to focus on what's really important and realize that before I know it the kids are going to be gone and I'll have missed this chance to be there for them.  I also have to admit that I'm a little bit nervous about taking care of patients again.  I hope I can remember everything I'm supposed to do.  It's time to jump back into the saddle!  Wish me luck.

Happy Easter

We've had a lot of Easter fun. I love everything about the season. The fun egg hunts, Easter baskets, dressing up for church, etc. We hurried back from St. George because Mike and I were singing in the choir. I was super excited about the piece we were singing and it went beautifully. I love singing in the choir and being part of creating something beautiful. (I'm usually limited because of my work schedule but since I've been off "recovering" it's been good.) I love spending time focusing on Christ and the reason we celebrate Easter. I feel so blessed today!

Egg hunt at Grandma's

Getting ready for the big hunt at grandmas house!

The best thing about the egg hunt at grandma's house, is that there is money in those plastic eggs along with the candy. I wish I could particiapte!! This year we had over 300 eggs and quickly ran out of hiding spots. There was also the special "golden egg" that contained a 10 dollar bill and another egg with a 3 Musketeers bar from last years hunt (a rotten egg). Brianna was able to score the golden egg while Chelsea ended up with the rotten egg (she scored a special bag of skittles though). We combined the egg hunt with a BBQ since the weather was perfect. The best part was being home with family. We ended the night with our traditional card games. It was a perfect day!

To dye for

Another fun tradition, dyeing Easter Eggs.  As the kids get older they get more creative with their eggs.  It's even funner to do with cousins!

Cord is the first of my children to ever eat the eggs.  Usually we just create, then throw away.

Tired of dyeing eggs? Brianna decided to dye a section of her hair.

That's a lot of eggs. Almost 9 dozen (just a few casualities occurred in the process)