Happy birthday to us!

       Easter weekend was amazing! Instead of buying each other gifts for our April birthdays, Barry and I decided to buy tickets to the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City, Utah. (I'm sooooo lucky to be married to a lover of Fine Arts!!!!) So, if you know me and Barry, we HAD to pack a punch into the two day trip (saving weeks worth of plasma donation money to afford it). On Monday, we took our kids to the Hogle Zoo with family and DEAR friends, ate lunch at The Olive Garden, took our kids to the Church History Museum to see the interactive Book of Mormon exhibit for kids (SO FUN!), then walked around temple square, then to the splash pad at the new City Creek (across from temple square), then dropped the kids off with family, went to Leatherby's for AMAAAAAZING Ice cream! And lastly, on to see "Zorro: the Musical" with our DEAR friends. (My apologies to other friends who are just as dear, that we were unable to visit!!!)

     Best. Day. Ever.

     I will be posting all the pictures of our trip on facebook, but this little gem had to go on the blog. If you notice, there's a  baby elephant with his nose against a wall back there. The moment we walked up to see them, Grayson pointed at it and said, "Look, the little elephant's in time out!"

     Apparently, children annoy parents of all species. Who knew?  

Conference Weekend

     I recognize that I hardly write on my blog anymore, perhaps it's the hustle and bustle of every day life with three rambunctious children that prevents me from finding the time to hop online... but any of you who follow me on pinterest know that I'd be lying. I wouldn't be lying though, if I said it might have to do with that darned new feature on blogspot that actually shows you how many people read your blog.

That can be a little depressing.

     I'm not doing a blog to earn money, or share my craftiness with the world, but just to keep in touch with people. And apparently, I'm only keeping in touch with the one to three people who regularly read this thing. (To those readers... THANKS!)  But my mom is also trying to become more tech-saavy, so I'm doing this for you, Mom!

And because it's the only chance I get to really creatively write... I need a hobby :)

So anyway, what I'm saying is, I think I'm going to try and start blogging on a more regular basis. Just because it's fun.

     I'll start with these pictures of my homemade donuts! I'm beginning to notice that whenever I bake something that isn't on the regular menu... my family deems it picture-worthy. We get too excited about our baked goods! But in early march, I was asked to speak in church about preparing for general conference, so I tried my best to live up to my talk.

     The best part about giving the talk was the amount of people who came up afterward, to tell me the ideas they thought about while I spoke. I talked a lot about making traditions out of conference, and a handful of ward members came up to me so excited about traditions they wanted to start. For our own family, Barry suggested we try making homemade donuts.



                                    

(Jaye eats really weird, so her face ALWAYS looks like this. She likes to eat the toppings off things like donuts and pizza, because she doesn't really like bread.)

      So we spent Conference weekend eating finger foods and donuts. Grayson and I also spent about an hour cutting out pictures of Jesus from dozens of old Ensign magazines (I got them free from the public library) and during conference we all made a HUGE collage picture of them, to display for Easter. (if you're thinking, "what a great idea, Krystle!" Think again. It was so stressful! We laid out the dozens of pictures first and then I delusionally thought the kids could keep it all in place while trying to glue it all together. ANYWAY...) Then I planned a reverent stroll around the temple inbetween sessions. The wind was whipping, and it was cold, and Grayson cried the whole time because he was miserable.

Then when the last session started, Grayson looked at us, and huffed, "Is this still going!?"

     BUT, we made it through. My kids sat through almost 8 hours of conference quietly. We have a beautiful reminder of the Easter season on our piano. And the talks were so inspiring. And now I have a list of traditions we will and will NOT be continuing!

             

               (I think it's sad that we have pictures of my donuts... but not my kids' artwork!

               I will have to snap a picture of them holding it. But here is the website for the

               donut recipe if you are ever feeling ambitious. I hope you had a Wonderful

                conference too!)

Jaye can hear now!

    Jaye has been receiving toddler developmental services since October of last year. She just wasn't talking very well... or much... so the team who worked with her tested her inner ears on four different occasions. Each time, she failed the test (meaning she had fluid build-up). They made a file of all her tests and mailed it to her pediatrician so when I took her in and explained that she had failed the tympanogram several times, we could get her ears checked. 

     All the doctor did was clap his hands then said, "See... she heard that. She's fine." And sent me on my way. HUFF. (reason number one why I don't miss Carlsbad). Now in Rexburg, the new developmental team working with my daughter couldn't believe my "brilliant" pediatrician, and suggested I try an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor. Which we did last week.

     The Doctor barely glanced at the Tympanogram results and told me she needed tubes in her ears. So this morning, we all got up at 5:30, dropped Grayson off at a babysitter, and me and the girls drove to the Surgical Center. I was expecting a MUCH MORE traumatic experience but it was very nice.

My little trooper was scared when we first set her in the hospital bed.

 But she had an AWESOME nurse! This guy blew her up the biggest balloon glove I've ever seen!

  After that, she was as happy as can be. He even drew a happy face for her! She was throwing it to everyone, and I have to say, they were quite smitten with her.

 The actual surgery only lasted about 15 minutes, they were a little concerned because no one could get her to wake up. They thought it was because of the anesthesia, but I'm pretty sure my sound sleeper was just making up for an early morning.

So, the Doctor said the fluid in her ears caused about 30% hearing loss, and everything she heard sounded like she was underwater. He said most kids with speech delays will blossom quickly after getting tubes because they can actually hear, so I can't wait to see how my little monkey does! I just feel frustrated that I tried to fix this months ago... but I also feel so blessed we were able to get it done.

I wish we would've figured this out earlier!

     About three years ago, I was visiting family in Alabama. My sister-in-law and I had a chance to be alone in the car together, and our conversation was centered around how difficult it was for me to keep a clean house. She consoled me by explaining that it took her about five years of marriage to really get the hang of cleaning.



     I’ve held on to those words for nearly three years, but I am constantly feeling overwhelmed by the state of our house. Recently I told my husband, “Rachel said five years, but I’m not getting any better!” It’s the one thing that I truly feel like a complete and utter failure. So my loving and supportive husband and I sat down and made a list of the things that make our house the most disorderly.


     And then we did this amazing thing. We took that list, and created a list of daily chores for our kids to do. Then we created a whole family home evening and presented it to our kids. The list is this:


GRAYSON AND JAYE’S DAILY CHORES:


1. Make your bed


2. Hang up coats


3. Shoes on shoe rack


4. trash pick up (we put the garbage can in the center of the living room and they pick up anything that is trash and throw it away)


5. put coloring books and pencils in basket


6. Toys put in room


7. Dishes in the sink


8. dirty clothes in laundry basket


9. game remotes in t.v. basket


10. 5 minute bedtime pick up



      So, here is how the family home evening went down. We gave each one of them a baby food jar and let them paint them. Then we explained the rules- as part of our new and improved bedtime routine, we would pull out the list and go through it, and give the kids one more time to complete their chores. If the list is completed, they get a penny. If they did something extra special or extra nice, or they helped mommy with her chores, they get a bonus penny. When they get ten pennies they can choose a prize at the Dollar Tree ( An exciting reward for youngsters!) Here’s the kicker, when they get ten pennies, we put a sticker on the calendar, and when there are four stickers (which usually happens once a month), they have earned a big prize! This means something done as a family. For us, Grayson really wants to do this rocket ball game where you get these air guns that shoot big nerf balls at people. That will be their big prize this month.


    We’ve been doing this for almost two months and it has been AMAZING!!!! SUCH A DIFFERENCE!!!!! Instead of focusing on the cluttery mess the kids make, I just focus on the big stuff: dishes, laundry, dusting, etc. because I know at the end of the day, they will pick it all up, and the house will be clean in the morning! Of course some of it is to little kid standards, like bed-making, but I try to overlook that fact.


     I have felt so much happier with life since we started this. And our kids looooove to sit down and count their pennies every night and figure out how many they have left to get to ten. I know some people are against giving rewards as reinforcement for chores, but I don’t care what they think. If I got prizes for cleaning, I’d do better too!


So there you have it. Rachel… it’s five years (and 6 months) into our marriage, and I may have figured it out.

Cute poem

(I was browsing the internet for Young Women activity ideas and found this poem. The lady changed it from the classic "prayer rock" poem. She said she gave this poem to her YW with a dollar store cell phone. This is so cute!)

You Know His Number


His line is never busy,

pick up your phone and see,

You will always be able to reach Him,

just drop to your knees.



You have unlimited minutes,

I know you have been told,

And I will guarantee one thing,

you'll not be asked "will you hold?"



I'm not a "little prayer rock"

so don't tuck me in you drawer,

Don't put me under your pillow

or chuck me on the floor.



But keep me close beside you

and use me all the time,

For in this world around us,

Satan's at his prime.



You can call when you need Him

or just to have a chat,

Just bow your head and call

"Heavenly Father, where are you at?"



And when there's an emergency,

no need to dial 911,

Just close you eyes and say "

help me out or forgive me for what I have done.



It's never to late to call Him,

He never goes to bed.

Remember, "ask and ye shall receive,"

is what He said.



So next time when your feeling down

or maybe feeling blue,

Just pick up your little prayer phone,

He'd love too hear from you.



- Rhonda Shawver

Life's hard questions

     Grayson wasn’t listening to me when I told him not to put a plastic bag over his head. He thought it was too funny, so I had to pull out all the stops and tell him that if he did that it could kill him. I had him plug his nose and try to breathe, and then explained that the bag could do the same thing to his nose and he could die. (The scaring tactic, my least favorite of parenting techniques.)



Grayson just looked at me and asked, “And Jesus wouldn’t heal me?”


Now how are you supposed to answer that one?!?

1

Guess what? Today marks our first month in Rexburg! It feels like we have been here waaaay longer than that (in a good way), but I still can’t believe we are here! Life doesn’t feel quite chaotic anymore. I almost have Jaye’s room put together, although I still haven’t figured out if I want to hide my baking dishes under her bed or in her closet. (Our kitchen has NO storage space). I haven’t figured out how to do laundry cleanly. I just sort clothes out in the hall, and the piles stay there until I’m done. But Wednesdays are Story time at the library and Thursdays are play group at the church. It’s nice to have two weekly scheduled events.


Barry still hasn’t found a job. Who knew there wouldn’t be any part time jobs available in a small town with thousands of college students? But he is WAY MORE brave than me, and donates plasma twice a week for 50 bucks. So, we still continue to be disgusting and eat out about once a week with his “Blood Money”. We already have our favorite places to eat, The “Pizza Pie Café” and “Costa Vida”. We are making the rounds to all the ice cream/ frozen yogurt places in town still. It’s been fun. (Thank goodness for breast feeding, I haven’t gained any weight!)

I just got my hands on the number for a speech therapy preschool for Grayson, so hopefully I will be able to get him enrolled there. Jaye is getting her speech evaluation for in-home therapy this Friday. Laycee is only five months old and starting to crawl to my great chagrin. I’m still letting the kids watch way too much t.v. as I try to get adjusted to our new lives, but it’s starting to all fall into place.

I don’t have too many friends yet, but the ones I have are worth their weight in gold! (Shout out to Melody and Kylie!) I’ve also had the chance to do a lot of service, including cleaning the temple (AMAZING!!!!), and take some meals to sick and/or pregnant women.

People wonder if I miss Carlsbad. No. I really don’t. I miss a handful of wonderful people. And I am sooooooo grateful that we lived there and grew there for five years, but I really love the change. I’ve been working to get my fingers in all the pies, so I’ve already been hired in the month of February to help with Story time (A paid gig! WOO!). I’ve already met a bunch of people on the Community Theatre Board (who seem interested in my help) and I’ve gotten involved in some of the Community Events. The library gave out free copies of this Pulitzer Prize book, “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” to the community, and all month long they are hosting different forums and dances and stuff relating to the book- so awesome!

A member of the bishopric is coming over tomorrow night, we assume to give us callings. I can’t wait! Barry has really worked hard during his breaks at school to get homework down so we can spend time together in the evening. He’s amazing and we’ve had such a fun time!

Anyway, there is my first month in a new life. I feel like I’m writing a Christmas letter. But hopefully, we will continue to enjoy it here. I’m sure it will get worse when Finals come along, but I am so glad that we are here, and we are doing something to improve our family… as a family.

GO TEAM RICKS!