Tuesday, August 21, 2012

4 years ago...

August 16th is a very special day for me.
 August 16th is a day that I will remember for the rest of my life.
August 16th is a day that I will tell my children and grandchildren about.

August 16th is the day that my sins were washed away, that my life became about someone other than myself, the day that I joined Christ's true church here on Earth.

August 16th was the day I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
(For more info about the church, please visit www.mormon.org)


"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
-John 3:5

Christ explained several times that baptism by water was the only way to be absolved of all sins and given the chance to enter into Heaven.
 (We as a church believe that EVERYONE will have a chance to be baptized, either in this life or the next)

Normally in our church, Children are baptized at the age of 8, the age of accountability (D&C 20:71). I unfortunately didn't get a chance to make that choice so young.  I was 21 when I made the choice. I have chosen to count my blessings, I was ONLY 21...not 41...not 81...not on the other side already.  I chose while my daughter was still young and I could teach her the things that I know. I chose before the birth of my son so he will never know or see any other life style.

I KNOW that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church of Christ on the Earth.  I KNOW that through baptism into the church, I am worthy to one day stand in the presence of my Heavenly Father and my savior. I KNOW that through the power of the Priesthood and being sealed in the Temple that my family can be together forever. I KNOW that the Temple is the most sacred place on Earth, I can be no closer to my Father in Heaven than inside those walls.  I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a living Prophet, who at the age of 14 was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, instructed how to organize the church, and died a martar. I KNOW that Thomas S. Monson is a living Prophet, I know that he can and does receive revelation for the well being of Heavenly Father's children.

Although, I will face much adversity in my life, from family and friends, from strangers and the advisary, but through it all I am prepared to endure to the end.  It won't be easy and at times I may be ready to give up but I know that through prayer and faith I can do anything, be anything and overcome anything.

This post has sat on here, while I waited for inspiration on how to conclude it, how to finish it so that people could feel the spirit while reading it. I know it may seem silly, since this post is so short, but hours were spent trying to get the perfect words to come out.  No matter how hard I tried, no matter how long I stared at the screen or read and reread the post, I could think of what else to say or what to change. Then it dawned on me, there were no "perfect" words, only honest words.  
 
  

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Blogger societies...yes they exsist...

 A few weeks ago (yes I have been holding on to this for that long!) I was looking through the "blogs of note" on my dashboard page.  If you are unfamiliar, at the top of the list of blogs you follow, there is a tab that says "blogs of note".  Blogspot selects blogs to list on here, for your enjoyment when bored.  I am not sure how they select these "blogs of note".  Are they viewed alot? random? based on the blogs each person follows? Does everyone see the same blogs on the list?  There are a million questions that I don't have the answers too, but either way, it exists.

Well, while browsing the other day I found this...

"The Society of Catholic Canadian Bloggers"

Yes, that is correct.  My curiosity peeked and I checked it out.  Basically they share bible messages based on Catholic teachings. (similar to visiting/home teaching).  I was really curious as to how many of them there could be. I mean really, yes there are a lot of Catholics in the world, there are a lot of Canadians, and there are a lot of bloggers in the world.  There may even be a lot of Canadian bloggers or catholic bloggers, but how many Canadian Catholic bloggers could there really be?

The answer???  144.

Yes, there are 144 Catholic Canadian bloggers on blogspot.  There may be more that don't know yet of this society.

Now I wonder, what is the number of people that could be classified as a "society"? You would think it would need to be a significant number to constitute a society, right???  144 hardly seems a significant number of people...that isn't a society...it is more like a big "club".   


So, those of you that peruse the "blogs of note" from time to time, have you ever come across a strange blog? What was it about?  

I had fully planned for this post to be much more substantial and humorous....but seeing as it has been sitting in my edit pile for about 3 months, I decided it was time to just go ahead and post it!

I love you all! Thanks for reading!
~Stephanie~  


  



We bought a...not a zoo...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!

It went under contract on Monday and if all goes as planned, we will close May 1st.

We are soooo excited! I can't believe we actually did it!  We bought a freakin' house!!!!

So without further ado...here are some pics!!!




 AMAZING KITCHEN! Brand new appliances and wood floors and back splash. (We added our fridge to it and converted that coat closet at the end into a pantry! not much change in here! Just a little more crowded!)


This is the guest room in the basement! (We didn't paint this room but it is now a play/guest room, with a queen size bed and a million toys! LOL!)

Our HUGE yard!!!  Kyle was so happy because he finally got his riding lawn mower! LOL!
Downstairs family room fire place. The insert actually has fans in it to circulate the hot air! Then is you lose power in the winter you can keep the house fairly evenly heated!

The whole downstairs living room!

Upstairs living room with firplace! (we painted the far wall with the window on it, a mossy green color that matches the curtains! It is a BEAUTIFUL color and I wish I could paint the whole house in it! LOL!)

Master bedroom! (We painted the far wall, the same green as the living room...just because we loved it so much!)

Patio...no idea why it is so small...also for some reason it is refusing to upload the photo of the dining room!!!


So, clearly I started making this post a while ago (since we did close on May 1st but we put in the offer at the beg. of April! LOL!)  We have made a LOT of changes since this and I plan on posting pictures of the improvement soon! As well as a pick of the dining room which REFUSED to upload! LOL!  I know I have been MIA for a while, with moving, Kyle going on SEVERAL TDY's and preparing for an upcoming deployment, plus the inlaw came to visit for a week, followed by my parents!  Things have been slightly crazy around here!  I will be posting a blog about everything that is going on after I finish all my half done ones! LOL! 

I love you all! Thanks for reading!
~Stephanie~ 

(upon proof reading, I realized there are LOTS of pics missing! Stupid blogspot...not sure why they won't post! But the dining room, both kids rooms and all 3 bathrooms are not posted :-(  I will try to post them soon!) 


Thursday, March 22, 2012

Why is it?

Why is it that I have a million tubes of chapstick but when lips are dry, I can't seem to find any?

Why is it that when I have a million things to do someone asks for my help, then when I have nothing to do, no one needs my help?


Why is that we drive on parkways and park on freeways?

Why is it that there are always several umbrella's in your car, until it starts pouring down rain...then they are all in the house???

Why is it that the house is freezing until bed time...then it is SUPER hot???

Why is it that no matter how many times you open the windows in your own house, you still always forget which way the dang levers go???






Friday, March 16, 2012

Been a while...

I know it has been a while.  Things have been more than a little crazy around here!!  
Between Kyle's work, Ashlynn's school, several illnesses (Yes, the dreaded strep made it's way around the family AGAIN!) 
We are also looking in to houses since we plan to buy when our lease is up in June!
The looking for a house is super fun....but the agreeing on everything, picking a bank, getting pre-approved for a loan, etc...NOT so much fun!

Well, I don't really have time to post a big blog today but hopefully this weekend I will find some time!  I have several blogs in progress to finish and hopefully I can one of those finished this weekend!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Quitting nicotine, caffeine, fatty foods, and sugar all at once is proving to be a real pain in the butt.  
 
My patience level is at -100% and my poor family if feeling it...I am trying to stay calm and collected but I am literally losing my freaking mind...
 
The only one of those things that is even an option of starting again for the sake of my sanity is smoking...and that is the one I actually quit on my own without being forced...
 
So it's a lose lose situation...

Monday, February 13, 2012

I'm leaving...

WE ARE LEAVING TO GO PICK UP KYLE!!!!!

Spoke to his supervisor this morning and he said they hadn't heard anything about any delays so they most likely will be here on time!!  They are working on the base flight line still so worst case scenario is they will get diverted to another air port in Wichita!!!

YEAH!!! So glad I didn't have to explain to Ashlynn that he Daddy wouldn't be here today!!

Well, here we go! See you in a couple of days! Stay warm until then! And please drive safely and carefully!

My last week!

Let me start with a little back ground info first...
For the last 18 months or so I would get this weird stomach pains on and off.  I had no idea what they were but the best I could describe them was it felt like I had pulled a muscle in my diaphragm or it felt like someone had shoved there fist behind my ribs.  The pain was in the core or my body, up until this last weekend, I could rub it and it didn't hurt at all. This feeling would strike at any time of day but most commonly hit at bed time or during the night.  I would wake up in the middle of the night in so much pain I would be crying and have to wake up Kyle.  He would rub my back, I would hug the heating pad or ice pack depending on my body temp and cry until I just passed out from exhaustion. Sometimes it would be accompanied by a sudden high fever that passed as fast as it came!  With in minutes I would go from feeling fine to having 104* fever and being in intense pain!  The pain would last anywhere from a twinge (In the beginning, after Konner was born) to as long as 3-4 hours (towards the end).  Kyle convinced me that I was over exaggerating and it was just a pulled muscle so I never went to the Dr. for it.  (In all fairness, it wasn't Kyle's fault I waited so long to go to the Dr.  Yes he discouraged it but I chose not to go and I didn't do any research to find out what it could be!! If I had known it could have possibly been what it was, I would have definitely gone to the Dr. ASAP...to avoid what happened these last fee days!)

So, now lets jump forward to the last month or so.  I started having random symptoms, such as, "laziness" (Which was from the condition), I just thought I was at the end of the deployment and I was at the end of my rope, stressed out and just done being a single parent. It wasn't really laziness though, I could get up and work for 15-20 minutes and then I would feel exhausted.  So I could get up and go just not for long.  I was having trouble eating and drinking. When I got to the ER I had to have 2 complete bags of fluids before I could give a urine sample. 2 whole bags!!!  I  was super dehydrated! Plus, my white blood count was SUPER low, which was what was causing the exhaustion!


Saturday February 4,2012

Around 4:00p.m. I started having those same pains.  I tried the heating pad, ice packs, a million different positions, and Excedrin.  I tried all these things until 7 when it was time to put the kids to bed.  I tried really hard to stay strong when the kids were around but by bedtime I had already cried in front of them.  I got them into bed and got in the bath tub. I thought maybe soaking in warm water would help...it didn't! So I tried cold water...it didn't help either.  Then I called a friend from church and asked her to come take me to the ER and see if her husband would stay with my kids because they were sleeping already.  Breeana showed up like 7:30 and drove me to the ER. As soon as I told the Dr. my symptoms, she knew immediately that it was my gallbladder.  She wanted to do an ultrasound but she was pretty positive because the symptoms were so text book.

So, 3 hours and an ultrasound later I was checked into the hospital.  The ultrasound revealed AT LEAST 8 stones (ended up being 12! One the size of a QUARTER!!!) and my gallbladder was so infected and inflamed that it was twice the normal size!  They checked me in and got me on some hard core pain meds...they made me a little light-headed and loopy and then I slept...A LOT!!!

On Sunday morning they order another test.  I had to lay under an MRI machine while they pumped radio active die into my blood and watched it process through my body to see how my gallbladder was functioning.  There were 3 possible outcomes. 1- it would collect in there and slowly drain out (slowly drain because of the stones). 2- The stones would block it in and all the die would pool up in there and get stuck.  (I am soooo glad this wasn't what was wrong with mine, if that happens, they have to force it to spasm so it will empty before it ruptured!  The spasm pain is what brought me into the ER in the first place, pain so back I could barely move, I was sweating and shaking as well!) and 3- It wouldn't show up at all...which means that the gallbladder is completely diseased and basically dead.

Now, there were 2 really bad things about this test. 1- you couldn't have pain meds for 4 hours prior to or during the test because it could interfere with the results. and 2- laying flat on my back was the MOST painful position to be in!!
The test lasted for 2 1/2 hours...of  no pain meds and laying on my back!!  The test went in 30 minute segments. So he would watch the MRI for 30 minutes, then I would get 2-3 minutes to roll onto my side, deep breath and try to relax a little bit...it was like being at the end of natural labor and you only have 2-3 minutes between contractions...it is pretty much impossible to relax in that short amount of time but at least the pain decreased (not by much but a little was better than nothing).  By the last 30 minutes I was crying...and trying to hold still...it was like torture! Luckily the tech watching the MRI called my nurse about 5 minutes before the test was over and she came up and literally the second the test was over she gave me some IV pain meds!  I had to be lifted off the table and back into my wheel chair!

Well, my results were #3.  It was so long gone the contrast didn't show up at all. That meant IMMEDIATE removal! This test happened Sunday afternoon and the surgery was at 8am Monday.

This whole process was very hard.  Kyle was still deployed and other people were having to care for my kids and dog!  Luckily I have an AMAZING church family who stepped right up! They even came in and cleaned up my house! One of them even cleaned out my car!!!

On Monday morning my Mom and older sister, Sarah, came up to be with me.  Because the surgery was so early they got there after I had already gone into pre-op but it was comforting to know they would be waiting when I came out.  The surgeon even came and told me when they checked in to the waiting room!  Which was right as I was going into the OR. 

Going into the OR was the most terrifying thing I have ever done.  I have had a C-section but that was different. It wasn't as much of a shock as this unexpected surgery was and Kyle was with me that time.  When they got me into the OR, the table was TINY!! I was so surprised at how small the table was.  I couldn't even put my arms at my side!!!  I was okay until they strapped my arms down at my sides...which they did for my C-section too...but these circumstance's were WAY different!!  I started to panic.  Then the nurse placed this metal frame thing next to my head that held a gas mask.  I started having a panic attack.  They couldn't give me pain meds until I calmed down.  It took about 15 minutes to get me calmed down.  The nurses were all talking to me, trying to get me to breathe slower, one of them even prayed with me!  They also were giving me oxygen.  Once I had calmed down they gave me an iv med that they said "will make you feel drowsy but won't make you fall asleep".  It hit me like a brick wall.  I was finally able to untense my body. The anestesiologist introduced himself and said he would walk me through the process.  I told him definitely not too! Then I would start panicing again waiting for it! I told him I was already calm so I just wanted to breathe and then wake up later.  He respected my wishes and the next thing I knew, I was coming around in the recovery room!!!

They had to intibate me during the surgery.  They took it out before I came around though so I was never aware of the actual tube...but man could I tell it had been there! When I first woke up I immediately started coughing!!  The nurse brought me some water but it took about 20 minutes to stop.  Luckily I was still semi-sedated because coughing still hurts, I can't imagine what it would have felt like then!!!   Also, I had just quite smoking a week earlier so my throat was already a little roughed up.  My throat was raw and sore for about 2 days and my voice was hoarse for about a day.

After I had been awake for 30 minutes in recovery and I had answered a million questions, they said I could go back to my room. I immediately asked about my mom and sister.  We walked past the waiting room on our way out and they got to escort me back to my room! They brought me lots of entertainment and stuff to read!  They stayed with me for a couple of hours to comfort me and support me.  Since Kyle was gone I was feeling really alone.

After they left the hospital, they picked up my kids from the sitter and took them back to Oklahoma, so I could recover at home.  None of them could stay up here for a week but between everyone there, they could cover the kids for the week.  It was the longest week of my life!!!

I came home wednesday afternoon.  I was on Percocet for the pain and I basically laid in bed for 2 hours with a heating pad on my stomach, then walked around for 10 minutes. repeat until bed time.  I slept better than I thought I would! The dr. said if I was tired to sleep...no matter what time it was! Sleep=healing!

By Friday, I wasn't as sore, and I could get out of bed for longer amounts of time.  On Friday night I decided I was going to go down to Oklahoma for the weekend because Kyle's return Sunday night had been pushed back to Monday.  So Friday night I did some driving just to see how it felt and it was fine. The hardest part was reaching around for my seat belt!  So Saturday morning, I got up, talked to Kyle, packed my bags and went to Oklahoma.  I didn't tell the kids I was coming, and neither did my parents so they were super excited! Especially Ashlynn. I had to remind her of my boo-boo's but she just kept hugging me and telling me she loved and missed me.  She was glued to my side for about 24 hours straight!!!  We ended up coming home this afternoon instead of tomorrow morning because there is a nasty storm!  We are looking at about 3 inches of snow so far and some dangerous road conditions!! Kyle called earlier and said he isn't sure yet but they may get delayed or diverted because of the weather :-(  I really hope he makes it at least some time tomorrow!! I will be sad if he doesn't but Ashlynn will be devestated! It was harder to put her to bed tonight than it was on Christmas eve!

Okay, well I wrote this post because I couldn't sleep but it is 2am and I am going to get up at 7 to shower and get all pretty...just incase he still gets in at 9! I am going to call his work around 8:30 to see if they know yet! I don't want to drive all the way there in bad weather if he isn't even going to be there!!!  So I love you all and I will probably be taking a little digital break once Kyle gets home! I promise I will be back though...eventually!



Friday, February 3, 2012

To be happy or not to be happy? Why is that ever a question?

Why is it that people feel the need to tear other people down instead of lift them up????

You don't have to agree with my faith.  You don't have to agree with what I'm saying.  You don't have to agree with the way I am feeling.  You also don't have to tear me down EVERY SINGLE TIME I START TO GET HAPPY!!!! 

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Why do people think that if they aren't happy  they have to make sure no one else is?  Why can't they see that I am happy and ask me how I got that happy?  Maybe I could help them be that happy too.  

PLEASE don't just tell me what you think I want to hear, to make me happy in the moment and give me hope, just to turn around and say f*** it and tear me down later.  You don't have to believe in my church.  You don't have to believe in the priesthood.  You don't have to believe in reading scriptures or saying prayers.  I am not forcing you to believe that.  Why when you can see that I am clearly happier than I have been in a VERY long time do you feel the need to tell me that I don't need my church. I don't need to have home teachers.  I don't need to believe in the priesthood to be happy.  I don't need to believe in anything to be happy.
Most of all, don't tell me that you are willing to try and find Christ and then tell me that you don't need faith or a foundation because you are perfectly happy being who you are right now. 
If that is true then good for you but I'm not happy living like this.  I was taking the steps to be happy and I was actually happy so why would you want to take that away from me? Why would you want to make me unhappy because you don't want to be happy?
I put my heart out on the line and put myself in a very vulnerable place because you said you wanted to be happy too but instead of even trying, instead of even trying for more than 3 days, you stomped all over it so I would be as unhappy as you are.

Plus you did all this after I covered up for you with other people.  I lied to people I care about to protect you because I thought this is what you wanted too. To be happy. But I guess I was wrong.  

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

My heart is breaking. I went from being happier than I have been in years to the lowest I have felt in years, in a matter of one conversation. 

I wasn't lost for the first time in years, I had found the rod and was holding tight.  I was happy and was trying to show you where it was but instead of letting me lift you up and show you the way, you tore me down so  I could be just as unhappy as you.

I can't do this anymore...ever again.  This is your last chance.  If you don't want to be happy then that is on you, but I refuse to let you make me unhappy so you can pretend that you are actually happy.  I refuse to let my children watch me suffer any longer.  I don't want them to grow up thinking they can't be happy or that they don't deserve to be happy because they aren't perfect.

They don't have to be perfect and neither do I.  My savior Jesus Christ was perfect for me.  He was so perfect that he gave his life so I could be happy.  He gave his life so that YOU could be happy.   If you don't want to see that then I am so sorry.  I will be praying for you.  I am choosing to lean on my savior to be happy.  I am choosing to rely on my Heavenly Father to be happy.  If you don't want to do that then fine.  But I refuse to let you stop me from doing it.  
Even though you don't think you need them and you don't love them back, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you more than you could ever imagine.  Their hearts are breaking too.  Their hearts are breaking because they don't want to see you unhappy either. Just like my heart is breaking to see you so unhappy.  

I can't make you be happy.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can't force you to be happy either.  They loved us so much they gave us free will so that we could choose whether to be happy or not.  So that we could make mistakes and learn from them and grow and progress.  Just like I allow Ashlynn to make some mistakes and then I show her how to learn from them.  

So this is your last chance.  You need to decide if you really want to be happy or not.  If you decide that you already are happy then good for you and move on but don't make me regret trusting you again.  Don't make me regret wanting you to be happy.  I am trying my hardest to make you happy and show you how you can be happy but if you aren't willing to listen and try to be happy and you have already made up your mind then tell me now because I can't make become unhappy so you can pretend that you are really happy.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

I want to be known as a "Mother who knew"

This is a basic telling of my testimony.  For those of you who are members of The Church, you will understand the orange words.  For those of you who are not members but still would like to hear a little about my testimony in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I have made a few notes to explain things you may not understand. Those are the purple words!  Anyway, I have had a pretty amazing week and  I felt like I needed to get some of my testimony down on paper before I let it slip away again! I hope you enjoy and as always, thanks for reading!



When I first started investigating my church, (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) My missionaries gave me a copy of the October 2007 General Conference Ensign (The Ensign, is a monthly publiction my church does. It is just like any other magazine, only all the articles are wholesome, uplifting, and educational. We also have "The Friend" which is the same thing but for children and the "New Era" which is for young aduls.)( Twice a year all the leaders in our church get together and have a general conference.  This is where we all substain the leaders of the church (substaining is basically like voting), the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs hymns and all the leaders give "talks" which to protastants would be similar to sermons.)I didn't know a whole lot about the church yet but she wanted me to read and see how it made me feel.  She knew I wouldn't understand everything in it and I could always ask questions but she wanted me to see if I would feel the spirit when I was learning from it.  So I decided to give it a shot and I came across this article.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/mothers-who-know?lang=eng&query=mothers+know

I knew after I read it that I WANTED TO BE A MOTHER WHO KNEW!  I didn't have a testimony yet but I knew that if developing my testimony would make me a mother who knew, then that is what I wanted to do.  My missionaries always told me that I was special because I was so open to the gospel (This is referring to the renewed Gospel- including the old and new testament, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Convenants and The Pearl of Great Price) and I so willingly accepted it.  I didn't see it then but I see it now.  Even when I started to develop a testimony and I knew I didn't know hardly anything yet but I did know that it felt right and that the spirit was guiding me to it so I was going to accept that the Spirit had witnessed to me of the truthfulness of the church and I would learn as I go.  Even though I didn't know everything yet, I knew it didn't matter what else they would tell me because I already knew it was true and I would believe it!!! I knew that I could be happy no matter what. 

The week before my baptism was like hell on Earth.  Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.  Car troubles, bill troubles, sicknesses, fights with my husband, EVERYTHING!! And I am so blessed because I knew it was Satan attacking me.  It was Satan trying to stop me from being happy!  My missionaries told me I must have been really strong in the premortal World  and said "You find a way to show it to me and I will accept it no matter what". 

(The premortal world is where we, as Mormons, believe we lived with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ before we agreed to come to Earth and have a chance to get a body and learn and progreess through life.)Now I believe it.  My missionaries told me that when some converts get ready to be baptized and all the bad things start happening, they take it as a sign from Heavenly Father that they shouldn't do it.  I was SHOCKED!!!  I never once doubted it. I never once thought it was Heavenly Father making all those bad things happen!!!!  So I guess the missionaries were right and I told Christ as a spirit that I would accept it no matter what. 

Throughout my 3 1/2 years in the church, I have gone through some of the biggest trials of my life and you know what???  I still didn't lose my testimony.  For that I am so grateful!  I have had some absolutely horrible trials over the last week and now that I am on the other side I can see that Heavenly Father and the spirit were with me the whole time.  For years I have been praying for Heavenly Father to deal with a certain situation, for him to send someone to help, for him to show the other person the way and this last week I finally realized that Heavenly Father had been answering my prayers from the beginning and I was just holding myself back spiritually.  There was a situation with Kyle that was making both of us unhappy and I thought that I could just try to hold tight to the rod and he would find it eventually too.  I thought that Heavenly Father would show him the way or send someone that would show him the way.  You know what I learned this week???  HEAVENLY FATHER ALREADY SENT KYLE THE HELP HE NEEDS!!! He sent Kyle his helpmeet, his partner,his companion and his friend to help him. Heavenly Father sent ME to help him and show him the way. 

I was so caught up in holding myself back because I was afraid to get too far ahead of Kyle.  I didn't want to feel like I had left him behind.  I know now that it doesn't matter where we are on the ladder of life.  We are all trying to climb this ladder that leads to exultation (We believe exultation is the ultimate goal of all Heavenly Father's children)and in the end we will all be there together, but right now, we CAN be on different levels.  If I get to the point on the ladder where I am ready to go to the Temple before Kyle gets there, it doesn't mean there is anything wrong.  It doesn't mean I abandoned him or left him behind.  It doesn't mean that I cared more about myself than him. It doesn't mean that I am a better person that him.  It only means that I am a faster learner.  Nothing more than that.  

(The Temple is where we go to make sacred convanents with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Every one recieves endowments, which are basically a deepening of eternal promise you made to Heavenly Father when you were baptised. When young men turn 19 they recieve their endowments in the temole before they prepare to serve a full time 2 year mission, females do the same at 21 if they are not already married.  Couples who marry in the temple before they serve missions will go to the temple together. They will first take out individual endowments, then they will be sealed together for time and all eternity as husband and wife.  If the couple already has children, the children come to the temple and are sealed to them too. Any children born after the temple ceromony are born into the convenant and therefor already sealed to their parents) 

It has been such a huge relief after all the emotional turmoil has come to light in the last week for me to feel all these things again.  I was convinced that I had lost sight of the spirit because of my depression, I felt like the depression had shut off the lights and that is why I felt like I was grappling around in the dark trying to find the rod again.(The rod is a Book of Mormon reference similar to the oil lamp in the dark of the bible)  I realize now that depression didn't turn off the lights, I closed my eyes because I was depressed. Does that make sense?

I know that my Heavenly Father Loves me and that Jesus Christ is my Savior and he loved me so much that he paid the ultimate cost and gave His life for mine!!!!  Isn't that AMAZING!!!! I know that this is the true church of Christ.  I know that we have a living prophet on the Earth today. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and is in fact another testament of Jesus Christ.  I know that one day Kyle and I will be able to go to the Temple together so that we can be sealed together with our children for time and all eternity. and you know what????  I CAN'T WAIT TO SPEND THE REST OF FOREVER WITH MY FAMILY!!!

I love you all so very much and I appreciate your support in my journey more than I ever could put into words and I am promising to try my best to pay it back 10 fold in service to others.  I hope you have enjoyed hearing this story and that you love the article as much as I do!!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Why didn't you tell me???

REALLY PEOPLE????

REALLY????
I was just looking at my new blog layout (I am quite impressed that I finally figured out how to do it!) when I came across this description at the top of my page.


"Hi, My name is Stephanie.  I am a wife and a Stay-at-home."

A Stay-at-home what????  Of course it was meant to say stay-at-home mom but since it just said stay-at-home, it really could be interpreted as anything.



So when strangers read my blog they are left to speculate just exactly I stay-at-home to do.

They probably think things like this:

"Maybe she is a stay-at-home ventriloquist."

"Maybe she is a stay-at-home video game tester."

"Maybe she is a stay-at-home under-water basket weaver."


Although all of those occupations would be awesome and I would love to be talented enough to be a ventriloquist, I feel like it would be dishonest to let people presume that I was capable of being that awesome.


I have already taken it upon myself and corrected this typo but for future reference, someone should have pointed that out.


I understand why my overwhelming awesomeness might intimidate you from correcting me but when it comes to matters of grammar I would very much appreciate positive criticism.



That is all I really have to say.


Except for this:  Under-water basket weaver was the most creative occupation I could come up with but I fully intended to come up with something funnier.  Something like a stay-at-home elephant hoof filer,  or a stay-at-home  Kangaroo pouch zipper maker... I hope you weren't too disappointed by the lack of creativity given to the assumed occupations. I also hope that you will take this as my solemn vow to apply more creativity when posting comical blogs. As always, Thank you very much for reading this!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Simple is always better!

"Simple is always better!"
"Less is more!"
I have decided that my house needs a COMPLETE over haul!!!  A simplification if you will.
Because of my ADD, I have a VERY hard time organizing.  I always start off well and with the best intentions. I buy folders, tubs, baskets and a label maker, but the actual planning and buying of supplies is FAR more fun than the actual organizing!!!  
I mean really, who wants to alphabetize the movie collection? Yes it would be easier to find a movie but  do you know how long it takes to alphabetize 600+ movies???  
I don't either since I never finished but I can tell you that what little I did do took a VERY long time!  So for now, they aren't in order....but you know what??? It really isn't the end of the world.
How about my Pez collection?? (For those of you that don't know, I L-O-V-E  love Pez dispensers!! I have quite the collection, well over 150 I would say.  They aren't wrapped or anything because what fun would they be if we didn't eat the pez?!?!?! ) It is just a fun cheap thing to collect that the whole family enjoys. Yes, it would be nice if they were more organized and in groups (e.i. Disney characters, pixar characters, Winnie the pooh and friends, etc...)  but who really has the time to sit down and separate them all and then stand them all back up on the cabinet tops??  Certainly not me!! LOL!  
 Don't even get me started on the kids toys! Once again, with the best of intentions I bought a toy rack thing that has little bins on it.  I then separated all the toys into different buckets.  I photographed the toys that went in each bucket and taped the picture to the bucket. The pictures were for the kids, so they could see exactly what went into each bin and it would help keep everything more organized.  Right?!?!?  
It worked for a little while, or anytime I would clean up the toys by myself but eventually it just got to be too time consuming.  So I just started throwing the toys in bins just get them off the floor.  
But my solution now is to just simplify...get rid of junk...de-clutter...spring clean...whatever you wanna call it.


I wanna call it...
GETTING SIM-TASTIC!

I want to get my house simtastic...simply fantastic.  or fantastically simple...either way, it is exactly what I want.  
I want to be in the world and not of the world and the perfect way to get there is to start making my life simtastic!

 So, out with the old and (hopefully) in with nothing new! 
I love you all! Thank you for taking the time to read about my boring life!  I promise to try harder to lighten the mood more often, so long as you promise to keep coming back and leaving positive and supportive comments!

Happy Friday!  YEAH for the weekend!  Please tell me, how will you make your life simtastic this weekend????

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Poop and Roses (Not for the easily squeemish!!)

* Disclaimer- this post contains content that to some may be disgusting, gross or some other form of those words*
*This post is also guaranteed to be hilarious! So enter at your own risk and weigh you humor vs grossness ratio to decided if this post is for you or not*

Have you made up your mind yet?

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Are you sure?  You are??
Okay, then here we go...


Poop...
Yeah that's right, this is a blog post about poop.
All kinds of poop!  baby poop, sick poop, dog poop, poop in diapers, poop in toilets, poop outside, poop on the carpet inside, and the worst of all...poop on me!

Since we are all adults, I am sure you guys can handle the word poop, but if not feel free to giggle every time you read it ...after all, it's not like we can see you right now and you can always pretend like you were a mature adult while reading this and we will never know any different!


BUT...for those of you that might be offended or grossed out by the word "Poop" we shall call it roses.

So let me start by saying, my husband has been deployed for roughly 4 months now, and I have had to deal with more roses in those 4 months than in the entire 5 years I have been a mother!!!! 

And like I said before, it is all different kinds of roses.  Baby roses, sick roses,  dog roses, roses in diapers, roses in toilets, roses outside, roses inside on the carpet and worst of all...roses on me.

Well, about a week after my husband deployed the roses started...My adorable 2 year old immediately started having lots of roses.  And not just normal roses. But roses of a strange color, texture, and smell.  So I took Konner to the Dr. and told him all about the horrible roses that he had been having for 3 weeks. The Dr. was a little concerned it had lasted so long so he wanted me to collect a sample for him.

YEP...that's right...HE WANTED A SAMPLE!!
So he sent me home with 3 little tubes full of some sort of mystery liquid and told me to "extract a sample from the diaper and put enough in the bottles to raise this mystery fluid up to the line."  Sounds easy...gross...but easy, RIGHT?!?!?  So we get home and Konner gives me his first roses (isn't he sweet! He gave his mommy roses...I wish they had been real ones!)

Here is where things start to get tricky (and sticky)...The roses that Konner were having at the time were practically liquid...and he was having said roses in a disposable diaper...which pretty much immediately absorbed all the liquid roses!  Also, the tubes were in a little complicated.
You know those little bottles of bubbles like for weddings that have the wand attached to the lid and you just pop it off??? Well that is what these little tubes were like, only instead of a bubble wand it had a spork like thing on the end. Yes, a SPORK like thing.  (which in my opinion just made things harder because the spork like prongs would get caught on the disposable diaper and tear it and I was given specific instructions to make sure that none of the diaper got into the sample...all those little wet bead like things that come out of disposable diapers couldn't get in there...yet the tool they gave me ripped open the diaper exposing thousands of them!) What was a mother to do???  I called the lab and explained the situation.  They said come in and we will give you something else to help with it.  So I drive the kids the 30 minutes to the base clinic where they give me this plastic bowl like contraption.  I am supposed to take it home, set it inside the toilet (it had a bowl in the middle and then plastic wing type things that rested on the edge of the toilet between the actual bowl and the seat). So I am supposed to set it in the toilet, then when Konner starts acting like he is going to give me some roses, hold him on the toilet over this bowl thing and then extract it from the bowl and put it in the tubes. It sounds like a great plan and it completely eliminated the whole disposable diaper/gel bead things issue.

Well, let me tell you. That was a lot easier said than done!
First off,  the roses that Konner was having were completely unpredictable.  It was as if someone had fed him some level 10 spicy curry...he literally had no control over when or where he gave me these roses.  So trying to figure out when he was going to go was hard enough but then I had to constantly be close enough to bathroom to be able to get him in the bathroom, get his pants and diaper off and get him on the toilet, HOPEFULLY without getting roses everywhere.

This is where things get gross and we get into the worst roses of all...roses on me.

So Ashlynn, Konner and I were playing in his bedroom (which is directly across the hall from the bathroom. We spent about 3 hours playing in his room waiting for him to give me some roses.  So, we are playing and I see Konner get this look on his face...it was a weird look but I knew what it meant...it was that look of when you are sick to your stomach and you don't think you make it to the bathroom or you are afraid to do it because you are afraid these roses have thorns and might hurt you...

So, I quickly grab him and turn towards the bathroom. While walking (well, running!) towards the bathroom I took his pants off.  We get into the bathroom and I turn him towards me to check the diaper. (I wanted to make sure there weren't already roses in it before I ripped it off and flung it everywhere) I looked and there weren't any roses. So I stand him up in front of me facing him towards the toilet and start to undo the diaper.  As soon I get the diaper off Konner starts giving me the roses...
I was completely unprepared for what happened next.

Imagine if you will, a bottle of ranch.  You know how when you get down to the very bottom of it, you turn it upside down and shake it to get the last bit out? Now picture how it comes out, There is a big blob that comes out of the middle straight down on the plate, then the rest kinda splatters all around it, and the bottle makes a sort of farting sound. (Which my daughter thinks is hilarious!)

Well, that is EXACTLY how Konner gave me the roses...right onto my lap...onto my legs because I had shorts on, on my shorts and the bottom of my shirt.  It also splattered around me onto the wall, cabinets, door, tub and floor.  I did manage to get some of it into the bowl for the samples but I am fairly confident that he got more OUT of the toilet than in the toilet!
I did manage to get the samples together and fill the containers up to the line and put some in an empty urine sample cup.  

I couldn't take the samples to the clinic until the following morning because by this time they were already closed.  So I go read the directions in the paperwork the lab guy gave me. And there it is, "What to do if you can not deliver specimen immediately"  and do you know what the answer was???
KEEP IN FREEZER UNTIL YOU CAN GET THE SPECIMEN BACK TO THE LAB!!!
So, they want me to take these rose samples, and put them in my freezer?  What, just set them on the shelf between the ice cream and frozen veggies???
It took me a good 10 minutes to get up the courage to actually place the tubes of roses in the freezer, where we store our food!  Then for the rest of the day, I would periodically open the freezer and see the roses sitting on the shelf in my freezer like some sort of rose Popsicles and think about how gross it was.  But, there was something wrong with my baby and this was the only way to find out what it is, so I suck it up, and deal with it.

Well, it turned out that Konner had an INTESTINAL PARASITE!! Most likely from something he ate.  Probably some sort of produce that wasn't cleaned well enough.  He needed antibiotics for 2 weeks and he was better. 

Well, I thought that all my rose troubles were over...but boy was I wrong!

We have a dog named Zoey.  Zoey is an 11 month old lab mix and she is a little ball of energy.  Since the hubby is deployed, I am on rose duty. Meaning I have to pick up all the roses from the backyard so that when the kiddo's go outside to play they don't get into the roses.
Now, most people would be worried that their kids would step in the roses because they didn't see it.  Yes, I would be worried about that too, but there is something far worse that I worry about.
 My kids seem to be attracted to the piles of roses outside!  It's like they are some sort of child magnet, or maybe some sort of children's crack that my kids are hooked on...I dunno what it is about the roses that my kids find so interesting but they sure do love it.  Maybe it's because I freak out when they get near it and they get a kick out of it. I dunno...
My son loves to walk up to them, call out to mama, and then squat down pointing at it...trying to touch it but not actually touching it...hovering his little fingers about a centimeter above the roses! 
Then Ashlynn will encourage him to come look at the roses.  One day they both were sitting on the ground facing each other holding their hands out.  When I asked what they were doing my daughter said "We are sitting at a camp fire, warming our hands".  I just thought they were pretending at first but after a minute I walked over to them to see what they were doing and boy was I surprised when their "campfire" was actually a pile of dog roses!!!

So, with the hubby gone I have to go outside every day or two with a walmart sack and a little shovel and collect all the roses. The winter has made it a little easier because the kids don't go outside as often so I don't have to do it as often. It is nice to not do it every day but it is worse because when I do do it there is a weeks worth of roses everywhere!  Plus, once again my kids fascination with the roses lures them to want to help me and inevitably one or both of them ends up some how touching the roses!!  Then it takes 20 minutes to get both kids in the house, into the bathroom and go through the hand washing process.  
  I would never have imagined that washing their hands would be such an ordeal.  While I'm washing Konner's hands, Ashlynn is splashing water everywhere, standing on the toilet pulling stuff out of the medicine cabinet that she isn't supposed to have or pumping the foaming hand soap all over everything BUT her hands!  Then when I am washing Ashlynn's hands Konner is doing the same things! He has also been known to grab stuff and try and stick it in the toilet! Then once his hand goes in the toilet I have to wash them again and we start all over... Oh well, this post isn't supposed to be about hand washing...it's about roses!

So, we are back to Zoey's roses now.  Zoey isn't exactly fully house trained yet.  She will whine to go out when we are home but if we are gone she will go in the house or while we are sleeping she will go in the house.  She has selected 2 favorite places to leave her roses.  Place #1- Ashlynn's closet...I am not sure why she has selected either place but this one is particularly odd because she has to go all the way downstairs and into her room and into her closet to get there!  Place #2- Konner room...but not just anywhere in his room...in one particular spot about a foot in front of his closet and always on the left side!  So of course when there are roses on the floor in his room Konner's fascination kicks in!!!  He runs over to it, squats down while calling my name and hovers his little fingers over it while yelling "Bad dog! Bad dog! Bad dog!"
Then I pick it up with toilet paper and try to flush it down the toilet! Most of the time it ends up being to big or too much and clogs up the toilet so I have to plunge it out!  VERY FRUSTRATING!!!

Okay, so to finish up, I would just like to say that I am so sick of roses!  These stories are the comical ones but we have had lots of other rose incidents too! Like when Konner had his parasite he would give me roses in the middle of the night, in his bed, and they would leak...even through two diapers, or one overnight diaper and a cloth diaper cover, and I would have to change his sheets at 3 a.m.  It would take just long enough for him to fully wake up so it would be a struggle to get him back down!!  Ashlynn had some sort of a stomach virus that led to accidents in her bed and pants as well and she spent 2 days in pull ups!  A few weeks ago we spent 3 days with all of us have very uncomfortable roses and throwing up!  It has been very interesting!

I love being a mother and it makes me sad when my kids are sick and we have to deal with roses but I would have to say if I never saw another rose again it wouldn't bother me at all!  I know that is an impossible hope but one can dream right?!?!?