I haven't posted much lately. Life is happening to me. I used to think that after 4 kids, more kids were easy to add. I now repent of that assumption. There is nothing easy about a family this size, unless we're counting on things like crying, fighting, mess and fatigue. Those things do come easily!
The past few days have been particularly challenging for me. (I nearly jumped out of the van the other night, but a red light didn't come at the right time...thankfully. Chad was driving; not me.) This motherhood thing is hard!
I have been grateful this weekend for the messages on motherhood and parenting. They were very helpful. I'll have to read them soon.
Anyway, I know I have some pictures and stories to share. I haven't given up on them, but postponed them for a bit.
I have been scrapbooking while listening to Conference. It's been so long, I think I'm out of practice! I struggled a bit trying to get so many pictures onto one page. Hopefully, it doesn't look too disorganized. :)
I'm thinking of getting a shirt made that says this.
I hope my May Ensign doesn't get lost in the mail. I'm really going to need to read the Conference talks since I didn't get to hear many of them. I spent all of yesterday torn between wanting my kids to be at least NEAR the TV (so maybe they'd accidentally learn something), to wanting to send them downstairs - FAR AWAY from the TV (so I could accidentally learn something).
Then I had a grand idea to force some reverence on the kids by going to the church for one of today's sessions. The lazy part of me was screaming, "ARE YOU DELUSIONAL?" The CTR part of me was bursting with pride (which may not be "CTR" in itself) over such a reverent goal. So we got dressed and drove to the Stake Center this morning.
Apparently, we were a little too lofty in our attempts. Our building was only broadcasting in Spanish. We would have had trouble as soon as they finished with "Hola." So, while the opening song was being performed, we drove to our old Stake to catch the broadcast there. We arrived during the opening prayer and discovered that they'd gone all out and set up a TV in the Relief Society room. There were 4 missionaries and 3 other small groups of people there. I couldn't help but think, we could watch it on a TV at home!
But the kids were MUCH more reverent than they were at home. They suffered and endured to the end, as did their parents. We at least got Sunday to feel a little more LIKE Sunday and I heard a few more words during that session. We watched the last session from our couch, surrounded by the remains of our 72 hr kits (which we eat once a year during conference to help rotate the contents). By the time the prayer was given, most of the kids were downstairs playing and I didn't even feel guilty.
I console myself with the belief that any experience with General Conference is good and that we will sit better and longer in about...10 years.
If you're looking for some ideas to ease your kids through General Conference this weekend (and even if you hadn't really thought about it), here are some links of fun things for them!
I'd share more personal info, but it's getting a little tense around here and I've learned that the more I try to ignore it, the higher my blood pressure goes. But I hope you take some time to check out those links!
It was Spring Break this week. We finally got out to celebrate on Thursday. We felt a little restricted by this weekend's General Conference because we didn't want to be somewhere that would be hard to listen. So our plans to travel much distance were nixed. We ended up driving all the way to a small town, famous for it's church college, recently turned 4 year University.
Upon arrival, we stopped in Winger's for lunch, then drove down the road to DI for some treasure hunting.
Next, we drove to the building next door to do some bowling. We were bumper bowling because of the kids, but it really helped the grown-ups, too! The kids used a ramp to send their balls down the lane. We did fairly well. The kids all got into the 90's and Chad and I were one point different from each other, in the 120's. For the first 8 frames, I was dead last in the family. We had some really pretty shoes there. I know it's to deter you from stealing, but I have to think that some things get so bad that the temptation returns just for proof of the hideousness! The hardest workout of the game was making sure Rebekah didn't get herself killed as she wandered around us while we slung stone balls back and forth!
Here is some video of the kids launching their bowling balls. (Sorry it's a little grainy. I spliced 5 movies together and had to use a different format to get YouTube to record it all. Just stand back a few paces from the computer screen!)
By the time we were done bowling, it was late enough to check into our room. We had some time to get a short rest while the kids watched a couple of Magic School Bus shows. We then donned our swimming gear for 20 minutes in the pool. I REALLY look forward to the day when the kids can swim on their own and we won't have to have one or two hanging on us in self-preservation. Then we were back to the room in a quick scramble to get dressed, and up to the campus for a quick bite to eat on our way to see the planetarium show at 7. Rebekah and I wandered around the science building for 75 minutes while we waited for everyone to enjoy the show. Apparently, the kids were not really captivated by the show and were pretty wiggly in there.
So we were finally able to head back to the room for a bedtime treat and SLEEP! The three older kids slept in one bed together and fell asleep much faster than Rebekah. It was a risky arrangement, but despite elbows and knees, no one was seriously injured.
We slept in as long as we could. Sometime before 8 AM, we were up and getting dressed. Free breakfast at the motel and then we were headed out to an airplane museum. The museum people must have been able to sleep in longer than us because despite their posted hours saying they were open, they were not. No explanation.
So, we had a whole day and nothing planned. We decided to put some miles on the van. We drove to Arco and had lunch in a little restaurant called, "Pickle's Place." It was painted very green. From there we drove a little further to Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was cold! But we were tough and even hiked out to the caves. We went down inside an old lava tube now called Indian Tunnel. It was very rocky and Rebekah was carried most of the way. In another month, that's going to be a nice place to visit (not too hot, not too cold). In two months, there will be wildflowers blooming among the lava rock. We won't be back until much longer than a month or two from now.
We finally got home again around 5 yesterday. We were very tired. So we had cold cereal for dinner and watched an old movie, "How to Frame a Figg."
General Conference will now be starting in about 10 seconds. We are rotating our 72 hour kits today, so the kids have been looking forward to GC all week! Rebekah has already downed a package of fruit snacks!
