Wolfcreek

We are at Wolfcreek up in Eden Utah tonight. Knowing that this is Joseph's last winter with us (we've got so many "last"s coming!) Corey wanted to make sure we got in a family ski day, so he planned this trip out for us a few months ago. Bad news is: there is NO snow. On the drive up here, there was seriously nothing. It was dark, so I couldn't see up the mountains, but all along the road, my headlights didn't show anything but brush in front of us and on the shoulders of the road. I did not see a pile of snow anywhere. I hope our ski rentals don't go to waste and that this ski day tomorrow works out.

Let's see... we've got Vegan pizza on the menu, Corey got apple cider and egg nog and a chicken pot pie. I grabbed a treat of Marshmallow Cereal for breakfast tomorrow, which Hyrum was happy to see is not made with milk or eggs, so he's ready to chow down on that. I don't buy that junk anymore though! I know I've said it many times before, I really don't this time! Except for today. But still, good job me, go team. Still, I have been snacking on it tonight. And I had some egg nog. I can feel myself slipping into the festive food overload of the holidays, doh.

What else... Corey took the kids to the resort rec center, I stayed at the room with Daniel and made dinner. When they got back I got out a puzzle, which is one thing that's been on my list that I want to do with the kids that we never get to do.

Owen was so cute, he tried so hard. It's a puzzle pictures of a ton of bouncy balls. We didn't get very far on it. Lily did a good job. I didn't make much progress. Hard to do a puzzle with Owen and Daniel around. I really hope we don't lose any pieces to it! Seriously, every puzzle I get out, we always lose one piece in the process, so annoying. I brought two puzzles. The other puzzle was "accidentally" opened up in the car. Yeah, that one's just going in the trash now, cause I know we'll never find all the pieces to that one now.

We are going skiing tomorrow. Well, Corey and the kids are. I'll be chilling with Daniel for sure and some other kids. I am heading back home at 1:00 with Joseph and three other kids (I need a full car so that Corey doesn't have an over-full van when he heads back) so that Joseph can be in Orem at 3:30 for call time before a Crescent Band Performance at the Scera Theather. It's been a busy holiday and the break will still be a little busy, but it's nice to have some time together just us. 

Food, Cleaning, Drawing

I haven't been doing great at sit down meals, so when I do do it, I often record it, that I might give my children the impression that it happened a lot. Maybe it does. Maybe I could do better. I delivered tonight though, so yay for me. Breakfast for dinner - eggs, hashbrowns, grilled peppers and onions, grapefruit, and dried figs. Peter's ready to dig in...

He decided he didn't care about waiting for Corey to get home from work. That's rude Peter! 

I also made a nice Brazilian tomato and onion "molho a campanha". A lovely neighbor gave us a bunch of her garden vegetables - squash, beets, and roma tomatoes, so I had to put the tomatoes to work! I've also been on a real beet kick lately, I'm not sure why. I hated them as a kid, and then I think it was sometime in the past year or two, Corey mentioned that he loves beets, so then I started to try them, and now I think that they are fine! Plus it's kinda fun to eat cause they are so colorful. On our date night Friday we went to a little street cafe in Sugarhouse and we had pickled eggs, cauliflower, cucumebers, and carrots, and they were all purple cause they had been pickled with some beet juice. I also cracked open an "Oh She Glows" that I bought per my SIL's recommendation (SIL Steph, she's vegan like me, thanks to reading a Word of Wisdom book I gifted them when they moved to Texas in 2017, I was very happy to have a fellow family member get on board with me with Veganism, and they put our family to shame now). I bought the Oh She Glows cookbook a year ago on Sep 7, 2019 (The historian in me likes that Amazon keeps track of stats like that and points it out to me when I look at items I've ordered before, nice) They have a beet and balsamic vinegar salad that I've made with arugula - simple, tasty, and pretty. I threw some beets my easy potato curry leftovers from dinner last night, good stuff. 

I had that nice healthy lunch today as I took a break from cleaning. I cleaned a TON today as I listened to General Conference. I talked to Nicole on Monday and she said that she's reviewing all the April 2020 talks this week to prep for General Conference on Saturday, so I thought that was a good idea and that I should do it too. I got a little behind, so today I just listened and cleaned all day, and I got through Saturday morning and afternoon, and I plan to finish the Saturday evening session on a morning walk tomorrow. My hands are chapped now from all the washing I did, but it's good, the house is very clean and I rearranged the side room, thinking that I'd let Peter drive the wiggle car around the house. Cause he's not that good yet and it would be cute to see him practice and give him a track for when it's too cold outside. But then Daniel was driving it around, and that was when I remembered the wiggle cars are very noisy. So then I put the car outside and am reconsidering Peter having a track on the main floor. I guess I'll need to clean the basement, which is a disaster area again. It's fun to have the side room rearranged though, it's fun to rearrange every now and then. Maybe I'll switch the side room couch every General Conference week or seasonal equinox.

Daniel was really cute drawing today. He was "coloring" with a gray pencil in his Cars coloring book. He was so intent and careful with his work, it was really sweet to watch. 

He drew as we read scriptures and continued as kids brushed teeth. 

Such a good drawing, Daniel

He is a sweet little boy.

Panorama Test

So, a little more details about the ultrasound on Tuesday. It was a thorough exam, took over an hour. One nurse did all the screening, then a doctor came in and looked at it all again and explained some of what they saw. She said there were a few markers for genetic defects. It happens with age, and I'm at risk cause I'm so old. The markers were: too much amniotic fluid, fists clenched for more than an hour, and some measurement on the brain was measuring 2 weeks behind development. These are all markers for a possible "trisomy" (that was the new word for the day). Trisomy means there are 3 chromosomes instead of the usual pair of chromosomes. The most common is Trisomy 21, which is Down Syndrome. The smaller the chromosomes, the less threatening/dangerous the complications. So 21 is a small m and babies with three chromosome 21/Down Syndrome can life long lives. Two others - Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18, are more life threatening and can cause more problems since they are larger chromosomes. Most of those children die before age 1 according to that website. Trisomy 13 is called Patau Syndrome, Trisomy 18 is Edwards Syndrome. So, yay, I kinda wish we didn't have to go back in for more ultrasounds or tests, but it's the curse/blessing of living in this technological society. We had ultrasound worries with Mel I remember, and with Owen. I think I got all of the worry and drama of the unknown out of myself that time, so I'm doing fine with this potentially worrisome news. I can't remember if there were any concerns with ultrasounds of the other kids. It appears Daniel's ultrasound was uneventful. No scare with him, atleast not any that I recorded, so if there was a worry I had at the time, it has been forgotten since I didn't write anything down (which is what will happen to my whole life if I don't type things up here, hence why I keep a blog) So whatever happens to the baby, we will love him and he will be a blessing. They want me to come in for a follow up ultrasound to check anatomy and growth in 3 weeks. My doctor called yesterday to go over the ultrasound with me, and I scheduled a Panorma test for today at Corey's request, "cost of living with modern medicine." I loaded up the kids and we went in. I had to go pick up the lab kit and sign for it at my dr. office, then took it down to the lab. Daniel kept trying to escape.

PBS kids app to the rescue. Owen held it while I went in to get my shot.

They stayed put, glued to the phone, while I got my blood drawn. Yay. That was all we needed to do, let's go back home.

Oh, and in case you didn't watch the video from Tuesday's post, we're having a boy. Some of the kids seemed unhappy about it - "It's a boy!?!?" said Lily with a frown and disappointment in her voice, "No! Now it's uneven!!!" said Ethan (he was joking) I know it's not really a big deal to any of them, they'll all love him to pieces just fine, but yeah, it's a boy. So these little toddler guys will be taking over. I told Lily it's okay, we'll just have two more kids and make sure they are both girls (cause we have total control over things like that!) then it will be 7-7.  I said that as a joke, Corey was in the room and walked by with this expression when he heard my comment -

Ha. So that's all the ultrasound info I've got at the moment, we should get the Panorama test results within a week. Although with Owen, they didn't get enough blood or something to do the test so I had to go back in and get my blood drawn again. We'll see if that happens this time. Other than that, today was just a normal life day. After coming back from the blood draw, we had vegan pizza for lunch. A neighbor called and gifted us a bag of freshly picked peaches. Natalie headed to the bus. Corey checked Sophi out of school early for her first violin lesson. She'll check out every Thursday at 2:00 and miss art to go take lessons from a friend of Corey's from high school who is a great violinist. So Corey said he'll own that job. Wesley has his audition for Little Big Band at the Soundhouse, Ethan drove him down cause Eth has his sax lesson with Ray down there in Utah county. Eth enjoys driving and Corey passed him off on the clutch, so he's happy and enjoying feeling independent. Our two caterpillars are big now and I hope they do okay with the next step in their metamorphosis, unlike our caterpillar #1 from this year. I've been trying to catch up on going over family finances and cleaning a little. The house is in a state of clutter though. I just need to get rid of all the boxes of junk. Lots to do.

School Challenge

Tonight, Corey issued a new challenge to the kids. Before issuing the challenge, he had asked them for some feedback on the Park City Challenge, how it went and what was good or bad about it. And the overall report was that there wasn't anything bad about it! It was all good. Sure, it was work, but the kids liked how they felt after working hard! I know we ALL enjoyed living in a clean home, they were pleased with the things they accomplished, and they enjoyed their reward (well, except for Wesley who was sick and didn't get to use his pass, we'll make it up to you Wes!)

So, since school is fast upon us, it's time to get ready to take on the school year. They can work hard and they need to work hard in order to survive. Ethan and Hyrum are both . Corey began the meeting by showing them a video or Mr. Strickland calling Marty McFly a slacker. Thus the introduction to level 1 and the different levels of productivity in this school challenge:

1. Slacker
2. Solid
3. Super Star
4. Celestial

If the kids can't complete the basics (like getting to school on time or practicing their music for 1 hour), they are at the Slacker Level (dark gray).

If they complete the basics and stay on top of their homework, they are Solid (lighter gray). If they get out of bed by 8:30 on Saturdays they are Superstars! And, if they're eating vegan, they are celestial! Ha, Corey made that level to tease me.

Here is a 7 min video of the presentation and discussion of this new challenge. This is about how noisy our meetings usually are... Kinda hard to communicate things or feel like you're being heard. But that's how it goes around here. Also, it's hard to keep track of your thoughts when you have to keep making comebacks to the teenager (Ethan) that pushes back on every statement you make. I usually can't handle it, Corey does better than I do.

Can you hear some of Ethan's comments? After Corey gives a verbal list of all the things he does in an effort to show the kids they are capable of doing more, Ethan says "And look at how stressed you are!" "Exactly..." "I don't want that to be me!" It made me laugh. We've got this teenager on the record! I'm hoping this video will make you laugh later in life, Ethan, as you have your own teenagers! Ethan also told Corey today that he can get me to say yes to anything. "Whatever I ask her, she'll say yes the second time I ask!" Corey didn't believe him. And for good reason. Because Ethan failed to mention that I say yes the second time because he changes the question to a negative. For example, as we drove home after his eye exam today: "Can we stop by Arctic Circle?" "No..." "Can we not stop by Artctic Circle?" "Yes!" "Thank you... I just like to hear you say yes."

Natalie said a few cute things tonight too. As we were going to bed, she said she was too scared to sleep alone on our floor. I replied "Ok, you can go sleep with your sisters in your room!" No. Corey said "Can I get you a big stuffed animal to sleep with?" "No, I just need a human. A boy human." I put Daniel on the floor next to her as he drank his bottle. "There! Daniel will help you not be scared!" She laughed at our joke, "No not Daniel! A BIG boy human!" She was trying to imply she wanted her father. It was cute.

Last report for today - the caterpillar report. We had one male butterfly today, we have 16 chrysalis, 5 big caterpillars, 4 small. Also, my neighbor brought me 6 of her big caterpillars on Tuesday night cause they are taking a trip to Yellowstone. But the caterpillars have all been sick - oozing green stuff. Maybe one of the milkweed is bad? One of them looked so in pain that I froze it, he was followed by one last night that was writhing in the same way, and then I located a missing one, it had fallen in the water of the cup she had tinfoil over. Our monarch year has been a huge success besides the tragic events these foster caterpillars just gave us. I felt bad for that little guy. Note to self, keep the glass jars. I'm going to keep a box of my monarch supplies for next year - little clothes pins, small containers to hold the leaves, rocks to put in the glass jars (helps the milkweed stay upright).

LDS General Conference Weekend

First off, I'm so behind here. To my children, if you look back at this blog and come to wonder how I blogged "everyday" and ran a household with 11 children, just know that at this moment in time, the house is a pretty big mess, I am still catching up trying to blog posts from August right now, not to mention that we're now in October and I've only done 10 days of September.  That being said, today was a pretty good day on productivity. For example, I made dinner tonight again! Leftover vegetable barley soup from yesterday that was fabulous, plus some cucumber tomato salad and also, for the omnivores in the family, we cooked up some beef stroganoff from our food storage. I think I'm going to use those more often - we had a ton of food storage that I wouldn't mind putting to good use to save a little bit of $ in the grocery budget. Plus it's a good way to keep the meat eaters happy without Corey going to buy groceries again using up my budget buying garbage. Go ahead and buy some eggs and milk if you must, but can we skip the Nutella?  He does it "so the kids aren't confused about what you need or don't need to do for a temple recommend", blah blah. I asked him how often they need to be reminded that being vegan is not required? And I don't even do it 100% all the time (had some egg noodles tonight) Plus, sweetie, I'm happy to tell them and have told them that too, but is it necessary to show them on a weekly/daily basis? I think their memories are good enough that they don't need to be reminded this often. Maybe I just need to have more food available, cause they look around and can't see anything to eat in a fridge full of vegetables. But Nutella? Do we have to torture poor Hyrum and me? Plus, like anybody is going to eat my vegetable soup if they know that pretty soon someone will whip up crepes with Nutella. And speaking of making more food for yourselves after dinner... Children- can we all just eat dinner and then be done for the night? Do we really need this 9 or 10 pm post dinner feeding? Can we establish some routines and schedules that we all follow?! Ugh, so hard getting to bed around here! Which messes up my morning... I can't keep surviving on this 5 hours of sleep a day. Maybe I should retire from my "family alarm clock" duty. But that would mean our whole life falls apart... sigh. Well, atleast Daniel is sleeping though the night though, that's really nice. Ok, done with my rant...

So, General Conference - It was wonderful. My ears were tuned in to hear things about establishing habits and routines and I got a lot of answers. I also loved Elder Tad Callister's talk on Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. On a few of the talks I didn't take notes cause my hands were busy holding Daniel (or about to be, as shown in the pic below)

Or during the second Sunday session I was loading the dishwasher. But Elder Callister's talk was one where I was sitting hands free and could have taken notes but I didn't want to cause I didn't want to miss the next thing he said. He hit it out of the park, loved it. The Book of Mormon is all true or maybe Joseph Smith was just "a very lucky guesser" lol - yeah right! I'll come back and update that with the link once it's up online. Plus I'll add the other talks that were meant for me. Great weekend. And today was day 1 of putting them into practice. I got up early and exercised and used my time wisely today. Still working on the best schedule for me, but I got off on a good start, hoping to tune it more this week.

BTW, another reality check for my posterity - this is what watching General Conference looks like around here:

Nevermind, I can't find my phone. Come back later... but I'll describe it... it's:

Lots o-people sitting in chairs (some falling asleep as in this pic from April 2017-pic 1 and 2) or laying on the floor with blankets. The kids did try to take notes, Abi and up. Lily and under were playing with toys most of the time but they'd come in now and then. One cute story - Lily came in during the first session with urgent news: there was a fire. Corey asked "A real fire?" Well, she said there was smoke. Corey jumped up and went in her room. She pointed out the window where there was clearly lava and smoke on the mountain (aka very red fall trees and low lying clouds). We got a good laugh out of that. But I can see how it would look like lava to a creative and imaginative little girl like Lily. So with the little girls, we didn't worry too much about nagging them to come listen. If they were in the room with us "listening" there was a good chance that we wouldn't be able to hear anything, cause they'd be jumping or wiggling or making noise. They took advantage of the chance to play without us nagging them to clean up or work, good girls.

Update: found my phone. Here's our conference picture. How many kids can you see? I spy 9. Joseph and Ethan are not present. They watched it in the side room, most of us watched most sessions in our room.

Corey is in upward dog, getting up after having his fill of kids climbing on him. Mel drawing. Hyrum taking notes and paying attention (good kid) Wes ready to give Owen a hug. Daniel watching Owen and taking mental notes on how to behave. Lily is on our bed drawing. Natalie is hard to see, but she is on our bed drawing too... You can see her little brown head looking closely at her paper. 

Sweet Trick or Treaters

This Halloween has been easier on us this year than we've experienced in past years - junk food wise. I didn't buy a lot to give out, so thankfully we don't have a lot left over there, yay. Also the older 5 kids didn't go, yay! So that's another reason there is less junk around here to throw me off the wagon. I did really good yesterday and didn't have one treat until we stopped at a neighbor's house so Sophi could use the bathroom, and then I was offered and accepted an Almond Joy. It was downhill after that - I had another Almond Joy, then a Kit Kat that I had originally intended to save for Ethan. Then I continued to just have "one more" treat of my candy hierarchy. Chocolate, cookies and cakes are my vegan weaknesses. I do fine if they're not around. Unfortunately during Halloween, they are all around. Luckily Abi's an aspiring healthy eater and gave most of hers away last night. Lily has a good stash, and Sophi and Natalie didn't get very many treats last night, being the sweet and un-greedy toddlers that they are. Plus they shared them with Owen and Daniel last night, which was so cute, so most of them got eaten last night, yay.

I'm glad I got this on film, cause it was precious. Natalie dumped out her bag of treats and Daniel saw it and came over. I was expecting her to gather the treats in her arms and shield them from her encroaching sibling, but instead she saw "Aww! Daniel!" and welcomed him in. Then Owen came over too, she again sweetly said "Some of these babies want to eat treats too!" Then taking a treat from Owen she said "I will help you!" and she opened his tootsie roll "Ok Owen, here! There you go!"

Then she opened another one. She is so sweet, hope this fairy butterfly gets sweeter every year. With this video documenting her sweetness now, I think we will be able to show her and keep her being a good girl like she was in 2017. In this next video she was cute too, showing me with tickled surprise that Owen just gave her some chocolate! I guess not realizing that it was hers to begin with? Pretty adorable. Another funny thing in this second clip - Corey decided to head over to a neighbors house to check on Abi and Lily. He put on his coat and announced his intentions to depart. He invited Sophi "Do you want to come with me?" Owen looked up, saw Dad putting on a coat. "DAD!!" he called out. Then he got up with a "I'll come..." We all laughed, since Corey's usually trying to get a break from this little man. Yes, Owen, we could have called that you would want to go with Dad, being as you're his little shadow. It was nice that he was calmly proactive instead of screaming in terror that Corey might leave him. Just a sweet "I'll come..." - that's a good improvement, thank you Owen! Corey laughed too, "I guess he speaks English!"

Oh, one more thing on the business front - so I took Sophi and Natalie around the neighborhood, Corey stayed home with Owen and Daniel, and the older kids stayed home to pass out goodies to the trick or treaters. As we were on our way back home, we met Corey pushing Owen in the stroller. Corey said me that he'd just heard back from Brazil. They were going to talk today at noon. I haven't gotten the full report yet, but we'll see if it means our free fall comes to an end as we hit the ground, or if we grow wings and fly, or maybe our flag will give us flight! We're keeping that flag flying.

Business Update - Corey sent me a text around 1:00 today with the following info:
Good news - the committee approved the deal. They also disbanded the committee to give more authority to move faster. One investor insists he meets with an IT guy to talk about IT needs of English schools. Not a big deal, and not related to M0vieMouth. R will see if Corey can talk to that guy later. Bad News - Last week the Brazilian Federal Government passed resolution 3922 that puts restrictions on asset managers who have money from pension funds. It has literally stopped the flow of money for this investor and other financing funds. R is meeting with the finance minister on Nov 9th in Brasilia to discuss. If not resolved, this VC's entire business is in jeopardy. R belives it will be resolved, but he needs some time to figure it out. Hopefully just a couple of weeks, but they don't really know, could be longer. (Ok, seeing as this "lets move on this fast" deal with it's "we'll get back to you in a few days" ended up taking 3 weeks, a projected timeline of a couple of weeks after Nov 9th means this thing is definitely going to be 3+ months before it's close to being resolved, Isn't that fun?! Ya gotta love government regulations, ugh.)

Anniversary Eve

We walked to church today cause the van is making bad sounds and I don't want to drive it anymore. The air was cool on the way there, but I just figured that would help me not break a sweat in my Sunday clothes. These were all the little people that were ready in time to walk, with time to spare.

The teenagers, as usual, were running late. Church was great, I subbed in the nursery. After church the kids took me into the Primary room so I could see the cute drawing that Natalie did.

Those are cute little people, Natalie! You're becoming quite the artist! That is really good for a 4 year old! Natalie was also excited to show us the snowman she made.

We started to walk home, but it was blowing crazy cold wind and the kids were freezing, luckily a neighbor offered to take them and I ran home with Daniel and Owen in the stroller. There's a storm blowing in! Time to hunker down for the night, it's nice that we have a holiday tomorrow. Tonight Corey and a few of the older kids got out Go For It - it's a family favorite.

I got this game in 6th grade for my birthday from Shannan Jackson. I didn't take it with me when on my mission or to college, nor did I take it or pack it away after we were married or through our various international moves... so I can only guess that it stayed at my parents house and they passed it on sometime in the past 5 years as they decluttered. The kids love it, it's been a fun game for them to play together. It was a special treat tonight for them to have Corey join in.

The game can get pretty intense.

While they played, I got some strawberry short cake ready for Sunday dessert, with a non-dairy vegan option for Hyrum and myself. I had a few thoughts of doing a fancy dinner or party for our anniversary (tomorrow) but the plans were mostly in my head and kinda vague. So we didn't do anything big tonight except for a strawberry shortcake dessert.

The little kids sat down and helped themselves to it without waiting for the older kids to finish their game.

We don't have anything planned tomorrow, and with the storm coming in maybe we won't get out at all. We need to get 4 wheel drive one of these years. I thought it would be fun to go up to the Blue Boar Inn for breakfast or lunch, we went there for our 1st anniversary. But the van is not working, the Fiesta is worthless in the snow, and Corey's car has been given to a friend to use for a while, so, we most likely don't have a way to get up there. It might just be a simple day at home. We'll see. We need Corey's business' ship to come in, we're struggling, he's spent, and I'm tired of it too. Just keep taking one day at a time.

Finishing December

I've still been doing awesome this past week at making vegan meals for Corey and lunches and dinners for the family. The house is also still clean!! Over 10 days!! Wow. I'm not sure who had my phone, but here's a photo from today of Daniel walking around with his pj's off his shoulders and feeling silly. 

Lily has been making origami swans and butterflies like she's creating animals for the Garden of Eden. Right now it's 5:30pm, and Corey's been over at his parents' house for 2 hours. I was going to blog, but instead I've been compiling all my years pregnancy weight notes into one spreadsheet for myself to reference. I'm trying to keep calm that I've already gained 25 lbs during this pregnancy and I'm barely over half way through (22 weeks and 160 lbs). I'm hoping I won't gain much more, but I probably will, and that is ok, I know I'll be able to get it all off. It's almost February, I have a goal to finish blogging December today, mark set go. I have three days to still do from between Dec 13-17 and two days for Dec 20-23... 

Sad Daniel

Daniel at church today - he was sad at me cause I took away a toy.

What a look!

Actually I can't remember why he was sad. It was either cause of a toy or cause I told him to be quiet. Either way, I'm pretty sure it was because I was trying to enforce reverence. And he was being reverent even with his pouty lip.

I'm glad Abi was there to comfort him. He's a sensitive little kid.

I gave him my phone so he could take a few selfies.

It made him feel better. Natalie before church, doing some Sabbath appropriate playing with the keva blocks. Yes, we love Jesus!

Here's the status of Owen's nose - swelling has gone down, black and blue coloring is still there.

You really clocked yourself hard, didn't you Owen?

And one last note - I bought these cookies at Costco yesterday, and I ate the whole bag. Vegan, and dangerous. They were very yummy treats. Sorry to my family that I didn't share them. 

Well, I gave Mel a few at the Mozart Concert last night. I can't buy these again cause I want to lose weight. A few other things from today - we went to Corey's parents' house for a potato bar. It's always nice to be with family. We came home and watched a little bit of 90 day fiance for our cultural and future family relationships lesson. Tonight as we read scriptures, Ethan was translating into Ferb-Latin everything I said, pretending to be translating it for Wesley who doesn't speak English apparently? It was funny. Ethan really has become quite the family and class clown. Some of the stories he tells us of things he does at school are quite hilarious. I'll need to get him to type them up sometime.

Abi is 10!

Happy birthday to Abi! But too bad for you... no breakfast in bed from your sweet brothers cause it's fast Sunday. So sad. She put up her birthday decorations by herself the day before. I did do somethign though - I did put her presents on the table before church. She decided to wait to open them, cause Sunday mornings are just busy and everyone is going every different direction (cause everyone sleeps in too long). Usually Mel and Ethan are the last two to come to the Sunday meetings, tsk tsk you older kids! You guys should and could be the first ones out the door, but instead I and all the little ones are headed out first, and that's me getting myself and 4 little ones ready. Which is impressive. Although I admit many times they dress themselves (and it shows) and they don't have their hair brushed. Anyway, where was I... Oh, Abi. Yes, Abi, it's your birthday! So we went to church for 3 hours, they sang to her in Primary and gave her a birthday treat. After church, Abi and Hyrum made her chocolate birthday cake. As that baked, she opened her presents~ A Lego creator set (cause we don't have enough legos) and lots of sculpy clay, and some stickers. That was all from me. Corey usually takes the kids out to pick out a toy. They are going to do that tomorrow.

We frosted the cake and then my mom and dad both came over to wish her happy birthday. That was a special treat to have both my mom and dad here! They stayed and we all visited for over an hour, it was really nice. The kids ate cake and ice cream as we talked. I was still fasting and happily was not tempted at all. I swore off ice cream after I ate way too many servings of it on Owens birthday in July and felt sick and angry for the rest of the evening. So no more ice cream for me, so help me Cows.

Though I do admit here at home I'm starting to let the vegan thing slide inch by inch. Mostly cause Corey keeps buying beef and milk for Ethan, who wishes we would just eat "normal" aka the standard American diet, (aka SAD). So I'm still 99% whole food plant based, and I started a new challenge for myself since I've not made any progress since our facebook summer health challenge ended. This month of September, with the only exception being the meal when Corey and I go on our weekly date night, I am only eating whole food. So no bread this month. I can have wheat, but it's all gotta be whole during September. I'm on day 3 and so far so good!

Sorry, Abi, I keep getting distracted. She opened her presents from my parents, then we all went over to Corey's parents' house and shared the cake we made with them. My kids were already full from cake, so we waited a bit and they were so nice, they threw a potato bar together for everyone. I didn't think we'd have dinner there but Corey did and suggested we bring something. I'll remember to bring something next time. So after dinner, it was time for cake and ice cream again. Singing Happy Birthday -

Blowing out the candles - (nice Eth)

Here's also a picture of Abi on her birthday date with Corey and I from this past Friday night. Abi got to choose where to go and so we went to Chuck a Rama.

Abi, you are becoming a young woman. She is only 10 but looks quite old for her age, the complete opposite of Mel, who is a junior this year but looks like she's 12. I think she gets that from Corey (cue the pic of our first date where he is in his 16th year). We had a nice time at Corey's parent's house and eventhough it was a Sunday, Abi had a great birthday. She really wanted a party, but I told her she only gets 2 and that she insisted on having it last year. She had a hard time recalling that conversation, which is another reason why I blog - so I can find evidence of past agreements and bargains. I promise we'll still try to make your birthdays fun even without friend parties, (and they won't always be on a Sunday!) We love you Abi!

Owen the Singer

We went to our church tonight for a neighborhood chili cookoff. I didn't make a chili or soup, but did bring something - this lovely orange and fall colored vegetable dish - Ethiopian Cabbage Dish. I came across this recipe when it was shared on the McDougall facebook page - McDougall is a vegan guy but taken up a notch, cause he also says not use oil. But I made it with oil for tonight. But they gave tips and said it's easy to make it McDougall approved by cutting out the oil and then double all the spices. It was very very good. I got there a little late and so maybe people were already full, cause lucky Hyrum and I ate up most of it. Tasty! We enjoyed the other chili's too. One of the reasons I love fall is cause it's soup and stew season. After the neighborhood party was over, we stayed and visited. Owen was cute playing on the stage, pretending he was singing and taking bows to his fans.

We got a kick out of his mouth open as if he was singing, but with no sounds... 

Then he'd take a bow, then he'd sing again. Cute little guy.

Business wise, good news is that I only almost cried with fear and worry one time today, yay. I think yesterday left me emotionally drained. So that helps the tears not come when you're all out of tears. I'm still reading scriptures, praying, seeing help and support from on high. My mother knows what's going on and came and gave us a gift that was much appreciated. Moms are like that, they're always answering prayers. The kids who weren't in school today worked really hard too, we've cleaned the house, it looks great. I'm glad they were home today and that I have another day tomorrow to put them to work again, yay! They answered my prayers too. There are many blessings all around us, even if sometimes one specific blessing of help that we want doesn't come. We will still seek it and work for it, but will also trust in the Lord and his plan.

I Am In Control Of Me

So, Corey is in St. George with half of the kids (EALSN), I'm at home with the other half (JMHWOD). We've both had a great weekend so far - Corey was able to get lots of work done without any needy toddlers around (no offense to Owen and Daniel!). He said it was super easy watching the little girls swim while Ethan was in his jazz band rehearsals. And life here seems pretty quiet and calm without my teenager that tends to tease and without the little girls that make the messes! ...Not that I'm focusing on the bad things. So, around here, it doesn't matter if Corey and I are home together or not... Friday night is date night and the kids kick me out of the house. So I went on a date tonight by myself. The Draper and Salt Lake temples are both closed for cleaning, so I went to the American Fork Temple, but first I went to Aubergine in Lehi for my date night dinner: a yummy salad and "nice cream" - made of cashews and cocoa, mmm.

I haven't been to the American Fork temple forever, it was nice.

After the temple, since it was still date night and my one night to have dessert, I thought I'd stop by Red Mango for some ice cream. And during my EJC workshop this week, we started by reflecting on the past year, things we've achieved, and then using that to help us establish our goals for this next year. But first we've been digging into our beliefs. Here is the breakthrough I had today, cause I've been going back and forth with things I know and things I feel - oh, I'll just paste my post:

I’m hoping I made some breakthroughs here. SO! My outcome that I want to achieve is to get to 120 lbs/my ideal body/a six pack. I wrote out my answers to all the questions in step 1 for awareness. My negative thought is that I don’t deserve it because I’m not in control of my life – a six pack/defined abs or my ideal body would represent perfection and a person who has their act together. And I don’t have my act together, so I don’t deserve it. So for step 2 – I think my boiled down limiting belief is: I AM NOT IN CONTROL. Here’s what I wrote in response to the questions

Q1 – Is this true? Yes, I am not in control of much of my life, but false that I can’t be in control of diet/exercise.

Q2 – Yes? Can you absolutely know without a doubt that this is true? NO! and immediately I thought of Viktor Frankl’s book Mans Search for Meaning! I AM in control of ME!!! and how I RESPOND to my life and my circumstances!

Q3 – How do I react, what happens when I believe this thought (that I am not in control)? I just don’t even try to be in control! I’ll pig out on a dessert if it’s available. Does it bring me peace or stress? Definitely stress, I feel like a victim. What images do I see? Me, hunched over in a chair, or slouched on a couch with a tummy bulging, sad expression. What sensations does it cause? Craving junk. Any obsessions appear? chocolate and cookies.

Q4 – Who would I be without this thought? So think “I AM IN CONTROL” instead... what do I visualize then? I see me standing tall, confident, looking up, facing the coming storm, ready to stand firm.

So tonight I got half way through this video and did the little bit of extra credit homework you gave me. It was date night like it is every Friday, and even though my husband was gone, I went out for date night. The first Friday of every month we go to the temple. I went out to Aubergine and got a healthy salad and some vegan “nice cream” and then went to the temple. After it was over, I was driving home, and told myself that since it was date night, I could let myself have another dessert. I started thinking about it in the temple, of going to Red Mango and getting one more treat, (Rationalizing: cause it’s date night! my cheat meal! (but if I was being honest I’d have recognized I’d already had more than a few cheats during the past week)) (I’m always starting over) Anyway, on the drive home I would be passing Red Mango, but I decided to not do it and what do you know, the ACTION of resisting and saying NO made me “FEEL!” better! I felt thinner, I felt healthier! NOTHING HAD CHANGED except for my thought, but I felt better and healthier. So I realized that so much of what I’m feeling or not feeling about myself comes from what I think about doing and then what I actually DO!!! I also read today a church article about a girl who overcame her addictions after she stopped making excuses – it said “I continually fooled myself into believing that my daily choices didn’t define me or my future” – hello, light bulb about beliefs! My daily choices (like whether or not to stop for ice cream) DO and ARE defining me now! And if I keep making those same choices and don’t take CONTROL of my decisions, They will continue to define me and thus will be defining the me in my future. So I was super proud I resisted the ice cream and I came home and made a swiss chard salad with beets and lots of good stuff instead. I do have control over my daily choices and they will define me and my future. My “cheats” lead to more poor choices and disappointment, which leads to me feeling out of control, then feeling like a victim, and giving in to the cravings and addiction which results in me visualizing myself as a sad slouched over pudgy frazzled mom.

So anyway, not sure if that made sense, but I didn't get the ice cream and came home and made another big green salad for myself - red chard, beets, white beans, mushrooms, onions, with some vegan poppy seed dressing, good stuff!

So I'm excited about the EJC community I'm in and I think I'm even gonna keep paying to be a part of it, it's helping me learn about myself and become a better person. The workshop/challenge we're doing is called "Design Your Best Year Yet". And I'm seeing messages everywhere reinforcing things I'm learning! Like in these two magnets from my parent's refrigerator:

One of the biggest things I want to focus on this year is gratitude. I want to have a good attitude.

So that's that, I'm going to tell myself and believe that I am in control. And if you want a delicious breakfast, bananas, frozen blueberries, 2 Tablespoons of ground flax seed and almond milk.

I'm going to work to get my best yet healthiest body and mindset this year. I'm loving the EJC if anyone wants to join me! I'm hoping to get some more of my homework there done this weekend before Corey and my mess makers get back (just kidding EALSN!)

Dinner Approach

So, yesterday for dinner, I made what I felt was a delicious Pinto Bean Chili. I spent a good few hours prepping, washing, chopping, and boiling my pot o-vegetables. I added some quesadillas with dairy cheese to keep the non-vegans happy. I worked hard, we set the table, and it was ready at 5:30. I sat down to eat with everyone. I had to nag and threaten some of the little kids to eat their chili and vegetables. Corey had been working most of the day on his business taxes (he filed for an extension, and the due date was upon us) and he left before eating much. He looked like maybe he didn't like it or was disappointed in something, but I figured his mind was still focused on finishing his tasks, so he left and I told myself not to worry about it. (See "His and Her Diary From the Same Day") I finished nagging the kids, and many of them said they were done without eating much. I said no more food if they didn't eat their dinner. I cleaned up the kitchen by myself (although I did try nagging with that too, I need a new approach), I cleared the table, loaded the dish washer and washed the pots. My hands were very dry. The cold Utah weather has started to make my finger tips crack in the corners, which causes sharp pain. They were especially cracked today from having them wet washing veggies and then from washing dishes. Around 7, I was done, and I sat down to read a little as I watched Owen and Daniel in the tub. It was then that Corey came into our room and asked if I minded if he went out to get something to eat for dinner. "Was there something wrong with the meal I made?" He confessed that he did not like it. Sigh, I know he's not a soup fan, but I figured if it was thick enough he'd be okay with it... oh well. "That's fine, you can go out, but just for you, not the kids. They need to eat the dinner if they're hungry..." "I can't share with them?" No! There are several tupperware full of chili in the fridge, if they're hungry they can eat that! Of course they're all gonna come prowling around though if you come home from the store with fresh goodies..., gosh, do you really have to go out and buy stuff?! I can make you something. Do want me to go make something else? A little back and forth with me asking questions and then he again confessed that he would rather go hungry than eat that chili. Which statement made me break into tears. I put down the book and I said I'd go make him some food. He watched the kids in the tub, I went to the kitchen and just cried and cried as I made some grill cheese sandwiches for him, with some to spare for Ethan. Wesley was very concerned when he saw my tears. He asked over and over again what was wrong. I finally said "Dad didn't like the chili..." I shouldn't have taken it personally, but in my defense, it is Monday, and I have cried every Monday for the past 4 Mondays now... so I was giving myself a hormonal pregnancy pass and just let the tears flow. Wes went to the fridge and got himself a bowl of chili and ate it. He also must have sounded the alarm to his younger siblings, cause before I knew it they were all giving me hugs and they cleaned my bedroom and wrote love you notes that they put all over our bedroom door. Corey and Ethan ate up the two sandwishes, and I made two more, the kids at them up. Then Corey had a bowl of chili too.

So, this morning we talked a little more about dinner expectations. "Not to rehash last night, but tell me again what was the problem with the chili?" As we went to bed, he told me that when he came back from doing his taxes, someone had added a lot of rice and cheese to his bowl. I had tried the rice in my chili and I admit I didn't like it with the rice, made it too bland, so if that was why he didn't like it, I understood. "Did you try it/like it before the kids put rice in it?" I just had the rice there to keep Abi happy. "So, was it okay before you left? And you just didn't like it after you got back?" Last night I had been putting his bowl in a storage container to put in the fridge, was was throwing out the clumps of rice so that it would be ready for me to eat... he said "You don't have to do that, I'll eat it" and that was after having his grilled cheese and he did eat the chili, so again, I thought maybe it was the presentation or not enough? The kids kinda scarfed up the quesadillas, I should have had rolls or toast ready to go with the chili... And I know that family dinner has been something Corey's wanted me to do better at for years. In my defense, I did follow a recipe yesterday and we did sit down, which once upon a time were the "dinner success" requirements. I had done that, so "What else is on your family dinner wish list?" I asked. He said that he'd like to have a meal that everyone looks forward to. Expound further please? "A dinner that everyone likes and is excited about." Oh my goodness, I shook my head in disbelief. Impossible. Talked about unrealistic expectations!!! You want me to have food that cheese and carnivore Ethan and vegan Hyrum are both happy with?!?! Plus toddler boys and little girls? Plus you and me?!?! Impossible. If I wasn't overwhelmed with making dinner for the 12 of us before, I really am now. For it to be a success everyone has to actually like it?!?!... well that's never going to happen. Still I typed it on my phone notepad note... 1) Everyone looks forward to it. 2) Everyone wants to eat it.

Ok. What else?

3) Plenty of food. "Like plenty 'quantity'? or plenty 'variety'?" Both, more more more. Enough food so that 4) They don't come back hungry looking for food two hours later. Well #4 is never gonna happen if they're just eating processed junk and if they don't eat the vegetables that will actually nourish their bodies, so what do we do here? I presented my case: sometimes, I'll make orange chicken, and I'll also have a big bowl of rice, broccoli, and a salad... so there is "plenty" quanitity, but the orange chicken definitely goes quickly and is the first thing gone, but if they don't eat it with rice and vegetables, they're not really gonna be full. Which brings us to my 2 requests: 1) Plant based 2) they kids eat their vegetables 3) Healthy and nutritious. They gotta eat some real food aka veggies and plants, or I know they'll be in the kitchen cooking up toast at 8 or 9pm. Oh my goodness, what are we gonna do. You'd think after almost 20 years of marriage and 11 kids I'd have dinner figured out, but no, I'm at a loss here, can we keep everyone happy and meat all these dinner requirements?

So last night we planned dinner for today - I was going to make a butternut curry soup, Corey could bring home a roast chicken and rolls, and that should be enough. I called Nicole and asked for help. Another complaint is that our dinky table is too small to hold all of us and dinner usually is not a calm and pleasant experience anyway. "Get a folding table at Costco" she said. I have one already, good idea. It had paint all over it, so I'll get a table cloth too. I texted Corey - I'm going to Costco, so scratch the chicken and rolls, I'll get salmon and rolls at Costco. I remember feeding the missionaries once and Ethan loved the meal (salmon, potatoes, and the kale cranberry salad) and asked if we could eat like that everynight. My reply "No way, this meal cost $60 bucks! We don't have that kinda money in the budget for a $60 meal everyday..." But for tonight, for a meal that "Everyone is excited about and looks forward to" I figured I'd try. So salmon and potatoes it is. But what about my soups that I love?!?! It's fall! It's soup season!!! Soups and salads make me happy! So, in order for ME to look forward to dinner, we needed the butternut curry soup tonight. Then I got an idea - I'll serve the soup first as an appetizer, and they will eat that as I control and dish up their plates with food - properly proportioned with plenty of vegetables and grain. If I get to control that part, this could work... I predicted it would take me all day, and told Corey I could probably fulfill his dinner wishes tonight but I think it will take me most of the he afternoon, so I'm gonna need to clock off duty around 7 if I do this. I kinda got a little choked up as I talked to him, thinking of how overwhelming this will be to have to do this everyday for the rest of my life. He didn't want me to be a martyr, and suggested that I wait to start dinner at 4 - he'd come home and help and we could do it together. Ok.

4:00 - Corey was still working. I started early anyway, cause if I wanted the butternut soup to be ready, I had to get things going. The soup was wonderful, I bought two salmon and got them going, Abi helped peel potatoes, the broccoli was in the microwave, and things were moving along nicely. The kids get home from school at 3, then the elementary kids at 4. They're always hungry when they get home. They made some of their own food, I told them to eat one thing and then go do homework or practice, cause I was making a good dinner tonight. Abi set up a small table for the toddlers, we got tablecloths for both tables. Corey came home. He helped with prep, and then parked himself in front of the fridge as the food cooked, to make sure they didn't snack anymore until dinner. This was very effective, and I think we should do this as often as possible.

Kids kept walking by the fridge, then seeing Corey, asked him what he was doing. "I'm making sure you guys are hungry for dinner." Kids, seeing the tablecloths and set table, started to ask "Why are we eating so fancy?" "Cause it's Tuesday!" Corey replied. We were going to eat at 5, then 5:30, but Abi had a piano group lesson until 6, so we pushed it back again. Kids were ready to eat. The soup had time to cool down, the salmon was still warm, and we were ready when Abi came home. I served up the soup. I think it was accepted pretty well, and made me and Mel and Hyrum happy. I was also happy that the kids had to eat it before they got their salmon. They didn't eat all of it, Ethan did not like it, but they did pretty good. I ate the soup of Natalie, Owen, and Daniel, as I predicted. I served up plates of food as kids turned in their soup bowls. I was able to serve it all up, so no one hogged all the salmon. Usually I've always put the serving plates at the table, but I liked dishing it all up much better... it was very effective. I was able to make sure they all were served some veggies, and I liked being in control! I didn't mind not sitting at the table, but I probably should learn to sit while I eat. Anyway, it was a very successful dinner and it actually met all 4 of Corey's wishes, and my 3 requirements too, thanks to the appetizer approach. We'll see if we can recreate this successful dinner again!

Lagoon!

So, last weekend, we went up to Farmington to pick up some Lagoon tickets with our Get Out Pass. The Get Out Pass stuff is good until next summer, since we got just got it in July and it's good for a year. However, when I picked up the Lagoon tickets, they printed them up for this season only, which means we only had a few weeks to use them before Lagoon closes at the end of October. Next weekend won't work cause of General Conference and other conflicts... UEA weekend could work, but I worry if we wait that long then it will be really cold or something and we'll miss our chance. So, we had been invited to something at 4 today (baptism for a friend's little girl), and this past Sunday Corey said we could make it, but  then we talked and decided we needed to say no and make our family time and activity the priority for us. So we did, it felt liberating, and today was the day we made for ourselves for a family outing! Lagoon is open from 11 to 11 right now on Saturday, so Corey headed up with most of the kids (Mel had GMS and Ethan stayed home for work, plus he was still sleeping when we left) while I took Daniel and waited for Abi to finish her soccer game, and then we headed up too. When we got there, Life 360 helped us almost locate each other. But then Daniel saw the merry go round. Looks fun and good for a toddler, and there wasn't a line, so we got on. For some reason we put Daniel on a pig.

Daniel seemed to sense that something momentous was about to take place!

He was making a really cute expression, I caught a second of it on video, cute boy.

Little D was not ready for the ride to be over.

Luckily, there was still no line. We got off and ran right around to go through the entrance again for take 2.

Daniel rode the "bullseye" this time. He liked the bullseye horsey!

Around again, then our turn was done again, he was sad again, so we got back in line again. (I think we came on a pretty good day). He making his cute face again.

I texted Corey "We're on the merry go round". They came and joined us - let's do it again!!

Corey helped Owen get on a horse.

Natalie on a pretty pony -

Lily on a zebra, how appropriate, it's been her favorite animal for years.

Abi chose a swan this time

Corey found a nice swan to sit in too, haha. Taking a quick second to do a bit of double duty answering work emails.

Daniel, you ready to ride again?!!? Yeah, let's go! Yee-haw!

Oh no, the merry go round stopped again. Daniel is sad again. Sorry buddy, what is this, 5 times we've gone on it? Let's go to a different ride.

Now that I was around to take the toddlers, Corey took off with the older kids to do a few more adventurous rides. I took the little kids and we bought fries.

Then we waited in line for a long time to go on the train ride. It was a long wait, but the kids were excited when we finally got on the train.

We took the caboose. Are you guys excited?!?!

We had just missed the last train ride, so we were right in front. I let the kids entertain themselves by making silly faces and seeing themselves with my phone.

You guys are pretty funny!

Natalie hamming it up while we continue to wait for passengers to board.

The train ride was fun. I would have gone on it again if the line wasn't long. But it was long, so we called it good and went to find where the other kids were. Corey was buying them lunch. We got there and ordered some ice cream.

I didn't know how much Corey had bought for them, but found out afterwards that it was a lot... and now he was gone with Abi and Lily. Wes was too stuffed to help finish it off... I told Hyrum the Dole Whip was made of pineapple and the ingredients looked like it was vegan to me, come on, help me out.

Hyrum and Owen did as much as they could, then Wes took Owen and Daniel over for a ride.

Daniel hadn't gotten his hand stamped. I thought 2 and under are free in the park. Turns out they are free to enter, but not to ride anything (except the merry go round) unless they have tickets. Boo

But the ride attendant was nice and let Daniel on for one ride.

I came back to find Natalie still working on her ice cream and she was now a complete mess, nice.

I helped her finish off the ice cream. Corey and kids were still off having fun, I took little kids on the boat ride. Long wait for that one too, but they liked it. Wes and Hyrum hung around to help me out.

And the boats are moving! Owen is feeling like a real sailor!

Round and round the little ride they went, quite content.

Ay Calipso - Ding ding -

After that I had had about as much fun as I wanted and was ready to be done. So were Hyrum, Wes, and Lily. I headed home with those three and Daniel, and Corey stayed for another hour at the park with Owen and the rest of the girls. It was a fun day at Lagoon and I'm glad we went and made it a priority to spend time together. We stopped by Costco on the way home to get some groceries and some dinner. I saw this big honkin' jar of Nutella and thought of Joseph and his Guatemala krepes.

I'm glad Nutella is an international food. It keeps the world together, a little piece of home that we've been able to find everywhere we've lived - Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile and now with Joseph in Guatemala, go Nutella!