Hello - I'm HERE!!!

It's been a month since I've posted! There are a lot of different reasons why I couldn't make it a priority to do so, and I wish it could've been different - but I will NOT beat myself up over it!

A while ago I was tagged by sister-in-law, Liza to write 6 things about me. Well, I'm going to finally take the challenge (better late than never?) and today I am going to write one category of 6 things and then later this week I'm going to write a different category (or two or three - who knows?!)

Here are 6 things that have been going on lately to where I've been EXTRA busy...

1.) After my Grandma's funeral I came home from Salt Lake a little drained - emotionally. Nothing too serious just something to recognize. I vegged a little (vegging with 3 kids and all we have to do can't be a big thing) and through it I realized that ...

a.) I am very sensitive to death - I am fully aware that when it happens, it means Our loving Heavenly Father needs that person for other purposes. Believe me it's not like I don't think it was my Grandma's time or anything, she was 94 - but still the same - the night before the funeral I was caught being emotional a few times. Embarrassing as it was in front of a lot of family members, I came to realize after reflection that I am o.k. with who I am (in that aspect) and know there's people that even love me for it!

b.) Traveling with kids is hard because they always end up being tired (and not because we don't try to give them opportunities to catch up on sleep) - and can't possibly end up acting their best or own self's. But I need to chill out about it and not worry if people think my kids aren't good kids when I know they really are!

2.) I read the Twilight Series in a little over a week (hence my little"veg".) If I had wanted it to be a bigger veg - which I really can't do - I would've read it in about 3-4 days. This is why I didn't want to read the first one - because I don't want to put good books down when I need to. But of course I'm glad Nicole gave me the first one for Christmas because then I had an excuse to get sucked in and boy am I - when's the next one coming out??!!??!!

3.) I have been really fine-tuning my organization of - well - just about everything! It's hard to face it all - but it feels SO good to have a better system.

4.) I have been fine-tuning our schedule also. I've got it written down numerous places (for each person) and it's very structured and is working so much better for all of us! It takes the guess work out of what to do - when! (I do have a "blog/computer time" to check other's posts and write my own - but I haven't gotten to either because of all the organization and such.) Right now I'm not posting during the time I want to - when the boys are asleep - but it's working -

(with interruptions galore!!!)

5.) Kevin and I have been taking a "Love and Logic" Parenting class once a week. We have been assigned a plethora of books to read (not all at once but whenever we like) and I have been immersing myself in both the literature I receive from the class and the first book I've gotten to read off the list. The other thing about taking this class that is probably the most time-consuming off this whole list is, that I'm taking the time to fine-tune the skills I learned from reading one of the "Love and Logic" books several months ago with the help of the instruction from the course. It's not easy at first to switch a lot of parenting and discipline techniques, but it's worth it when you get better results and a happier family!

6.) Kevin and I have been spending a lot of time trying to decide where we are going to build a house. I have been spending most of the time figuring out the key factors we want in the two places we have narrowed down (both in our price range, obviously.) They are as follows: the school, the location, the school, the school, the location and the school! Well last week, after going to a couple of school board meetings for one of the potential sub-divisions - District #93 (one's in District 91, one's in District 93) we decided to drive by the school our kids would attend if we moved to one of the potential areas. Well it happened to be open (although it was nighttime - parent teacher conferences where just ending) and we happened to run into the Principal and he happened to talk to us for an hour and show us the whole school and he happened to impress me with a lot of things about the school and himself but mostly his heart in being a good Principal BUT he also happened to tell me what I needed to hear (and did not hear from numerous other Principals I communicated with from schools zoned in other areas we were considering.) And what is it that I needed to hear that basically would make up 99.9% of my decision in where we build? It is exactly these words I'm going to type right now...

YES I WILL MOVE A CHILD UP A GRADE IF SHE NEEDS TO AND I HAVE DONE SO BEFORE!!!

That's all I needed to know - that night we told our friend (and millionaire financial advisor - he does our car insurance and our kid's college funds) the guy who started and is funding his own Construction Company that we will go with... that we'd decided on ST. CLAIRE ESTATES (which by the way is the place we were leaning toward anyways because the location is better than the other contender.) The next day, Tyler (by the way, Sara, his last name is Schwendiman sp?!) called and said there's one lot left in our price range!!! It's now secured and I think it's no coincidence that AFTER it was secured, Audrey (my Kindergartner) came home and said "Mom, I'm not in the first grade anymore, now they moved me up to 2nd grade!" Do you know how stressed I've been about her going to a different school next year and have to do over what she's already done this year?! If I didn't know we'd be somewhere where she'd be going to a school with a principal who will put her where she should be - I'd be freaking out! I thank Heavenly Father for the sequence of things - from the bottom of my heart!!!

SO - AMONG OTHER THINGS LIKE EXERCISING MORE AND EATING BETTER, THOSE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN GOING AROUND HERE !!! AHHH!!! I'M TIRED FROM JUST WRITING IT!!! ALL!!!