A dying animal...

I'm sure no one reads my blog anymore, but that's ok. I don't really feel like writing anything anymore because it just takes too much energy that I don't have. Besides, if I use my time to blog, I won't have any time to get onto webkinz world. The kids got those things for Christmas, but I'm always logging on for them to play the games, spin the Wheel of Wow, and feed their virtual pets. So that's what I do with my on-line time now when I can even find that time. On Monday I was that animal that goes away from the rest of the herd to die. I actually thought that a few times. Thankfully, the Relief Socitey President took my kids for the night, and Julie brought dinner because I was a pathetic pile of epidurmis. Has anyone else ever felt like that before? It sucked...bad. Thank you for all the get wells and "cough cough go away" chants! It was nice to get those actually. Mark started his new job in VA on Monday, but most of the week was paper work and new guy stuff. On Friday he actually did his job and LOVED it. I'm excited for him...for us. He came home for the weekend to help me rest some more. We are so thankfull to Gary and Marilyn for making cheep flight possible!! Cora came down with strep on Tuesday, and the rest of the kids except Garret were all a little under the weather. That helped keep things quiet and low key. My house was such a mess, and I didn't care. It was great!! I'm done writing for now. If there are any spelling errors it's not my fault...spell check was not working. ;)

Sick

I am sick. I hate being sick, and it seems I always get the sickest when my husband is gone. sick sick sick. That's all...just sick. BLAH

This one's for my Hubby...

My husband is currently into this blog more than I am. He checks every day, sees where people are looking from, and then tells me people are checking our blog and we don't have anything new up. "If we don't put anything new up they might stop checking!" So this post is for him today because people are actually looking at OUR blog! I like that he is interested in it because he actually gets more details about my feelings than normal. I'm one of those "express myself through written words" people. It's too hard to physically show actions to go along with some emotions. Does anyone else understand what I'm talking about?? Anyways...I realized I haven't posted pictures lately to go along with my posts, so I asked the kids to show me how they feel about moving away so I can take their pictures. Sad faces, Happy/sad faces, "I have no clue what you're talking about mom" faces; here they are:

Nobody in our family really feels this sad about our new adventure. We were just bored and I was trying to find something to take pictures of. It's always funny when kids do their fake sad faces; Jorie's sad face was the most realistic. Speaking of Jorie...she just broke 2 bottom teeth, and has been a real trooper not even waking up at night! Mark leaves tomorrow for VA, but will be home at least every other weekend so that will be nice. We just went today and bought him some new dress shirts, pants, and ties. That is his new "dress code". He looks so spiffy! I'm so proud of him. What else...My students tried to make brownies the other night, but the mix didn't actually make it into the pan. We found 4 different ways to eat it. On bananas was the best!

These students are a lot of fun. Our Korean boy is hilarious when it comes to food. He comes into the kitchen, pokes the food, smells the food, examines the food, asks, "Who's is this?", and regardless of who's it is, he then tastes the food. Anytime there is free food or candy anywhere he loads up his pockets. He eats old food that is opened in our car after the above examination has been performed. It's so funny. I really like him though. Usually that would annoy the crap out of me, but he is super fun. He loves the same music as I do and is constantly having me listen to new music that I love. He wants to be a movie producer when he grows up. I really enjoy the experience of these students in our home and would recommend it if you have the room!

Here's the Deal...

In the beginning of Dec. Mark got a job offer very suddenly from a company based in Virginia. My initial reaction was "No. No way." and I came up with some unrealistic amount of money they would have to offer him before I'd even consider it. We talked about it some more and decided we were VERY content here and it wasn't the right time to move. After turning down the offer, Mark realized just how unhappy he was at his job and that this opportunity in Virginia really was a good idea. So when the company called back with another offer, naturally, we took it. However, I don't think I'll ever understand how the thought of something you know is the right choice can make you feel so sick and sad inside. It was brought to my attention yesterday by that still, small voice that this is a great opportunity for us-a blessing-and I was yet to be thankful. That got me thinking enough for me to realize I do need to change my attitude to a more thankful, accepting, humble and excited one. Another adventure...Awesome!! Now I just have to survive the next 5 months only seeing my husband every other weekend. (There went my excited, thankful attitude) I'm just getting tired of moving, making friends and leaving, taking the kids away from familiar things-their family and our best friends...(ok...focus...thankfull, accepting, humble, excited...) I do like having this blog and knowing it will be much easier to keep in touch with people regularly so that when we come back!!! it won't be so hard maybe...And for our most favorite ward members to date...Amber and Walter will be moving in our house. You can read about how SPECIAL they are on their blog under my list of friends and family. They are great, but if our lawn starts to die and goes brown it's OK. We'll have them take it all out and plant tulips all over the yard to make spring time more magical in the neighborhood.

It's Official...

I'm not pregnant!! It was never in question so that is a VERY official place to start my "It's Official" blog. Other official things that are happening here at our house:
1. We have one guinea pig up for sale if anyone wants her. $15 for every guinea pig thing we own (including a leash!).
2. Socks without holes are warmer than socks with holes
3. If you leave puke on your floor without cleaning it up it continues to stink (even if you can't see it...we are still trying to find it).
4. The Wii is the coolest thing we didn't get for Christmas this year.
5. Mark got a new job in Virginia and leaves next week to start. The kids and I will join him in June. We will rent our house to Amber and Walter until our return in at most 2 years. I'm not talking about it because I'm not sure how I feel. So this announcement is kinda lame, but, again...I don't want to talk about.
6. Julie Smith and Kelly T. will be starting a new blog that promises to be very interesting so look out for that one.
7. In April I will be running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. I'm paid for and everything!! I'm excited about that.
8. 5 foreign exchange students can share a bathroom with no problems.
9. Husbands are the best at finding deals on chips, cookies, cereal, and ice-cream when they were only supposed to pick up some eggs and milk.
10. Totally 80's Trivial Pursuit is easier to play if you were out of grade school before the 80's were over.
11. Last, but not least, the Korean Lady at the new hair cut place on 700w. and 5300s. (by Papa Murphy's) has no clue what she is doing, and can/will give your husband a REALLY bad haircut in under 5 min.

7-Unique things about me tag

Lisa W. had this on her blog, and I honestly am not sure I can do this. So I'm going to try and think of 7 unique things about me. I asked my husband and even he is having a hard time with this. "What do you mean by unique?" he says. Apparently unique can mean a few different things...Here's what we came up with:

1. I believe there is a candy bar somewhere in the world called 1,000 grand (not the 100 Grand)
2. I was in the Army and enjoyed basic training so much I wish I could do it again (no joke and that's 2)
4. When I hit parked cars I blame the parked car or the steep incline they were parked on
5. I love running and when I see people running on the side of the road I'm jealous
6. I'm a Floridian who hates the beach and loves the snow
7. My ideal vacation-seriously- is being able to spend ALL week at BYU during Education Week without my kids.

It only took us 10 minutes, but we did it!

Quack, Quack

Today was a VERY productive day. Got a great nights sleep (for once in a looooooooong time), woke up and cleaned the kitchen, Mark cooked pancakes, I went and ran 8 miles, took all 5 of the exchange students I have living with me to Park City to shop at the outlets; 6 hours later....Yes, we shopped for 6 hours. Old Navy has the best sales right now: 50% off their clearance stuff!!! I got so much stuff it was so therapeutic I swear. Mark and the kids stayed home and had some fun here. Cora got a pair of Heelys for $30 yesterday and spent the day trying to learn how to use them. It was so funny watching her slam into the walls all over the house. When I got home from shopping she had it down turning and everything. Lots of laughs tonight as we got the kids into bed. Mark was laying with the boys trying to get them to get in bed. He had is arms over his eyes waiting for them to lay down and then he heard a big fart. He looked up to see Garret's butt in his face with A.J. looking on. Then both A.J. and Garret cracked up laughing and laughed for the next 5 minutes. Then A.J. started quacking saying Garret stepped on a duck followed by Garret saying,"We got you dad!" "We're laughing at you Dad," said A.J. We're so proud of our kids!!!

On Parenting...

Last night was long. The baby woke up at 2 a.m. and didn't want to go back to sleep. She finally gave up her fight against sleep, but the morning came all too early for me. I was thinking about blogging at 2 a.m., but it would have ended up being about politics and how much I hate politicians (Hillary and her stupid, fake tears!!!) and the idiots that fall for all their stupid crap. Sometimes I wonder about us Americans...Anyways...I was driving today and the realization came to me-not the first time I've thought this-that it is hard being a parent. Especially when you have more than one child. It is so hard teaching your child life's lessons when the rest of the world is trying to teach them something different. When you take this and multiply it by 4, and take into consideration that each child learns differently so you have to adjust your methods accordingly, it is no wonder that us Moms get tired; that we let our kids get away with things sometimes because we just don't have it in us to deal with it. So this post is to encourage all us Moms out there (especially myself) to keep our heads up, stick to our guns with regard to what's best for our kids, and not let the "world" interfere with our work here. And those are my thoughts on that I guess. One of the hardest things I've ever done is being my kids' mom. I know I'm not alone when I wonder to myself it I'll ever get it right, but it brings me a lot of comfort knowing I've got the hardest job in the world for the rest of my life and I'm not really doing that bad of a job. I'm sure the same is true for each one of you Moms reading this too! I'm going to stop now because I can only handle so much seriousness and I'm at my max I think. Time to go take a nap. Never mind...Petsmart just called and I have to go pick up the dog.

Attention Smith's shoppers!...

Today I moved up a notch on the "I'm such a great mother" scale (you know what scale I'm talking about). I took my kids to the grocery store with me today and thought I'd have some fun with them as we checked out. So I said, "Let's do the self-check out lane today." The kids were excited, but of course needed my help. As I was helping my older two ring up our stuff, my 2-year old ran away, and I didn't even realize it until I was leaving the store...That is when I heard, over the loud speaker, "Attention Smith's shoppers. We have a lost little boy 3-4 years old-maybe 2. He's wearing a hat, blah, blah, blah." I stopped listening and headed towards the back, yelling his name, of the store. There were people all along my walk back telling me where he was. It was great. There was one old lady (nice...she helped him) she gave me that look...the you are a horrible mom look. I just smiled, but I was thinking, "let's see you keep up with him lady." Anyways, I moved up on that scale today. Also today...Jorie pulled herself up to a stand and kept doing it and doing it. She is getting so big so fast. We have all been sick at our house, and the nights have been long. I have been reading Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" series non-stop. Good stuff. Lot's going on, but not much to write about. I'll leave with a funny Garret story. Mark and I were talking and we hear Garret say, "I see two Mommies and Daddies!!" We look over to see this:

Our kids are so much fun.