Random bits of life....

Life in Kentucky is good. Derby time is one of the highlights of the year for me. I love the tradition, the food, the hats and the excitement the race brings. I can honestly say I have embraced and loved the Thoroughbred horse industry and have happily shared its gems (Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Darley, Three Chimneys, Claiborne and the lovely farms, rolling hills, wooden fences and beautiful horses that can be seen throughout the area) with my family and extended family when they come out to visit. The boys completed a huge Derby packet at school on Friday. I was fun to see Matt's jockey silk design (green with yellow lighting bolts) and know they all will always have a deep appreciation and love for Kentucky. It is a place that I will always call Home. Down the road, many tears will be shed when My Old Kentucky Home plays, because I will long for my far away home in the Bluegrass.

We've have some very special days over the past few weeks. Rich and I celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. My dad celebrated his 59th birthday the following day (April 27). Rich's mom's 60th birthday is today and Mother's Day is on Sunday. We are so blessed to have such amazing parents in our lives. They are wonderful example to us and our children. We love you all so very much.

For the past three months, Rich and I have been team teaching a Sunday school class about Marriage and Family Relations. I know it is a subject near and dear to the General Authorities after 8 conference talks given this past conference were centered on raising children and helping strengthen families. As Rich and I read the lesson each week and prepare for our discussion, it makes me keenly aware of my responsibilities as a mother in nurturing and caring for my children. They are my greatest joys and my biggest stress. I am still trying to find the right balance of time between kids and figuring out how to help each one to find and develop their unique talents and strengths. I feel blessed to have six healthy, amazing children and know only through the help from a wonderful husband and a loving Heavenly Father can I come to know their needs and adequately fulfil my role as mother to these wonderful, young children. I also realize how important it is to teach children how to work. Life is hard and we have to teach our children that it is good to do hard things. Now, the challenge is seeing that happen. Every day is so full, that I need to make sure to give them responsibilities that will help reinforce the value of hard work instead of doing it myself so we can get to the next item on the list of the day.

Our home has been on the market for an entire week. We had 3 showing in 4 days, but absolutely no feedback. That is so frustrating. Each showing gave me less than 2 hours to get the house ready and be gone. In fact, the showing on Friday was for the same couple that came through on Wednesday and the realtor called when I was half way to soccer practice to ask if they could come by a half an hour later. Thankfully I had left the house clean and rushed home to put the port-a-crib away, sweep the kitchen floor and turn on all the lights (in ten minutes flat).

During those first five days I was becoming an OCD cleaner. I would follow behind the girls picking things up and mopping the floor and wiping counter tops off multiple times a day, just in case the phone rang informing me of a showing. I have since come to my senses and realized that I will go crazy living like this and I will drive the rest of the bunch crazy in the process. I just need to work as I go and make sure it is in good enough shape that I could have it perfectly clean in an hour. I think that is more resonable than the way I started off.

These past few days haven't been as busy with showings, but with our near Noah (flooding) experience on Sunday and the Derby on Saturday, I wasn't surprised the weekend was slow. I just hope things will stay active now that the tax credit deadline has passed.

I did have a few heart attack moments those first few days. We had two showings in the first two days. Rich was still in New Jersey, so I was flying solo. I was busy cleaning the kitchen before we all went to Josh's baseball game. I had just finished scrubbing the stove and opened the cupboard to toss the used paper towel and had the entire door fall off when two hinges snapped in half. My heart stopped. What if my realtor called!? I was up early to take the boys to school and was there at the cabinet store at 8 AM ready to get my replacement parts. Good thing I did, we had a showing later that afternoon.

Also, I was cleaning the downstairs bathroom when I noticed a lone ant on the floor. I thought that was odd and totally not good. I got down and searched the floor and soon noticed a trail of ants that went the length of the family room along the floorboard. Oh no! I set up fifteen (no joke) little bits of foil with liquid ant poison and prayed they would haul it all back to their home killing them all quickly. It worked and 24 hours later I haven't seen any more ants. Crossing my fingers it stays that way. (It didn't help that I found the kids eating Doritos downstairs next to the TV today. No wonder the ants like living in our basement!)

Rich is busy studying and studying and the test is less than 3 weeks away. I know it kills him to see the days passing by so quickly, but when the day arrives, I know he'll be ready and it will be a blessing for us all when it is over (and gets his letter that reads PASS!).

Sweet Josh and his baseball team, The Indians, are having a rough season. Tonight they lost their eighth game, bringing up their record to 0-8 for the year. We've been so close a time or two and completely annihilated a few times as well. Josh plays his heart out. He has hit the ball well and had some amazing plays in the field. But he is only one of two 8 year-olds. The rest are new rookie players that moved up from t-ball. We keep encouraging him and he understands that baseball is an individual sport. He can feel confident in his abilities and get excited about his own stats even if the team has yet to grasp that elusive victory.

The boys are neck deep in state testing. Man, VPE is dead serious about these tests. They had a pep assembly on Friday full of cheers, songs and chants about testing. 129, 129! (The highest score possible in each section). Get a 4! Get a 4! (Highest score possible on open responses). They are crazy. Only Trey is testing because only 3rd, 4th and 5th graders take the tests. This year they are taking the CATs test and the Iowa state exam. The school had the kindergartners and first graders make cards for the testing students and they delivered them on Monday. The students get treats, snacks and prizes each day after their long testing sessions. It's amazing how much these tests mean to the school, but they don't make the kids crazy with stress. They try to make it fun and encourage them to reach their full potential, which they seem to do because our school is #4 in the entire state of Kentucky in test scores. No wonder their school motto is "Watch Us Shine!"

Our lives has been invaded by Silly Bandz (post to follow once our last eBay purchase arrives). These colorful shaped rubber bands kids collect and trade became the ultimate craze about 3 weeks ago and they are now impossible to find, even though they are stocked at Walgreen's, Justice, novelty shops, parent-teacher stores and even grocery stores. I noticed the sellers on eBay are all from Alabama and Tennessee and I know they are a hit in North Carolina (boys in the cul-de-sac have friends there who wear them as well), so I am guessing they are a southern states type fashion hit. I asked family and friends in Utah if they had heard of them, but they had not. I love seeing all the colorful bands decorating every child's arm from age 4 to high school (the seminary teacher in our ward told me the older teenagers wear them too!). It's always fun to have trends you will always remember. Garbage Pail Kids, anyone?

I have been totally engrossed in my current reads. I picked up three amazing books about photography. For over a year, I kept telling myself someday I want to take a photography class. Someday I'll figure out all the ins and out of taking beautiful pictures. One day all the f-stops, focal length and white balance mumbo jumbo will make sense. Then it dawned on me, I didn't have to wait. I simply had to read. I ordered three highly recommended books from Amazon.com and I have LOVED reading them. Things are slowly coming into focus and I am more determined than ever to keep shooting in either manual, aperture or shutter priority modes. I know the only way to get tack sharp (new term I learned) photos is if I understand how it all works. It's like discovering a new world. And I'm loving every moment.

A few weeks ago some "nice" person decided to rip our license plate off our Pilot. What a sweetheart. They didn't end up stealing the plate, but we found it literally hanging off our car. The bolts that were welded onto the body of the car had been rip through leaving two holes where the plate should attach and no way to anchor it. I taped our plate onto the tinted back window and asked my next door neighbor policeman if I could get pulled over. He said, yes, I could for improper license plate display, but he said I wouldn't have a ticket issued after the cop saw my current plate dilemma. During one of our hang out during a showing times, I went to Honda where I was directed to the body shop and told it would take 4 hours and $200 to weld new bolts onto the car. Good news: it can be fixed. Bad news: finding a time to drop it off to be fixed.

We have had some funny things come out of the kids' mouths lately.

* The girls refer going to bed as "Bednight." Must be a combination of bed time and night time. I think it's cute.

* We were over at our friends house on Sunday for a 'Break the Fast' and the kitchen was full of people dishing up their food. Matt came over to me, a bit angry and frustrated. "Mom, I can't find my plate!" he informed me. "Okay," I said, "What was on it?" "It was Fully Loaded!" I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that one.

* The other night after the Derby party I had to go back to the Millars home to retrieve my cell phone I had inadvertently left behind. The sky was dark from the storm, but the sun had broken through as it was setting in the western sky. I told the kids it was rainbow weather, so keep a lookout. Brynn soon shouted out that she found a rainbow. We pulled over and took in its beauty (unfortunately I had taken my camera in the house when we were unloading the car). As we continued on, I told her she was such an expert rainbow hunter. She replied, "Mom. It's easy to find rainbows. You look from side to side. You look up at the trees. And you wiggle your eyes. It's easy!" Oh, Brynn you're a hoot.

Random bits of what we've been up to. Life just keeps moving on!