B.A.G.

This year's b.a.g.

B - Blessing - Losing the weight that I carried around with me for 12 years after having all the kids. I have lost 42 pounds this year and I feel blessed by that, for sure!

A - Accomplishment - Can making it another year in my crazy life be an accomplishment? I think so. So, that is what it is. I made it another year! ;)

G - Goal - To continue on my fitness trip and to find stress relief and perseverance through it all.

Happy Birthday Holly!

Holly is Chris' sister, but she and I have been friends ever since I came into the picture. So, not only is she my sister in law, but a dear and precious friend. She turned 30 today and I was hoping to talk to her, but I didn't get to. :( I love ya Holly and I hope that your 30th was wonderful!

We also got to visit with Grandma, Aunt Karen and Krystal today after church and as always, the visit was fun. I'm so glad that they got to come.

I was called to be the Primary Pianist today. Hmm.. I'm not too sure about that. I guess I'm going to have to be doing A LOT of practicing! I'm not the best at the piano...

Power visit to Disney

We decided to take a quick trip to Disney this afternoon in honor of Kerstyn's Birthday! We had a great time and I am really glad that we went. The added bonus was that Grandma got to come too! Our dinner was dining with the Princesses in Norway at EPCOT which was just perfect for the girls, as you can see with their smiling faces!

Chris and Kerstyn with their Norwegian hats.

Over to Mom and Dad's

Logan, my nephew and Noelani, his girlfriend
David and Gail

We loaded up this morning and headed over to Mom and Dad's for some more family time. Logan even came up for some of the fun.

Thanksgiving

Dad, Mom, me and Mark
Mom, Dad, Chris, me Vicki and Mark

Gail and the children making mashed potatoes while Vicki worked on the sweet potato casserole, the broccoli casserole and the green bean casserole.

We had a wonderful time with family today. We ate great food and had even better company. The weather was perfect! The only hitch was that I thought the turkey was cooking for 2 hours and then I realized that the oven was off. So, that set dinner back for a few hours, but we all survived.

Happy 11th Birthday Kerstyn!

Kerstyn is an amazing young girl!

She has been a joy from the start!

We love you Kerstyn!

Some family pictures

Wow! I think we've all changed! We had a great time having the pictures taken and Katelyn did a great job! They make me smile and I know that they will continue to do that for years to come.

Busy Sabbath

Chris headed to Belleview early this morning.

The kids and I got up and ready for church and we even got to take an extra kid with us. Thomas, Brennan's friend came along and we were glad.

The choir sang the intermediate hymn, Because I Have Been Given Much. They did great! It is a beautiful hymn and the voices were angelic.

I got asked to sub in Relief Society for Tricia Desourdy and I taught the lesson on keeping focus on what is most important. I really enjoyed teaching and I hope and pray that them people there felt the spirit.

Thanksgiving with Chris' family

We enjoyed a wonderful day of food and family in Lakeland today. Ricky and Carolyn and Bay were there. We surely missed Holly and her family, but Germany is a LONG way away just to come for Thanksgiving! ;)

We ate, and ate, AND ATE!

It was all so good!

We hated to leave, but not before watching New Moon. Grandma watched our kids which was SUPER sweet and Chris and I enjoyed a mini date with Carolyn, Ricky and Bay.

Good movie, good popcorn and great company!

Going to Lakeland

The kids are SO excited!

Grandma's house, here we come. Though the visit is going to be short, it is better than nothing!

Crazy house

We are in the middle of having the inside of the house painted. It has been really crazy. I now realize that I wanted the end result without realizing what I had to go through to get it.

All of the furniture is moved.

All of the blinds come down then go back up.

The appliances are pulled away from the wall.

You get the idea.

It is certainly a hard thing for me, to have my house not in the order that I like, but I know that when it is all done, I will be really glad.

Let's just say, it is certainly not all brown anymore.

I'm taking pictures and will post them later. Our home computer crashed so I am left with only my work computer.

Makes a difference

Tonight is activity night for the kids 8 and older in the church.

Brennan had combined Young Men and Young Women.

Kerstyn had Activity Days for Girls.

Lauklan had Cub Scouts.

I saw Brother Rasband, the Young Men's President at the end of the meeting and shared something with him. I told him how thankful that I am for him and his service to my son and more distantly my family. I witnessed him the last several Sunday's talking to Brennan. I saw him smile at him and put his arm around him. I felt so good when I saw that because I felt like he was serving my son and showing him love and support. I worry about all my children and Brennan being the oldest, I'm new at this. I want nothing more than to have an eternal family and Brother Rasband fellow shipping my son, helps make that happen. I feel blessed and grateful for that. I wanted him to know.

Rough

Today and yesterday were 'one of those days'. You know the ones, when nothing is right. Where you feel like 'wo is me'.

Yep. That.

Yuck!

Up and down

I subbed for Debbie today in Primary leading the music. I LOVE that job, though it is still odd for me to be in there. I went in and out of Sunday School and Relief Society to do the music but I was glad to be able to enjoy primary and the adult stuff too.

Our lesson in Relief Society was really good. The teacher is wonderful and always brings the spirit with her. The lesson talked about feeling the spirit and it reminded me of many times in my life where I have felt the spirit. It is something that I can't deny. Some of the feelings have been soft and quiet while others have been loud and very strong. I KNOW that the spirit can and will guide us. I KNOW that I need to listen and not question it. I KNOW that I am glad to be blessed with the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

We had choir practice again. I'll just say that I didn't feel as good about it when it was over. However, I'll go again and try to press on. I left feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. We'll see how it goes on Sunday when we sing the intermediate hymn, Because I Have Been Given Much.

Old Friends

Chris and I went to meet up with Turin and his family today. Turin and I grew up next door to each other from 1983. He is like a brother to me. We met at Disney's Boardwalk and got to visit for a few hours. He has two children, one daughter that was turning 5, Vivian, and a son that is 2ish, Ashton. They are both as cute as can be. Turin and his wife Jen live in Atlanta so we don't get to see each other very much, but when we do, it is certainly nice.

I took some pictures that I will post later.

Results from the specialist

Aislinn had an appointment with Dr. Ajayi, her asthma doctor this morning. We actually saw one of his partners, whom I have never seen before, but I liked her.

She agrees that Aislinn sounds really bad. She has pneumonia in the right lung and possible pneumonia with much mucus in the left lung.

She increased her controller medication, ordered another chest x-ray in 6 weeks and ordered lab work. The lab work is to check and see if Aislinn has an immune deficiency. It can't be done until she is better, so we have to wait 2 weeks. She told us to continue with the antibiotics and to call if she doesn't start getting much better by tomorrow. The doctor agrees that we have reason for concern.

I guess for now, we have to try to get her over this last case, and hope that increasing her controller medication will curb future problems.

Sick again!

I got a call from the pre-school this morning saying that Aislinn was running a fever.

I called the pediatrician right away and went to pick her up. Come to find out, her right ear is infected again and Dr. Soto said that her lungs sounded bad, like she had pneumonia again.

She sent us to get a chest x-ray which showed that Aislinn does have pneumonia again in her right lung. We also were referred back to her pulmologist tomorrow morning for them to see what is going on.

Three cases of pneumonia since September 22 is not good! She is not feeling well and needs Tylenol and Motrin to get along. We've started Zithromax and hopefully will see improvement by tomorrow night.

Family Picture time

Chris' office was closed today and all the kids except Brennan were out of school. So, after we got Brennan from school, we headed over to meet Katelyn for her to take our family pictures. I can't wait to post them because they really turned out great!

Happy Veteran's Day to all the veterans. Especially Chris, Daddy, Ryck, Dane and Ryan!

Nice Sabbath

Mom came over for the Children's Sacrament Meeting and I was playing the bassoon for one of the pieces while Kerstyn sang a solo. Chris' mom came over too. It was wonderful to have them both there and have Chris there too to watch the children.

Lauklan really sang.

Greyson and Aislinn piped up pretty good on the pieces they knew.

It was a wonderful presentation however kind of bitter sweet for me since it was the first one in 5 years that I wasn't the Primary President for.

I did get a new calling today though. I am now the Choir Director and we had our first rehearsal this afternoon. We had a pretty good turn out and they sounded wonderful. I am really excited.

Stake Dance

Tonight was the Stake Adult Dance at our new Stake Center. To say that Chris wasn't excited about going would be a fact. However, after we got there, we both had a really good time. I'm so glad that we went and I am also glad that I had a reason to buy a new dress.
Fun, fun! I felt like we were going to prom. We laughed and danced like kids. It sure felt good.

Before the dance outside the front doors of our house.

Both of us
Full shot of the two of us.

Michelle and Mel

I have one friend that has been with me since 4th grade. I love her and treasure our friendship.

We get together as much as we can. This picture was taken in September.

One Friday night, we met Michelle and Will at The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company for dinner in Daytona Beach. Of course, it was fun.

Old, but still cute

Finally! Here are the first day of school pictures.

Greyson and me in his classroom the first day of kindergarten. Brennan - 7th grade

Kerstyn - 5th grade

Lauklan - 2nd grade

Greyson - Kindergarten

Aislinn - PreK 4

Paint!

I'm getting the inside of the house painted and I am really excited. I'm not excited for the mess that will be made during the process, but very excited for the end result.

Red, blue and green are some of the colors that will be used to paint my living room, family room, dining room, kitchen, utility room and bedroom.

I'll take pictures and maybe if I am lucky, I will be able to post them.

The project will hopefully be done by Thanksgiving.

I can't wait!

We're in!

We were so excited!
Going in!

We had our first meeting in the new Stake Center this morning. It was wonderful!

The building was beautiful.

The chapel was full.

The spirit was strong.

What a great Sabbath Day!

Grandma took some pictures of the kids and me outside the building.