Fence!

Hot Date

I went out for a bite tonight with this handsome fellow. (I wore my new cowboy boots, yee-haw!) We went to Goodwood BBQ. We've been there several times, and I love it. But I always order the chicken sandwich, because I know it's good. So this night, I decided to branch out. I ordered a steak instead. And it was FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC!! So glad I tried it.

Originally we had planned to spend the evening test-driving cars. But neither of us were really in the mood to do that. And since our fence is on track to be up by Easter, and since Springville just passed a new city ordinance that makes it legal for every residential homeowner to own laying hens...we headed to CAL Ranch instead, to scope out some chicks. We'll be getting some for Easter. Shhh, the kids don't know yet.



Aren't they cute! I'm so excited. I've got chickens on the brain. We can have up to six. And I think we're going to get 2 Buff Orphingtons, 2 Black Sex Links, and 2 Americaunas. All three breeds are supposed to be really friendly and mild mannered. All of them are pretty. And Americaunas lay greenish blue eggs. Sweet! And this will solve our pet problem. Our kids have been begging for a pet. And I can't think of a more productive pet than a chicken. They provide us with eggs, I don't have to house train them, they won't jump on my furniture. Perfect.

If Anyone Needs a Professional Drawer Emptier, I can Recommend a Cute One

Nursemaid’s Elbow

Yesterday the kids were jumping on the trampoline, playing a game where they would swing each other around. Suddenly Adelia came into the house shrieking and holding her arm. She didn’t want to move it, and she didn’t want anyone to touch it. She was kind of hysterical, actually. Poor kid. I got her calmed down with her elbow resting on an ice pack and watching Wild Kratts. By the time Aaron got home, we could talk her into moving it, so we knew it wasn’t broken. But she kept choosing not to move it, and just let her whole right arm hang limp at her side.

Same story this morning, she wouldn’t use her arm. And she got really anxious if anyone came close to it, or if it accidentally bent (like when we were putting her shirt on). We decided it would be a good idea to take her in to see the doctor, because she’s had this happen to her elbow a couple of different times, where she’d favor it for a few days, and then suddenly be fine.

Doc said it was Nursemaid’s Elbow, but that he was also concerned with her wrist, because Del kept saying it hurt when he touched there, and it shouldn’t if it was just Nursemaid’s Elbow. He thought their might be a fracture, and he didn’t want to pull her arm around to fix the Nursemaid’s Elbow, if there was also a fracture. So he sent us to the hospital for xrays.

I took the boys home to Aaron first, because after waiting for an hour with 4 kids in a waiting room, I wasn’t very excited to spend more time with them all in another waiting room. I’m grateful Aaron has a flexible job so that he can work from home when these kind of situations come up. I also wish my mom would find an excuse to move closer to me. ;) I would have just taken the boys to her.

Adelia and I played Go Fish in the waiting room. When our turn came the Lab Tech came to get us, and explained to Adelia that she was going to take some pictures of “here and here” (she said pointing to her wrist and elbow). Adelia said, “I know because my wrist and my elbow are hurting me.” The tech was so impressed, and as Adelia kept talking (pretty much non-stop), the tech kept commenting on her vocabulary. Then when she put Adelia up on the xray machine, and Adelia held so still and didn’t throw a fit. The Tech told me that Del was the most amazing 3-year-old she’d ever worked with. And then a second tech said, “but seriously though, other kids this age don’t act like this.” So that was fun. It’s always nice to hear compliments about your kids.

After the xrays, we waited again in the waiting room for our results. We started Go Fish again. And someone came to tell us that the results had been sent to the doctor and we’d get a phone call from him within the hour, but that we were free to leave the hospital if we wanted. Adelia interrupted her and said, “No! We can’t leave, we’re not done with our game yet!” Which made us both laugh. And we stayed long enough to quickly finish Go Fish.

Doc called and said there was no fracture. So we went back to his office and he popper her elbow back into place. She cried a little, but as soon as the doctor was done, she immediately started using her arm again just like normal. The doctor taught me how to put her elbow back in in case it ever happens again. It’s easy. Here's a youtube video that shows you how.

 

So it was an eventful day. It took the whole day to figure things out, but I'm glad Del is feeling better and that she didn't have a fracture.

Wax Museum

Today Lincoln and Ivan participated in a wax museum put on by our Homeschool Showcase group. For those that don't know what a wax museum is, basically each kid gets to pick a person they want to learn more about, they learn about that person, make a poster of that person, and then recite a paragraph or so of information about the person as if they were that person.

Since we've been doing the History of Flight for the last several months, my boys picked Orville and Wilbur Wright. Even though Wilbur is the older brother, Ivan didn't want to wear a fake mustache, so he wanted to be Wilbur, and let Lincoln be Orville. :) 

Leading up to the wax museum, we read several books (at Lincoln's reading level) about the Wright brothers. Lincoln decided he wanted to talk about how the plane worked (no surprise there), and Ivan wanted to talk about when they were kids. So this is what we came up with:

Ivan: Wilbur Wright

“My name is Wilbur Wright. When my brother Orville, and I were little we played with toy helicopters. These helicopters were a type of glider, when you spin them, their propellers help them glide to the ground. These toys were the beginning of our interest in flight.”

Lincoln: Orville Wright

“My name is Orville Wright. My brother Wilbur and I were inventors and mechanics who wanted to make a practical flying machine. We decided to experiment with a biplane and focus on a way to control the aircraft before adding an engine. We tested our gliders in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina because it was a windy place. Our glider had long, narrow wings, a movable rudder, and wing-warping controls that allowed the pilot to control the roll, pitch, and yaw of the plane. Once we could control the plane we built a small, light-weight engine. On December 17th 1903, I flew our plane for 12 seconds and landed in the sand 120 feet from where I started. This was the first controlled, powered flight in history.”  

They memorized the majority of their parts while riding circles around me on their bicycles in the drive way. They would circle around and around repeating lines, and when they could say a line all the way through without help, they got to ride to the stop sign and back to celebrate. I was kind of amazed, actually, at how fast they memorized while moving around. 

Aaron helped the kids make the poster on Friday evening. They helped pick the pictures they wanted, and they cut out the colored pieces for the background and glued everything on. Aaron also helped Lincoln build a model of the Wright brother's plane out of K'nex. It even had a movable rudder, and wing-warping controls. I was very impressed. Lincoln used the plane in his presentation to demonstrate roll, pitch, and yaw. 

I was so proud of both of them. They worked hard to learn their parts, and they did an awesome job at the wax museum. 

All the kids there did really well. I was so impressed with everyone. Fun characters and creative costumes. Love it! Homeschool is the best!

Ah, Spring

Volleyball

I played in Springville City's women's volleyball league this year with these awesome ladies in my stake. We took third place in the tournament, not too shabby. It was great to be playing ball again. And I was really glad for the opportunity to get to know these ladies better. Great season Mojo Mamas! Until next year.

Sidewalk Chalk Math

I love when it's warm enough to take our math outside and do it with sidewalk chalk. For some reason my kids think Math is so much more fun if they are using chalk than if they are using pencils. (Even though I usually make them write the answer in their books in pencil as well.) Hazzah for Spring!

Adelia Writes Her Name

Adelia has been working really hard learning how to write her name this year. She's doing a great job! She did this one all by herself, with me only giving her a couple of verbal hints.

Hair Cut for Ollie

Now he looks like a boy instead of a baby. Oh, and he's wearing size 24 months, sheesh.

Ivan's 5th Birthday

Ivan is 5 years old. He’s been waiting to be 5 for a long time. He wanted to have a birthday party, and planned out everything he wanted to do, and who he wanted to invite, and what he wanted his cake to be. It was adorable. Aaron and I made Ivan this Superman shirt using iron transfer paper and hung it up right outside his bedroom door, so he’d find it first thing when he got up in the morning. It was with a note wishing him a Happy Birthday and a Super day. :) He loved it.

He started the day off by taking cupcakes to preschool to share with the other kids. The mom teaching preschool made him a paper crown that said, “Happy Birthday Ivan” on it, and he was so thrilled. He talked about it all day long.

After preschool, we worked on making more cupcakes for his birthday party, and his birthday cake for after dinner. He wanted Superman, so everything was red and blue. I was thrilled, because this cake was a piece of cake. ;)

I had a stroke of brilliance, and that was to reserve the church gym for Ivan’s birthday party. It was awesome, because about 25 kids came, and they had a place to run and jump and let out all their energy, and it wasn’t in my house. It was perfect.

Aaron came home from work early, and we went over to the church to decorate. We did pretty simple balloons and streamers, and some little puff ball things; all blue and red of course, but I thought it turned out really nice looking.

We started off with the game, Pin the S on Superman. Each kid colored an S when then came in, then we tied a blindfold around them and let them try to pin it on an awesome picture of Superman that Aaron drew.

After that we played a game I invented called Superman Tag. Basically, we gave every kid a bandana and had them stuff it in the back of their shirt like a cape. Then when we said go, everyone ran around and tried to pull the capes off of people. If your cape got pulled off, you had to sit down. The last kid with a cape was Superman. The kids were all over it! I was kind of surprised how much they liked this game. We played several rounds.

After that we opened presents. It was like a mosh pit of 4 and 5 year-olds. Haha! I couldn’t see who was giving Ivan what. I tried my best to make sure he said thank you to everyone. He got some really awesome things. And he has really enjoyed playing with all of them since.

Then we did cupcakes, soda, and Cheetos. Which are the foods Ivan requested. I got so absorbed in passing out cupcakes, I almost forgot to have everyone sing happy birthday! Good thing a couple of my great homeschool mom friends had stuck around to help out, and they reminded me. (I was so grateful to have you guys there. THANK YOU!)

 

After eating the kids had a few more minutes to run around and play, and then moms started coming to pick up kids. It was a fun, successful party, and most importantly Ivan loved it. (Even though he got a bloody nose from getting bonked during the last few minutes of crazy running around time.)

The plan was that after the party we were going to get Papa Murphy’s pizzas to bake at home, and Aaron’s parents were going to come over to celebrate. But my house was kind of a disaster from getting the party stuff ready all day, and I felt like we’d been go-go-going non-stop since we woke up, and I wasn’t in the mood to try and clean up again. So instead, we went out to Pier 49, and Grandma and Grandpa Swan came with us there. Ivan wanted a pizza that was half pepperoni and half pineapple. We also ordered a vegetarian (because it’s fantastic, not because we don’t like meat) for the adults I love Pier 49 pizza. It’s my all-time favorite. Happy Ivan’s Birthday to me too I guess. :)

Then we headed back to the house for presents and cake and ice cream. Ivan’s main present was a plasma car. I think he’s really going to enjoy it. And I’m happy that he has one more reason to be outside. The first thing he said when he opened it was “Oh cool! Jeremiah (his cousin) has one of these!”

He also got a compass/whistle/magnifying glass all in one, and a water bottle from Lincoln. A giant Superman stuffed person from Del. The game Guess Who from Ollie. A Superman pillowcase and bedspread from Gramma Tam and Papa Kerry. And binoculars from Grandma and Grandpa Swan. The kid made out like a bandit, if you ask me. (We opened the presents from the grandparents on Sunday when my mom and Kerry and Aaron’s dad came over for birthday dinner.)

The older kids went outside to try out the plasma car before it got dark, and while I put Ollie to bed. Then we had cake.

Happy Birthday Ivan Boy! I hope it was everything you wanted it to be and more. I’m so glad you are 5 and even more glad that you are a part of our family.

Top O’the Mornin’ to Ya!

30 Day Challenge Completed!

I’ve been talking a lot lately about Dressing Your Truth and The Child Whisperer, and Energy Profiling in general. I’ve loved it all. When I bought my Dressing Your Truth course, it comes with a 30 day challenge to go through your course and learn how to dress and accessorize for your type of beauty, and then to dress your own personal truth for 30 days. I took the challenge and completed it! I feel amazing. What’s on the inside of me is reflected on the outside of me. I feel dynamic and confident. It’s seriously been such and interesting change, and all around process…it’s about way more than just clothes and hair and makeup.

I don’t really know why exactly, but for years now, I’ve been trying to bite down my tongue and fade into the background, to be more soft and subtle, and unnoticeable;  which is NOT my nature! I’ve been feeling really passive-aggressive about it. This program, and the books I’ve been reading, have been really emotional, and freeing, because I know it’s ok to be me. I can be bold, I can be dynamic and active…yes, I need to be tactful and sensitive to other people, but I need to SPEAK when I feel so inclined, instead of holding back and being afraid that what I have to say will be too much, or come across pushy, or direct. I am a spirited, energetic, feisty, passionate person, and for too long I have been trying to shove that into a closet. Maybe because I’ve viewed some of those traits in a negative light. But no more. I've got the eye of the tiger, and you’re gonna hear me roar! As the song goes. :)

I had an interesting experience the other night, as I was mulling this all over in my head, specifically about trying to hold my tongue, and not speaking up, particularly in situations where I know it’s the right thing to do (like standing up for something I believe, or sticking up for a person). I was reading my scriptures in 1 Nephi, it’s during some of the Isaiah chapters, so I’m not sure what exactly the scripture is literally talking about, but holy cow, I can tell you what jumped right off the page and karate-chopped my eyeballs. 1 Ne. 21:2-3 “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me. And said unto me: Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” The Lord made me the way I am. He made me active and feisty and passionate. But even more importantly, he did it for a purpose.  He made my mouth “like a sharp sword” so that I could glorify Him. In my patriarchal blessing I am told repeatedly that I will have opportunities to “speak and teach”, probably to share the gospel, is my guess. And if I’m going to be able to do that in today’s world I am going to have to be bold, direct, and powerful; unflinching from what I know is right and good and true. No beating around the bush. No hiding in a corner.

Coming to this realization is kind of scary. But also freeing, because I’ve felt this wave of energy within me all along but have been trying to suppress it. But now I can feed it and fuel it and let it come out in all it’s glory, and see what happens.

I think the dressing part is just an outward sign of what’s going on inside, but I’m not gonna lie, it’s been pretty fun. I finally know what clothes go together, and what accessories will go with the clothes, and how to do my makeup to tie everything in together. I know what colors look good on me, and I know how to shop for what I need and what I want. I’m trying things (like earrings, belts, bracelets, skinny jeans) that I NEVER would have been brave enough to try in a million years. But I know how to try them the right way so that they work for me, instead of just looking silly. And the really cool thing is, that most of the changes I’ve made are just little tweaks…I part my hair a little further over, I do my eyeliner slightly different…but WOW the improvement is incredible!

So that’s my official Before and After picture above, but I also took lots of pictures along the way, and thought it would be fun to put them up here as evidence of my journey. Enjoy!

First thing I had to do was start wearing earrings again. During my course, I found out that my metals are gold, bronze, and copper. I also found out that my jewelry is supposed to be substantial, chunky, and textured. The minuscule amount of jewelry I owned was silver and tiny. So, I had to invest in a couple of pieces to get me started, and then work my way from there. It took me a solid two weeks to get used to wearing earrings.

This chunky tiger's eye necklace though, I fell head-over-heels in love with it immediately. The weight of it is comfortable on my neck, grounding almost. And that fact that it's made out of rocks instead of plastic, or something gives me an earthy feel that I love.

 And my purse felt huge at first, like a giant red sign calling attention to itself...but now I love it.

I did my best to make things I already owned work. I painted these earrings blue with nail polish.

And I dyed these jeans to be a dirty wash. (And I've been dyeing everything...but you've read all about that.)

My birthday came at a really opportune time this year, and I was able to go shopping and get a few pieces to fit my new style. My clothes are supposed to by textured, angular (think v-neck), and substantial (think layers, and jean fabric).

Soooo, new hair for me is all about texture, it's chunky, and has medium contrast. I've been trying to flip mine up in the back, and make it look a little more piece-y. I haven't taken the plunge to go get it cut or dyed yet, but it's in my future. ;) I also love my spiky earrings, because they fit all the requirements but aren't dangle-y, so Ollie can't pull them. And my new Go Walk Sketchers are to die for. Seriously, they are like walking on a cloud.

Here are some more necklace, earring, hair, shots...as well as more of my colors. Oh! And I should mention make-up, most notable is the lip color. Yes...for the first time in my entire life, I am wearing color on my lips. And of course my Type doesn't do anything subtly, so it's rich, dynamic color. Aka dark...think the colors black ladies would wear. :) 

This is my St. Paddy's Day green. :) 

I have acquired quite the necklace collection...still trying to come up with a brilliant idea for necklace storage, since my current jewelry box would hold, oh, maybe ONE of my necklaces. :) Also humorous, the two in the middle were my very first two necklaces...I thought they were HUGE! Haha! Now they are some of my smallest pieces.

You can see my eye liner pretty well in this picture. I go 2/3rds over on the top, and just barely enough on the bottom to create a point at the corner of my eye.

Once I was comfortable with earrings and necklaces, the next items on the list were skinny jeans and belts. And I don't mean through-your-pant-loops, hold-your-pants-up, functional belts either. I mean accessory belts. Think wide. This is the first outfit I ever wore a belt with, and I felt so awkward the first day, like everyone was looking at my belt (they weren't). But I've gotten used to how they feel, and I actually really like them! They are super for keeping that little baby pooch under control. And I really like how they look. I have a really long torso, so wide belts are a nice accessory for me. And the skinny jeans aren't bad either. I think I'll like them more when the weather warms up a bit, but right now I get cold and have to wear socks, and they just look kind of funny with socks. 

I thought the flower belt would be my favorite, and I do like it a lot, but I actually like this one the best so far. I don't know what it is about it, but I feel like it fits my personality really well. Or maybe I just feel really good wearing it, who knows. 

 My most recent venture has been scarves and bracelets. Supposedly, I can pull off a stack of bracelets that go from wrist to, pretty much, elbow... but right now one feels like a lot. And it has to be the right kinds of bracelet too. Some thing flat, that won't poke my wrist when I'm typing or writing. And I'm not a big fan of bangles or cuffs (yet). I love my scarf though. I'll take a scarf over a necklace any day of the week. Much more comfortable. Also, my Type is big into animal print...me, not so much. But this scarf was a subtle enough tribute to animal print that I could stomach it. And, actually, I really, really love this scarf. I feel like a million bucks when I have it on.

The bracelet, meh, I'm still getting used to it. But I like the way it looks. 

So their is my thirty-day journey. I still have a long way to go, and it can only get better from here. One thing I'll be experimenting with in the near future is cowboy boots! I've always wanted some, but always been so afraid...haha! And now I can't wait, because I know they'll work, and I know what to put with them to make them work.

 But seriously, I'm really satisfied with the results of this whole process. Money well spent. It's great to walk into my closet every morning and know I have something awesome to put on. And it's even better knowing that how I'm dressed on the outside, reminds me of who I am on the inside, and that it's ok to let that loud, passionate, opinionated person come out and shine like she was meant to. I don't know where I lost her in the first place, but I'm glad she's coming back.