Aaron

I asked Aaron to write about himself, and to my delight, he agreed!
About Me
LIKES/LOVES

• Woodworking, although I need some more tools to make something great!
• Programming
• Electronics
• Camping with my family (only in near-perfect circumstances - sorry, honey!)
• American food and completely American versions of Mexican food
• My worn-out LaZboy recliner
• Music. I’m still a sucker for 80’s and 90’s alternative, but I try to branch out.
• Pop-Tarts

DISLIKES

• Reality TV
• Teletubbies
• Humid heat
• ’80 Oldsmobile Cutlass with 26” chrome wheels and a lift kit…

MISCELLANEOUS

• I am an identical mirror twin.
• When I am not programming (usually Java), I get bored easily.
• I don’t follow sports, but my son does. How’d that happen? The other day I asked him where my screwdriver was. He said “Dad, if it doesn’t play the Vikings, I don’t follow it.”
• I am appreciating routines more and more every day, to my wife's horror.  She thinks I may have OCD.
• I would like to pursue a Master’s degree, but the thought of prerequisites has stopped me from seriously considering it so far.
• I have never really felt homesick – I attribute it to my military upbringing and my amazing adaptability. :)
• I do, however, love my parents and siblings, and the family experiences we share!
• I love my wife. I have never known anyone more caring, more sincere, more eager to please. She has put up with all of my shenanigans, but she doesn’t let me get away with them. And she still loves me. She still sees the person I can become, and encourages me to get there.

Me

• I'm afraid of heights.
• I love the outdoors.
• I love to quilt and sew.
• I sing.
• I'm learning to play the piano.
• I love animals.
• I like to play basketball, but now it's hard on my body-- bummer.
• I like to run.
• I have many siblings.
• I love chocolate.
• I am petrified of snakes and spiders.
• I have vivid dreams.
• I love to serve people.
• I enjoy reading, researching, and writing.
• I want to serve on a mission with my husband someday.
• I really want to be a seminary teacher.
• I cherish family.
• I want what's best for my family, and worry about them.
• I love hot chocolate.
• I love hiking and canoing.
• I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
• I've always only wanted to be a mom.
• I enjoy keeping up with current events and politics.
• I hope my children will always be faithful and stand for truth and righteousness.
• I want to know the scriptures better.
• I love eating out.
• I love sleep.
• I really love swimming.
• I crave seafood.
• I think my family is spread too far apart.
• I find a campfire romantic and relaxing.
• I want to go skiing someday.
• I never want to go parachuting.
• I hope I give my children what they need.
• I love my parents with all my heart.
• I love my siblings with all my heart.
• I love my children with all my heart.
• I love my husband with all my heart, he's my best friend!
• I love my in-laws, they're wonderful.
• I'm grateful I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• I'm grateful for our prophet, he was my favorite speaker when I was a child.
• I'm so glad my dad will be visiting our family soon.
• I had five years of Spanish in high school and college, and have forgotten almost all of it except for a few key phrases.
• I have anxiety attacks.
• I hope to adopt a child or two someday.
• I have severe varicose veins, and will be going to a specialist soon.
• My husband has crohn's and my daughter asthma.
• I don't like hospitals, but know they have helped my loved ones.
• I fear losing a love one.
• I don't like change, but at the same time, find it exciting.
• I am spontaneous, but at the same time, like to know how things will play out.
• I believe in prayer.
• I love my Heavenly Father with all my heart.
• I have a deep gratitude for my Savior, and know that he is there for me in my times of need.
• I love flowers, sunshine, trees, fireflies, fresh air, mountains, green grass, rain, thunderstorms, waves, and gardening.
• I love Chinese food, especially Lo Mein.
• I go to Panda Express every chance I get.
• I don't like to fly.
• I worry about crashing in the car.
• I love my kids and their individual personalities.
• I'm grateful for friends, and love to chat.
• I hope I'll live a long life.
• I'm striving to be a good example, but I know I make mistakes.
• I'm trying to not let myself get offended.
• I'm trying to not be prideful.
• I sometimes stress out too much.
• I love Tucson.
• I want a horse.
• I love to listen to country, christian, and classical music.
• I miss my Great Aunt Ruth (really my grandma)
• I am discovering that I have more talents.
• I love to snuggle with my husband.
• I love it when my kids give me hugs and kisses.
• I love it when my kids pick me flowers.
• Rainbows make my day.
• Whenever I get really stressed, I like to envision my husband and I alone in a hut on some island, with the waves crashing on the shore.
• I love virgin pina coladas.
• Pizza is yummy!
• Salsa and tortilla chips are the bomb.
• I like HOT and SPICY foods.
• I had one year of German in college.
• I wouldn't mind singing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
• Lion House Rolls are the best with honey butter.
• I hope my husband goes back to school for his master's.
• I had two of my children at home.
• I want to decorate my home in primitive decor and maybe fix up an old house with wide wood planked floors.
• I'm a carrier of cystic fibrosis.
• I love yard sales.
• I love Costco.
• I am basically cheep, but have expensive taste.
• I want to buy some redware someday.
• and..., I was raised in VA.

 The list goes on, I guess you'll have to continue reading my blog if you want to learn more about me...

Blessings of the Day

• Sleeping in
• Kids helping me clean
• enjoying a cleaner house
• my husband has a job
• my husband felt good enough to go to work after a Crohn's flare-up last night
• I lost a pound
•  healthy food- currently really enjoying the blueberries on sale for $.99/pint., did you know they are an anti-inflammatory?  Aaron had some tonight hoping to help with his Crohn's
• free piano lessons from Emily (well I'm babysitting for her to receive these lessons, so awesome) for Katie and I
•  learning how to play the hymns "There is a Green Hill Far Away" and "How Firm a Foundation," even if they're in the simpler version
• great girl chat over lunch with my friend Charlotte
• our kids had fun together
• teaching my children
• giggling  with Anderson while we roughhoused on the floor
• visiting the sister I teach with my companion-- so much fun chatting
• talking with my husband about life
• sunshine and rain
• flowers
• a working vehicle
• relaxing
• the scriptures
• prayer
• the Holy Ghost

I have so many blessings, what are some of yours?

One Cool Idea

My friend, Aimee, told me about an idea that I think is truly a lifesaver! She makes packing lists up for each of her kids way before they even know they're going on a trip! She prints the lists out for her older children, and makes a picture list for her younger ones, like this:

How cool is that? She has one for long trips, and one for short trips, for summer trips and winter trips-- and I suppose you could even have one for camping trips as well.

As some of you know, we just took a trip up to WA, and I felt like I was going crazy trying to remember everything! I was stressed and trying to make lists, while running errands before we left. I packed everything for everyone. I really need to learn how to simplify, and delegate!

She says if she's in a hurry, all she does is print the lists off for her kids, and makes them take care of everything themselves, I like that! Love this idea!!!

Fun to Not so Fun

For all of you that live in Tucson, Peter Piper Pizza has a family night on Mondays from 5-7 PM.  Up to four, 7 inch, one-topping pizzas, FREE with each paying adult.

Aaron and I decided to take the fam there tonight for some fun.  The kids were so excited, we don't do this sort of thing very often.

{Right now I'm wishing I would've brought my "good" camera along, because I'm cringing as I look at these photos.  The cell phone just isn't cutting it.}

We ended up having a ton of fun, and the kids were all so happy.  We should have ended the night there, but no, we had to slip in some more fun!

So we went to game stop.  Morgan spent some of his hard-earned babysitting money, and then we went to Target to buy the girls new earings.  Aaron dropped the kids and I off, while he ran to Ross to buy some new, and much needed shoes. 

I was ok with that, and wasn't thinking about how difficult things might turn out. 

I was in the jewelry section, trying to help the girls pick out their earings with all SEVEN kids, and things started getting out of control.

I'm guessing the combination of sugar from the soda, and the fact that it was the kids bedtime, factored into their behavor.

At some point, this large bouncy ball appeared out of nowhere (I guess some other kid had left it there), and before I knew it, the boys were bouncing it down the isle and running/fighting for it.

Then Anderson started to cry/scream, while I was trying to calm him down without us becoming the center of attention.  Well, that of course is impossible when you have a family the size of mine.

I tried to get a hold of Aaron, but he wasn't answering his phone.  It wasn't until later that I realized that I had been calling his work number!  I guess during my haste to call him, I dialed the wrong number.  As if that wasn't bad enough, Abigail started crying, and my whole family started spreading out in all directions.  I finally broke down and bought some pacifiers and popped one in her mouth.

Anderson hasn't had a pacifier for months now, but when he saw her new "binkies" he started screaming for one.

"BINKY, BINKY, MOMMA BINKY!!!"

I reluctantly popped one in his mouth as well.  I was desperate.  I took the kids through the line, and we sat in the cafe waiting for Aaron to pick us up.

Anderson still continued to cry, and started to chew on Abigail's new binky, which was really bothering me.  I was starting to worry where Aaron was, but he showed up not long after we sat down.

THANK GOODNESS!

Anderson then started to cry even louder when we left the cafe.  He wanted food!

Didn't we just feed this kid?

"FOOD, FOOD, MOMMA FOOD!!!"

 and cried THOSE words all the way through the parking lot.  He refused to get in his carseat, and screamed even more once we got him in.

WHEW!!!

Sometimes, I find it funny how the mood of our family can go from good to bad in a matter of minutes. 

I should have planned better.  Life is better when we stick to a schedule.  Better keep it short next time.

My Thoughts on the Change

This morning, I woke up around 5:00 AM to get our family ready for church. I have to admit it has been a challenge to get our whole family ready and in our seats by 8:30 AM, but we've been pretty good at it. I do have the help of my husband and older children, which makes a difference.

We did pretty well today, and we were sitting in our seats by 8:20 AM. All the kids were being reverent, and I felt happy inside because we weren't rushed.

Even though we were there early, we found ourselves sitting on the folding metal chairs in the back, rather than the soft cushioned pews. Our ward is huge, and if you want a pew seat, you've got to be there early!

It's been this way, ever since we moved here, back in July of 2008. I thought it was going to be split way back then, but it hasn't.

Today it was announced that our ward and several surrounding ward's boundaries are going to change.

As the announcement was made, I found myself with mixed emotions. We've made some great friends in this ward, and have felt so at home! I knew this day would come, and that it is needed, but I will miss the friends I have come to love so much!

With this change, of course comes questions and speculation. I don't know how this will affect me. I currently serve as the compassionate service leader in our ward, and through my service I have come to cherish so many of the sisters in the ward! I've loved being there for them, and I've really grown in this calling.

My eyes swelled with tears as I realized just what this change might mean.

I guess life is about change, and I know things can't stay the same, however, I will always hold the memories we made in Rita Ranch Ward dear to my heart. We've learned so much from the amazing examples which have been set for us, and I'm so glad we moved here to Tucson. It's been just the right place for us!

Abigail's 1st Date

Yes it's true, we gave in, and didn't make her wait until she's 16!  She was whinning uncontrollably to spend more time with Riley, and we just like him so much, we said, "yes."  Unfortunately their parents came along for a ride, and then they fell asleep...end of story!


We went out to Applebees tonight with our good friends, The Hardy's!  We had so much fun, lot's of laughter and reminiscing!  Good times!