Oops...

it happened again.
 
This time the "husbird" was driving the van and as he backed out of the church parking lot a cement basketball standard jumped right behind him.  Imagine that.  No, seriously the cement pole is painted white and was in his blind spot.  He hit it hard.  I hoped against all hope that it wasn't that bad. Well, it was bad.  It was completely crunched in two spots.  
I'm beginning to think our bumper is jinxed.  This is the third collision it's been in in the last year.  First when the "husbird" backed over a stool that was in the driveway last June.  Then I got rear ended a few days before Christmas last year and now this. The bad news is our deductible for our Mexican insurance was 300.  The good news, if there is any, is that labor in Mexico is cheap, so we didn't even use our insurance because it was less than our deductible to just pay to have it fixed.  It was done in a day.  Wish we could tele-transport the "husbird's" car here to fix all the scrapes and dings it has, most of which are on his bumper.  Notice a trend here!?  He doesn't necessarily find it useful to look back before he backs up.  Just saying.  He just about gives me a heart attack every time he backs out of the garage. 

I thought maybe we should just leave it, I mean, Taylor will start drivers ed this coming school year.  Since he's a lot like his dad, I for see more bumper injuries in my vans future.  Poor thing.  Watch me be the next one to back into something.  If that happens there is no question the bumper is jinxed. 

The Point of No Return

It had to happen eventually, the point when friends become more important than family.  It started for "T" in March of 2014.  He didn't really have a lot of friends (namely friends that were boys) or have a great desire to hang out with anyone often.  The "husbird" and I worried about him finding some great guy friends. He finally found one and they started spending a lot of time together, every weekend, and sometimes during the week as well.  His new friend came from a good family and the two of them had a lot in common. We were thrilled.  

"T" started to see some things in his new friend that he didn't like. After about 6 months (the honeymoon phase) they spent less and less time together.  I tried to tell him that he won't find a perfect friend and to try to be understanding of others faults.  This was the second time this had happened with a friend. To no avail, by the end of the summer they never saw each other anymore.  I had to trust him to do what he felt was right.
Thank goodness school was starting soon and he made friends with another guy.  His friend has had some issues in his life, but so far they have been friends for about a year.  Yay!  

They have made friends with a few amazing girls as well.  I wish I had a picture of the other girls in their little group.  There are a bunch of girls and then the two of them, the only boys.  Ha ha.  They all get along so well and hang out as much as possible.  

When the boys had to work on making a video for school all day one Saturday the two girls above came over with all kinds of food and made them waffles.  How nice is that?!  They are also teaching "T" how to treat me better.  They call him out when he talks back to me and tell him, "Go give your mom a hug." Gotta love those kinds of friends.

Even though I don't always see him as much as I'd like I'm so grateful he has found such great friends that are positive influences in his life, especially going into his high school years this fall.

Guess Who's Bishop!?

We got a call from our Stake President's secretary asking us to meet with the Stake President.  We were out of town at the time and so we were left to guess what he wanted to see both of us for until we could meet with him.

The Stake President asked if we could start our meeting with a prayer.  In that moment I knew he was going to call the "husbird" to be Bishop.  My heart fell to my stomach.  It was like I was having an out of body experience, like it wasn't real.  I felt an immediate increase of love for my husband, knowing what a responsibility this would be for him, for us.  After the Stake President went over what all of his new responsibilities would be (which are many) we left with a "deer in the headlights" look on our faces.  The word overwhelmed is an understatement when it comes to how I was feeling.  We didn't say much to each other on the drive home.  

The first couple of days we were in shock and had many heart to heart talks.  I had an upset stomach and couldn't concentrate on just about anything.  As the week went on I got more and more used to the thought of the "husbird" being Bishop.  Even though I felt a ton of nervous energy as Sunday approached I also felt a calm, peaceful feeling.  
The big day arrived, when the "husbird" would be sustained and set apart as bishop.  The Stake President called me up to sit on the stand.  He asked me to say a few words right before the "husbird" spoke.  I do not enjoy speaking in front of people.  I felt unusually comfortable while speaking, not like I want to do it again, but better than I normally do.  I hope that means it will be easier the next time I need to do it.  After the meeting was over I felt an unexpected outpouring of support and love from so many people.  The long hugs and kind words meant the world to the Bishop and I.  

It is so weird to call the "husbird" Bishop and is going to take some getting used to.  It's also going to take some time getting adjusted to him being gone at least three days a week, two nights and all day Sunday, if not more for other ward events and activities.  I'm not sure I will ever get used to that.  I know he is doing good by serving the people of our ward and even though it is a sacrifice to have him gone it couldn't be for a better reason. I might need to repeat that statement to myself when times are hard, when I really need his help and don't feel like I can do the things I need to on my own.  Even though it will be challenging to have him gone so much, I know we will be blessed for his service.  

If you have questions about what a bishop is or want to know more click here and here.

Us at 18

We've officially been together as long as we lived at home with our parents.  That's a crazy thought. I guess we're not kids anymore and we really have to grow up now.  Ha ha.
We've lived in three nests (homes), the one we're living in now we built from the ground up.
We've made five babies (six if you count the one I miscarried, which I do) who are now 4 to 14 years old.  
We've tried our best to laugh instead of cry when life has been hard, sad, or in between.  
My mom gave us the gift of watching the nestlings for two days.  We used some credit card points and went to the Montage Deer Valley.  It was amazing.  In the picture above we are in front of the fireplace in what the "husbird" called the living room, which is a huge, beautiful common area. 

 

This is what we found when we checked into our room, such a meaningful, sweet touch.

This was our room.

Here's the "husbird" checking out the view from our room.
The other side of the room, complete with a fireplace. 
The first night we played some pool.  I was awful at it, but the "husbird" wasn't half bad.
When we woke up the first morning it was snowing little tiny snowflakes and and it kept snowing all day long.  At first we were disappointed it was bad weather but then we ended up loving it.  It made our day feel so romantic.  We ended up going to the spa.  We sat in the steam room, sauna, and hot tub.  Then we swam in the gorgeous lap pool.  Then the "husbird" had the crazy idea to go swimming in the outdoor pool (94º), so we did, while it snowed on our heads.  We were the only ones in the steaming pool.  It was a super fun adventure.   
Not sure why the "husbird" snapped a photo of me saying good night to the "nestlings"on the phone, but I like it because it shows how our room looked at night.

 

Since the Montage is nestled in the mountains this was the view from the balcony in our room.

We loved chilling/relaxing by the fire in the living room.  We needed some interrupted time just to be together, no meals to make or faces to wash.  I feel so blessed to spend my life with such a wonderful man.

Clover the Goose

A mother goose decided our backyard would be a good spot to birth her eggs and sit on them day after day.  "C" named her Clover and we check on her daily.  
It snowed really hard earlier this week.  She was covered in about a foot of snow. We were so concerned for her and her babies. Hopefully we get to meet the little goslings soon.
Watching Clover day after day makes me think about the length we  go to for our offspring.  It takes a lot of dedication to have babies and even more to raise them.  On hard days, sometimes I feel like flying the coop.  Maybe I should take a lesson from Clover and sit on it a little longer-- giving more thought, prayer, and unconditional love to help my nestlings grow and thrive. 

Update: Clover's goslings were finally born on April 29th. They are furry little fluff balls, so cute.

The Rain of Relief

It rained a lot of the day yesterday and all of us suffering from allergies finally got some relief. Yay.

In addition, I feel like a huge weight I've been carrying around for the past three weeks is gone.  Let me back up.  It all started with a birthday gift I gave myself, a mammogram.  A couple of days after my mammogram my doctor's office called to tell me they couldn't see some areas, on one side well enough and I needed to come back in for some special views, essentially another more uncomfortable mammogram. When I was done they told me the radiologist needed to talk to me.  The radiologist showed me the films they had just taken and pointed out an area of "concern" where I have calcifications.  From what I understand calcifications are normal, but since mine are in a group and are different sizes, not uniform, this could indicate cells turning atypical.  I was told I needed to have a stereotactic biopsy.  I put if off and didn't want to do it.  Then my doctor's office called and told me I needed to get it scheduled because it was urgent.  Okay. Okay.  I didn't want to do it during the nestlings spring break, so by the time I had it done it had been two weeks from my special views mammogram. 

The husbird decided to put off a long business trip in May and applying to go back to school, not knowing what would be found when I had the biopsy.  We prayed a lot and tried to have faith in whatever the outcome would be.

When you think you might have cancer life comes into focus.  Everything becomes clearer. The little moments in life mean more. Clipping my four year old nails isn't a chore anymore. I feel grateful that I get to hold his little hands in mine and as I clip each nail think about his mischievous adventures as I notice dirt under some of them.  Reading books to my seven year old is more enjoyable than ever.  I see my children through different eyes.  I'm more loving, patient, and kind.  I appreciate my husbands efforts more.  It's sad that it takes a cancer scare to enjoy life more, but I think everyone goes through periods of life where we take it for granted.

The kids went back to school and the day of my biopsy arrived.  The procedure was no day at the beach.  It was painful and uncomfortable, but I got through it.  Though when I got home I wondered why they told me to take it easy for a couple of days because I felt fine.  Well, I was totally numb.  As soon as the numbness wore off, about an hour later, I knew why.  I was so sore and swollen I didn't want to move at all.  A constant ache became my friend.  When I expected and thought I'd feel better than I did, I had to remind myself that I had tissue removed from my body.  Ouch.

While we waited for the results my emotions were as tender as my biopsy site. I could hardly take the not knowing anymore.  I looked up breast cancer info on the web and started watching youtube videos of women dying with breast cancer.  When the husbird found out he promptly squashed (discouraged) any youtube watching, because I was becoming an emotional wreck.  I was thrown into a whole new world, a world of breast cancer.  One I knew existed, but I kept my distance from because I could.  Not anymore, because that could be me.  I could have breast cancer.  A hard reality to face, but one I had to consider.

After two very long days the hospital called to tell me everything is fine, no cancer was found, come back next year for a regular mammogram.  Relief and gratitude flooded my heart.  

If you are a woman and haven't gotten a mammogram here is your wake up call.  Do yourself a favor, get one.  If not for yourself do it for your family.  They need you.

I just know if I got news that I had cancer, for me, the world would have stopped spinning for a moment and life as I know it would have been turned upside down.  I can't help but think about the women that get bad news.  I know there are many.  My thoughts and prayers are with them as they fight for their life battling cancer.  

Dinner and a Movie...

are the husbirds favorite things to do on a date.  They're not mine, but I love him and I'll do just about anything to spend some alone time with him,  so we go to dinner and a movie occasionally. Even with built in babysitters it feels like a small miracle when we make it out on a date.  Tonight was especially crazy since I had just gotten back from taking T to an eye appointment and I still needed to shower, make dinner for the kids (chicken quesadillas), and round up and say good bye to each of the kids friends when their parents came to pick them up.

     (Baby "G" wearing his sisters scarf, holding a sucker, and asking me to take pictures of him in all the glasses he was trying on while waiting for the eye doctor to see "T")

As I was blow drying my hair "D" asked me, "Why do you and Daddy still go on dates if you're already married?"  
I told him, "Because it helps us stay in love."
 
I let out a long sigh as I sat down in the car and it rolled down the driveway.  I smiled at the husbird, happy for pulling off what felt almost impossible, a date with my man.

We don't pay "A" to babysit.  I usually just bring her back some left over food from our dinner as a little thank you.  She loves it.  Tonight I brought the other kids some mini candy canes I bought after Christmas that I'd been hiding in the car.  I love when small things make them happy.  Maybe I'll make it a tradition to bring them all a little treat, because then they'll look forward to and encourage (stretching) the husbird and I going on dates.  I'll try anything to make it easier.

One of my favorite dates, if you want to know, would involve a low key dinner, possibly Cafe Rio, probably wandering the aisles of a book store or a trip to a lighting, plumbing, or flooring store to pick out items for the basement, and for sure a large dose of attention and affection from my man.  

Dating takes a major effort at this stage of life, but I love the closeness I feel with the husbird after a date.  I won't mention how I feel when we walk in the door from a date and it looks like a toy bomb exploded.  Ughhh.  Can you relate?