October

Denali had his last follow up for his appendix. 100% cleared to go back to 100% normal activity. He has come out stronger, I guess what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.

Job, or lack thereof. The answer I got from praying was your family must come first but this is up to you. (I hate it when it is up to me). However last time I went in they said I was a Tony Problem, and they would get in touch with me, Nothing!  However, this is how the lord works with your family comes first. On my original start date, Azalyn threw up all night. Then the whole house preceded to get a 24 flu bug. Azalyn and Colvin had it the worst, Followed by Denali. I just got a migraine and somehow Greg avoided it. I was home to snuggle and rub backs. And disinfect

Talk about cleaning. Here is a laugh or cry story. One morning I was making waffles for the kids. I opened the cupboard to get Nutella and Peanut butter when 10+ cans of Pepsi fell from the 10 foot top shelf and landed then exploded ALL over my white kitchen. It took about an hour to clean the more visible of the soda. I found it on my 12+ feet ceiling. I had to give Greg a hard time, but I was in shock then laughed. I got the opportunity to go and clean the temple at night. Our ward gets one chance a year. They asked for 16 volunteers, we had 15, so it went really fast. No matter what you are doing in the temple there is a sweet spirit.  With the spirit, just do it if you have a thought. One day I did not want to get out of bed and the thought came just serve. I made caramel popcorn and delivered it. It was so fun just chatting with other women.

Kids and School. Colvin was grabbed by a kid that left marks on his chest, within an hour I had 2 different phone calls from the school. That night I had 2 emails from the school making sure he was alright. Colvin was fine he said the boy was jealous because Colvin got the highest score, and he wanted the highest score. Then Denali came home with marks on his arm from a kid in his class. I texted the teacher and he texted me back at 10PM to let me know how sorry he was, and it would be taken care of first thing in the morning. I know my kids are taken care of.  I was talking to the kids about field trips one morning. I told them that because I did not have a VIP card, I could not go on most field trips. Denali said, “mom it is not money it is memories.” Started the process to get my card.

Talking about field trips: I was able to go with Azalyn to a pumpkin patch. She had so much fun running around with her friends. Most awkward day because Azalyn’s friend dad came so we had to hang out together. Then at the end Azalyn begged me for her friends number. Yep, I had to ask a man (father) for his number. He was sweet and gave it to me. Greg cannot die I DO NOT want to go back on the awkward dating market.

Colvin got student of the month. I had not told him, he was so excited when he spotted us in the crowd. (it was the day after Greg’s procedure, so he got to come to)

LOVE: this is what love really looks like. I broke my iPod and was trying to fix it (I really don’t like apple products) I had to replace the screen and the LCD screen. Greg was trying to help me and broke a cord. I was like Dang now I have to fix that and he thew it away. He knew my OCD would make me want to tear out more hair than I already had. He LOVES me! Another way to show love is Greg got the snip. We are mentally and emotionally done trying. He was sore for a few days, but he said it was not too bad. It was a faster recovery than I would have had. Tangent about the doctor’s office: To make a long story short I have never worked with an office that was so BAD, between the two of us we left more than a dozen messages and not once got a call back. One more way to show love, one night I was hurting and not feeling good. Could not sleep. Greg sang me to sleep.

During conference we were having our windows replaced (tangent- we ended up getting ALL our windows replaced and I can totally feel a difference. We took the blinds from down stairs into our bedroom. The Front room does not get hot, with the old windows the blinds would get hot to the touch and don’t even think about opening them unless you wanted to be cooked.) Ok back to conference we had people here, but the kids were determined to get their presents. Denali and Colvin put subtitles on and watched for the words; God, Heavenly father, Holy Ghost. They earned their candy. One thing I did get out of it, think 10 years ahead. No thank you, there is a 99% chance I will only have one teenager at home.

Imagine Dragons: Greg bought tickets for him and the boys about 6ms ago. When we sold the first puppy. It was TIME! Azalyn was very sad that she did not get to go but I tried to make the day fun for her. We cut her hair (she wanted it a lot shorter). Then we went and picked up food and ice cream. I stopped at a park to play with her. Then we watched the best chick flick ever, “Girls just want to have fun.” BOYS: picked up food, then it was singing time. They had a great time. They all sang till they lost their voice. Gregs back hurt because it was a standing dancing concert the whole time. Memories were made by all. At the concert the merch was $$$. I got on line got the same tour “T” Loom 2024 with tour dates for like $10. Hoodies for about $15. Just a tip don’t buy merch at the concert.

The main reason I put my kids into charter schools is the uniform. I don’t have to fight about what to wear in the morning. Once a year I am reminded about that during spirt week. We had decade day, and I thought it was beach day, so we not only had a fast change but a fast non uniform change. It was lucky that 80’s bright colors are in style and Denali has a short outfit. Colvin, I had him wear Denali jeans LOW with Dads shirt. He totally pulled off the 90’s (he hated that his pants tried to fall off all day.). Then Azalyn put her hair in a side pony.

Family NEWS: Ralayna is getting married Dec 14^th. There will be a whole blog post dedicated to the wedding. I am so happy for her, she is so happy.

At the beginning of the school year, I made a chart for Azalyn. She wanted to earn a jumping place. She had to get out of the car without crying to earn a mark. Her chart has been full for a while but with medical issues it was now. The place we went to was small. I was really disappointed at first, but we stayed for 5 hours. They had a zipline and a rope course that my kids loved.

I have been making new rubber band bracelets. Denali and Greg have been playing their DND game.  Colvin, Azalyn and I watch a movie and make rubber band bracelet.

We did an allergy test on Azalyn. She was not a fan, I did not tell her they were going to poke her. Just for the record there was nothing major on her test. For the reward she wanted McDonald because she wanted a croc. When we went, they had no more crocs. Talking about medical, it was dentist time. Azalyn, they had to pull a tooth, and she did not move. Denali was almost in a panic walking into the office, he hates needles. He decided that maybe flossing was not a bad thing.

Spring break: We did not do a whole lot and stayed home, it was wonderful. We all just needed the time to relax. The kids have this new goal to bike to the lib. However, we biked to WINCO, and I am not sure my heart could take it all the way to the library. The boys never look back, and parking lots are not a free for all, cars still have the right of way. I slept outside with the boys. Azalyn stayed out side for about 45min then said it was too hot and went inside with Dad. Me and the boys did get rained out at 5:30AM. The office was really nice for a few hours. We found a park in Good Year, it was the biggest park we have found in Arizona. We ended up going twice. (We also discovered Good year has a rec center, but you have to be a residence of Good Year) Looks like we are going to have to make friends.

The primary had a multi-stake primary devotional. We had to drive to Scottsdale. One of the questions they asked was: if Heavenly Father was standing in front of you what would you ask him, Colvin: how can I be better. The drive was fun just me and Colvin and I made him talk to me.

Now that my kids are all in school, and I don’t see a job in the future (because family comes first) I have started going to the temple more. I love doing initiatory. Blessing of the temple is not that everything works out BUT I don’t have as much stress because working through my issues. I have also been indexing again. Your family can never have too many angels looking out for them. There are crazy blessings all the time. One Saturday Denali was scheduled for an interview at the church. Greg took him and for some reason his interview did not go on the schedule, BUT there was only one family cleaning the church and they needed help. Greg came home and picked us up and we helped clean the church.

We had our primary program, and it really is the best part of the year.  The best part was the Young Men and Young Women sang Called to serve with the primary. Yes, I cried. Colvin gave the closing prayer. Funny Story; Mom watched it on Zoom and shut if off right as the bishop got up to speak and missed the prayer.

Trunk or Treat and Halloween:  Greg was in charge of a booth; he did color your own bookmarks. I was in charge of snow cones. The result of that was very few pictures at the actual event. However, my kids came home with tons of candy. Greg was Joker, I was Harley Quinn, Denali was Pro. Egag (from Luigi Mansion) Colvin was Luigi from Luigi Mansion, Azalyn was a lady Bug. We had a great time. Then for Halloween the kids and I went to a community truck or treat, then with Greg we went around our neighborhood for about an hour. Greg got home really late so for Halloween he was a money man!

The kids have reminded me all year that we have to carve pumpkins. Colvin decided he was NOT a fan because he hated the fell of the guts. Azlyn used her charm on her dad to clean out her pumpkin, but she carved it all on her own. Denali was big and did it ALL! I harvested pumpkin seeds. Memories!

I read a self-help book about being honest with yourself. The hard truth. Here is mine for all my family: I fight darkness and demons every day. However, I have lights I can turn on too. Greg, my kids and most of all my heavenly father. Sometimes I don’t even know how to ask for help, I simply say HELP on my knees. It is hard to fight but it is worth it.