Wait a minute....

Today we decided to take the family tubing for the first time this winter. There was snow from our storm yesterday and we had brand new tubes that our family had got for Christmas. It seemed like a perfect idea, but as with most perfect ideas things didn't go as smoothly as planned. First, I told the kids to get dressed in layers. I even explained what kind of layers..2 layers of pj bottoms and then a top layer of levis. My oldest child thinks that her mother doesn't know anything..an affliction I'm afraid I'm going to have to deal with for many more years...so she put on 3 layers of pj bottoms and then tries to squeeze into the tightest pair of levis that she owns. I mean these pants are painted on when there are no layers, but with layers I was surprised she could walk. So I pointed out that these pants were perhaps two sizes too small, to which she replied that she had plenty of room and proceeded to pout. Since the pants were already mostly on, I helped stuff her the rest of the way in and buttoned them with extreme caution. After everyone was dressed we gathered our hats, gloves, and scarves, pumped up the new tubes, and loaded into the car. It is about a 30 minute drive up the mountain and since there was snow here in town we decided to check out the hills by our house and see if they were tubing material. Bayden spied what appeared to be a great hill, so he got the tube out of the car and trekked up to the top. We of course were watching from the car with the windows rolled down, cheering him on with a long loud honk! As he climbed onto the tube, I knew instantly that there was going to be trouble, but it was too late to stop him. He pushed off and started down the hill. About halfway down, his arms and legs began flailing and the tube took a sudden turn off the nice snowy path. As he plummetted to the bottom of the hill, he was stopped suddenly by a very large and very unforgiving "wait-a-minute" bush! For us in the car this was a very funny site and of course we laughed until we saw our flat tube emerge from the bush followed by a not very happy Bayden. (For those of you reading this who were on the Christmas tree expedition you will understand how hard I was laughing) I got out and went to make sure that nothing, besides the tube, was broken. He wasn't broken, but he was very scratched up. What makes this story priceless is the run in with the bush...this is the second run in with those bushes in the last two months, one ending with ripped pants and bottom and the other ending with a brand new popped tube and several scratches. Needless to say, he was not happy! We spent the next hour seaching for a new tube, patching the broken one, and cheering up the driver. We finally made it up the mountain with 3 great tubes and one slightly flat one. The snow was amazing and extremely deep..I was afraid we were going to lose Kenna in a drift. We made a great snow trail for the tubes and spent the next hour playing in the snow. It was great and the best ride was the slightly flat tube! After we finished, we all peeled off our wet layer of clothes so the ride home would be dry and comfortable. As I was taking off my overalls, I hear the words that so many moms love to hear.."Mom, I think you were right" Kaytlyns pants were stuck on her and it took tugging on both legs, while she held the tops of her jammies so she didn't moon her brothers, to get them off! After all that it turned out to be a fabulous snowy day!

Snow Day!

I love it when it snows! It is a great excuse to stay inside bundled up reading a book or doing a puzzle or taking a nap! Of course, if you are a child the snow is a great excuse to go outside and get really frozen so that your loving mom can brew you some hot chocolate! That is exactly what my boys and my nephew decided to do on this wonderful snowy day. The girls stayed indoors napping and puzzling and still got in on the hot cocoa train...pretty crafty if you ask me. Anyways the boys built an amazing snowman complete with a broccoli nose and hair..(don't judge we were out of carrots), after that one thing led to another and they ended up tackling and snowballing one another while I laughed and took pictures.

Now what?

Ahhh...so Christmas is over, and the New Year is just around the corner and I am sitting here wondering where the days went? I feel as though the Christmas holiday passed me over and I'm not entirely sure I was even there. I wonder if I will ever learn to just live in the moment? It seems like I am always waiting and worrying about the next thing, and never truly enjoying the moments that I have. I am usually not very good at setting New Year goals and resolutions, they have often had to do with losing weight and are quit within a few months. This year I want to set a goal to live in my moments. I want to enjoy my life and the blessings I have been given. But how does one do that? How do you go from living for the next moment to simply living in the moment? An article called, "The Art of Now: Six steps to living in the moment" by Jay Dixit has some great ideas. The full article can be found here: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200810/the-art-now-six-steps-living-in-the-moment
My interpretation of these six steps are:
1. To improve your performance stop thinking about it..unselfconciousness
The article talks about losing yourself in the music if you are dancing. It is about living without constantly wondering what others are thinking of your efforts.
2. To avoid worrying about the future, focus on the present...savoring
Do I savor life? Do I truly enjoy the cookies I baked, or the chocolate I am eating? How about the laughs and giggles in my house? Am I so worried about what to have for dinner, that I forget to savor my breakfast? This step is about savoring the moments, I wonder if chocolate tastes different when savored?
3. If you want a future with your significant other, inhabit the present...breathe
Inhabiting the present gives you more control over your life. It allows you to take a step back from a situation, breathe, and then say to yourself, "I am experiencing an emotion, what should I do about it." Focusing on your breathing propels you into the now and has a powerful effect on the way you deal with others.
4. To make the most of time, lose track of it...flow
Flow happens when you are so engrossed in an activity that you lose track of time. This signifies a not a loss of time, but time that is being so well spent that you are truly living in those moments.
5. If something is bothering you move towards it rather than away from it...acceptance
I tend to pull away when a situation is bothering me. I am non-confrontational and prefer to just ignore situations that are tense. This step implies that the best moments to learn about ourselves are the ones where we are inclined to back away. The article says that when we avoid our feelings, we create new feelings about our avoidance. The best way to combat these unnecessary feelings is to accept the things we cannot change.
6. Know that you don't know
This step is about turning off the autopilot in our life and opening our eyes to new experiences, scenes, smells, and sights. It is about noticing the now. The article talks about driving to work and not remembering the drive at all, zoning out and just running on autopilot. Life passes us by when we allow the autopilot to take over.

Living in the moment is not about getting to a destination, it is about realizing that this is it. This moment, as I sit in my semi-comfortable chair I can hear my kids running through the house, I can feel the breeze from my ceiling fan on my arms. I can feel the keys beneath my fingertips. I can feel my breath as it fills my lungs and I can feel my chest fall as that breath is exhaled. I am alive and living in this moment and I am happy. What more do I need?

On the first day of Christmas...

In 1897, eight year old Virginia wrote to her local newspaper and asked if there was a Santa Clause. The touching response has become a popular Christmas story and is indeed one of my personal favorites. Francis Church wrote, "Virginia, your little friends are wrong. Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Clause. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Clause. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias."

I believe in the spirit of Santa Clause. Just recently, my children and I chose a child off the giving tree at one of the grocery stores. My children asked if they could shop for this child so he could have a wonderful Christmas. It was amazing to watch how excited they were to shop for someone they didn't know, and Kenna kept telling me that "He was gonna love it!" As I stood on the aisle watching my children be Santa Clause for another human being, I was humbled by their immediate willingness to give. It was a teaching moment, them teaching me, that yes, there is a Santa Clause. He comes in all shapes and sizes, male and female. Santa Clause is present in every loving act of service we provide for someone else. It is sometimes easy to get all wrapped up in the commercialism of Santa Clause forgetting that underneath that red suit and white beard, Santa is the spirit of true giving. I believe!

Jaxson turns 9

Jaxson turned 9 today!! Having his birthday around Thanksgiving means that we get to celebrate with lots of family every year! This year his birthday was the day after Thanksgiving and we were in Park City at the Mariott with the Grover's. It was a great day!! Aunt Hayley made a wonderful chocolate cake, and Gram-E made Jax his very own lemon pie! We played fun games with the cousins and opened presents...Jax's favorite was from Aunt Kami and Uncle Kai..a brand new basketball!! He also got a CD player and music from Gram-E and Papa. We also celebrated Jax's birthday with my side of the family..so we had double the cake and double the fun!! We all went Christmas tree hunting and then came back and had a small party for the birthday boy! All in all, he had a great birthday! Jax is a wonderful little boy who is growing up way too fast for his mom. He is caring and sensitive. He always seems to have a kind word to say or is quick to make someone feel better. Jaxson makes us very proud every day! We have been very proud of his accomplishments in school and in scouting this year! Happy Birthday Jaxson!!

Happy Halloween!!

I openly admit that Halloween is not my favorite holiday...in fact I really do hate it. I mean for starters we always end up with soooo much candy!! 4 kids x 4 very full candy bags=stomach aches, gained weight, toothaches, and sugar highs..and those are just the side effects for Bayden!! And then there is the costume issue...it can get pretty expensive, lucky for me I have good kids who were more than happy to recycle some of our old costumes and they really did turn out pretty cute. This year, Kaytlyn was an evil sorceress, Jax and Wyatt were rodeo clowns, and Kenna was the cutest dang cow this side of the Rio Grande! We spent the first part of the night at the ward/town trunk or treat. It was the first time Fredonia has had a trunk or treat and it was AWESOME!! We participated in the Chili cookoff..(didn't win, but our chili was great) and the costume parade, and we also decorated Bayden's trunk for the Marshal's office contribution...it was pretty spooky!

Where is my bedroom?

It occurred to me today that there has been a major injustice in my life....I no longer have a bedroom. I mean, I still have a room with a bed, my clothes, and my bathroom, but seriously it's not reallIy mine. It is apparant that my entire house is being run my small people and I am left scratching my head and wondering what on earth has happened.

It all began on a cold January morning..January 21, 1999 to be exact. The day that our first daughter was born. She was so precious then. Little did I know that just 10 years later she would be leading the great invasion into my bedroom. It all happened very innocently. I just wanted to be a good mom. I wanted my children to always feel welcome and safe and happy in our home. So I have always just allowed my children to come and go from my bedroom. As a result, they don't feel the need to knock before entering my not-so sacred bedroom. You would think that a closed door would at least make them hesitate, but this breed of invaders only sees the door as an obstacle that must be conquered. In fact, Bayden and I can be sitting in our bedroom with the door open and they make no act to infiltrate, but the second that door closes..it is like they know that the grownups are seeking privacy. That closed door has just become a challenge...A challenge that says "who can get passed me first?" For obvious reasons, I have had to resort to locking the bedroom door..even just to go potty! What happens when the Invaders are stopped by a locked door you ask? Well to be honest you would think there was a natural disaster in the house with all the wailing and whining. I always have to remind myself that no one is actually being ripped apart by bears on the other side of the locked door...it just sounds like it. After they recover from the initial shock of encountering the locked door, the banging and yelling begins..."MOOOOM...MOM...MOMMMM...MMMMMOOOOMMM!!!" Again, I am always tempted to answer their shrieks, but no...I have to look in the mirror and repeat the phrase.."I am an adult, and I can go potty by myself." Just when I think they have given up and I have won...they switch to different tactics...they lay on the floor and peek under while wailing and sticking their fingers under the door wiggling them pathetically...it is like the disturbing scene from Signs only worse, they aren't aliens they are my CHILDREN!!! All this has just been a mild disturbance in the house , something we have been dealing with...but today was the last straw! Today, I was just wiping the sleep from my eyes when my door is pushed open by the Commander of the Invasion..Kaytlyn. This is a daily occurance because apparantly my bathroom is far more superior to hers..(A fact that I can hardly blame her for, she has two brothers...need I say more?) Usually she heads right for the bathroom to beautify herself, but this morning she stopped at my dresser, opened the drawer and began rifling through MY stuff! I was speechless for about 20 seconds, and then I asked her what she was looking for...Ok, so here is where I subconciously acknowledge that there is a problem, because what I should have said is "What in the heck do you think you are doing?" She turned to me and said, "Socks, I am out of socks so I am going to wear yours." I still have not recovered my senses enough to reply to this comment and she is probably still wearing my socks. I have been defeated...I have been invaded. My bedroom is not my own and neither are my socks.

The moral of this particular story is "Payback is a Beast" I just want to take this moment to let my own mother know how very sorry I am for not respecting her privacy, stealing her socks, wearing her shoes, using her makeup and various other misdeeds that shall go unmentioned....you deserved your own room, Mom!
Perhaps someday I will gain back control of my bedroom territory from these pint sized invaders, but for now I will just have to keep fighting the good fight because in their world, mom's don't have their own bedrooms, or their own socks, and privacy is just a figment of my imagination!!

Mommy's little Helper

I spent the afternoon cleaning the house and I told my kids that they could help or they could play outside while I cleaned. Kaytlyn was at a friends house and the boys wasted no time getting out the door. But Kenna decided she wanted to be my helper. So she picked up, and threw away trash, and then spent quite a bit of time dusting furniture. More specifically she spent alot of time dusting the kitchen chairs. When her dad sat in one of the chairs and "made noise" like dads sometimes do, her reaction was total disgust as she said to him, "EWWWW, DAD, I just cleaned those!" I love this age!!

Kenna's moves!!

All my kids like to dance around, but Kenna thoroughly enjoys bustin a move! Here is a small portion of her dancing skills that leave our Grover family laughing hysterically!

Kenna's Moves

Like OMG...LOL!!

As most of you know I spend some time at the public schools interacting with students on a daily basis. Today was no different from any other day, except that I had a little down time while I was waiting for some kids. I was sitting next to a group of girls and this was their conversation...
"Like, OMG, can you believe that teacher! She was so rude!"
"LOL, I can't believe you got kicked out of class again."

I am pretty up to date on the texting business, I send an occasional text myself, however the more I thought about this converstaion the funnier it got. When I was a teenager and I thought something was funny, I laughed out loud, but these teens resisted that urge and instead said "LOL" Teens today speak in code...so much code that I don't even begin to understand. So in an effort to become more hip and in the know, I did a little research on text messaging abbreviations. Here are some of my favorites...

YTG--Your the greatest...this is what I will be telling my husband when he makes dinner.

JAM--Just a minute...this is what I will be telling my kids when I am trying to go potty in private and their need for a snack is more important than my need to relieve myself.

MNC--Mother nature calls--pretty self explanitory

YWHNB--Yes, we have no bananas--my reason for going to the grocery store

KUTGW--Keep up the good work--What I will be telling my students at school

YYSSW--Yeah Yeah Sure Sure Whatever--What I will be saying when my students at school tell me that are all caught up and getting straight A's

WDALYIC--Who died and left you in charge?...This is the code I will use for someone being extremely bossy...if I say this to you, I am sure I don't mean it...

WOMBAT--Waste of money, brains, and time...What I am currently thinking about my decision to go back to school.

UDS--Ugly domestic scene...This code will be used to describe my house on a daily basis.

TNSTAAFL--There's no such thing as a free lunch...I'm not entirely sure when to use this...but I am SCHID that there is even a code for that...(See below for definition of SCHID)

SMHID--Scratching my head in disbelief--This is the code I am using to describe the fact that there are literally hundreds of uncracked codes left to be researched on http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp

SNERT--Snot nosed egotistical teenager--Well with my job I'm sure I will find a good time to use this one.

and my all time favorite...

SWMBO--She who must be obeyed...I am thinking of having my children refer to me by this instead of mom, who knows I may get more results!!

Trashed

So I missed a great photo op with this story...you will all have to use your imagination. Picture a clean kitchen, with the dishes done and the food from dinner put away...have you got the picture yet? The lights are off, and the kids have finally gone to bed. The only things stirring in the house are myself, and my "sweet" dogs. I was sitting in my comfy chair browsing facebook, when I heard a loud crash come from the kitchen....a crash I have heard many times before, it is the sound that the garbage can makes when it hits the floor. Why do you ask is the garbage can mysteriously tipping over by itself...did gravity fail?...No...I jump out of my chair, stumbling in my fury and thinking to myself as I march into the kitchen that I better slow down before I fall, but too mad to listen to reason. I am on a mission..a mission to spank a very naughty white male dog. I am certain that it is him that has tipped the trash and ran out the doggy door seeking safety from my angry stomping. As I fling the door open, I call his name so he can have moments to regret the tipping...but he is no where to be found...no, instead I am horrified by the sight before me. Picture a small shitzu poodle, trying to look innocent while her snout is stuck in the hamburger wrapper that she pulled from the trash can debri. And as I sit there, staring at my very naughty dog, Koda, the dog I thought had caused the commotion, comes out the door and sits on the step looking at me as if to say.."Well, its about time you figured out who is causing all the trouble in this house."

Plankton, Kenna has the crabby patty recipe...

Watch out Plankton, here comes Kenna!! It was a typical day in Fredonia, when Kenna was sent outside to play instead of watching Spongebob..(not really a fan of the yellow sponge) A few minutes later she returned with a big smile on her face and a wadded up piece of trash in her hand. When I asked what she was doing the following conversation occured:

"Kenna, why are you back in the house?"
"Mom, you are going to be soooooo happy!"
"Really, why?"
"Because I found you a recipe. Now you don't have to worry about dinner."
"A recipe huh, let me see."
At this point my daughter handed me the wadded up piece of paper. I opened it and saw nothing that resembled a recipe, but decided to play along. So I said:
"What is it that we are making? What is the recipe?"
"It's for crabby patties."
"Crabby patties, I've never had those before. How do we make it? You read me the recipe."
So Kenna took the "recipe" from me and stood looking over the paper very carefully and then she said...(Pay attention Plankton, here is the recipe you've been dying to get your hands on)
"Well, you need bread, and turkey, and cheese, and lettuce and tomato. Then the cheese formula is bread to bread, turkey to turkey, cheese to cheese, and bacon bacon. It will be sooo yummy!!"
Needless to say, we went shopping and had "crabby patties" for lunch the next day!!

Happy 4th of July

The 4th of July festivities in Fredonia were awesome, as usual. We started the day with a fantastic small town parade complete with the Grover clan and Johna riding horses in the parade...No, we weren't the only entries, but we did win money!! The Fredonia Killer Whales swim team also made an appearance, as well as a great red tractor, and Kati in the fire truck. Kaytlyn wanted to sit the sidelines and catch candy this year so she isn't in any of the pictures, instead she gathered parade candy and put it in the bottom of my purse for a rainy day! After the parade we met Kami, Kai, and the kids at the park for a great afternoon of eating, visiting, and swimming! Bayden did the dutch oven potatoes for the big city dinner..they were yummy as usual..then we watched fireworks with the Lukus and Heaton Families. All in all it was a fantastic 4th of July...I am grateful for all our freedoms!

Popsicle sticks, wrappers, and kids...OH my!

I came to a conclusion today about my children...it doesn't matter how many times I ask them, or how many garbage cans are strategically placed in the yard, they are not going to throw away their popsicle wrappers and sticks. So every day we have the same conversation..."Mom, can we have a popsicle?" "Sure, when you pick up your trash from yesterday." "Ok"...45 minutes later, with the trash picked up, they are finally able to enjoy their frozen flavored ice, and the minute they are finished licking the sticks somewhat clean, they drop them on the ground thus continuing the crazy popsicle cycle. I'm starting to wonder if they have made a secret deal with the ants camped outside my back door. The solution to this problem seems so simple..stop buying popsicles, which I have threatened to do multiple times, but alas, what are summer days without a refreshing popsicle? And so, we will continue to do daily battle in an effort to not clutter my yard with popsicle trash, while still allowing my children to truly enjoy the small delights in life!!

Family Garden

We planted a garden about a month ago..corn, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and beans. As of today, the beans are gone..they were overtaken by weeds, and Bayden decided to commit "beanicide" by tilling them up, saying there was nothing we could do to save them...very tragic. While assessing the damage done by the weeds, we made a startling discovery...the squash plants are apparantly having an identity crisis. We bought them from the nursery in a 6-pack plastic things with a stick that said "yellow squash"...the nursery guy also confirmed that they were indeed yellow squash plants...however they are producing zucchini. So we have no squash plants and 8 zucchini plants. For those of you who know about zucchini, one plant will produce enough to feed my whole family all summer long...what in the world am I going to do with 8? So I began browsing the internet in hopes of finding some recipes for zucchini...the Grover house will be serving the following on a daily basis for the entire summer...stop by if your hungry... zucchini bread, zucchini cookies, baked zucchini, stuffed zucchini, zucchini brownies, zucchini and rice casserole, zucchini frittata, zucchini omelets, zucchini pancakes, zucchini a'la mode...I'll stop now because I'm starting to sound like Bubba from Forest Gump.
I actually made zucchini bread and zucchini brownies and used only 2 zucchinis...the bread was good...the brownies were absolutely divine!! It is entirely too bad that the weeds can't seem to choke out a few zucchini plants. Perhaps they will meet the same tragic end as the beans...

Jacob Hamblin Days 2009

The kids participated in the Jacob Hamblin Day's rodeo on Saturday June 20th...Jax and Wyatt won 1st and 2nd in barrels and poles for their age group. Then the Grover team, Kaytlyn, Jax, and Wyatt, won 3rd in the team barrel race. Kenna also participated and did really good! We also watched Aunt Ali do barrels on Pedro and she was fantastic!!

Later that night, we went to the Ranch rodeo to watch the kids ride wild sheep and cheer for Bayden who was on a ranch team called the "Not-so Cowboys." The sheep ride was hilarious, Kenna rode and when she fell off she came up laughing! Wyatt changed his mind while getting ready to go, but it was too late. Instead, he gracefully dove off the side of the sheep face first into the dirt. Jax stayed on and did really well. No injuries so mom was very happy!! After the sheep riding, we watched as Bayden's team tried their hardest (while we laughed our hardest) to wrangle, wrestle, and even ride those wild cows. They did pretty good, 2nd to last place I believe, and it was loads of fun watching them. Next year I may even have to get out my spurs and boots and give the rodeo a try!!

Petting Zoo...??

Bayden is gone again today...yesterday he and Kaytlyn drove to Salt Lake to pick up his new police truck. Today he is off to Flagstaff to go to a NACOG meeting for the Headstart, the crime lab, and then tommorrow he has Grand Jury...In the meantime, I am taking care of the house and all it's inhabitants. We are babysitting Devin's dog, a pitbull named Callie. She wants to play and my other dogs are unwilling...good thing Wyatt likes her. It feels like a zoo at my house...when the creatures outnumber the people you know there is a problem!!

Learning how to blog

A friend of mine told me I needed a blogspot...so here it is!! It should be rather interesting to see if I am any better at blogging than I am at journaling. I just got home from a four day scrapbooking retreat with awesome friends and amazing projects! It was really fun, but I am super tired and need a weekend to recover. The kids were happy to see me and then they were happy to go to bed. They spent the weekend playing with their Nana and Aunts in St. George..they went to Jumpin Jacks, the park, the movie UP in 3-D, and swimming...I don't think they really missed me at all. Bayden missed me, he had a very busy police weekend and is still recovering from being an only parent for 4 days...but he is a sweetheart for letting me go! I spent the morning cleaning my dirty house, and helping my kids brush up on math, reading, and writing...I don't want them forgetting all they learned in school, and now I am creating a blog...very busy day!!