Don't Want to do It

I have to admit, our christmas tree is still up!!! We took down all the outside decorations but I just cannot seem to find the energy to undecorate it and put everything away. It is getting embarrassing as the kids keep asking if we are going to have it up all year!! Hmm..... there is a thought:)
On a more positive note, my kindergartener is really starting to read!! It is so exciting to watch him learn the word and then still be able to recognize it when we go back to it later. His eyes just light up and you can see his brain working overtime:) Colton is growing up so fast-cracks me up that he is coming home from school calling everyone "dude". I am glad he is coming out of his shell. This is my child that cried for 2 days straight when Camryn came home from the hospital after being born. He was only 22 months old and still wanted to be the baby. Camryn was in the NICU the whole time after her birth as she was very jaundiced and her bilirubin levels just would not come down. So when the kids came to the hospital to see me, they did not get to see their new sister. I think it would have helped Colton to see her at the hospital and not just have mom come home with a new baby in her arms. Thankfully, they are the best of friends now! Colton is also very stubborn. The first day of preschool he just sat on the same spot of the floor and told his teacher "no" for everything and anything. He went to the same preschool for 2 years and that little stinker would not count for his teacher at all! He would come home and count but not at school. Now he counts at school with no problem. He is my child that wants to do things his way on his own time schedule. Was the same way with potty training and getting him out of his crib. He would not do either of those things until he decided it was his decision. I am just praying that Heavenly Father blessed him with a stubborn streak so that when he has tough decisions to make later in life, he will make the right ones!
Well, I guess I should get started on taking down the tree before Valentine's Day arrives:)

Happy Anniversary

It is our 15 year wedding anniversary. It is amazing how time flies. It seems just like yesterday that we were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Washington, DC temple. Even though I live just a few miles from the Arizona temple, the DC temple remains my favorite to this day.
I remember getting up early to get ready for the big day. I was so excited as I did my hair, put on my makeup and putting my wedding dress in the dress bag. It was about a 45 minute drive to the temple from our home in Dale City, Virginia. To top it off, it was sleeting ice that day. Virginia is always fun as you never know if you are going to get snow or black ice! My poor mom was sick and had been for the 2 weeks I had been home. The doctors tried to hospitalize her but she would not do it. My mom stubborn? Never:) I did talk the doctors into giving her IV fluids one of the trips to Kaiser. Anyway, it was amazing how my parents ward and friends pulled together for our family. We had enough meals delivered that I think my parents were eating them for weeks to come. My dad had the fun of going with me to buy shoes, pantyhose, etc. I am sure that must have been fun for him! I was blessed to have my family there and Rich's family that flew in from Arizona. My best friend, Jill Salyers, made all my flowers and wedding bouquet. I still have them to this day-they still are as beautiful as the day I had them.
I rode with my Dad to the temple and my mom was driven up in a separate car. They did this so Rich and I could have our own car to drive back after being married. It was sleeting and the sky was dark. But I was so excited to finally marry Rich that I did not care about the weather (we dated for 4 years-whole other story!). Rich had spent the night with his best man at a hotel. I had just prayed they would not get lost getting to the temple as neither of them were from Virginia. Rich's uncle, Richard Lee, also lived in Virginia and took charge of getting Rich's family to the temple. The temple was radiantly white even with all the sleet and dark weather.
We ended up being the only couple being married in the temple that day due to weather. Usually the DC temple is always busy as it is the temple for so many areas. But this day was different as there was hardly a soul there. I absolutely loved the fact that it was not full. What fun to have the temple almost all to your self on your wedding day!!
My bridesmaids helped me get dressed in my beautiful dress as my mom was still not feeling well, so we had her sitting down so that she could make it through the rest of the day. It was an awesome feeling to put on the dress and temple clothing. We then got to go into the main room to wait for the sealer to come get us and our guests. It was an awesome feeling to kneel across the altar from my soon to be husband. I think he was more nervous than I was! First the sealer had a talk with us, which is custumary in temple weddings. He sure did talk for a long time as there were no other weddings that day. The one thing that stuck out to me and still does was he said when you have your children make sure that you pray that you have brought each one down that is supposed to be in your family. I was ready to be done after number 3 boy, but each time I went to the temple we both knew there were more. We are blessed to have listened and have Colton and Camryn in our family. We would have missed out on them if we had not listened to the sweet sealer's advice. We finally were married and sealed. Both Rich and I were crying when we looked into each others eyes and made our covenants.
We then had a luncheon at a restaurant. That was lots of fun and we were all being very silly at that point. We then had a little down time before the reception. We had decorated the hall the night before so that things would be ready. The reception hall was set next to a lake and we decorated very simply with candles. The whole hall had high windows so the candles reflected off the lake and windows. My brother plays the cello so he and his friends formed a quartet. Could not have asked for better music! The food was great and I had so much fun as people came through the reception line.
The next day we went back to my parents house to open presents. My aunt Becky (who has since passed away from cancer) and Mom helped us open them. It was like Christmas all over again! Afterwards we played cards with the family which is always fun and competitive. The next day we flew to the Bahamas for a wonderful honeymoon. Then it was back to Arizona where we had another reception for all of Rich's friends and family that live here. His aunt decorated the church for us and she went all out!! We had carosel horses, an archway covered with flowers, a swing for people to sit and take pictures and many more things that would take a whole other post to describe. This was her wedding present to us. Needless to say, I was in shock when I walked into the transformed church hall. I had no idea she was doing this and neither did Rich. The family kept it a secret and it was an awesome one.
I look forward to many more years of marriage with all the joys and sometimes sorrows it brings. Here is to year 16 next year:)

No More Nursery

My last child graduated from nursery at church. I don't know whether to be happy or cry! I have always had one or two in the nursery for the past 13 years. Camryn stayed longer in the nursery as her birthday is January 25 and she missed the cut off date. Her comment at church was "I am glad to go to big kids primary and not be with the babies anymore!" I tried so hard not to laugh.
It is such a strange time in my life as I have always been either pregnant at this point or had a newborn. I am still trying to figure out what to do with myself as the kids get older. Camryn is still at home during the day so it keeps me busy but still strange not to have a newborn or a baby. My sister in law, Kim, told me this time was her favorite time with her kids. No diapers to change, no diaper bag to carry around and it is easy to just pick and go with the kids. That part is true (minus the fighting between the boys who gets to sit where in the van). It is fun to take them places like the zoo, park, etc as Brandon helps me out to make sure all the kids are accounted for and helps to unload the snacks, etc.
I guess the fun is just beginning as Brandon has taken an interest in girls at school and sometimes has his "teenage attitude." That I could do without!! I will just have to think up more chores for them to do so maybe someday my house can be clean and not have toys strewn everywhere!! Nothing like stepping barefoot on a lego-ouch.
I still cannot believe Camryn is about to be 4. Time flies so quickly with each child. It seemed Brandon took forever to reach each milestone but the others seemed to get there quickly. I think the true reason is I was too busy to focus on just one child:)
So for now, I will just hold my friends new babies and cuddle them. The best part is when they start to fuss I can give them back to their mothers:) In the meantime, there are tons of projects to do at the house and my little sidekick can help me-even when that means sewing curtains or finishing quilts I started many months ago!

Citrus Picking Day

Today was citrus picking day at Grandma and Grandpa Rhotons. We typically do this New Years Day but Rich had to work. So I took the crew over and we had some fun!! Dylan did not have the fun job-his older brothers were snipping the tangerines as fast as they could and he did get hit in the head quite a few times!

Brandon up high in the tree snipping the citrus. If you just pull it, it pulls the rind too and then the citrus rots very quickily.

Contemplating whose head to drop the tangerines on next.

Darin is in there somewhere:) He really wedged himself in to get a good spot in the tree.

Colton wating for his turn to help. There are only so many pairs of clippers and I did not want him in the tree!

Grandpa Rhoton sitting on a sawhorse getting the tangerines that were lower to the ground. One of the reasons we pick the citrus is I do not want him climbing or putting the ladder next to the tree and climbing it!

Boy, this smells good. When do I get one? Camryn also stood over here as it was farther away from the bomb dropping tangerines coming from the older two.

I gave in and let her have the clippers for a little while. She got a few picked before she decided it was boring and more fun to play in the garden.

Whoops! Same picture coming for the tangerines.

Colton with the citrus he snipped down all by himself. Each kid cried due to some injury or another. Each kid also asked if we were done yet! I did climb up the ladder to get the citrus at the top, but I hid the camera. Did not want anyone having a camera if I did fall! I am just thankful their tree is picked and now we just have our citrus to pick. But that will be another day as I am too tired and also wore flip flops to climb up the ladder. Not such a smart idea:) At least this only happens once a year and the kids love it that I let them climb up the tree!

New Year's Eve

It was a very quiet and peaceful New Year's eve here. Rich works at Karsten golf course at ASU as the controller. And guess what the end of the month means? Inventory!! Did not matter it was New Year's eve (and Halloween too) as I was whining at him to come home. Today he is working too as payroll goes out in 2 days. Guess I get to see him on Saturday:)
We were so bad about celebrating. We went to McDonald's for dinner (kids choice) and then came home and watched Drake and Josh on Nick Jr. I have to say I love that show even though it is aimed at the tweener crowd. It always makes me laugh and also is clean entertainment. The younger 4 were in bed by 8 pm and Brandon was the only one who made it to midnight. I only knew that because I got up for a potty break and there he was, still awake.
I think the biggest reason they were so tired is they did a fabulous service project for their Grandma and Grandpa Rhoton. Grandpa is 80 and Grandma is 74 so we help them out with house projects from time to time. They had asked my kids to paint the bottom half of their house. Of course being the great mom that I am (haha) I said of course they would be over to paint. You have never seen 5 kids have so much fun! I forgot my camera or I would have taken pictures as a slight paint war broke out (my kids? Never!!) I still for the life of me cannot figure out why they picked a bright blue to paint with, but oh well, it is not my house. You can see their house driving up their street from a half mile away!! The painting was finished and then we helped put everything away and back in it's place. Grandma Rhoton actually paid them for this chore. So after paying tithing, I took the kids to the Gamestop store (again their choice-I think they should have taken me out to dinner!) and they each picked and payed for a new video game.
Tomorrow we head back to their house to pick all the citrus from their trees. There is a hidden motive behind this. Grandma Rhoton fell out of the tree 10 years ago and broke her leg. Ever since then we have grounded her from climbing trees!! We figure if we volunteer to pick it she will stay out of the dang tree! They only live 10 miles from us so fortunately it is not a long drive. I love to climb the tree and pick the citrus and drop it to the ground. Depending on which kid is misbehaving, I have to admit I sometimes aim a little close to them:) The younger 2 have the job of picking up all the dropped fruit and putting it into buckets-they love this!
Next week we need to pick our citrus trees so the kids better gear up for another chance to climb the tree with our blessing. Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and a Happy New Year!