And I haven't sat down for weeks...or so it feels like it!

It has been CRAZINESS since the good ol "merry month of May" began around here! Let's start with :



1. Anna started preschool! Very MERRY indeed! She started last Monday, and has LOVED every minute of it! No kidding, she actually WANTS to go, asks me everyday, every hour, every minute when she has "tool". Today, after I picked her up she excitedly asked me, "I wonner what we donna learn nex time, momma!!?" Anna goes to school and needs no pushing, shoving, convincing, tempting with special treats or prizes, she just walks right in with her teachers and does not think another thing about me until I come back! Can I just say that it is WONDERFUL! I don't feel a bit sad that she is growing up, but I feel so much happiness and excitement to watch her reach milestone after milestone, and I am just so excited for more and more to come! How FUN to be able to watch your children grow up!!! So fun!!!



2. Russ is back to school and as busy as EVER! He wakes up VERY early in the morning to do homework and is gone by 7:30, and then we usually do not see him again until dinner-time! He is working so hard and I am so proud of him and his new found commitment to his studies. Just so you all know, he has decided to do the engineering program here at BYU-I and then after he finishes that, he will decide if he wants to go on and get his masters degree. What a roller coaster ride we have been on concerning Russ and his college experience!! We have faced so many obstacles, sometimes feeling very discouraged, but the Lord has been gently guiding us and prompting us here and there and we just cannot deny that this is where we are supposed to be right now and doing what the Lord wants us to do.



3. We are the official guardians of my little brother Ben!!! That statement in and of itself has added years to my so-called actual 26 years of life I have lived! Inside, I feel like I should be 46 instead! While we were in court, the judge said some things that touched me and helped give me the strength and fortitude to go back home and try to be the "mother" that Ben needs me to be. I have struggled on and off with this new change in our lives. I still feel much resentment towards my mother because her decisions she makes are still affecting me and my life and the life of my children and husband too. To me, it feels maddening to feel like I am the mother trying to teach my "child" who happens to be my mother. But, I cannot deny that Ben has been a blessing for our family, and we will gladly keep him for as long as we can.



4. So, yes, I turned 26 years old on April 26!!! It was a weird birthday for me...it just felt weird to be 26! I had the best birthday ever!!! My sister-in-law took me out and we got pedicures and then went to lunch at Bajios, where I had the BEST chicken nachos in all of Rexburg...hmmm, with a mango salsa! I was happy to come back to find that my children missed me VERY much while I was gone! What a good feeling to be missed, especially by those you love the most! Earlier that week, Russ took me to Idaho Falls with the kids, and I got to buy myself quite a few new clothes! We had lunch there and we all had fun just being together. The week AFTER my birthday, Russ took me to Wingers, where we indulged ourselves to the max and then finished off with a big slice of their famous pie! YUM! My husband loves me! Oh....and I got a haircut, bought a new purse with the money from my mother-in-law....got these awesome white high heel shoes from my two AWESOME sister-in-laws.... Wasn't I spoiled?



*A special thanks to Jan....she has not forgotten my birthday since I was a beehive of hers in Young Womens! And people wonder how I grew up not having a mother.....it's because I DID have a mother....actually quite a few mothers.....and Jan was one of them. Thanks "mom" you really are the best!



4a-I also share the same birthday with my niece Rylei, and she had a party in Idaho Falls at a pizza place, where I got myself along with Anna and Carter, COMPLETELY LOST! Honestly, I will get lost on a full blown blazed trail....serious....I will! So, along with my party, we went to Rylei's....where we arrived hours late, but still had fun, made it back to Rexburg, where then I had to help Anna and Carter get over a spring cold with the nebulizer and a lot of albuteral!



5. We have had some frequent visitors lately....the missionaries! Ben told Russ a few weeks back that he really wanted to be baptized. We have talked to him since, about this decision, not wanting him to be baptized just because we are, or because he thinks we want him to. We REALLY wanted it to be solely HIS decision. He has been praying every night, and he told us he feels really good about it, and that he knows the Lord wants him to be baptized. It has been fun to have the missionaries in our home. They are awesome, and we are excited to see Ben start to grow spiritually and show his faith. He will be a strength to all of those around him.



So....Ben is very busy! He comes home from school, does ALL of his homework, reads for at least 15 minutes, then we have to study and talk about the lessons he is learning from the missionaries, Ben is ALWAYS wanting to help cook this or do that, and is good at being a little stinker in between as well! There are times when I feel like Anna listens better than Ben does, and he is already pulling the gripes like, "Well, I wish I was back in Twin because my MOM wouldn't ground me like that." and "Sure...just make my life miserable" when he finds out that we really DO follow through with what we say we are going to do if he disobeys or misbehaves! A few weeks ago, Ben threatened two girls at school, and told them he was going to bring a knife to school and stab them with it. The girls told their parents, and the parents called the principle. He called me. I never imagined I would have to deal with things like this, and then Russ and I trying to figure out how to best handle the situation. Ben is still paying the consequences for that decision he made at school, and for the sake of all of us, I truly hope he has learned his lesson and does not repeat it again! Thanks to Rob and Suzie Owens...you guys have been such a great help to us already. I have appreciated so much, Rob, your knowledge, guidance, and advice.



6. Mother's Day and Russ's Birthday: all on the same day, May 10!!! We had fun sharing the day together, and I was more than happy to spend a great portion of Mother's Day baking banana cream pies and lemon sour cream pies for Russ! He has gone through some huge transformations this past year and I have to say that I married to best man ever. He has sacrificed so much for me, made such huge efforts to support me and help me, and for that I am eternally grateful. We have gone through a lot together, and have fought some hard battles, at times with each other, and many times with our own selves. I don't think that many can really understand or truly appreciate the experiences Russ and I have had together, but we are so thankful to those who have remained supportive in words, thoughts and deeds. Thank you for your prayers, hope, faith, and guidance. We have many faults, and sometimes it is easier to see someones weaknesses than to see them for their strengths. We are so blessed to have family who have lifted us up instead of bringing us down.



7. We live blocks away from the temple. I get to see it almost daily, and no matter how many times I drive by, I am amazed by its beauty. Having a temple nearby just adds another measure of peace to my life that I have not felt before. I am trying to go as often as I can, and have felt a sustaining power of greater strength and faith given to me when I go.



"I love to see the temple, I'll go inside someday, I'll covenant with my Father, I'll promise to obey. For the temple is a holy place where we are sealed together, As a child of God, I've learned this truth, A family is forever." Never has this song meant more to me than it does now.



8. Being the primary secretary, Sundays are quite busy, but I have found a wonderful added pleasure from being a part of the primary presidency. We try to meet weekly, and as busy as our lives already seem to be, we manage to meet nonetheless, and come out of our meetings so glad we were there. The women I work with are so great, and I feel a close kinship to them. They are all older than me and most of their children are quite older than mine, but we have developed a friendship that has been so rewarding to me.



9. Gotta love all of those late night trips to the grocery store, after the kids are in bed, to get this and that and an indulgence here and there of chocolate or a bag of licorice or cookies I just couldn't resist!



10. And you would think that I could find the time to start training for the Teton Dam race I am planning on running in as well as the Pocatello Marathon race that comes later too, but darn-it, I just can't figure out why I am too tired to get out of bed in the morning to go running!!!



Maybe if I wouldn't stay up so late at night blogging, hmmmm???