Just rambling thoughts of a paranoid mom!!

I have always enjoyed being in YWs. I met a lot of wonderful girls while I was the Laurel advisor. You are able to become friends with them and impact their lives, hopefully. One of my Laurels is now 21. She got married young, had a baby, and now is divorced. She made some really poor choices and now has lost custody of her little boy. She is the cutest girl! Sometimes I want to shake her and say, "What are you thinking?"

Her boyfriend she is currently dating has been in and out of jail for the last 10 years, he is a recovering drug addict. He's been clean since April. They have been dating over a year. I met him today. He seems very nice. His father is the bishop, so he was raised well. He had just gotten back from court. They are hoping that he doesn't have to go to prison. I hope he is able to stay clean for her sake, and his own.

She stayed here over night while her mom is out of town. It brought back a lot of memories of all the craziness this girl has been through. It made me worry about the choices my kids will make.
Will they listen? Will they trust that true happiness comes from living right? Will they ever end up having to go to jail? What would I do?

It is just another testimony of when we live right we are blessed. The gospel really does make life choices simpler. I know sometimes it may not seem like it, but in the long run I really think it saves us from ourselves and our dumb choices. We just have to follow the counsel we are given.

I hope I am able to instill this in my kids! I know they have their agency though. My job is to love them. Although, if they end up in jail, they may have to sit there a while. I don't know. Just ramblings in my head.

If You Had a Magic Remote...

On one of my recent trips to the DI (I love good deals), all the kids were in the sad little toy section. Kate was so excited by her good find. It was a battery operated Dora sucker holder?! (I guess we are so lazy now we are unable to manually turn our suckers when we need to. Don't worry the used sucker was not included) She was so excited! When she pushed the button Dora's arms would wave up and down. She thought it was pretty cool. "Mom, can I have this please, please, please? I want it!" she begged.

After seeing it's amazing trick, and being convinced it was totally useful I said, "Sure. We can get Dora." She jumped up and down and bragged to all present how she was getting this treasure and they were not. I laughed. "You are one lucky girl Kate," I informed her. She smiled in agreement.

We got home and she told me this was her magic remote. I asked her, "Really, what does it control?"

"You!" she shouted. "You are my robot." She pressed the button and sure enough I did a robot dance for her. She looked speechless. Maybe it was my good dance moves, or maybe the fact she thought it really worked. You be the judge.

Later we were outside playing on bikes and scooters. Ace had gotten in her way. She stopped, pulled out her remote, pushed the button, and Ace moved. Her look said it all. She new this remote really was magic. "Mom, this remote controls moms and dogs," she said. I just nodded and agreed. I couldn't damper her excitement.

I am always intrigued by a child's ability to imagine. Their minds are so creative that sometimes they are quite gullible. That is not a bad thing. It made me think back to how I was as a child. I felt a little sad that I have lost the ability to let go and enjoy things of my own creation. I get to realistic in the things I do and say.

So, here's a breif list of what my magic remote would control:

1. the weather, wouldn't it be great to chose the temperature, or type of day it would be? I love the rain

2. the laundry, with a press of a button it would all be folded instantly and put away

3. my kids, wouldn't it be grand to control tattling, talk back, fighting, etc... I wouldn't control their personalities that would be sad if they were all the same, just the naughty stuff

4. the TV, it would be fun to have Dustin puzzled as to why the things not working, or all that plays is What Not to Wear, Little House on the Prairie, BYU Devotionals, all my favorites

I could go on, but I don't have enough time in the day to think. Sadly, I do have to get back to reality. The kids will be home from school soon. Just want to know, if you had a magic remote what would you control?

Goodbye Summer!!

We are sad to see the summer go, but everyone is excited for school to start again. We have tried to keep ourselves busy. I wanted the kids to have a fun activity once a week. I would say we hit our goal almost every week.

We spent time at the park having a water balloon fight and enjoying the slip and slide. On the days we didn't do water activities the kids would just have fun sliding and doing whatever.

We were able to go to the movies. Thank goodness for the dollar movies. The older kids liked Chronicles of Narnia, the younger Horton Hears a Who. Popcorn was a highlight for all. I'm glad re-fills were only 50 cents.

We went bowling and had a blast. The kids really had fun. It was crazy! I was surprised how far they could hold the ball and roll it, even Becca. Ryan didn't even use the bumpers. I was truly amazed at the strength of those wood floors. I believe they are probably indestructible.

There are a couple of museums we hit as well. One was the Utah Museum of Natural History. The kids love it there. They like the biology exhibit where all the "stuffed" animals are. I do admit it s one of my favorites too. They always enjoy the dinosaur exhibits as well. It's always fun to pretend to be a paleontologist. We went to the Church History Museum today. It is the only outing I remembered a camera! We all loved it there. It was awesome. We were glad Dustin got to join us for this one. He works across the street, so he took his lunch break early!The kids were able to pretend to speak at the pulpit, dress up for the nativity, and be part of Lehi's dream. Check out the pictures. One of our favorites were the the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. We ran out of time to go to Temple Square. We'll save it for another day.

When we stayed home, we filled the day with reading, coloring, games, having friends over, running in the sprinkler, and the kids favorite, TV. I know it is terrible. We got cable and I have to pry them away from it. I can't stand that aspect of it. I have tried to keep them doing school work, it didn't go as well as I would have liked. They seem to remember quite a bit though.

We look forward to a new school year. They will all be at the same school this year. It will be nice. I'm glad we were able to have a fun summer.

In front of John the Baptism as Grace put it. He was conferring the Aaronic Priesthood.

A replica of the 4th Ward meeting house in Salt Lake City.

All pressing forward holding to the Iron Rod. Well Kate decided to hop on later. She was a little too busy.

Watching General Conference

Ryan speaking at the pulpit. I'll save you from having to view 4 more. You get the picture. It is a replica of the one in the Tabernacle. We also got pictures at the one in The Conference Center.

Joseph and Hyrum's death masks. It was really humbling to see these. I guess they used to take plaster molds of the faces of those who have died, so they can remember what they looked like. The Prophet's is on the left. If you look close you can see where Hyrum was shot in the face to the left side of his nose. It is all bumpy and misshaped.

Family pic in front of Moroni. He was taken off a church building.

We have a winner!!

Shandi, Dustin's sister, watched the kids the other night for us. She had gotten some coloring contest entry forms for the kids from a store. She had them color them while we were gone. She was kind enough to enter them for us too. Thanks Shandi. We got a call this morning saying Aaron had won for his age group! He was so excited. We went down later and picked up his prize. He won a brand new Super Soaker. It was good because all of their others had just broken! (a little sarcasm)

We pulled up into the parking lot and were surprised to see his picture under a sign that read: Winners of the coloring contest! On the other side were all the other entries. They all were glad to see them hanging up. We got some pictures. Just thought we'd share.

The winning page out of 8-11 years old

The prize

Ryan's picture

Grace's picture is right above her.

Becca's and Kate's were at the top. Theirs are the turtles.

Making My Parents Proud

As I was getting photos of Dustin and I for the new slide show to put on my blog, Kate pulled out an old picture of my family. I always hated that picture because I was rather "large" from having Ryan. When she was looking at it, I stopped and watched her. She was so focused on one person. I looked to see who it was and realized it was my dad. Her expression was priceless. Her face was saying, "I don't know him. Who is he? Who is this man sitting by Grandma?" All of a sudden that became one of my FAVORITE pictures. It was my dad how I remembered him. It was before he got real skinny, his nose was normal, and he didn't seem aged at all.


I stopped what I was doing and pointing to my dad said, "Who is that?"

She replied, "I don't know. I don't know him."

"That's my dad. That's Grandpa Taylor. He died before you were born."

"Did you cry?" she asked.

"Yeah I cried, but we'll see him again when Jesus comes," I told her. I am so thankful for that. I miss my dad. I still have dreams every now and then of coming home and he is there. In my dream I'm shocked to see him, but happy.

"Now you just have your mom and Robyn," she informed me.

"Yeah, just Grandma and Robyn," I agreed.

Am so grateful for my parents. I am bias when it comes to them. I think they are the best parents ever. Growing up in a big family you sometimes get the, "Didn't you feel left out?" or "Were your needs met?" I kind of get grumpy when people are so presumptuous. We may not of had fancy things, and maybe I wish my parents would have been able to attend HS games, or enrolled us in rec activities. Those are things I wished for when I was younger. I am older now and know that my parent's #1 priority was their children. Everything they have done, or ever will do was for ME (the other 10 too). I know they were stretched physically to the limit with 11 kids, but spiritually they had plenty.

We were taught to always put spiritual things first. Our #1 priority was living right, being happy, and serving others. They were shining examples. I don't have many memories of my parents being angry and grumpy. I remember fighting with my mom over a boyfriend and I remember my dad washing my mouth out with soap for saying "crap." I was 7. I don't remember him being angry with me. I'm sure there were a few more. I'm hoping my kids will forget too!

My parents were always willing to serve where they were needed. They have held many callings over the years and fulfilled them. They loved helping others. I was taught never to judge other people, just love them.

I am grateful to a Heavenly Father who knew I needed my parents, Sandra and Lavier. He knew they would lead me in ways of righteousness. My goal is to be able to do the same for my kids, to make my parents proud. I will choose to not be so grumpy, to slow down and enjoy my kids. I may not be able to offer them "riches" of the world, but I can show them the happiness in life comes when you live right, choose to be HAPPY, and love people.

The photo that sparked our conversation. Our family has grown from the original 13 members. We have added 10 in-laws and 32 grand kids, almost 34. A total of 57 people!

I was tagged by Taryn

Good things come in 3's

3 joys:

1. My Family

2. Volleyball

3. Chocolate

3 fears:

1. Heights

2. the dryer catching fire

3. my children drowning

3 goals:

1. Pray everyday

2. Read scriptures daily

3. Let go and relax

3 current obsessions:

1. Making sure my house doesn't smell like dog

2.trying not to be so uptight

3. getting ready for school to start

3 surprising facts:

1.I'm a clean freak when it comes to my bathroom

2. my right index finger is my "nervous" finger, the nail is permanently distorted

3. I don't like reading, but do love to read non- fiction books especially LDS doctrine books, I once tried to read Mormon Doctrine, but realized it would take forever I still would like to do it

What a Two-year-old and a Four- year-old Know about Church

I was playing "church" with Kate and Becca today. Do any of you remember doing this when you were little? I remember I always gave talks and the vacuum was my microphone. I was quite a good speaker. I also remember breaking bread and water and having the sacrament. I was little and didn't understand this was a big no, no. Anyway, it was interesting to see their own little take on one of my favorite childhood past times.



Kate was the teacher and Becca was her "dollar" (daughter). I got to be one of the primary kids. We had a good lesson. It showed me what she understood about the Gospel. She taught about the Holy Ghost. He helps us to be kind. Becca let me know that the Holy Ghost doesn't "get you." I'm glad she understands he is not a scary thing. I think this is why Kate calls him the Spirit.



Next she talked about the Word of Wisdom. This we do to keep our bodies "strong and healthy," she said. She let us know,"You have to keep your bodies bathed so they are clean." She totally understands that we need to take care of our bodies, even though D&C doesn't mention taking a bath!



We talked about following the prophet. She learned that we have a new Prophet, Thomas "Ace" Monson. Close enough for a four-year-old. I'm glad she has faith to follow him.



Now it was Becca's turn to be the teacher. Kate didn't like the idea, but oh well. She started out by saying, "Today class...". She seemed to not get much further than this. If we talked a little she would point her finger and say in a strong teacher-like voice, "Hey, quiet. Listen to the teacher." I think she understands it is important to be reverent and the teacher is in charge. Good things to know when you're two!



It was fun to play with my girls. I think I should tell you they taught their lessons straight from their "scriptures." They don't have real ones so they improvised. They used their board books. What cuties.

Famous last words...

WE got a REAL dog!

Everybody meet Ace. Dustin had been looking since Tami's dog came to our house with her son Tanner. We got him 4 days ago. We have been pretty busy with him. I have been a little slow on blogging.

He is a miniature schnauzer. He is a fun, loving, mellow puppy. He's 10 weeks old. He has been great for the kids. They love having a dog. He is almost house broke. I'm hoping he gets the idea soon. He hasn't been too bad. He is very good with the little girls. He let's them pick him up and drag him. He gets them back when they're playing! He loves to tug on their clothes and nip their bums. He knows they are playing. He only does it then. Our last puppy was irritated by the kids, so it makes us all happy.

The boys are so responsible! They have really taken charge (I can't complain). They make sure he's fed, watered, and his poop is scooped. We haven't had to get after them at all. He's really attached to the boys. He gets sad if they leave.

We are happy, just busy. It's a little like having another child, but we enjoy it. Here's some cute snapshots.