Things I should have learned

Here are some things that I learned or that I should have learned while Steve is on business trips...

1 .I don't make a good single parent. And the reason is, I worry too much. If Steve is here he can take on half the worries. Being by myself, I second guess myself when I have to make decisions about the kids or anything else.

2. I don't sleep. Or at least very much. When he's gone I don't fall asleep till after midnight and I'm up by 5am. It's a horrible schedule but it's just how it is. So basically I'm half dead most of the time.

3. Never, never, never have surgery before your husband leaves!!! I thought 3 weeks recovery would be good......and it is......it's better than 2 but it's still hard. With this boot on it takes me twice as long to do anything, from showering to getting to the store and cleaning. Hauling a vacuum cleaner down the stairs is impossible.

4. And don't make any kind of big plans while they are gone.......it will eat you alive!!

So here are some things to remember. I already knew most of them and with Steve travelling so much I should be a pro at remembering them. I think it takes me awhile to get things through my head sometimes. Steve will be home late tonight and then he heads out to Africa in a week and a half. Wish me luck!!

More of Bali

Yesterday Steve went on some tours of Bali. To tell you the truth, I really don't have any information about what he saw or what anything is. We are very limited on our communication because of the time difference and all the meetings he has.





Hopefully when he gets back he can explain what all these places are and what he saw.


He will be back Saturday night!!! Yeah!!!...it's been a long week!!!

Grandma-hood

Yesterday when I went to the store I ran into a friend of mine that I haven't talked to in a little while. We caught up on each others lives and then got onto the topic of grand kids. We were both so totally amazed of the strong bond you feel instantly the moment they're born. You love them as if they are your own.

I have such a deep love for each one of my children and my love for my grand kids is just as strong. It's amazing but I'm glad it's that way!!!!

Cooks

I know that I probably shouldn't have deleted the post about cutting my own hair but I did because I'm not sure if I want to remember doing it. I can cut the boys hair but my own?.......I just need to stay away from the scissors and let a professional take care of that. I really don't know what gets into my head sometimes!!! Maybe it's cuz Steve is gone.

Now onto a yummier note.......We have a routine going on in our house that I love. I have 3 kids at home right now and each one of them take a day of the week and cook dinner. I don't force them to, they WANT to...they ask if they can. Jaron and Nathan search the Internet for a recipe that they think looks good and print it out. I go buy the ingredients and they make it. Emily makes something simple like Hamburger/Chicken Helper or something like that . If she makes it I'll eat it!!! I feel kinda spoiled but I'm just going to enjoy it as long as I can. They are all very, very excellent cooks!!!
Steve is hanging in there in Bali. He said the meetings are long but he will make it. He did find a park by the hotel so he can go for a run.

Bali

Steve made it to Bali. Here's the proof. He said it looks like a combination of Hilo, HI and Viet Nam.
I also asked him if he'd gone to any of the shops there. He said that since he's so close to the equator (just below it) that it's dark by the time he gets out of his meetings.....so too dark to shop in an unfamiliar country.
He did say that on Thursday they are going to take the group around to see different sights.





































This is the dinner they had last night. It looks like fun to me. I think I need a vacation to somewhere fun!!!

Don't freak out!

It seems like whenever Steve goes on a business trip (especially out of the country) I get more sensitive to EVERYTHING around me. I worry a lot about Steve but I double worry here with each kid and whoever else needs me to worry about them.
Past experiences plays a huge hand in how I (we) handle things. I'm a worrier by nature but a major car accident and Steve almost dying from a deadly disease doesn't help things. Like for instance......this next weekend Jaron wants to take the car down to Cedar City to see Stephanie. The first thing that goes through my head is car accident. Jaron is a good driver but I think of doom and gloom first. Plus with Steve not here, I get the opportunity to worry more about it. I will probably let him go if the weather is good.......but I will worry..... and try to put on a brave face.
They say the opposite of worrying is faith. I don't believe that to be true. I think it's genetic cuz most of my kids are worriers too and I come from a line of worriers. It's hard to change genetics. I didn't teach my kids to be worriers.......in fact I try to hide it from them and tell them not to worry that everything will be fine.
I can't say that I won't be worried this week or when Steve goes to Africa in a few weeks or when Nathan leaves for his mission or when Jaron drives to Ceder City or whatever else may arise. I will just try to handle it like any other normal human being....Ha ha!! Steve did arrive at Bali safe and totally exhausted. He only got 2 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours so he's wasted. It's night there for him so hopefully he'll get lots of sleep and the world will look like a happier place for him in the morning :) He did say that it is very warm and VERY, VERY humid there.

Taipai

This is where Steve is right now......Taipai. He got there around 6:30am Utah time. It was a 16 hour flight from LA. All I can say about that is .....uuhhhgggg! But he did it and is now sleeping in a hotel til his am. (our pm.) to head to Bali.
He said that he sat next to a really nice couple on the way there that were really helpful in getting him to his hotel. But he did leave his computer mouse on the plane.....ooopppps. Oh well, that's replaceable. I will keep everyone updated on how he's doing and he promise to send me pictures when he gets there and I'll share them with everyone.

Luge and Bobsled 14 years ago

This is in dedication of the winter Olympics. They were taken around 14 years ago when we lived in North Carolina. We had a huge snow/ice storm.

Our house was up on a hill so you had to drive up the driveway to get to the house. With the snow storm, it turned our driveway into a ice ramp.

This is Nathan and Madison Waters. They lived right by us and we did lots of things together

Steve and Steve Waters at the top of our driveway.

Timothy wiping out.

Jaron cruising down on the sled.

Jaron and Madison trying to get to the top of the driveway without sliding back down.

Timothy and Christopher.

Steve.....face first down the hill.


Not only was the schools closed from the snow but so was church!!! It was great :)

A non-scientific experiment

Just a thought;
Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time since my foot surgery. I took 3 weeks off to recoup and the Dr. gave me the ok to go back. One thing I noticed about a week after my surgery I started having anxiety attacks again. Not as bad as they use to be. The last 2 weeks I had maybe 4 or 5 of them where before I started exercising I would have them 5 or 6 times a week or more. I hate having them and I thought it was odd that I was having them again when I hadn't had one in a long time. So I started thinking what was going on in my life to set them off......besides surgery. Nothing out of the ordinary.
And then I wonder.......is it cuz I haven't been exercising? Can exercising help get rid of anxiety attacks? I don't think it gets rid of them but I honestly think it helps. When life gets really, really crazy I will get an occasional one but on any normal day........I don't have one.
So I'm going to keep hanging out at the gym 3 times a week. For the next few months I will be on the bikes with my boot on until the pins come out. I didn't think I would ever say this.......but I really missed the gym a lot!!!

Kingston

Yesterday just wasn't a very good day for me. A few things went wrong, I was super tired from staying up too late watching the Olympics and then to top it all off.........I banged my toe. I was taking my boot off and the ace bandage got stuck to the Velcro of the boot. I pulled hard and got it loose but my toe stopped the force with a piece of wood furniture. So I tried to hide the tears of the pain and said a few choice words in my head.

Not more than 10 minutes later Jess sends me, over her cell phone two beautiful pictures of Kingston.
They made me smile and I stopped thinking about the pain in my foot.

Who couldn't feel better after looking at Kingston's smile? He is one genuinely happy guy!!! Thank you Jess for sending the pictures and thank you Kingston for being you! Nana loves you!!!!

ps. I can see your two bottom teeth Kingston :)

The Other Olympic Sport

Yesterday we spent most of the day watching the Olympics....of course. Christopher, Lesa and Maddox came over to finish up some laundry. Maddox was busy most of the time perfecting his Olympic sport.......crawling and walking along the furniture.

He had a couple of spills and would cry and be mad but he would get back up and do it again. He did this for hours.........that is Olympic endurance!!!

Olympics Addict

I am an Olympic addict. I love it from beginning to end. I love the stories about the athletes. I love it when the underdog wins. And I love a good competition.




So for a little over two weeks I am glued to the TV watching it all. Every once in a while Steve and the kids will come in and join me and get into the competition too.

What I don't like though is poor judging (ice skating) or poor sportsmanship (I haven't seen any of that yet) but I'm still going to watch it all.

Happy Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine's Day I tried to have a little fun with everyone. Steve and I bought gift cards to restaurants for the married kids. They deserve a dinner on us and we bought Kingston a "King Of Hearts" shirt and Maddox a T-shirt with a robot on it that looks like the one on Christopher's book.

Emily got a cute pair of red tennis shoes full of candy. Don't they look cute on her?

Jaron was fun to do. Ever since he's been home from his mission, he can't get enough juice. So as a fun thing to get I bought him 10 boxes of Capri Sun. So that's 100 things of juice. I hope it lasts at least 24 hours.

Nathan got shoes too but he needs them for his mission also. But I did fill them up with candy too.

And I bought Steve some Sees Chocolate that he has so generously shared with me. Steve got me a gift card to Eddie Bauer. He knows me so well!

To top off the day..........heart shaped pizzas. They don't look heart shaped but their suppose to be. Kinda a tradition around here on this day.

BTW..........27 years ago today is when Steve and I got engaged. So this day is special to me :)

Egg Tree

Easter is HUGE in Vienna and while we were living there they had (and do every year) a big Easter market. There are hundreds and hundreds of hand painted eggs that they sell. They are all beautiful. Most of them are chicken eggs but there are some ostrich eggs and goose eggs too. I think the hand painted ostrich eggs were a 100 euros each. But we did pick up some of the painted chicken eggs and one goose egg. The hardest part was picking out which ones to get. Emily helped me pick some out.



The next Easter rolls around and I have no way to display these gorgeous eggs so they stay in the box. This week I decide to make a tree to hang them on. I broke off a branch from the lilac bush, bought a bucket thingy at Tai Pan and some floral foam, white spray paint and tadaaaaa................
an egg tree.

The big egg in the center of the picture is the goose egg. I would love to go back and get more. Maybe some year.

Happy 22nd Birthday Lesa!!

Yesterday was Lesa's 22nd birthday so we told her since she was "queen" for the day she got to pick her dinner and the kind of cake she wanted. I made the cake and had decorating frosting but no tips.......and the store was out too so I had to resort to those sugary letter thingies. They only came with one "2" so we spelled out "two".

Sorry this is blurry but I only took one picture of dinner.

Emily played some songs for Lesa and Maddox was amazed. He kept crawling over to get the flute.

Lesa lit the candles.

We sang our wonderful version of "happy birthday" to her.

And she blew out all the candles with one breath. Her wish will come true :)

Jaron helped entertain Maddox by flying him around the house. He loved it......both of them!!

It was a fun evening.......Happy Birthday Lesa!!

Foot-enstein

Today I went to the dr. and got my stitches out. I can now officially take a shower without the boot on and garbage sacks covering it. The doctor also said that next Wednesday I can start going back to the gym and go on the bikes. I think I can only do bikes for awhile cuz I found out the pins stay in my foot for 3 months instead of 6 weeks.

Also today is Lesa's birthday and want to wish her a very happy birthday. We are having dinner and a party for her tonight so I will post some pics. on it tomorrow. She's a real sweetie!!!

Huuummmm.....

So I was thinking about this saying and I have to agree and disagree. I know some people where a clean house is their life. Their house is perfectly clean and they spend a huge part of their day, every day cleaning. But on the other hand I have been in homes where it is so dirty that there were bugs crawling on the kitchen counters.
I think this saying can go with anything in our life that we may overdo. Maybe the secret is balance. And I think that's the tricky part.

Super Bowl

Christopher, Lesa and Maddox came over to watch the super bowl (commercials) with us. Maddox has learned to pull himself up along the furniture.

Christopher and I ate lots of gummy worms.

Uncle Nathan is always fun to be with.

Jaron was pulling for the Saints and Lesa wanted to Colts to win.

And the Saints won.

I can never get a picture of Jaron but I snuck and took one of him. Muuaaahhhhh!!!!

And Maddox found a new love......pickles!!!