Grateful

After my "woe-is-me" post a few days ago, I thought I would do one that recognized the good things in my life. So here goes....

I am more in love with my husband than ever. I used to be afraid that one day, and that day may still come, I just wouldn't be madly in love with him anymore. After almost 8 years, it is the total opposite. I think that him being gone so much has "made the heart grow fonder". I get so excited when he gets home!
He is a terrific provider. He always has "something up his sleeve" and it always, always works out. It's amazing. Being the mom to 4, almost 5, kids is tough, but I would much rather be the Mom than be the provider!

The blessings of prayer. It works, crazy enough. I feel like I only pray regularly when I really need something. I am trying to do better at this. But still, even when I do pray when I need something, He comes through. What a priceless gift! Also tithing. If you just put faith in the fact that you are being obedient in doing so, you will be taken care of. Believe it!

Yeah my kids are always sick with the flu or colds, but they are relatively healthy. We haven't had to go through any major problems. My kids being free from a true medical emergency is something to truly be grateful for.

I have made some wonderful, life-long friends here in Utah. When I'm going through tough times or just need someone to hang out with, these girls are up for anything. I really do care about them and the feeling seems mutual. The friends that Rick and I have made are awesome!

My Mom and Kathy. My mom has been up here so many times since we have moved. She always finagles her work schedule around so that if I need her, she is here. It makes it not too bad with the whole "not having family around" thing when we see her every other month. And then there is Kathy. She is a lady that lives behind us and actually reminds me of my mom, except she likes to clean. She watches the kids if I need to go run errands. She babysits for us when we go out. It is so nice to not have to worry about leaving the kids for long periods of time with a sitter. She is awesome! The kids think they have a 3rd grandma. Jett cries at the back door for her if he see her across the way in her own house. And the boys ask to play at her house instead of their friends houses. She was sent to me for a reason. I would be even more crazy with Rick out of town if I didn't have Kathy. She even came in my house one day while I was out and cleaned it because she felt bad that I was alone and pregnant. What a thing to come home to!

I could go on and on, but this is already too long....

Yesterday...

was the the day from hell! It started at 3 am with Jett waking up super hot with a fever and then puking. We both didn't get much sleep. Next, I had to get Kaleigh and Drake ready for school in a hurry so they wouldn't miss the bus. The rest of the morning wasn't too bad, seeing as though I laid on the couch with the baby because he would cry if I was out of his sight. Then Drake called home at 11 am to state that he was sick and needed me to pick him up. I knew he was fibbing and told him to stay at school. He missed practically all of last week because he really was sick. It was pretty uneventful until the early evening when I heard the sound of running water outside my kitchen window. Come to find out that my basement floor is covered in water and the window well is full of water and keeps filling up by the second. The dumb ass builders didn't take into consideration that all the runoff from rain, sprinklers, snow, ect. has to go somewhere and since our house and our neighbors house is the lowest point , guess where it goes... So, I have a super sick child, 3 other kids to tend to, a flooding basement, 8 months pregnant, and oh, Rick is in Freaking Vegas, AGAIN! So I'm becoming super emotional at this point. Our wonderful male neighbors come to my rescue and pump out about 20 inches of water from the window well and keep the pump in there overnight to deal with the water that is still going into it and another neighbor came by to clean up the water in the basement. I was thankful to George who seemed to understand what I was going through. I heard him on the phone while he was talking to someone in our ward and the man on the phone asked something like "is it really that bad", and George stated " well, it's not that bad unless you are pregnant with 4 little kids, your basement has water in it and your husband is out of town!" I felt like he totally understood what I was thinking. It took mad self control to not burst into tears! To the people that have lived in Utah for a while, this didn't seem like a huge flooding problem. But to me, it was like, there is water in my house and that is not normal. I told Rick, while I was hysterically crying, I HATE LAS VEGAS, I HATE UTAH, I HATE this WEATHER, I HATE BASEMENTS, and I am SICK of SICK KIDS! I also HATED the fact that I was crying and being emotional. Most of you know I am not an emotional girl and I can't stand to let people hear me or see me cry. So much for that.

I am way better today. Jett woke up with no fever and is his happy self! The sun is out, mostly, and that puts me in a good mood. Don't ever take your California weather for granted. I did and now I live in Snow City USA. Sun makes me happy. I am solar powered. And, I used to think my kids got sick a lot in Cali... Well here, they have been sick on and off for the last 5 months! My husband and my mom also made me feel better, letting me know that it is OK to cry and I wasn't being stupid for letting it all out last night.

V Day!

Happy Valentine's to all! My husband is out of town, yet again, and I am spending it with my kids today and my mom later this afternoon. I am so excited to have her visit us! Being with the kids all week, by myself, gets a little challenging. She will be a breath of freash air in this freezing, snowy, crappy, environment! The storm last night was so bad that some people lost power for the night, other's were not even able to get home from work or school (that would be scary as a parent) and MY dish network was out (just being dramatic)! Then to top it off, Rick called to tell me he was on his way to the emergency room because he was so sick. For that guy to get himself to the doctor, let alone the emergency room, is a huge deal. So, it kind of worried me because if he thought he needed to go there, it must be really bad. It turned out to only be bronchitis and now he is resting in LV alone on V Day. So sad... But it does make me realize how much I do love him when he is gone. Not that I don't love him when he is here, but you get the idea.

RIBS! YUM!

You can soo tell that I am pregos when I am blogging about food... but the Curley's ribs from Costco are the bomb! I bought them because I had a coupon. I am a sucker for coupons. Anyway, they are ready to go with the b-b-q sauce already on them. Super easy cuz you just put them in the oven. So, if anyone else loves bar-b-que but doesn't want to go to all the trouble to prepare it yourself, these ribs are heavenly!