Going Private

We had a Bishop's Youth Discussion here in our house tonight and he spoke about social media and what it can do when it is out there in the big open space of the internet. 

For this reason, I am going to go private soon. Which means, if I don't send you an invite then you won't be able to read it. So if you want to continue reading my blog please comment with your email address or let me know who you are so I can contact you somehow and I can send you an invite. I know there are a few people out there that comment Anonymously and I know who you are and some that don't comment at all but I still know are reading, but I will need to get your address for you to keep reading.

Thanks for the love:)

Playing In Rain Water

We have had more snow here then they say they have had in a very long time. Just last week we got a little bit but THANKFULLY not enough to cancel school again. 

Yesterday it got up to 69 degrees and then it started raining a bit.

Today it sort of rained on and off.

Matthew and Allison were riding bikes and scooters while I was watching them and it started sprinkling. I wasn't too concerned and figured they would come in. It was warmish outside and the kids were enjoying it. We didn't have to go anywhere so I just let them go with it. Our sidewalk slopes down and so there is a puddle of water at the bottom of our stairs. They just kept getting more and more wet. They had old shoes on so I just let them keep going, they were already wet, what could it hurt.

They had so much fun as I just at in the doorway taking pictures of their fun.

As if they didn't have enough water in their puddle already, they liked getting water from here.

They had so much fun as you can see in these pictures.

By the time they were done though they were chilly.

I hope the weather just warms up from here.

Learning New Things

So Sunday after I came home, the lady that took over for me came and talked to Chris. He didn't even have to say anything to her and she mentioned to him, what she thought was wrong with me and she was right. I couldn't be that she had clued in the way she did. The bishop's wife also texted me to see if she could come over. She thought that I was upset that she was coaching the YW, and that she stepped on my toes. It was great talking to her. Though more tears were shed, it was great having that one and one talk with her.
There is one person that I feel is my friend and she and I have talked about not feeling included and she feels the same way. It just hit me hard on Sunday. Anyways, it was her birthday yesterday and she and I had already decided that we were going to go to Panera to celebrate. Well, I through it out to a couple other friends if they wanted to surprise her. It ended up being that the morning, 9am would be best for them. Then I started sending out texts and emails to others just saying, hey it's Karen's birthday tomorrow, I am taking her here at this time if you want to join us and she doesn't know that I have invited anybody else. Anyways, there were 14 of us that showed up. Everyone kept saying how great it was and that we needed to do it more often. I was surprised how easy it was to set up and I didn't have to plan anything. I just got there a few minutes early to put some chairs together. I didn't have to make anything and then wonder if I would have enough.
 I realized last night that some things that worked in Texas aren't really working here. There is just a difference between the two. Back in TX, I think we all were more money cautious since most of us were graduate students (or wives) and we had small children. It was easy to just make something and go to lunch bunch and let the kids play. Here people would rather go out to a restaurant. For me it is weird to get in that mindset, and we just don't have that kind of a budget to do that a lot.  Even people with small kids are more then willing to go to a restaurant.
 Today I went out to lunch with some ladies. They just enjoy doing that. The lady that took over for me on Sunday got some ladies together and we had a great time talking. Organizing something like that is so easy. All I have to do is get one person that will definitely be there and then just through it out to others that if they want to come, they can come join us. If they don't show up, not a problem, I didn't have to prepare anything. I am learning the tricks of the trade here in Virginia.
 

A Child's Prayer

Allison has been saying the sweetest prayers lately and I finally decided to record one of them. Sorry no picture since her room was dark but it is so sweet and sincere.

Fake It 'Til You Make It

We have all heard the phrase, fake it 'til you make it. That has been my mantra going to church for the last couple months. When everybody looks at me, they see a smiling, happy, social person running around delivering little white slips of paper to people and laughing. However, many times when I go home I cry because I don't have those strong friendships or connections with anybody. Since we have been in apartments and moved four times in the last two years, and then had our miscarriage, when we moved into this ward I was very happy to finally be settled (at least for now). I was happy to be in a ward that we would be in for a while. Because of everything that had happened in the last few years I may have been OVER zealous about everything when I moved in, kind of fooling everybody. I started up Lunch Bunch and had people over at my house, I tried to go to everything I could to get to know people, I also got called as the Visiting Teaching Coordinator. It has helped with getting to know people but I have maybe spent too much time on it at the beginning and was over excited about it because our Relief Society President on more then one occasion (one being at our Visiting Teaching Conference up in front of everybody) said, "I wish everybody was like Stephanie Thomas."  I feel like that has kind of been my death star. Nobody wants to hear that they aren't good enough. I think from that point on people have started drawing back from me.
  I was visiting teaching and we were talking about things and it came up about when the Pres had said and she said that really hurt to hear that and made everybody feel like garbage. I am nobody special and not doing anything special but my companion and others I have talked to, didn't want anything to do with me because I was "too good". Anybody that reads this knows many of my faults and I don't hide what is bothering me. If you actually got to know me, you would know that yes, I do love the visiting teaching program but I am pretty plain Jane, nothing special, just a regular gal.
  Other instances have happened like only people showing up at my house for lunch bunch but when it is at someone else's house many show up, or switching cars to ride with someone else. Things like that have really been effecting me. Today, I just couldn't fake it the whole three hours. In fact I barely lasted three minutes. I felt very similar to the first time we went to church in VA and knowing absolutely nobody, very alone. Today, I know of many people in our ward, but I don't really know where I belong and yes, it has been a year, next Sunday since we have been in this ward. People always say, give it a year. I turned to Chris and said, I feel like I want to cry. When the opening song started playing, the tap opened up, and it was hard to turn off. I finally got a hold of myself towards the end of sacrament meeting. I wanted to just go home so I didn't have to deal with people talking to me and asking if I was "ok". If someone is crying, they probably aren't "ok". I was suppose to do a bit in primary so I went in and sat in the back. A lady came to talk to me and she could tell something was wrong because I have really fooled her and she said she gets happy when she sees me and that wasn't the case today. She agreed to take over what I was suppose to do and I left. Faking it wasn't an option. It is easier to be home then to see all of the people that I don't have close friendships with.
 I have to say, I am so thankful for a husband that can give me a priesthood blessing. Thankful that he is so caring and concerned for me. He knows what I need and is always there for me. He is my best friend and I love that. I am thankful that he is able to be the one that I lean on while I am going through my own hard times and thankful that he and I aren't going through our individual hard times at the same time so that we are able to lean on each other when we need to. 

Visiting DC Friends

Our friends, The Trousdales, moved from TX to Washington DC 8 months before we moved to VA. We were sad that we probably wouldn't get to see them much after that. However, we have loved having friends that the kids grew up here on the east coast.

The sad news is that these guys are now moving to CA:( Chris isn't looking for a new job so I don't think that in 8 months we will be following them this time:(

Chris and I were so amazed with how well these kids pick up EXACTLY where they left off. Matthew and Elaina were just great buds as well as Allison and Erin. They were partners throughout the day and they all had so much fun. These girls were so great at showing their friends their city and keeping track of their buddy. These four can kind of get loud but they have fun.

We went to the American History Museum and saw Dorthy's red shoes, Ms. Piggy and lot of other stuff. One thing that we got to see was the first American flag. It is dark in there and when Allison saw the flag she said, "Wow, this is so epic." I thought that is what I heard but Allison had never said that before so I figured I just heard wrong. I asked her what she said and she replied, "Wow, this is so epic." Yep, that is what I heard. I asked her if she knew what the word epic meant and she said no. I told her that when she learned what that word meant she could use it.

(Fast forward two days, we are watching a moving and Matthew used the word epic. Allison asked if what it meant and he said really cool. Allison turned to me and said, mom I know what epic means now so now I can use it:)

We also went to the Natural History Museum and looked at different things including the Hope Diamond.

Obviously Allison is not much of a walker. We got to the White House and I thought they would be more excited about seeing it because they have been studying presidents and talking about the White House but Allison was too cranky about walking to really care about it. The way she looks in this picture is exactly how she felt.

There is a better place to see the White House and take pictures but there were also about a thousand more people there also.

There was a marathon earlier in the morning so there were a lot of people everywhere, probably because of that and it was a pretty nice day, other then it being windy.

As we were walking to this spot to take pictures in front of the White House, there was a group of Asian people taking pictures. It really looked like they were taking pictures of my red-headed kids (we had friends go over to China and their blonde haired boy got pictures taken of him all of the time) Chris realized that the Washington monument was behind us so they were probably taking pictures of that instead:) hahaha

Maybe they got our kids in the picture too to see these red and blond haired kids:)

 They are such cute buddies together.

We then went to the Lincoln Memorial and the girls knew about Rockie. Matthew on the other hand didn't know what they were doing but fine, mom says do this so I guess I will. Allison on the other hand was beyond done with all of this walking.

Don't you love my kids faces?

After this we walked back to the car. 

We had so much fun with the Trousdales and thankful that we have been able to live close to them even after graduate school for a little bit.

We will miss them and sad to see the kids friends that they have known their whole lives not being able to see them as regular.

Feeling Worthless

I have lots to things to do like visiting teaching coordinator stuff, or treasurer stuff for the pool, or trying to make our house feel more homey (though that is probably not a word), or cleaning. Anyways, I have things to do but because I don't get paid for any of it and I don't have kids home all day, I kind of feel worthless. It is a sad slippery slope. I don't really feel like I have a purpose. I am tired of waiting to see if we might have any more kids and with one of my meltdowns, Chris asked me what I would do if I was done having kids. I think I would go back to school and finally finish my degree. Since I am sick of the waiting game and I don't know what will happen in the future, I don't want to just wait and wait so I have contacted a transfer counselor at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) here in Richmond and hopefully I can start feel like I am doing something with my life. Applications are due May 1st for the fall semester. We will see if that actually happens. Oh the joys of life.

Air & Space Museum (Dulles Airport)

Our friends that live in Washington D.C. have accepted a job in California and will be moving soon. We made possibly our last trip up to be with them. To avoid traffic (if that is EVER possible on I-95) we went up a little before their girls were out of school and went to the Air & Space Museum. Chris went there by himself when we lived in Northern Virginia for a month back in 2009 but the kids and I never did. 

It was a great stop and the kids are old enough to enjoy it more.

We saw a black bird, though it wasn't quite as cool because they have one at the VA Air & Space Museum but this one was inside and you got to see it from the top.

tons of other airplanes and even the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first Atomic Bomb. It is fun to go to things like this with my husband because he is the best tour guide anybody can have. 

It was fun to see the drones and many, many other planes, but the coolest BY FAR was this space shuttle, Discovery.

I have never seen one before so I tool lots of pictures.

So cool to see this.

Frozen Water Pipe Burst

The day before my birthday the kids had another snow day (surprise, surprise). We went to the church with some other friends and let the kids play together in the gym since this was the fourth day home that week, we were all getting cabin fever. We brought a kid home with us and we had our usual pizza and a movie night. After the movie was over I went to open the garage door and could hear it pouring outside. I thought to myself, "ah man, those kids didn't close the garage door when they came inside." When I opened the door to our garage it was pouring from the ceiling, not from outside. I have to admit I kind of shut down, I didn't really know what to do. I didn't know where it was coming from, just kind of stunned. Chris and I ran upstairs to figure out where it was coming from. Our bathroom had about 2 inches of water in it already. We couldn't find what pipe it was coming from so we needed to shut all the water off to the house outside. Since there was still snow on the ground it was hard to find the lid that covers the shut off valve. We dug and dug and finally found it and we shut off all of the water.

I was trying to think of someone to come pick this kid up to take him home but Chris told me to just go and take him home.

This kid is 11 years old. He was kind of worried for us. I left my husband to deal with cleaning up the water so I could take Luke home. In the car he asked me what I was going to do. My reply was, "I don't know, probably cry when I get home." He said, "could I say a prayer for you guys?" He said such a sweet sincere prayer, which I was able to then start thinking about what needs to be done rather then just crying. I dropped him off and sent a text of help. I am so thankful for Ken Eliason, Hal Dalton, Bary Dalton and Josh Dalton for coming to our rescue. So thankful for my ward family and for our friends. We did what we could tonight and Hal set up a plumber to come help us get our water back on the next day. I guess getting running water is a good birthday present right? :)

It doesn't look like much water but thankfully our garage is a little slanted so the water ran out of the garage.

Behind this little board is some attack type room to store a few things, that we didn't know about, but this is where the frozen pipe burst. The pipe was all insulated except the elbow, apparently that was just too hard to insulate so nothing was on it, and that is what burst.

Our insurance had people out here on Saturday and the next week to dry everything out.

It all finally got dried out, BUT that has been over a month ago and nothing else has happened.

They torn up the laminate floor so it is all the subfloor with staples and wood everywhere, so our bathroom is still functioning, just have to wear shoes in there. It is starting to get a little irritating that nothing is getting fixed though. Oh well, hopefully one of these days we will get it back to normal again. It could have been much worse.

SNOW DAYS

We have had much more snow this year then last year. Our kids had 4 snow days last year and they were all while we were in our apartment. The kids LOVED it because they haven't lived where it actually snows before.

This year has been ridiculous with the amount of closures we have had. I hear that we are going to get snow and then just know that they whole city will shut down for about 3 days.

Our kids have had 12 or more snow days so far. They have also had two 2-hour delays and one 1-hour delay starts. The kids were suppose to be off for Presidents day but they went and made up those hours. I don't know how many hours the school has in reserve or if we have used them all up. As of right now we haven't heard of spring break getting cancelled or the school year going longer. 

The kids have been enjoying the snow though, and they love the hot chocolate when they come in:)

I wouldn't mind the snow if it didn't shut everything down but it is just irritating when life doesn't continue as normal, ESPECIALLY when they cancel Volleyball for me:( 

I thought two snows ago we were done with this, having to check to see if school is on or not or on a delay. It has been cold yesterday and today, tomorrow up to 60 and then cold again on Sunday then back to 73 Monday, then they say another snow storm is coming next week. I think all of us in Richmond are done with this winter.

This last snow storm was rain, then sleet, then snow. Our driveway and road was a good 1+inch of solid ice. Most of the city shut down but some only had a two hour delay. Our hill is a little steep so when we heard our neighbor spinning out trying to get up the hill, I put my Montana skills to use and went out to help him. I was just trying to dig out the icy from around his tires so he could get traction on his tires. Chris kept hearing that he wasn't getting very far so figured they needed an extra person. He got a shovel and between the two of us, we finally got our neighbor up the hill and on his way. We got back in the house and sat down, just to hear another neighbor stuck. Her husband was out there trying to get her traction but we put our stuff back on and went back out. We decided that we needed to start charging:) I was so surprised though because in a matter of just three hours the road was no longer icy anymore, the sun had been shining and melting it so quickly, it was now just a wet road, no more helping neighbors get up the hill. It made us feel good that we were able to help our neighbors though and actually meet them.

Broken Habit

I used to be better at posting but ever since the beginning of the year when Blogger stopped working with Picasa I haven't blogged as much. I don't think it is something Chris did, I have read online that numerous people can't use Blogger with Picasa anymore. 

I also keep thinking that we haven't really done anything lately because we have been stuck at home with all of this snow that we have gotten and the whole city shuts down.

Here is one of our days of being home. What a fun little treat for these kids, movie, popcorn and hot chocolate.

Just Chillin'

Of course we have to have one with the hand on the hip:)