Ready or not.....

......here we come!!

I think I must be in a state of shock because I know that reality has definitely not hit me yet. Today, Matt is resigning from his job here in Edmonton, and accepting a job in Lethbridge.

And the enormous task of moving begins.....

The whole story goes like this:

The last week of April, Matt got a phone call at work from Mel Salmon from the Generations Funeral Home in Lethbridge. Matt got a hold of him a couple of days later and found out that he was looking to fill a position down there for a LDS Funeral Director. They had heard that there was an LDS director in Edmonton, so they phoned around until they found him. They asked Matt if he would send in his resume, which he did, and then we heard nothing for over a month. Matt finally called and asked what was going on with the position, and found out that they were trying to acquire a new business and had to get that settled first before they hired anybody, and that they would call in a month or two. Two weeks later, they called and asked him to come for an interview. So Matt went for an interview on June 28. The interview went well, and they told him they would call in a couple of weeks. Well, a month went by, but they called this week and offered Matt the job. In the meantime, Matt had mentioned all this to his boss and they started scrambling and got Matt a raise! Hurray!! It has definitely been a long time coming that is for sure. The offer from Generations was equivalent to his raise up here, but the pull of family, living in a smaller community and a slower pace of life won the battle. We told our kids tonight and were met with some tears and opposition, but we are trying to make this into a great adventure and hopefully by the time we actually move, they will be excited too.

Let the new adventure begin!!

Summer 2010

This past week I took my kids to southern Alberta to visit my family. We had a great time just relaxing and visiting. My sister Mindy and I took our kids (10 of them all together!) to the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D - they thought that was pretty cool! We also had dinner with Mindy and Dan that evening and the next evening with the whole family, minus a few. Mary Lou was able to take some pictures of my kids and I think they turned out pretty great!! It is hard to believe how fast they are all growing up!

Just chillin'.....

Last week I took a look at the calendar and saw that we didn't have anything booked for this week. No doctors, orthodontists, orthopedists, babysitting......zip! Except for Matt. After 2 1/2 weeks off, he had to get back in the swing of things and go back to work. Boo. So I loaded all my kids in the van and headed down south to visit my family for the week. So far it has been cold, wet, and WINDY!! It doesn't seem to matter much as my kids just love being here at Grandma and Grandpa's house, whether there is anything to do or not. It is nice to just chill out and relax for a few days. Tomorrow we are going to a matinee with my sister Mindy and her kids and then we are all getting together for a picnic on Thursday afternoon. I am hoping for some nice weather so I can break out the camera and get some good pictures. I am also really hoping my sil will have her baby while we are here so I can sneak a peek at my new little nephew! Gotta love summer!

Scary moment!

What a crazy weekend. I don’t even know where to begin. On Friday afternoon, I was headed up to the school to get Grace so we could go to piano lessons. I was running a few minutes late, and by the time I pulled out of my driveway, my friend Lianne was coming down the street with Grace in her car. They had picked her up and were bringing her home, which was very nice of them and something they had done many times before. We stopped our cars on either side of the street just 2 doors down from our house and Grace got out of their vehicle and started across the street to get into ours. She was a little excited and wanted to hurry, as it seems we are always in a rush to get to our piano lessons, and did not look before darting out from in front of Lianne’s car and into the street. I could see that she didn’t look and saw a vehicle coming and yelled at her to stop just as the van passed. Grace hesitated and tried to stop, but was clipped by the van going by. What a heartstopping moment. I jumped out of my van and raced across the street as I could see Grace on the ground and I could tell that her leg was broken. I have never seen a broken bone up close, but there was an obvious deformity. Lianne and I scooped her up and put her in my van, and I had Anna and Rebecca hop out and go back home to stay with Brendan. He was already there with Sarah as she was sleeping when it was time to leave and so I had Brendan babysitting her while we were going to be gone. The driver of the van stopped and wondered if there was anything she could do. I know she was a bit traumatized too – but there was nothing that could have been done. It all happened so fast!! Lianne gave me a big hug and helped calm me down before I drove Grace up to the hospital that is about 5 minutes away. The nurses were great and they helped me get her out and got her into a trauma room right away. They had an IV going for pain within half an hour and then for x-rays just after that. Grace has broken both bones in her lower right leg. After the x-rays it was a waiting game. The hospital does not have any pediatric orthopedic specialists, so the doctors were trying to go back and forth with a specialist from a different hospital trying to decide what to do. Finally at 11:30pm they set her leg and put a cast on it, and then at 3am they transferred her to the University of Alberta Hospital to bee seen by a specialist. I am so extremely fortunate that Rachel was there to help me out. I phoned her on my way to the hospital to let her know we were not going to be there for piano lessons and she immediately came down and stayed with my kids, made them supper, cleaned my house, folded my laundry and put my kids to bed. Then she came to the hospital and let me take Gideon home and go to bed myself and stayed with Grace ALL NIGHT. They were releasing Grace at 8am the next morning and I just loaded up all my kids to go and pick them up. Rachel is such an amazing sister and one of my best friends and I know I couldn't have done this without her. Matt was still camping and I tried to call his friend’s cell phone, but it wasn’t turned on. Matt got home around 3pm and then we got to tell him all the news and drama! Rachel took care of letting family know what had been happening and with the aid of facebook; soon our whole ward knew too! My visiting teacher had a meal over here before 2pm yesterday, another friend took Brendan, Anna, and Rebecca to the ward picnic, and we have had several phone calls and people checking up on us since then. Our bishop called and joked that it was our family again looking for attention - - it does seem like we have had our fair share of it lately! I have had a hard time turning my brain off and I have that moment on continuous replay in my head right now. I have a scripture that I keep thinking about too. It is D&C 122:7, “…know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” I have been trying to find the good in all this and I can actually see some things. Not that it is good that it happened, but I KNOW that Grace will NEVER run out into the road again without looking. I KNOW that Grace was protected from any further injuries. I KNOW that the power of prayer is undeniable and really does work. I KNOW that I still have my beautiful little girl with me and for that I am truly, truly grateful.

The past 12 hours.....

In the past 12 (or so) hours I have:

-spent an hour on a bike in spin class

-helped the kids clean up and make homemade ice cream for FHE (Matt was in bed with a headache)

-got all the kids in bed

-folded 8 loads of laundry while watching "What About Bob?"

-went to bed way too late (11:30pm)

- fed Gideon again at 3am

-Sarah tried to climb in our bed at 4am (she ended up wandering the house apparently as I found half eaten pears and toys everywhere when I woke up)

-got woken up by Brendan at 5am trying to have a snack

-yelled at Brendan at 7am when I realized how much of a "snack" he actually had (5 slices of pizza, 4 slices of cinnamon toast, and 7 Oreo cookies)

-fed everybody breakfast (except Brendan - he had had enough!)

- got everybody out the door to school

-took Gideon to get weighed (20lbs 2oz, 30.5 inches tall!!)

-in total desperation I went through the drive-through at McDonald's because I was starving - I was excited that I had enough change in the van to pay for my breakfast though!

-went to get groceries, got all the way into the store with both kids and was extremely grateful that I realized that I didn't have my wallet in my purse before I had completed my shopping

-drove home to get my wallet (and my shopping bags - I forgot those too) and by the time I got home Gideon was screaming and Sarah was fast asleep because of her early morning

-Gideon is now asleep

I give up.

I think I might go have a nap too!

Fun Friday

Friday was a busy day. It started out with Grace not being so happy, but with the camera out, we were finally able to coax a smile out of her.

I made bread and was not too impressed to come into the kitchen to find that Sarah had decided to make a loaf of bread her punching bag. What do I expect really when she sees me kneading the bread all the time. I just "knead" to teach her that that comes before you bake it - not after! We still ate it - it was just a bit squishy!

Gideon has now learned to crawl forward. He was moving himself backwards for the last couple of weeks, but has now figured out the moving forward part of that. It seems like he has changed so much so fast lately. Within the last two weeks he has learned to clap his hands, crawl and has gotten two teeth! Where did the last 9 months go!

Now the fun begins!!!

Parade of Cadets

Today was Brendan's final parade for the year for cadets. Brendan hasn't always enjoyed every minute of cadets, but he made it through the year and I think he is happy about that. Brendan has been able to go gliding twice this year and has gone on a couple of survival camps, and he will most likely be going on a basic training camp this summer.

He has enjoyed participating with his friends Gryphon and William as well.

At their final awards banquet and ceremonies Brendan was promoted from a LAC (Leader Air Cadet) to a Corporal. He was quite excited about that! This program has been great for Brendan and we hope he keeps up the good work!