ME

Monday, July 6th

Tonight I went for a run around the Bountiful temple. I was so caught up in the beauty of the sunset. The deep oranges and purples reflecting off the lake just took my breath away.

I remembered A LOT of things while I was on my jog. I remembered that I need to mail the car payment, I remembered that I need to post something nice about myself, I remembered why I missed Bountiful so much and why I spent seven years longing for it's beauty, I remembered a family home evening with the kids, and I remembered what it feels like to be ME. After 2 long years, there have been several times that I've wondered if I would ever have that feeling again. Tonight I did.

It was fantastic, brilliant, wonderful, happy, motivating, and energizing. It was...ME!

I was so excited that I felt like I needed to reintroduce me to me and I did--over and over again. I kept telling myself--"This is you...this is you...this is you!" I hope I got the point because I really like having ME around.

A few weeks ago, we had FHE on the grounds of the Bountiful Temple. We talked about eternal families and told the kids how we met, fell in love, what we love about each other, and how wonderful it is to be sealed in the temple.

When it was Casey's turn to tell the girls about meeting me and what he liked about me, I was listening very eagerly to hear all the nice things about me. Unfortunately, I spent more time trying to keep the boys IN the temple gates, but OUT of the water fountains. I did manage to hear a few tidbits and this is what he said.

The first time he came to my house to get me, Case remembers me walking across the landing and coming down the front stairs. As I came floating down the stairs he thought I was so tall and gorgeous with my dark hair and dark eyes. I had to smile when he said he thought I was tall because I remember thinking he was so short--which he can't believe. After meeting his dad and brothers, I can understand why he "thinks" he's tall. The girls just thought this was so "romantic" and were beaming with smiles from ear to ear. I've always liked my brown hair and hazel eyes and even more since that is what got me my handsome man.

So, here are 3 nice things about myself

1. I'm tall--but not too tall

2. I have dark eyes--just wish they were bigger

3. I have dark hair--good thing too because I couldn't handle the root thing

So, here's to the tall, dark-eyed, dark-haired ME--who actually showed up this week. I'm so glad to have ME back!

My Little Get Away

Case had a conference in Vegas this week. They were putting him up in a 5 star hotel, so he thought I could get away and relax for a few days. He actually told me to bring some work from the office because he thought I'd be bored hanging out by myself all day. Who is he kidding?? 4 days just to relax...they flew by!!!


I slept in every morning (if you can call 7 or 8 sleeping in). I would head to the gym for a couple hours, then head to the pool and read.
Then I would come back and take a nap in the most comfortable bed I've slept in, wake up for dinner and snuggle up in bed to read some more.

It may not seem like fun to you, but it was so fun for me to be so relaxed.

It was also fun to spend a little time with Case. Thanks Sweetie for letting me tag along. I had a fabulous week doing absolutely nothing!! And thanks Grandma and Nick & Annie for taking care of my little treasures.

Did I mention that I slept and read---A LOT!?!?!

And then, I returned to Paradise!!

My Vision

One day I was telling Casey about vision boards (as seen on Oprah of course). He has been on me for months to get some boards to put our "visions" on. I'm hoping that posting this blank board will actually motivate me to fill it up with things I hope to happen.

(See Melissa, I really was painting and sanding)

Coupon Geek!!

I have turned into the BIGGEST coupon geek!!

He Remembered!!

He remembered!! Case actually remembered my "mom" day. He had an early tee time for a tournament at Valley View this morning. When I came up to make breakfast, there were 2 boxes of doughnuts sitting on the counter!! He hasn't been the most sensitive soul this week, so I am more than thrilled he remembered--and made the trek to the grocery store at 6 am. I guess it balances out the week!! Even better was hearing Livie ask Hallie if she was going to have another doughnut and Hallie saying "No, there's way too much sugar in these. I'll have something healthy." Too bad Diddy didn't get the memo--he can't shovel the doughnuts in fast enough!! I gotta run--I don't need to waste the day doing this.

My Mother's Day Wish

I know the girls have made me Mothers Day presents at school and they are so excited to give them to me. The other night, Hallie asked me what I wanted Daddy to give me for Mother's Day. As soon as she asked, I immediately had this thought come into my brain---I just want to spend the whole Saturday playing with my kids and just being a MOM!!! No cooking, no cleaning, no yardwork, no billing, no errands, nothing, but playing with the kids. Case told me I better make sure everything else is done by Friday night.....whatever!! I can't wait to spend the day reading books, playing games, running outside and doing whatever else the kids want to do with ME!! Hallie told me she would make sure there was no fighting, so I could have a great day taking care of my children. Yay--I can't wait. This will be the best Mothers Day ever!!

Stranger

It seriously feels like my hubby is fast becoming a stranger. We have spent 5 of the last 6 weeks with some serious sick bugs at our house. When we're full of bugs, it's ALL about the kids. The boys just cry and cry. They cry if you pick them up, they cry if you put them down, they cry if you even turn your head---and they don't sleep well. I've had my fair share of all-nighters this last month. To make matters worse, Case and I keep getting sick and we seem to be bad on the same days. It's all we can do to keep things together sometimes. The other thing that has been hard is that ALL 4 of them were sick at the same time and 4 kids and 1 lap just don't mix. By the time I got the kids to the doc and diagnosed on Monday, I was at my whits end--I was averaging about 2 hours of sleep a night for the last few nights. As soon as I found out everyone was really sick, I got in my car and started crying because I was so relieved to know what was wrong and I was ready for medicine!!!
That night, Case and I were kind of short with each other because the constant crying was really getting nerve-racking. We couldn't take it out on the kids, so we were kind of taking it out on each other. The next morning I woke up to find an email from Case saying when he got home from work, I was to get out of the house and not come home until I was ready. I started to cry when I read that because I knew Case was just as exhausted as me and it meant the world to me that he realized how bad things had been and he wanted me to feel some relief. I went to the office at 8:00 that night and stayed until 5:30 am--it felt so good to be busy and to actually see a task get completed. Even though things have been horrible this week, all I can think about is Case thinking of me. That actually makes things seem all better.
It has been a long week. I've been pretty sick, so I've been sleeping on the couch, so I don't get Case sick. Tonight I went in to kiss him goodnight and he was like "what are you doing." Yes, we've been sooo preoccupied with sick kids that a kiss goodnight was totally out of the norm. I think I need to plan a fun night to get to know this stranger I call my husband. Maybe then, I'll feel like a wife again too because right now, I feel like a professional snot wiper.