We're getting a temple!!

This weekend is general conference in our church where the Prophet and the Apostles speak. Well, score for Ryan - he hooked up our computer so we could watch it on our tv. It makes me feel so at home since it's broadcast on all the television stations in Utah. But since we've moved, for the last 5 years we've had to watch it over the internet, and let me tell you that all 5 of us in our bedroom in front of the computer for 4 two-hour sessions of conference over one weekend is miserable. So even though he was threatened within inches of his life if he didn't make it happen, he did. (Although there were some precarious moments like him canceling our high-speed cable internet RIGHT before conference and getting us just a step up from dial up. You bet I called and changed that pretty quickly.)

BUT - today in conference they announced we're getting a temple in Ft. Lauderdale! Currently the closest temple is in Orlando, which is a 4 hour drive, and makes for a really long day if you're there and back in a day, and a whole day of someone babysitting your kids, unless you drag them on the drive with you. So a mere 30 minutes to Ft. Lauderdale is a true answer to prayer. We have been praying so hard for a temple to serve south Florida and it's so exciting for us to have that answered. Temples are sort of at the height of Mormon worship where we learn about God and His plan, and are bound together as families for eternity. Ryan and I were married in the Salt Lake temple (pictured). The videos below explain more. We feel so blessed!

Mormon Messages: The Blessings of the Temple

Mormon Messages: Why Mormons Build Temples

HOW DO YOU PEOPLE DO IT?!?

Yesterday was the first day Cash went to his new little preschool (little as in there's only three of them in it). By the time I was in the car at 8:30am with everyone fed and dressed trying to get through morning traffic on time it suddenly dawned on me: I need to breathe. Wow. How do you people do this - EVERY DAY??? I could feel the muscles in my neck tensing up, my back starting to hurt and my anxiety levels skyrocketing. Isn't that ridiculous? Just to get my 3 year-old to preschool at a friend's house? But I realized that I haven't had to be somewhere on time, early in the morning in years really. Probably not since my working days. Ok, there are probably a lot of places I should have been on time (yeah, and if you know us at church, you will sadly know this is one of those), but I also take it as a credit to my own sanity-maintenance that I just haven't really sweated stuff since I've had kids. And so in a way I feel a little good about it. And in another way I realize that's why I'm so dang out of practice at it. But really, when your kids don't really wake up until 8 or 8:30, it's almost a darn miracle to get three totally dependent children dressed, fed, diapered and out to the car by 8:30. So way to go me. I did it once. We'll see if I can do it again. :)

Speaking of schools, I did my research and my worst fears were confirmed - we're in the boundaries to be slotted for the same schools that lead up to the infamous high school that our babysitter goes to - remember, the one where she got made fun of for being the only virgin on the cheerleading squad? The one where they don't have funds to have lockers or books for their students? The one where they offer HIV testing? The one where they have a day care?? Yeah, and the one that is 0.5% Caucasian. That's right, that's a point five percent. And we're not even just caucasian. That poor little Cash is practically translucent. So, you can imagine that the elementary schools leading up to that high school are also the same. Which is leading me to my worries about next year's Pre-K. I'll keep looking, but all the good ones are far away - and with my recent realization of my elevated stress levels having to actually be somewhere on time, I'm already feeling a full-blown panic attack coming on just thinking about having to do it every morning. And I have to do this every morning - for like, the next 25 years? How do you people do it? Can't I just hire it out or something? A surrogate parent for the morning drop off? I could even try to find a tall blond.... :)

Oh what do you do when you're stuck inside?

Ok, this is the last post mentioning being sick with SF sice we're all done with that now, but I just saw a few more pictures I thought I'd post. Like this one of Phoenix - by the end of the first week he kept lifting up his shirt to take his temperature with the thermometer.







And being home gave us time to finally do some projects around the house (ok, one, but that's more than usual). It was fun watching Cash be so excited to learn the manly art of power tools.





















And all I can say is thank heavens for the Bookmobile - the mobile library van that comes to the park right in front of our house every Saturday. The kids came home all stocked up with movies for the second long week at home. It's so great though - we order books, movies, new releases - whatever and they bring it right to us. I don't know if it's a common thing elsewhere, but if you don't have a bookmobile, you are missing out!









And as a last resort for those home-bound or rainy day activities, you can always move your couch and let your children entertain themselves with all the treasures they find under there. We started to clean it up, but everyone was so occupied we decided to leave them be.







Ok, he happened to stuff popcorn that he found under the couch in his mouth right as I took the picture - this wasn't encouraged. Even I have my limits.

Get me out of here

I don't know what much there is to blog about when you haven't left the house for two weeks. The new fall tv lineup since I've pretty much watched everything? It's bad - even the babies just come hand me the remote now first thing in the morning. No one has had the energy to do anything else.

Or I could discuss the fact that I'm going NUTS. I am DYING to get out of this house, and so are my kids. Thank goodness I've never had to be on bed rest. I can feel my body wasting away. And quite possibly my brain too. Who knew that two weeks of laying on the couch wasn't really all it's cracked up to be? Especially not in this house where I've learned that the couch is by far the most dangerous place to be. Lying down on the couch is even worse as it is an apparent invitation to be jumped on, lunged at and body slammed. (You're pretty lucky when they just sit on you, as in this picture). In the past two weeks I've probably used an ice pack about 6 times on myself alone trying to prevent black eyes, avoid bruised foreheads, help what I honestly worried was a broken nose; I thought I may have either broken a rib or ruptured my spleen (ok, that was probably a little dramatic Ryan tells me), and my legs are covered in bruises. These kids are taking years off of my life, I'm sure of it.

I'm sure this is also no doubt compounded by the fact that they ain't no lightweights. At the doctors appointments last week we discovered the twins are now pretty much off the charts in the 100th percentile. Let's just point out that Cash, who is three, weighs 34 pounds. Ashton, who is 18 months is 33 pounds. And our "skinny" baby, Phoenix, is 31. Although at 31 pounds he was still 95th percentile. And they were over 35 inches which was also 100th percentile. They are GIGANTIC. Ryan and I always joke about how Cash got his body type and the twins got mine. Ha ha. (Except we aren't really joking - in case I need to remind you):













Anyway, as crummy as everyone has felt, at least Ashton can still cut a rug. Yes, his dance moves continue to improve. I think we have a previous video on here of Itsy Bitsy Spider dancing with some good shoulder rolling - here's his latest moves.

Down and out

Well it didn't take long to have a whole family full of swine flu, but at least we've got medication and seem to be surviving. This has pretty much been the view here over the past few days:



















Well, for everyone but me, it seems. I've actually had less napping this week than I do under normal circumstances! Everyone is just so miserable it seems that every time I lie down someone starts crying.

When Ryan first stayed home I thought - how nice to have someone else around to help share the workload since both of us are so miserable...until I remembered that's not what men do when they're sick. :) Here's to a speedy recovery for the 4 grumpy boys and me. On the bright side at least the puke has been fairly minimal and Ryan has discovered a real affinity for Hannah Montana.

By the way, we're changing our internet, so not only will we be out of sight, we'll be out of cyberspace for a few days too.

Oink

It's affirmative. Now we're pretty much just waiting for the rest of us to get it.

Maybe the boys will be the three little pigs for Halloween this year. Ha.

The Happiest Place on Earth

I'll admit. When the day started out with pouring rain, I was pretty sure it was going to be the most miserable day on earth. (I know, I'm such a pessimist.) While waiting in the rain for a shuttle to Disneyworld, I could only imagine that rain, plus massive stroller containing all our stuff that was going to get wet, plus wet kids, plus waiting in more lines in the rain was going to be a nightmare. (By the way, the apparition on the left is my sister in her disneyworld poncho.)




Well, I was WRONG!

Thank goodness, huh? Granted, we had our fair share of this:



















(Flailing and uncontrollable tired kids. I'm pretty sure I was not born under one-room family circumstances because I would spend my entire life ornery. I am convinced that those people in the old days (or now) who had to sleep in one room with their whole families are either chronically overtired or else the world's best sleepers.)

And some more of this (trying to manage resistant kids scrambling in every different direction while attempting to look like somewhat composed parents):














But really, is there anything more magical than taking your kids to Disneyworld for the first time? Seeing the wonder and excitement in their eyes:




















(Or shyly hidden smiles, although I know he's excited under there)






















Watching them feel the wind on their face as they fly through the air on Dumbo the Flying Elephant.


Or seeing them mesmerized by It's a Small World.




















Watching your poor child get taken on every single ride because he is just barely tall enough to go but has no idea yet what Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain are:


(Yeah, Ryan insists he had fun, but it looked a little different to me.)


Seeing your husband as excited as your kids:







And with his game face on:



















Watching your kids try to take in the spectacle of the greatest parades they've ever seen with their favorite characters coming to life before their eyes (Cash is a huge Mickey Mouse fan. I think one of the babies few words is even Mickey):























Watching them point excitedly at all the cool things they see on the rides:










Seeing Cash remember the one toy he wanted all day long and even what store had it, then watching him carry it around the rest of the day everywhere we went.

























Seeing your kids so tired by the end of the day that their head keeps nodding around during the firework show.














And even as hard as you work dragging the kids on and off all the rides, of course their favorite parts are just when they get to get out of the stroller and run around!









































And nothing warms my heart like seeing my kids interact with their cousins. Why is it that you just seem to be born with a bond between cousins? It was so fun. Besides the fact that it was sooooo nice having them there. I didn't get a picture, but at the end when we were standing in line for ever waiting for the shuttle home, those boys saved us from utter meltdown by entertaining our kids. People in line were fascinated watching us and commenting on how well everyone in our group helped out. Then they were all trying to catch a glimpse to see what magic Dawson was working on them (holding Ryan's ipod touch with a baby movie on it, which actually captivated the attention of anyone surrounding us, adults included). It was pretty funny.






































The next morning when Dawson came to our hotel room in the morning, Cash opened the door and exclaimed, "I missed you!" a phrase I've never heard him use and didn't know he even knew!

It was actually even nice that we had the rain. It was lighter than the typical drenching Florida downpour that I'm used to, and I could tell right away those clouds weren't going anywhere, but I realized later on, we would have been wet anyway, so might as well be damp and cooler rather than wet and nasty from the humidity and blaring sun. And it did stop periodically which was nice.

Sorry for the choppy video recap and the tons and tons of pictures, but I guess this is more for me anyway. Who knows if I'm going to get around to scrapbooking anymore.
































































































Maybe next time our kids will be a little more photogenic. :)






Phew.











When we finally made it home (about a 4 hour drive), the babies immediately got on their hands and knees, almost like they were so happy to have their feet on the ground and be out of the car that they were practically kissing the ground!



It was a lot of fun. And a lot of work. I'm so glad we did it! But I wouldn't do it again anytime too soon. :)

Mischief and Melodrama

Two curly-haired twin babies for sale. One named Mischief and the other is Melodrama.









Melodrama is always crying. Frequently flops onto floors, furniture, etc. in weeping and wailing distress - pauses to look up and make sure you're watching, and then continues flopping. Does have a charming smile when he's not wet and snotty from all the crying. May possibly eat you out of house and home.




Mischief is frequently found pulling full cups of water onto the floor, pulling knives out of thin air, finding and ruining every dvd in the house, dumping entire bags of potato chips all over the house while caretaker is momentarily busy, and climbing like a monkey. Has a sweet side in that he is always up in Melodrama's face trying to see what all the crying is for and trying to console him if possible. Has a hilarious cackle.



Even their father has realized that getting home from work early isn't exactly a treat around our house.

If you happen to be in the Orlando area this weekend and would like to pick them up at Disneyworld, I'm pretty sure they will be half price by then.