It's Done!!

It's official. My back yard is fenced in once again. After losing a huge chunk of our fence to winter storms, my very handy husband and our neighbor have succeeded in getting it all repaired and replaced. No more stray dogs, no more bratty neighbor kids, no more unwelcomed visitors in my back yard. It took a while because we had to work around weather (pouring cement in the rain doesn't work) and schedules (8:00 PM in the dark doesn't work either), but it's done now. And it looks great! Scott and Randy did a fantastic job; better than the original builders in fact. I think I'm really lucky to have a husband who is able to do these kinds of repairs. They did it for about 5% of the estimate we got when we looked into having it fixed by a contractor. Well done, gentlemen!!

Sunday Post

Today may have been one of my favorite sacrament meetings ever. Instead of the usual speakers you'd expect to hear, the meeting was opened up to the congregation, sort of like a testimony meeting, but instead of bearing our testimonies, we could request to sing a particular verse of any hymn in the hymn book. Most people would give a short explanation of why they chose that hymn or what it meant to them before we sang it, so it became a meeting filled with testimony and a very strong spirit. There is so much truth and love in the hymns, and being able to sing so many of them was a really beautiful experience. It was a little surprising to me what was chosen. When one sister asked to sing the third verse of If You Could Hie To Kolob, I was really surprised. I didn't think anyone but the Sauters knew that hymn! It was really a very special spirit in that room, and I am so grateful I was there today to experience it. In case you're wondering, I did go up and ask for a particular hymn. It was really tough for me to pick just one hymn. There are so many hymns that I love and wanted to sing. For most of the meeting I was leaning towards Lead Kindly Light, but couldn't decide on one verse over another. Ultimately I chose the 4th verse of hymn #86; How Great Thou Art. If I were ever required to choose just one verse of one hymn that was truly my favorite, this is it.

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.

Then I shall bow in humble adoration

And there proclaim "My God, how great thou art."

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Green Thumb wanna be

The Prophet said to plant a garden.

Oh won't you plant a garden too,

and share the many joys

a garden brings in health and love

to happy girls and boys!

My "playgroup" on Thursday was at my house. It was a beautiful day so we worked outside. One of the things we did was to clear out the area I used for a garden last year. I hadn't touched it at all since last year, so it was pretty overrun with weeds. But we got it all cleared out! It's a bit late in the season to be planting seeds, so I bought a few actual plants to transplant into my newly cleared garden. I'm kind of excited at the prospects. If it all goes well, I'll have zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant and watermelon! I hope they all survive the transplant process and give me some decent results. If so, next year I'm clearing out an even larger area and adding onions, peas and cantelope to my garden. I hate the work of the garden, specifically the weeding, but I sure love having home grown fruits and vegetables to eat. They just taste better. And the price of produce has gotten so high, I think a little work is worth the effort. Anyone know what it takes to grow jicama? And I'm thinking about asking Scott how he feels about planting apple trees...

Side Effects

Ok, I've been on this new medication for a few days now and I'm not sure I'm noticing any change as far as the real reason I'm taking it, but I'm definitely noticing some of the side effects. I'm having occasional dizzy spells. They're not major, but they come from time to time. Also, I'm dried out. Dry mouth hardly covers how it feels. If I don't have a glass of water by me, I'm not happy. And I'm hungry! I see why they use this to treat eating disorders. This is not a good medication for someone trying to lose weight. I can't seem to stop eating. I'm as bad as my kids; almost the minute I'm done eating a meal, I'm wondering what I'm going to have for a snack. I am definitely not enjoying this particular side effect. The good news is I do seem to be sleeping a bit better. In fact, every day seems a little better than the last as far as my sleeping goes. I guess I'll give it a few more days and see how I feel then.

Huh...

After quite a bit of prodding from Scott, I finally went in to see my doctor about my insomnia. I'm not quite sure what I expected, but it wasn't this. After talking about my symptoms and what I've done to help (like not reading in bed, giving up caffeine, and exercising regularly), she decided I didn't need a sleep aid. Instead she prescribed an antidepressant. I can't decide how I feel about this. I'm not sure I would have said I'm depressed. But she may be right; this may be the elephant in the room I've been ignoring. At this point I'm just not sure what to think. It's the same antidepressant I was on for a month in college, so I know I won't have any weird side effects, and I know it'll help me sleep. I guess there's just such a big difference between taking an occasional sleep aid and being on a daily dose of antidepressants that I'm having a hard time adjusting to it. This isn't what I expected to happen.

The one part of this that made me laugh was reading what else this medicine is used for. Here are a couple highlights;
bedwetting in children
migraine headaches
chronic pain
eating disorders
OCD
panic attacks
premature ejaculation

Sounds like just what I need! :P

Lesson Time!

Becca was in charge of the lesson for FHE last night. I asked her several times during the week when she wanted to work on her lesson, and she told me every time that she didn't need my help. She was sure she wanted to do it herself. She also kept telling me it was going to be "so cool, Mom." Being the independent girl she is, I decided for once I'd let her do it herself. Maybe I should have pushed her a bit harder. Our lesson was on...

...toilet paper. Yep, an entire lesson on toilet paper. Somehow she missed that the lessons are supposed to be spiritual in nature. But she'd planned her lesson, so we let her do it. When she went over the different ways of wiping your bottom (demonstrating over her pants), I couldn't help myself. I laughed. A lot. She'd actually put some thought into her lesson. We also talked about other uses for toilet paper (like wiping noses and cleaning mirrors), as well as things not to do with it (like playing with it, leaving it around the house, and cleaning trees with it). Little Becca did her very first solo lesson, and she was as proud as can be of herself. :) It's times like these that make me LOVE being a Mom.

Check it out!

Since I'm one who rarely looks at what other people have linked to their blogs, I'm sure none of you look at mine either. There's a real gem out there I want to make you all aware of. My friend Deborah has a blog all about the amazing food she cooks. When we hear Deb is bringing food to any gathering we have, we all start to cheer and drool. She's amazing. Y'all should check out her blog, and tell your friends. Everyone should have the goodness of Deborah, but since you can't have her (lucky me), you can at least read her blog and try out her recipes. I particularly recommend her trifle and spinach artichoke dip. Oh, and you have to try the cheesecake fruit dip. It's heaven! :)

Let's all share the goodness that is Deborah!

http://deborahsw.blogspot.com/

Mothers Day

As with my birthday, my family did more for me this Mothers Day than they've done before. I chalk it up to my kids being older and more involved.

My morning started at about 7:30 with Tyler plopping a bowl on my tummy and telling me I get breakfast in bed. He decided I should have a bowl of cereal so he took the crumbs from the bottom of the bag of shredded wheat and poured in my (expired) milk. My kids drink 2% milk, but I drink nonfat, so he was being so good by using my milk. He had no idea it was sour. It was such a sweet gesture.

Scott then went downstairs and let the kids know Mommy wanted to sleep in a little bit, so they needed to be quiet and leave me alone. They did. About 9:00 they came up with my second breakfast in bed; peanut butter toast and pineapple juice. It was very good. They also came up with gifts; a beautiful, bright spring bouquet of flowers, a cute balloon, some sugar free candy, and a poem and recipe holder Rachel made at school. It was all very wonderful.

At church, instead of the usual mums or pansies we're given, our ward gave out pies. Yes, pies. Full size 9 inch apple pies. I was impressed.

When we got home from church, I got to sit on the couch and watch a movie with my kids while Scott made dinner. He did a great job of it, and he did a full on dinner. He made a roast, baked potatoes with all the fixings, and asparagus. It was all delicious. And with the apple pie, dessert was covered! Of course, you can't eat pie without ice cream, so we pulled out my new ice cream maker I got from Mom for my birthday and made homemade ice cream to go with it!

It was a very nice Mothers Day for me. My family really made sure I felt loved and appreciated.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes, the candles say 21, but really I'm 31 today. Between Activity Days, gymnastics, and my normal busy day I'm not sure we have time to celebrate today, but it is my birthday. So happy birthday to me!