Parker

So most of you know Parker has a learning disability with his Auditory processing and working memory. I have been grateful for finding this out since he is able to get help at school where he needs it, but I always felt there was something else but couldn't quite put my finger on it. Well, recently I was talking with his special ed teacher at school and she suggested that I get him tested to see if he has Aspergers. If I did that he would receive a lot more specialized help at school. So last week Parker had his appointment and we met with the councilor and after the first meeting she wasn't sure, she wanted to talk and meet with him more. Yesterday we went back and she told me that after reviewing his file after we left, that she wanted to give him the diagnosis of having Aspergers and an Anxiety disorder NOS (not otherwise specified). It is really common to have an Anxiety disorder with Aspergers.
So there it is, what does this mean? This means that Parker with be able to get special services at his school that will specialized in his way of learning. We are happy with this, we are excited to be able to get Parker the help he needs to tap in to all his potential with his learning and developing tools to deal with his anxiety and coping skills to work with his Aspergers. We have talked with him and he is excited that his brain is wired differently than the typical person. I am so proud of him, he is such a wonderful kid. He isn't going to have an easy road ahead of him but he is excited.

Wow! Been a while.

Well, It has been a while since writing on here, sorry about that. Lets see, we have just been plugging along with our lives. Phil in enjoying school and should graduate with his bachelors in july (yay!) then (hopefully, fingers crossed and prayers said) He will get into grad school at the Y for fall. He is enjoying working at the MTC and he gets to teach elders quorum on sunday.
Parker is enjoying 4th grade. He has an awesome teacher and special ed team that helps him. I am happy that he will get to finish his elementary at this school, it is a really great school. He is currently obsessed with Angry Birds. You would think that he got to play all day on Angry Birds for how obsessed he is with it but he actually doesn't. Parker is in Webelos and is getting close to getting his badge. He is very excited to be in 11 yr old scouts, and with my scouting back ground I am in a little bit of a shock that he is almost there. Parker is growing just like his dad, he grew 3 inch in the last 4 months. He is currently 5'3'' that is only 2 inch shorter than me! I love that he is so tall but then again he is still my little boy and it is a little unnerving that he can look me in the eye when I talk to him.
Everett loves 3rd grade and also has an awesome teacher. He has a lot of friends in the neighborhood and loves that he sees them at school AND at church. He loves playing the game Farkle and is pretty good at it. He is currently in Bear scouts, and working hard on that. Everett has surpassed Phil in his Lego building talent. That kid makes some of the coolest things and constantly wows us. Everett is my biggest helper with Calvin, I LOVE it. Though Calvin is getting into a mom only phase, sorry Everett.
Mason is in 1st grade and is lucky to have his own Aunt Sarah (or Mrs. Bethel at school) for his teacher. The funniest thing is he seems to forget at school that she is his aunt and only thinks of her as his teacher. She is due anyday with a baby and a few months back when they found out that it was a boy, I told Mason that the baby was going to be his cousin. The look on his face was priceless, he looked so confused. You could actually see the wheels turning in his mind making the connection, it was really funny. Mason is an awesome reader and his reading some magic tree house books and Junie B jones. I LOVE this! He is always wanting to read and will read whatever I put in front of him.
Simon is 4 and my little mommas boy. Which I love! He likes to be where I am all the time and follows me around the house, when he isn't causing trouble with Calvin. He is the sweetest kid! Simon will give me hugs and kisses just because I am standing there (love it!). He has reached the wonderful age of pondering the world around him. He constantly is asking me questions. Not why questions but HOW, how do they make cars? How do they make metal? How do they make bones? thankfully he is only 4 and simple answers satisfy him. This boys is baby hungry also, he always sees babies and wants to sit and play with them or take care of them, (So cute!)
Calvin is 2 and thankful a fairly easy 2 year old. He does the same stuff most 2 year olds do but it doesn't seem as bad :)
He loves his brothers and gets what ever he wants from them, even stuff he isn't supposed to have because they give him whatever he wants! Calvin is the cutest kid, we have so much fun with him. He loves to color and cut paper and copy his big brother (good and bad).
I am keeping busy. I have some friend that I go walking with 2 to 3 times a week. Every wednesday I go to my friend Lynseys house and we work on our craft projects together, it is so fun and I get a lot accomplished. My current projects are Everetts baptism quilt (yes he is 9, hence the need to get it done:) and starting Masons baptism quilt. I have a year lets see if i can get it done. I got called to be the Relief society Activity Board Leader, so I get to head up all the fun relief society activities which I am very excited about. I also get to go into my kids classes every friday and either read with them or help the teacher with various projects. I love doing this, I enjoy seeing how their classes run and meet their friends. I keep busy with Calvin and Simon while the other boys are at school and we have fun here at home, if only I could get more organized and keep it clean. I have been enjoying being back in Utah, it took a while, but I enjoy it now. I see my sisters more often which I love and the cousins get a lot more play time in.
That seems to be all with our family, nothing terrible exciting but fun nonetheless. Lets see if I can post for often then every 8 months :)

Post traumatic stress

I have heard of this phrase before and I did believe it was a real thing but I have never experienced it. That is until yesterday. If you don't remember back in December I was in a car accident. It was just bad enough to make me jumpy now and again while driving. Yesterday we had a wonderful day spent with friends and family. We drove up to Salt Lake and had a fun lunch and afternoon hanging out with my good friend from high school, Kelsey, for the afternoon. Then we went over to Wheelers Farm and had a birthday party for our nephew Cannon who turned three. The weather was so so all day, turning to light rain at the party. After we went back to Abe's house (Cannon's Dad, Phils brother) and played some games. When we left around 9:00 it was pouring rain. Driving on the freeway in the rain in not one of my favorite thing to do, thankfully Phil was doing the driving. We were just past the point of the mountain and I was starting to tensing up, double checking if everyone was in their seatbelt correctly. Then we hit some sort of pot hole or crack in the road that had filled with water. I lost it! Major flash back came into my head of hitting those other cars, hearing my kids crying and seeing their faces that were so scared. I tensed up so much that I got an instant headache, I also felt like I couldn't breath deep enough. I kept seeing the accident over and over in my head again like the day that it happened with added images of what could happen there with my whole family on the freeway in the rain. The crying came when Phil asked if I was OK, then Parker and Everett asked if I was OK. They were are so sweet with concern. I know I wasn't in that big of an accident but it can really rattle you. We all arrived home save and sound but I was exhausted from the experience. It eased up and almost completely faded away once the rain started to get lighter and all but stop 10 minute later. I do not care to repeat that experience and I do worry about this winter but for now I won't think about it and look forward to summer (if it ever gets here). On a funny note I told Phil that when I am an old lady he is going to have to drive me around because I want to give up on driving sometimes and moments like this speed that thinking up.
On a completely different note last sunday I taught relief society for the first time and really liked it. I was surprised I felt very comfortable asking everyones questions and getting their feed back. There is much to be said about being properly prepared in all ways, materially and spiritually. I received several complements of shock that I had never taught before, one woman said I was born to teach, that threw me. I am grateful for the experience and look forward to the next time, I was only a sub last sunday.

Super hero Simon!

I just have to state my two FAVORITE thing about my three year olds. All of them have had differences. Ranging in degrees of naughtiness and helpfulness. But two things they have all done.
First is the superhero fixation. I love this phase. Simon has had the benefit of having three older brothers go through this already so he has like 12 capes he can choose from and various other super hero pajamas and masks. Simon currently wears a cape every day if not two capes everyday.
The second thing I love is the "I want to be in only my underwear all day" phase. I do help Simon get dressed everyday and it is only a matter of time before he realizes what I have done. There is one thing that Simon does that the others did not do and that is he puts the cloths he was wearing back into his drawer, I know! Crazy right! I am counting my blessings with that one.
Three year olds are the best!

Summer is overdue!

Sitting in the grass, the Sunnis shining! I am eating strawberries with my boys and I am thinking "summer needs to get here". We are in the two week countdown for school to be out and my boys are just a little excited. Until today I wasn't but after sitting there and absorbing the sun and my boys I am looking forward to it.
I love watching my boys look for bugs and worms and have all sorts of fun summer adventures.
With Parker turning 10 I know his "little boy" adventure days are numbered. Hopefully he will hold on to it a little longer since he has little brothers to educate.
Simon is currently showing Calvin the joys that are roly poly bugs. So much fun watching Calvins excitement when the bugs roll in to balls. These guys are so much fun!

I can update from my phone now!!

With the encouragement of my sister-in-law I finally activated my blog writer on my phone. Now I update from my phone;). I apologize in advance for any spelling problems since my phone sometimes has a mind of it's own and I don't alway catch it.
Well, we have been here in Utah for just over a month now. For the first time in my kids life the three older boys have friends that go to church AND are in their class at school AND live in walking distance range. It's a good motivator to get homework done.
Phil has been busy with school and work. He has school ALL day on Monday and Wednesday. Then he works all day Tuesday and Thursday morning. He then has class on Friday morning and spends the rest of the afternoon working on homework. His week is a little crazy and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
I am getting settled. Phils schedule is taking some getting used to and it will change each semester, but such is the life of college. I was called to be on the Relief Society board. I have had this calling several times and I really like it. I was also asked to teach Relief Society this Sunday. I have never done this before I am nervous but I am also excited to do it. Hopefully between these two thing I will get some friends.
I am in love with my house. Very lucky for us considering we found it online and only saw pictures until we moved it. My only complaint would be the street is to busy. We do have a great back yard to make up for it.
So that us what is going on in our lives right now. Two weeks Friday school gets out so we will be playing all day soon.
I think I may like updating from my phone, let's see how long it lasts.

Girlfriends!

As I was driving down the road after a doctor appointment that I apparently forgot got canceled, I was thinking about my up and coming move. I know, I know I move a lot, please don't point it out I am VERY aware of it. Anyway, I was thinking of the friends that I have made in all the cities that I have lived in in the last 10 years. This blog is dedicated to those women who I have met and left, but I still remember them and love them. I have to say that I met a lot of women in the last 10 years but in each city there has been two or three that stand out in the crowd.
When Phil and I and our tiny baby Parker moved from my home state of Utah and ventured to the lands of Portland OR, I was scared. I was leaving my family and living very far away. I quickly became friends with a girl name Lisa Whilhelm. She lived in the same appartment complex and she had a little girl about a year older than Parker. We became partners to work with the activity day girls and we shared a pregnancy of our second children together. Then came Nancy Wise, we quickly hit it off, we both had technology geek husbands so we had a lot in common.
Our little family which consisted of Phil and I and our boys Parker and Everett moved to Las Vegas NV. In my ward I was scooped up in friendship with two wonderful girls Robin Bevel and Jennifer Smith. These girls were so wonderful, Robin and I shared a pregnancy together as well. I have to say that I owe a lot to these to women. I had a very, very hard pregnancy, not in the terms of baby stress or physical anything it was all mental for me. I had a horrible case of post partum depression after my second and in turn got magnified with my third. They called me many times a week and got me out of the house to go to parks and things like that. I have to say that I would have lost my mind quite literally if these two women weren't there to bring some light in.
Now our family was a family of 5 (Parker, Everett, Mason) we moved up to Spokane WA. I was happy to be living by some family in good ole' spokane. In our first weeks of living here I quickly became friends with Gina Shumate. We were the only "young" couple at an adult valentines party and soon realized that we lived a street away from each other. Gina got me into scrapbooking and we had many a girls night doing stamps and having fun. We did preschool with our 4 year olds and I feel she became a true life long time friend of mine.
Life does some crazy things, so our crew (Parker, Everett, Mason, and Simon) moved back to Portland I was able to reconnect with Nancy but Lisa had since moved. I was spotted my two wonderful women and was told I needed to join their all boys club. They were kidding of course but Tara Mansius had 3 boys, and Kate Jefferies had 2 boys then there was me with 4. All the boys were the same ages. There is something to be said about having friends that have all boys as well, there is an understanding that can't be explained unless you are there as well. All three of us shared a pregnancy as well, all due within 5 weeks of each other. Oh what fun we had, of course two of us had boys (Tara, and I) and Kate had a precious angle baby girl, Elsa <3. Sadly Elsa was a still born, I don't know what could draw a few women closer that helping a friend cope with that kind of loss while being pregnant at the same time. I Love those two dearly and my heart aches for them and their boys.
After all those wonderful adventures in Portland our not so little family (Parker, Everett, Mason, Simon AND Calvin) moved Back to Spokane. I was fortunate to reconnect with Gina (love you) again and to rekindle another friend Tracy Mckay. I knew Tracy back from when we lived in Spokane before. We were visiting teaching companions and I really enjoyed her. When we moved back I got assigned to visit teach her. I have to say that she is such an example to me of strength and intelligence. I love her dearly. I am happy to have strengthen our relationship since moving back.
I also should mention the friends that I have known the longest. My two dear friends from high school, who I am still in contact with. Kelsey (Laws) Richards and Rachel (Hammond) Gardner. These two were the best, I sometimes feel I wasn't the best of friend in high school. Kelsey was very involved in volleyball and I didn't attend any of her games (I am truly sorry Kelsey) I should have supported her better then. Kelsey was one of those friends that we though the exact same way about almost everything when we had conversations we were always saying thing like "I know" or "thats what I think". She was just the best and I love her still. We had our first babies a month a part how, fun is that! Then there is Rachel, Oh miss Rachel! We knew how to laugh. We had so many inside jokes that I am sure most people couldn't stand to be around us (again, sorry Kelsey). We could quote movies to make a whole conversation. After high school I actually lived with Rachel for a few months while I was engaged, I'm sure I drove her crazy in my love sick haze, but she was the first one to hug me when I came out of them temple after the wedding and she was there when I had my first kid. Such a great friend Rachel and I love you still. I love talking with these women now after 15+ years of friendship. With moving so much it is nice to talk to someone who knows you really well.
The main thing that all these women have in common is that they have blessed my life. I learned something from each and everyone of them. I saw their strengths and strived to better myself by their examples. I hope they all know how much they mean to me and I pray that we can keep in touch with the new adventures that my family has to look forward to. Thanks to you all who have be there for me and have loved me and helped me be a better me, you are my girls!

Heres to the women I will meet in the future and the friendships that have yet to be!