A Slow Thursday before it all Starts

This week I took Thursday to be with Remy. To do nothing really productive and just PLAY.

I used to be really good at this with my other kids- back when our life revolved around diapers, and nursing and being in the playroom 24/7. Remy being the youngest just gets dragged where ever Mom tends to be going that day. 

This day we did a Remy day.

She started asking to go outside on a bike ride, before I had even gotten out of bed. I told her it was to early and we needed to get the kids off to school. She was OK with that but by 8:40 it was to much for her- she had waited long enough. So we headed out to the park- her on her Bike and me following on the scooter.

Monkey bars, playing int the rocks and swings took our time for a hour and a half. She was living the life twisting the swing up and twirling for all she was worth.

We headed home and played with Lego- until the Alarm when off on Mommys phone- reminding us she had Kindergarten Screening! We dashed out the door and she preformed like a champ! She was scheduled into to see a speech therapist- as those who have spoken to her- see how that might be needed. Remy you are such a sprit- you loved being in "that classroom" and have been asking when you get to return almost daily since!

Back home to finish building the Lego RV she wanted to play with.

Lauren texted at 2 to see if we wanted to meet at the park. Remy was all up for it- so back to the park we went where Ray was spotted riding his 2 wheeler bike. Remy decided there and then she was DONE with training wheels. She wanted to ride a big kid bike like Ray. I told her would talk to Daddy that night and see if she was ready to take her training wheels off.

Our hour and a half afternoon Park visit flew by and before we knew it the kids were home! With Daddy not far behind! He went right to work on Bikes and the garage- a after winter tune up if you will. Everyones bikes got air in the tires, Kalia's needed a new inner tube, Remy's bike needed tires swapped around, and Mommy needed the Tag-a-long for Remy put on my bike.

AND he took of Remy's training wheels. She pretty much just took off riding! Justin helped her stop and start a bit, and saved her from falling a few times, but just like our other kids she took to it right away.

Grandma and Grandpa came over for a BBQ dinner, Remy was so proud to show them her new trick! I can't believe she is off training wheels. There are a few milestones that seem to stand out more for us then others- having our last kids on a big kid bike seems so..... huge.

After dinner we had a backyard fire pit- for a evening of marshmallows. There is nothing like sitting around a fire with your kids, laughing, talking and roasting. Nothing.

The day ended with everyone trying on their soccer gear... and a delightful visit from Isabelle and Deb. Isabelle was one of my Young Women until her family moved out of the ward last year. Our family, but mostly me, sure miss them. Paige and Isabelle (my young women) and Deb their Mom. Why is change no fun sometimes?

This day was one of those days I tried really hard to be present for my kids, it was such a great day. I need to do this more often.

Assistant Coach

Lacrosse has started again. 2 a week practices- with games scattered here and there. As I have mentioned Justin is assistant Coaching this year and he IS LOVING it. Barker is number 40, and he is progressing nicely. 

The girls are already done with his practice times, Barker practices Monday nights and there is no other practices going on, so the girls have to come. Remy is fine as she makes friends where ever she goes. Kalia and Annaliesse act like their world is ending.... I guess in their eyes it is. 

Eventful Sunday

Sunday morning Remy woke up sicker then she was Saturday- to sick for church. So Justin stayed home for the first hour, then I switched him for the last hour. 

So Justin got the kids ready and brought them to church for me, I couldn't get out of meetings fast enough to come home again for them. As the kids were walking out of the house Justin noticed she has her stress ball balloon thing she made and thought to himself "Thats gonna break all over, oh well, Heather will catch it"

We are sitting in sacrament- I am distracted by one of my YW and by Barker being super made at me about not letting him kick the bench. Kalia is playing with her balloon and Grandma thinks to herself "Thats gonna pop all over my black skirt." But does nothing.

Guys, I saw the balloon once, thought nothing of it- until I feel something wrong. I look over and it had burst. ALL OVER.

Its flour. Nothing to be done except vacuum it up. 

There was still 15 minutes left- the end of a speaker and the song and prayer. So we sat, with me having to repeat, stop playing in it!! 

As soon as it ending Laura and Barker went off to get a vacuum, Mom worked on getting the flour off her skirt, and I cleaned up as much as I could. I guess as I was busy, Barker and Laura came back, Barker was looking for a plug in and tried to plug the vacuum in by swerving in and around peoples feet. Good thing Grandma spotted him and stopped him. 

I vacuumed her off, it took while, just rest assured, she will NEVER be bringing a homemade stress ball anywhere. EVER AGAIN.

Justin was set apart after church, so Mom swung by and picked the kids up for us. We got to Moms house after and it looked Remy could have sat there for hours playing search and find with Grandma!

As soon as we got to Grandmas Barker showed us his shoe broke. Justin got it done up with pilers and Barker goes, "I can just take pilers to school to do my shoe up!!" We were quick to say that wasn't happening.

Everyone was over for dinner this week, and Arlie found some chocolate! No one could be bothered to get up and stop her, so Justin convinced her to come over and he would open it for her! She gladly came over and shared it with Uncle Justin- she is learning young who is going to have her candy fix!!

As we were sitting around visiting before dinner, Remy turns to me and goes, "I tired, I want to nap." Me, not thinking about it seriously, just picked her up and laid her down. Seriously 3 minutes later she was snoring in my lap. Poor baby. 

She napped for about a hour and a half. I made Justin take a picture, pretty sure this is going to be the last time, if not one of the last times, she is going to fall asleep in my arms. Dinner was made and on the table before we transferred her onto the couch while she napped for another 20 minutes.

A Sunday chat at the dinner table, turned, somehow to getting my wedding ring off. Mark and Lindsay saw this thing on how you can get to small of rings off - so of course we tired it. 

It didn't work. It hurt. But didn't work.

Soon I need to get it off, resized, appraised and cleaned. Just need to find time to do it!

What a eventful Sunday.

Time Out For Women

What a fun weekend- Time Out For Women!

This was my third time attending and it was rather fun. 

So many things happened this weekend, I have been putting off writing about it. 

I left Friday afternoon at 2:00pm. This season I was able to be a Team Member representing High River- it was so fun to be involved in selling tickets, distributing info about the event and helping out durning the event.

Tannia and I drove down together- we were both just happy to be going. I was leaving behind a sick Remy, with Barker and Annaliesse still recovering from being sick earlier that week. Thursday afternoon I still wasn't sure I should be taking off and leaving sick Remy and recovering Barker and Annaliesse and a list 40 feet long of things that needed to be done, with Justin. IT was a really hard decision to leave for the weekend like planned. Justin is amazing, but its exhausting having sick kids, and even harder when your trying to get things done. I need not have worried- Justin handled it like a champ. Like always- guys he makes me look incapable sometimes. He's amazing. 

ALSO: Sometimes one of the best part about the weekend turns out to be the people you spend it with 

Friday night we listened to 2 speakers: Carrian and Cade from Oh Sweet Basil and Tim Ballard from Operation Underground Railroad. Along with singer/songwriter Calee Reed

Friday night was by far my favourite of the weekend. I could have headed home and been totally ok with it. We had amazing seats, thanks to Tannia who had to show up early with me, so she stood in line for seats and Kaly who kept her company. And the speakers thoughts and speeches were great.

Carrian and Cade talked about Relying on the Lord in all you do. Here are a few points I really liked

• Looking for the light is not just looking for the good
• Face the Darkness head on to see the light in your dwelling
• BE in the business of being a light to the world
• He has a work for thee

Side note- they run a food blog and talked about how they love making crepes for their family- I realized I had NEVER made Crepes! Decided at some point this would have to be remedied.

• Sharing the light is showing happiness, love and hope
• What is your purpose of being on social media
• The darkness of the world is not to hide from or endure. Let your light Shine, centre your life on Christ. Find The Light.

Calee Reed sang after the first speaker and shared some insights, a few analogies and 2 really great quotes- 

• First one she talked about was facing ones challenges and used the Cows and Buffalo Storm Analogy link

"What cows do is very natural. Cows sense the storm coming from the west and so they start to try to run toward the east. The only problem with that is that if you know anything about cows you know they aren’t very fast. So the storm catches up with the cows rather quickly. And without knowing any better the cows continue to try to outrun the storm. But instead of outrunning the storm they actually run right along with the storm. Maximizing the amount of pain and time and frustration they experience from that storm!What buffalo do on the other hand is very unique for the animal kingdom. Buffalo wait for the storm to cross right over the crest of the peak of the mountaintop and as the storm rolls over the ridge the buffalo turn and charge directly into the storm.Instead of running east away from the storm they run west directly at the storm. By running at the storm they run straight through it. Minimizing the amount of pain and time and frustration they experience from that storm."

• We don't get to choose the storm, we get to choose how we face it!
• "Each of us must go through certain experiences to become more like our Saviour. In the school of mortality the tutor is often pain and tribulations, but the lessons are meant to refine and bless and strengthen us, not destroy us." Elder Robert D Hales
• "Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty, enjoy the beauty of becoming. When nothing is certain anything is possible" Mandy Hale

I had to admit I wasn't a huge fan of her music style but the messages her music portrayed were great. She sang 2 songs that stood out Believer and Broken and Beautiful.

Last speaker- Tim Ballard. 

I didn't take many notes from Tims but listened to his stories, both fascinating and horrifying.What I recall about his speech..

• I pray when the darkness comes knocking. I can knock it off its feet.
• As covent makers we are miracle chasers
• Fill up your lamp. Fill your light to push it into the darkness
• Be a woman of light
• How do you turn your light on?!?!? SERVICE
• We are his LIGHT bearers.

Tim told a story about Haiti that won't be soon forgotten by anyone in the room.

Friday night ended and everyone was still ready for more! So a few women from High River headed out for dinner- a lovely affair with laughing and lots of visiting. It was a very late night for us!! With a very early start! Back at the Enamax for my morning meeting at 7:15 am and so Tannia and Heather Pearl stood in line again to get amazing seats for Day 02.

Saturday we heard from Laurel C Day , Tom Christofferson, Anthony Sweat and Carol Decker. With Music from Mercy River sprinkled in after each speaker.

Laurel was the best speaker Saturday by far- in my opinion :) She spoke of the Unknowns- and gave 3 tips for times of Uncertainty/Unknown

1. Know God knows you!

• Jeremiah 1:5. Matthew 10:30 and John 10:3

• "In a world full of so many unknowns, remember that you are not one of them. You are known by a all knowing God"Laurel Day

2. Take your Unknowns to the Lord.

• He revealed the deep and secret things: he knowth what is the darkness and light dwells with him Daniel 2:22
• He know the dark and ugly, the things you don't tell anyone. He saves you anyways. He loves you anyways
• The are no secrets where CHRIST is concerned- The Light of the World shines HIS LIGHT on our dark places
• The Unknown Woman Luke 8:48
• He can heal you and will heal you if you come forward and touch his cloak
• We can be assured that the times when He is leading us or allowing us into paths that are unknown, that everything is perfectly known by HIM.

3. Trust What you know

• When the Lord leads you on a unknown path, focus on what you know
• when you don't know the answers cling to what you know. What is known by you? Cling to it.
• Glass Factory analogy- women sort through broken grass tubes to be recycled into beautiful finished pieces

Mercy River sang songs and gave spiritual uplifts after the speakers just like Calee Reed did the night before. Their sound grew on me... but I missed hearing Amanda Oaks and her beautiful music on the Violin :) (she preformed in Canada a couple years ago, she is amazing)

They shared a couple quotes that were perfectly perfect for a room of a bunch of women gathered together to be Centred in Christ

• "We need WOMEN who are organized and women who can organize. We need women with exutive ability who can plan and direct and admonisher. When who can teach, women who can speak out, women who know how to make important things happen by their FAITH" President Russell M Nelson

The best quote of the entire weekend!!

• "suddenly all my ancestors are being me. Be still, they say. Watch and Listen you are the result of the love of thousands" Linda Hogan

They also shared 2 awesome Analogys I want to remember and hopefully use in a talk or lesson someday :)

1.  the Adult Female Elephant analogy. Female elephants work together to protect their young. TAKE A STAND.  
2. From The Lorax. Be careful which way you lean

For lunch we dashed out to eat quick! 6 Ladies in a Minivan, ready to eat. We chatted at a stop light with other ladies and ATE! If Tannia wasn't with me I probably would have headed home. I didn't really want to hear the next three speakers. They were OK- just not my favourite. Out of the last 3 Anthony Sweats was good- really good.

He spoke about 3 points that will help you become Close to God. To become True Disciples of Christ

1. Obedience: to cling you life with God's plan. Repentance is relining your will with God. Repentance shows a heart that is truly alined with God. Repentance-Realine. "Lets drop our Perfectionist complex and instead develop a loyalty complex to God."
2. Sacrifice: to willingly give up what God wants you to let go. John 15:13 "When Something is from God it presses upon your mind and occupies your brain." Joesph Smith ~~Do you love me (GOD) more then you need those things?~~
3. Consecration:to dedicate your time, talents and means to God. This is a celestial law. Consecrated Oil- dedicated to God- we keep it on a shelf to be used when GOD needs it. 

Subcategories of Consecration

1. Ownership: God owns everything. Everything is a Gift purchased with a price. God is the owner- God how do you want me to use YOUR gift.
2. Stewardship: temporary overseer. D&C 42 Standing in the place of they stewardship. What is God telling me to do in my stewardship. What is God telling YOU? Stay home or work. Kids or no kids. Job A or Job B
3. Agency: god what do you want me to do today with my time, talents and means?? D&C 58 Agents unto themselves- engages in good free will projects- sometimes he lets you choose righteous desires. 

~~Everyone has needs, everyone has abundance~~

Thanks for amazing weekend. Full of inspired speakers, great music and good friends. Lets do it again eh!!

Sweet

Glad this week is over

This week has been slow, well, slow for most things. Annaliesse and Barker were home sick from school Monday and Tuesday, after missing Church on Sunday as well. They both have a deep thick mucus cough, with a sore throat AND fever. Annaliesse got it the worst, she was home all week from school. Hardly moving and looking like something off the Walking Dead. Barker went to school Wednesday but had to be picked up from school with a sore ear Thursday morning. He has a Dr appointment this morning, pretty sure he has a ear infection now- he has been on Advil and Tylonal since he came home.

Remy woke up sick last night and is coughing with a fever too. She has been crying on and off all morning poor tyke.

Along with sick kids Soccer Registration closed this week. Which meant I was on the computer sending out tons of reminder emails, drop off emails and working on TeamSnap to keep registration updated.

GUYS I am a terrible secretary. At least I feel like a terrible one.

Kalia learned a really hard lesson about Gossiping. We won't go into the details online, but she learned that once you say something, even if its true, it can spread like wildfire. Ending up in the principals office, trouble at home, and people hearing about it at church. Long talks with Mom and Dad and lots of tears later, it was a lesson Justin and I didn't think we had to deal with yet.

On the Plus side we only had one crazy night this week. Wednesday- Lacrosse Practice, Activity Days, Young Women's, Elders Quorum Meeting and YW meeting. All in the space of 3.5 hours.

So all in all. Im rather glad this week is over.

Activity Days Talent Show

High River Ward Activity Day Talent Show!

The girls have been practicing for this talent Show for months. Kalia and Annaliesse have been changing their song choice and practicing in the van and house. Kalia finally landed on singing Havana for her song choice and Annaliesse choose All Star. 

There were a lot of things I loved about this activity.  The chance to shine and share are just two of them.

We were pleasantly surprised with the variety of talents the girls showed! 2 girls sang, one played the piano, 2 preformed poems, and 2 roller skated- there were a few more acts, except I had to leave to head into Young Women's. 

The girls also preformed 2 numbers together- they were lovely and the girls worked hard on the group performances. 

Justin was kind enough to record the last song for me! Count on Me by Bruno Mars complete with beautiful signs the girls painted to go along with the words. Good Job Girls. 

High River Children's Choir Spring Concert

2nd year of High River Children's Choir a Success.

Our Spring Concert was Monday night and it was lovely.

Unfortunately Annaliesse got sick Sunday and was to sick to sing. 

Our Spring Repertoire:

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Tomorrow

High Hopes

Zip-a-dee-doo-da

Sing

Gonna build a Mountain

With a Smile and a Song

and

The Candy Man

Its crazy how much you learn to like the kids- 

we had 19 this year. 

Each one have a lovely little spirit that makes Thursday nights such a JOY!

Gonna miss you guys- see you in 4 months!!

Getting on- Kalia's Room

Saturday we, once again I use the term "we" loosely, worked on the house. Justin was up early, into Okotoks renting a ceiling mud splatter thing to finish the ceiling in Kalia's new room. He had it pretty much finished when I came downstairs at 9am. He worked on finishing the ceiling, while I cleaned the basement. It doesn't get nearly as messy now that we have gotten rid of the toy room, but kids always find a way to make it messy. 

By 10:30 we were getting ready to head back into Okokots to return the machine and pick paint for the room! A slurppie stop on the way in, and the kids were quiet and happy the entire fast trip.

Justin got back to work, kids had some lunch and I started on the upstairs. Generally I don't clean on weekends, there is NO POINT. You just end up moving mess to mess.... I got the upstairs finished pretty quick though.

The girls got the Sand Alive out, Kalia went swimming with a friend and Barker went to watch Golf with Grandpa. I did some sewing until Grandma came over to start her LEGO frame. It was a very effective Saturday! Justin got the first coat of paint put on before he left for a bachelor party and we got Moms 2 LEGO frames done (will all the pieces) we had.