Three big things happened this week.

Ben went on his first date on Saturday, November 20. Her name is Alicia, and she asked him. They went to see Harry Potter and they had chili cheese fries for dinner. They had a good time and she is a cute girl.

The second thing is that Kimi donated her hair to Locks of Love.

Here is the before picture-

They cut off 10 inches.

Here is the after picture-

She's been begging to do it for months so we finally went over and had it done.

The third thing-

Today my therapist and I decided that I'm done with the therapy portion of my treatment. Neither one of us felt like there was a need anymore, but he let me know that if I am ever in need again he would be there to help me. I agreed. I am happier than I have been for years. Literally about three years. I cannot figure out why it took me so long to do anything about it. When I think of how I was living and feeling for that long, and how I feel now just a short time after I first picked up the phone, I am amazed at the difference. It is a totally different life. I feel like I am a better mother and wife, I can deal with things a whole lot better that I was, and I have the motivation and energy to do things that I haven't wanted to do for a very long time.
This whole last month has been such a revelation to me and I've learned so much about myself and the way I need to live to be happy and healthy. I can honestly say that by far the hardest and the best thing I have ever done in my life is to pick up the phone on October 8 and make that call. I'm so glad that I did.

I found this blog through a friend of mine, a lady I admire. It so describes how I feel sometimes - overwhelmed, sad, not able to control things. I was really impressed with her analogy of the signs. We all have them. We all want others to notice ours so that we don't actually have to say the words that are hard, sometimes impossible for us, to say. I hope you'll read this article and think about your signs and the signs others wear.

http://bravegirlsclub.com/blog/?p=1411

I just got back from an appointment with my ob/gyn. I went expecting to have a lengthy discussion about anti-depression medication and the side effects and risks of taking them. I had done a lot of research about treatments, and I was not excited about any of the drugs or treatments out there. The side effects of the medications sound horrible, at least as bad as the depression, and the withdrawl from the medication is really bad, but in most cases the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Of course, not everyone experiences any or all of the side effects or they might experience a slight reaction to the medication instead of a severe one. Either way, I don't like taking medication unless I absolutely have to.
Anyway, it turned into a discussion about polycystic ovarian syndrome. She is convinced that I have it and depression is one of the things that can happen when you have POS. I have all the symptoms. The only way to treat it is with diet and exercise. The symptoms of POS are irregular cycles, obesity, high blood pressure, pre-diabetes or diabetes (I am pre-diabetic), infertility. Guess how many of these categories I fall into? All of them. She was surprised that no one had ever told me before about this. She put me on a diet (the South Beach Diet) where you basically don't eat any sugar or processed food or white flour. No pasta, no bread, no candy or soda, etc. Lots of veggies and lean meats. I need to exercise for at least a half hour a day, too. She didn't put me on any medication. She wants to see if these changes make any difference. She's convinced that they will. So, I guess we'll see. I'd rather change my diet and lifestyle a bit than take drugs with undesirable side effects. I'll keep you posted.

So here's the thing.

I have now officially been diagnosed with major depression. It's not something I enjoy talking about, or even wanted to acknowledge was a problem. I've been dealing with it on and off for seven or eight years, but it has been a part of my daily life for the past five. It has been pretty bad ever since Andrew was born two and a half years ago. I am at a point where it needs to be dealt with. Now.

Today was the first of many appointments I will have with a mental health professional. A psychologist. I am now a mental health patient.

I wouldn't be writing about this, but my doctor thinks that I need to expand my support group beyond my husband and my parents. I sortof agree with him. Not that I want to be treated or looked at differently, but sometimes it would be nice to have someone know what's going on.

So I figured that those who read this blog are the ones who know me well enough to be in on my team. Within the next few weeks I will be getting a physical checkup, getting hormone levels checked, having some therapy sessions, beginning an exercise program (blech), and probably going on an anti-depression medication.

It's scary, and it's hard to ask for help. But now that that I've taken that first step, the only place I can go is up.

So, a couple of times a year DATC (Davis Applied Technical College) sends some of the students from their beautician program to the local elementary school to give free haircuts to any kid who wants one. You know, for practice.

I have never let any of my kids get one. Until today.

Emma has been begging to get her hair cut "above my ears" for months.

I usually cut the boys hair and the girls bangs, but I am horrible at the whole head girl haircut, so I signed the paper. I was a little concerned about the wording on the permission slip, though. It stated that I understood the risks and that DATC or their students would not be held responsible for any harm or damage that was inflicted during the hair cut. I signed hoping that Emma would come home with two ears and no scars and looking decent.

Here are the before pics (taken this morning).

And here are the afters (taken this afternoon).

I guess it didn't turn out too bad. Kindof cute even.

I realize that in the previous post that Emma's sunburn looks like the worse of the two. It's all an illusion. Josh is sunburned on his entire back (including the top two inches or so of his bum) and his entire chest. That's what happens when you are the child of two albinos who burn easily and you are outside in the water for hours without a bit of sunblock.

Josh got sunburned so badly that he has blisters on his shoulders and he has been in major pain since Friday evening. Last night the pain and itch associated with the burn were so bad that he was in tears. Mike had a neighbor come over and they gave Josh a blessing. He didn't get to sleep until well past midnight, but when he woke up this morning, he said the itch was gone and the pain was manageable. He still has a ways to go until he's done with this challenge in his life, but I think he's learned how important it is to follow the rules and listen to your mom when she says to put on sunblock. He's also had his testimony of priesthood blessings strengthened. Sometimes the most important lessons you have to learn in this life come because of major physical or emotional pain. I wish it wasn't that way, but it is. It's hard to see your children in pain or need and not be able to help them.

I imagine that that's what our Heavenly Father goes through every day.

This is what we're dealing with around here-

Lots of ibuprofen, aloe vera, and whining.

Yay for us.

Yesterday was our 18th wedding anniversary.

We got this card from our two oldest boys-

They thought it was the most hilarious thing they had ever seen. (It is kindof clever.)

Have a super day!

Something wonderful happened eighteen years ago today.

Guess what it was?

Do you need a hint?

We started our happily ever after!

I'm not saying that it's all been peaches and roses. We've had some trying times, some frustrating times, some not so happy times along with the blissful, wonderful, and amazing times. But I've got to say, it's been worth it - every single minute of it.

Happy Anniversary to us!

So.....

Here's how it went down -

Last week, as we were leaving Church, we were stopped by Brother Ward. He's the first counselor in our bishopric. He said, "Mike, I want to give you some blessings." He then asked Mike if he would speak in Church the next Sunday on the Conference talk by Gregory A. Schwitzer - Developing Good Judgment and Not Judging Others. I was wrestling kids and a huge Church bag so I went out to the car and promptly forgot about that conversation.

Fast forward to yesterday.

We walk into the Chapel and I see Brother Ward standing there. I turned to Mike and said, "You're speaking in Sacrament Meeting today." Mike turned white, looked like he was going to throw up and said, "Are you freaking kidding me?" Brother Ward overheard this whole conversation and said, "Really? Are you kidding?" And since I was once again wrestling kids and a huge Church bag I didn't hear what else went on. All I know is that Mike disappeared, came into Sacrament Meeting late with his scriptures and some books, and then gave an awesome talk that many people complimented him on.

I have the coolest husband!

(and may I say, it's about time he was asked to speak. We've lived here for almost 3 1/2 years and I've spoken 3 times. This was Mike's first time to speak in this ward.)

My kids found this the other day-

That brings the grand total of snakes found by my kids to three in the past few weeks.

I'm not surprised. This is what our backyard currently looks like-

Do you see those weeds? They literally come up to my chest. We are currently in the process of reclaiming our yard by mowing down those weeds. I hope we aren't committing mass snake-icide in the process. That'd be a bummer.

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In other news...

Our ward had a scout court of honor last night. Josh earned both his First Class and his Second Class and was awarded them both last night. I would post pictures, but frankly I don't feel like wrestling with blogger any more this morning. It has already deleted my post twice, and I just can't deal with it anymore.

Welcome to June!

The last post took me almost 2 hours. Sometimes I really do not like blogger. This picture is from that post, but for some reason blogger just deleted it. So here it is-

Emma found a snake in our yard a few weeks ago. She found one last summer that she named Edward, and she thinks that this is the same one. Who knows, maybe it is.

**********************

Yesterday Mike quit his job. He's been waiting (and wanting) to do that for a long time, at least two years. He finally found another job. And we don't have to move, it's more money, and the benefits (insurance) are better and less expensive. The drawback - he'll be working all over the U.S. and maybe even out of the country (they told him that he would need a passport). He may be gone for over a week at a time. We'll see. It will be an adjustment, but he's excited and it will be something that will challenge him and allow for growth, for both of us.

He'll be working for AlphaGraphics helping to open new stores across the country.

I'm sure there will be more to tell when we get more information. Right now about all we know is that he's supposed to start on June 15.

Have a superb day. I plan to.

Update!!!!! Yay!

I got my haircut the day before Mother's Day. It went from this-

to this-

That first picture is kindof goofy, but you get the idea.

I had to take apart the disposal. Ben was playing with a bb (from a bb gun, don't ask because I have no idea where he got it) and it somehow ended up in the disposal. It didn't ruin the disposal, but it was sure inconvenient at the time.

On May 12, this lovely lady had a birthday. She didn't want a cake, she wanted root beer floats. So that's what we had. She turned 11. Two days later, a boy at school asked her if she would go to a movie with him. I have a feeling that we may be in for some trouble here.

On May 15 (Saturday) Mike said, "Do you want to install the new floor today?" He had brought home some laminate flooring some weeks before and it had been sitting - in the boxes - in our front room since then. I said sure, so we started ripping up the linoleum in the kitchen and dining area. We knew that we would need to install some new subfloor in the front room, but we thought that we could get the kitchen and dining area done before we needed to worry about that.

We got it all ready and put one of the pieces of laminate down on the floor. I really didn't like it, but Mike did and he had spent some money to purchase it. He could tell that I was less than pleased, so he loaded me and the little boys in the car and off the Lowe's we went. After some hours and a few different stores, we found something that wasn't outrageously expensive that we both liked and that matched our cabinets and table. We started to install it around 5pm and got almost all of the dining area done by 11pm. I spent the next few days installing the flooring in the kitchen. (On Monday I wasted most of the morning on the computer looking for a cheap flight to LA so I could attend my brother's wedding, and Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment in Salt Lake that took most of that day. I didn't get back to the floor until Wednesday. I didn't get to go to the wedding, by the way. Sorry Eric and Jill!) I got all the floor done by Friday around 4pm and re-installed the stove. I was about to re-install the dishwasher when I stepped on the floor. To my horror, I noticed that there was about 1/4 inch of water UNDER the new flooring. I un-installed the stove and we took out all the new flooring. Even what was in the dining area because the water had seeped under the cabinet. It took about an hour and a half to rip up what it had taken me about four days to install. We won't even talk about the amount of water added to the floor from my tears.

We had the fan on the floor for almost 48 hours before we decided that it was dry enough to re-install the flooring. All in all, I guess it wasn't too bad. A wasted week, but we only had to throw away four and a half boards. It's all done now (the part that was previously done) and it looks better than before. Yesterday (Saturday, May 29) we spent the day prepping the front room for flooring - ripping out carpet, pad, and tack strips, and installing a new sub-floor. Tomorrow we will be putting in the new flooring in there. Hopefully it will go pretty fast and we can be done by tomorrow evening. It will be so nice to have it done!

Josh had his last band concert on Thursday, May 27. They still sound like a junior high school band, but I must admit that they have improved since the beginning of the year.

This is what Andrew looked like at the concert.

The poor little guy. He had had another seizure on Wednesday and he was still sick and not feeling well at all. He had a fever of between 102 and 103 all afternoon, and that was while he was medicated. I would've stayed home from the concert with him, but Mike was at work and meeting us at the concert so I needed to take Josh over to the school anyway. Andrew was such a little trooper through the whole thing. After the concert, Mike got our neighbor to come over and help give Andrew a blessing. About a half an hour after the blessing, Andrew had no more fever and he slept pretty well all through the night. I am so glad that the priesthood is on the earth and that my husband is worthy to use that power to bless our family when we need it. Our family has been so blessed by the Gospel and I am so grateful that we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Well, now you are caught up on what's been happing around here. Feel free to drop by and see the new flooring if you're interested. Have a fabulous day!

p.s. Tomorrow while we are installing the new flooring, I will be praying for the families of all those who have lost their lives while protecting the freedoms of others. I am truly grateful for their service. To all those in the military and their families - We love you and you are deeply appreciated for all your sacrifice and service!

Since I've been such a slacker, I'll sum up. Even so, be ready for a bit of a read.

In January, my hubby had a birthday and turned the big four ohh.

On February 8 Grandpa took all his sons and grandsons (and Keri) to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I saw the pictures. It looks like a good time was had by all.

For Valentine's Day I made pink applesauce pancakes shaped like hearts. Can we all say it together? Ready - aaawwwwww, how special. I don't make shaped pancakes very often because I stink at it. It just so happens that when I flipped these they landed like that. I couldn't resist taking a picture.


On February 19, Mike was the 8,000th facebook fan for a really neat lady - Becky Higgins. I have followed her and admired her and been inspired by her for a long time. She has written articles for Creating Keepsakes Magazine and she has written a few books. She has a blog about her family, scrapbooking ideas, and organizational tips that I have followed for a few years (http://www.beckyhiggins.com/). Anyway, Mike was her 8,000th fan. She had decided that she would call that person and interview them and highlight them on her blog. She called and interviewed me because Mike told her to. She wrote a very lovely article about me and said some really nice things. You can go here to see it if you didn't see it when it was done -

http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2010/03/8000.html

Then on March 3 I had a knock on the door at about 2:20pm. I was getting some paper together to work on a project for my Mom and my aunt. You see, my grandpa was dying - could've been any minute - and I was making some cards for them that we could put a bit of his hair in. I had made them cards like that when my grandma died and they both expressed interest in having one for my grandpa also. Anyway, I had just picked the paper when the doorbell rang. I answered the door, and was shocked to see Becky Higgins standing there on my front porch.

She was on vacation, visiting some friends here and doing some skiing, and decided to come visit me. She brought me one of her kits - Project Life. It's a way to display your life for a year. A picture a day, a few lines of writing telling about what happened that day, slip it in the spot on the page, and there you have it. It was so great to meet her. She is so nice, and personable. I don't know how she has time to do all the things she does. She has three kids, a business she runs, and she is the Relief Society President in her ward. She amazes me.

On February 24 Andrew held a tea party for his bear. So cute!

My Grandpa finally died on March 6. He hung on for a lot longer than anyone thought he would. It was an excruciating time for all of us. We were all very sad at his passing, but we were relieved that he was done with his suffering. I was able to go to Oregon to help clean out his apartment and to attend his funeral.




While in Oregon I had some really good experiences with my family. All my brothers and sisters were able to come, most without spouses and none brought kids. We had so much fun, especially Jolene and I. We spent the most time together because both of us rode up and back with Dad.












When we helped clean out the apartment, we found quite a few of Grandma's things that Grandpa couldn't part with, like Grandma's lipsticks. Of course we had to try them on.

My Granddad was awesome. He could fix anything. He built things and invented things. He had tons of apple trees on his property and he made an apple press so he could make his own apple cider. My mom and my Aunt Julia picked out a casket for my grandpa that looked like he could've made it himself. It was so beautiful. The spray that they had made for the top of his casket had a bird nest and apples. Everything about it made us think about Grandpa and his life. He was a great man and all our lives are a bit empty because he is no longer with us. We all learned a lot from Grandpa and his example.

When I went to Oregon I was a little sad, and not just because I was going there to attend a funeral. I thought that I wouldn't get the chance to visit the Coast. The Oregon Coast is one of my favorite places on the face of this earth. I LOVE IT! I thought that we wouldn't have the time or a way to get there. Well, out of the seven days I was in Oregon I was at the coast on three of them. And two of the days were travel days. So really, it was three out of five. I was so blessed to be able to be there. It is so beautiful. I even got to see the ocean at night, which is something that I've never seen before. It looked like molten silver. So cool! I went out to dinner with all my brothers and sisters at about midnight Utah time. I can't say that I would recommend eating fish and chips that late, but it was a really fun time.

Here's a pretty good picture of my cute parents on the day of the funeral.

Back to normal life.

Josh had a band concert on March 18. He plays the trombone and he has a real talent for it. He would be a superb player if he cared more for practicing.





March 18 was also my baby's second birthday. We didn't really celebrate until the next day. We did go out to dinner at Winger's though.

And here's a picture of Aaron all gussied up for Church. What a handsome boy!

We spent most of the end of March trying to finish the basement. We had carpet installed on March 28, so we spent the week before that painting the living room five times (1 coat of primer, 2 coats of paint in a color that we decided that we couldn't live with, then 2 coats of paint of a color we love), and removing the existing carpet.

We really love the way it turned out. Feel free to come over and check it out. We would love to show it off!

Pictures of the girl's room and the living room.

Of course we had to dye eggs for Easter. Let me tell you, it's no small feat when you have six kids.

On April 5, Mike was in a little fender-bender. No one was hurt except for the Focus. Both air bags deployed and the windshield shattered. The accident happened at less than probably three miles per hour. The other guy got his taillight broken. The insurance company decided to trash the car rather than fix it, so we had to get a new one. Mike decided on a KIA Rio. It's pretty good.

And here are a couple of random photos from the last few days to round out this post.

I hope you have enjoyed this. Now go forth and actually get something done.

Oh, and have a fantastic day!