Kid-sitting

For the last week and a half I have been gone watching other people's kids while they have been out of town. A couple that used to be in our ward (who moved when they built their beautiful palace home) went to Ecuador on a humanitarian service trip because he is a doctor and was providing care to the people there. They have 4 boys (twins age 10 and younger boys 7 and 5). The parents were gone for a little over a week and I stayed for most of the time. I was there from Saturday afternoon to the following Friday morning when another sitter came to relieve me for the rest of the time (until Sunday night). The mom planned it this way because the boys didn't have school on Friday and felt it was too much to have one person spend the whole week with them (even with them in school during the day) then spend another 3 days with them home ALL day. I was very grateful for her thoughtfulness.

I have done things like this before but never 4 boys at one time. It was quite the learning experience. I cleaned up the 7 yr old's puke my first night and everything involved with that, had all the boys stay home from church because of it (wasn't sure how sick he was), dealt with the office and his teacher on Monday because they thought he might have the flu (he didn't, he just made himself sick because his parents were gone), cleaned up the huge mess the boys made from decorating Valentine sugar cookies for FHE, took the youngest and 2 friends to an afternoon of "fun" (the jungle gym and ice cream), played chauffeur driving the boys to all of their extra-curricular activities or picking up the youngest and his friend from preschool, cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, did 9 loads of laundry, lots of dishes, and endless cleaning up. Wow! That wasn't everything! I had to remind the boys to practice the piano, take showers or give baths, help with homework, remind them to do homework, stop them from fighting too much, keep a close eye on the sneaky 5 yr old and deal with his serious tantrums, get them to bed on time and clean up their messes. How do you mom's do it? It's a good thing kids generally come one at a time. I used to think boys would be so much easier than girls but now I'm not so convinced of that. I did have fun and definitely learned some things about parenting.

Once I got back from kid-sitting the 4 boys, I spent a few days out at the Washington coast with my family (will post that soon). I drove straight back to kid-sit for another family with 3 boys. The oldest is 15 and then 11 year old twins. I was there Monday evening until this morning. Three was easier especially because they were older and didn't need as much attention. I guess I'm just not used to so many boys...especially because boys are just so rowdy and have selective hearing (very irritating at times). Selective hearing applies to husbands too :) I love you Jaren! I sure am glad there will be two of us when we have kids (the Lord willing).

I'm glad these couple got some time away where they didn't have to worry about their kids back at home. The kids were taken care of and hopefully one day we will be able to have someone we trust come and stay with our kids so we can have some get-away time!

The Countdown...

WAHOO!!! We are now at less than 4 months until Jaren comes home! (Hopefully) If all goes well. Counting down just seems to make the days go by slower so I will try not to keep track too much. Jaren is the sweetest husband and I'm so proud of him! I know I'm getting a little too excited but I'm already making plans for both his actual homecoming and everything after. :) What can I say...I just LOVE my soldier! Here are a couple of pictures of Jaren the day he graduated Basic Combat Training at the end of 2002. He was just 22 years old. He looks so young but what a handsome guy!

Jaren with his Drill Sergeant after receiving the "Soldier of the Cycle" award.

Elder Glover

Jaren's younger brother Tyson, got his mission call last September. He will spend two years serving in the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo East mission. I can hardly believe he's old enough! He was only 13 years old (almost 14) when Jaren and I got married! I went down to Utah on the 9th and stayed until we dropped Tyson off at the MTC on the 14th. It was a busy visit. To all my friends in Utah, sorry that I didn't get to visit anyone other than the Glover's. Ty is a fun brother-in-law. While Jaren has been gone he has been great at making sure I'm not bored and that I have someone to hang out with when I'm visiting the Glover's. He even took me up to The Canyons in Park City to go skiing that Saturday before he left. This was only my third time skiing and I knew it would be tough for Tyson who is so good at snowboarding. He loves to pack every minute of the day with amazingly fun stuff to the point where he won't even stop for food. That wouldn't fly with me...I made him eat with me at lunch time. I told Tyson that the first run down had to be an EASY run so I could get a feel for the snow. He took me on a blue or "more difficult" run. Within the first 20 feet I knew I was in trouble. I scolded him saying I wanted an EASY run and this was not it. He assured me it was...called me a baby...and persuaded me to keep going down the mountain (he wasn't as mean as this sounds). He didn't see me after that until I face planted in a foot of powder with one ski off and buried in it. He had to help me get back up. I only fell a few times throughout the day. I was scared to death mostly. He did take me down the bunny hill a couple of times after that first run. He was, of course, tortured the whole time saying it was too slow. He took me down a few more blue runs where I would end up at the bottom well before him. He couldn't understand how I got down there so fast but thought I must be doing well if I was in one piece. He decided to go ahead of me and watch me come down about the 5th run. It had gotten more icy by this point. I started off as usual trying to turn back and forth until I got going too fast to dare turn my skis for fear of losing all control. Tyson figured out why I always got down to the bottom so fast. That was the scariest run of them all. I watched him giving me the slow down sign as I flew by him nearly crashing into a tree and taking out another skier (while I was praying the whole time). When he caught up with me at the bottom he had a very frightened look on his face as he said, "I'm NEVER taking you down this run again! And next time you go skiing, you are wearing a helmet!" :) What can I say, I'm a beginner. I did tell him at the start of the day that I wanted something easy. It's a good thing I stayed on the bunny hill after that, it was too icy. It was quite the day. With car troubles on the way there, nearly killing myself several times on the slopes, forcing Tyson to eat with me at the Lodge, and even worse car trouble on the way home, it was still a great day and I had a blast! Sunday Ty gave a great talk and it was nice visiting with all of the family and friends that came. I spent Monday and Tuesday taking care of some business for Jaren at Utah State, labelling Tyson's stuff, packing his bags (3 times), getting the last few things he needed, doing family stuff, etc. Tyson is a great guy and I'm so proud he's out serving the Lord.

Me and Ty at his farewell "family gathering".

Blake, Kali, and I went to the temple with Tyson and his two friends who are leaving or already left for their missions too. This is outside the Ogden temple the day before he went into the MTC. (Tyson, Curtis, Spencer)

Outside the MTC before going in. We love you Tyson!

What a handsome missionary! Good luck Tyson!

Looking back on 2008...

Jaren and I moved to Washington shortly before the new year. We were welcomed into the ward in which I spent my teen years. I was called to be in the Young Women program in March as the Camp Director and Personal Progress Specialist. Jaren and I had the great opportunity to go on a cruise to Mexico before he left. Jaren went off to pre-deployment training right after my birthday in May. I was able to visit him over the 4th of July where we had a great weekend in Branson, Missouri. He left for Iraq shortly after. I was able to visit family and friends during the summer. I didn't have to spend our 5 year anniversary alone...I went with Jaren's whole family to Idaho and had fun doing his absolute favorite summer activity...white water rafting! (Sorry you missed it honey!) I went to girl's camp in August and had more fun as a leader than I ever had as a young woman! In October I moved in with mom and dad to save on rent. I tried rock climbing and have started skiing lessons! Jaren was on a small base in Iraq (that we will leave unnamed) until just before Christmas when his unit moved to the Baghdad Airport which is a huge military base. He has been safe in both places. Iraq is pretty calm now and for that I am very grateful. Christmas apart was really hard for both of us. Jaren did receive several packages that he enjoyed! We have had great support from family and friends and also from the ward. People are always asking how both Jaren and I are doing. I know this deployment could be a lot worse. I feel for any couple that has, is, or will go through any kind of separation. It doesn't matter if it's a couple days or a whole year, I hate being apart from Jaren. With this deployment though we have had some learning and growing experiences that would not have come any other way. I'm grateful to have such great people around me. I couldn't imagine going through this without the gospel and the help of the Lord. I know the Lord has so much in store for us in the upcoming year and I can imagine like many other things that have come our way in life, it's either a surprise or not what we expect. The trick is to enjoy the ride. How blessed we are to be here on this earth and even more so to have the true gospel of Christ. Life gets going so fast that we don't notice when the year is gone. Take time to enjoy the finer things in life and enjoy every minute you have on this earth! Hope you all have a great new year!