Answers to Prayers

My prayer for the last year has been to make at least one friend. Someone I can call, do things with. I love having Rita nearby and definitely count her as a best friend but she has her own friends and life. I have found that lots of people are friendly with me but if I don't put forth all the effort of contacting, initiating interactions, etc than nothing happens. I have started to feel really alone. I have a few friends from work but that is just it, the interactions mostly occur at work. We have tried to do things outside of work and it mostly falls flat. After many attempts to see people in Canada and actually only seeing 2 people in a whole month I started to wonder if maybe it was me. Maybe I'm not friend material. So began a bit of a spiral downwards. I'm still trying to meet others but have really felt discouraged. Tonight was a fireside to adult women with our stake president. I didn't particularly want to go because today was one of the worst days of my life. I didn't want to go out and pretend to be happy around people. I wanted to be cranky. Rita texted and asked if I wanted a ride so I said Yes. If she hadn't I probably wouldn't have gone. The two talks were incredible! One was on prayers, and how many times the answers take time or how they may depend on others using their agency. I started to have an "a-ha" moment but I still was a little crabby. The second talk was on doing good works and how those good works can turn into turnaround points for others. Sometimes we may know when our good works are turnaround points but others we may not. We watched a video which illustrated this. I cried the whole time. He challenged us to share with others the times that someone's good works helped us or when ours have helped others. But sour face me was thinking that I was tired of the one doing good works. I felt really good about what I had heard but a part of me still wanted to be angry. As I shuffled my way out of the room I was staring at my feet trying to disappear. Then I saw Lauralee in front of me. She and her family had just moved into our ward. We had them over for an ice cream party and then she and Caleb came to our water party. Caleb and Emily have become really good friends. She walked over and started talking with me. We talked about some funny/cute things Emily and Caleb had done in primary today. We kept walking together to the gym to get our rootbeer float. I found that she stayed with me as we swapped stories of how our kids were frustrating us and brainstorming ways to work with them on it. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and it was Kaylene. Her kids and my kids are good friends and it was her husband who tried to free Collin from the bathroom with a "Borders" card. She joined in with us and we stood and talked for 15 minutes. Kaylene and Ryan had invited us over a few weeks ago at the last minute so that Landon could play a game with Ryan and his cousins and Kaylene and I could chat while the kids played. I remembered how she had been reaching out over the last few weeks. It hit me that the Lord was helping me see past my pity party and see two great friendships in front of me. As we left the building to go home I felt truly blessed. As I was getting into Rita's suburban I suddenly felt an urge to tell Lauralee how much it meant to me that she had singled me out. I ran up and told her how I had been feeling friendless and how she had turned that around for me. She gave me a big hug and told me that she had been feeling the same way. She was having a hard time getting to know anyone and was feeling quite alone. She said it was nice to know that she had a friend and that as an added bonus our kids liked hanging out. I agreed, gave her another hug and headed back to the van. I came home a happier person. I am so grateful for a patient Heavenly Father who does answer our prayers!

Who would have known????

Emily and Collin wanted to throw a water/end of summer/Back to School party with their friends. I picked up a "water football" for each child. (I loved that they were on sale for 60% off, end of summer sale so they were less than a dollar a piece.) The football's soak up the water and then they can have a water balloon fight without the balloons. :) They invited Maggie, Cassie, Caleb, Mady, Bodi, Annabelle, Isaac, Bo and Til (pronounced Teal) over. There was a nice variety in ages. Caleb's mom Lauralee and Bo and Til's mom Erin stayed to help supervise and chat with me. It turned out to be a lot of fun even though it rained a little that morning. The first rain all month. Because of the rain and the tempermental mood of my lawn mower my lawn had not been mowed. :) The sun came out when the kids decided to start throwing the footballs around. When they got tired of throwing the footballs or blowing bubbles I brought out some fingerpainting supplies, which was pretty humourous. :) Emily had wanted to get lunchables for everyone but since that was not in the budget I made one big lunchable. The kids had crackers, cheese and lunch meat to choose from the tray. They each got a MinuteMaid juice box and a mini KitKat bar for dessert. I made sandwiches for the adults and Tyson. It was a really fun afternoon. It became a little chaotic at the end when parents started picking up kids. While I was talking with Ryan (one of the dad's) Bodi came out to tell me that Collin was crying in the bathroom. I figured that he had gone potty and needed some help. I got to the bathroom surprised to find the door shut. Collin hates shut doors. I tried to open the door only to find it locked. Figured everything was still okay since bathroom locks are easy to pick. Yeah unless some weird person decides to install a keyed lock on the bathroom. Yep a keyed lock which is not keyed to the front or back door key. I ask Collin to turn the handle. That doesn't open the door. I try to talk him through turning the lock. Doesn't work because he is in panic mode and begging me to let him out. I then notice that the door hinges are on the inside. Rita and Ryan have come into the house by now. I figure I am going to go get a hammer and bang the door down. Ryan suggests letting him try and do the credit card trick and get in. Collin calls out that he has to go pee. I suggest going on the potty. It was the only time he stopped crying. I left Ryan to his work. Rita called Nic at work to see if he had any ideas. None that we weren't already trying. I ask for a locksmith number. I call a local locksmith who says he will send someone over. It will cost $52. I figure that is less than a new door. Ryan decides that my bathroom door is more secure than his parent's front door as nothing will allow him to swipe through. By this time Quinn (another father) has come to pick up his kids and he tries to pick the lock with a knife. I grinned. Two different engineers with differend methods of opening the door both with no success. I try one last time with Collin. I ask him to open the door like he opens the front door after mommy locks it. Three seconds later my son is standing in front of me. Luckily the locksmith got the message when I called back and just kept on driving past my house so I didn't get charged the $52. (The kids waved at him as he drove by.) Landon and I bought a new door handle yesterday at Lowe's, one for bathrooms. Tomorrow I will install it. Now to worry about how often my son opens the front door after I lock it....

My Summer To Do List

I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish this summer while I was not working. I was a little worried that the trip to Canada would make it impossible to complete the list. There is only one more item on the list to complete and the weather is too hot to be out in my garage organizing it so it is being relegated to the fall list. I was able to recover both the couch and loveseat for $140. Landon helped me pick out the material in Idaho Falls. I had material that worked for the decorative pillows as well. Thanks to the kindness of my mother (who bought me the parts Emily lost to my sewing machine) I was able to sew everything within 3 days! I love it! I am renting a carpet cleaner tomorrow to clean all our carpets. I reorganized my whole kitchen and love it! Landon helped me take our car in and vacuum it out and wash out the inside as the car wash guys washed the outside. Love it! I started using my job box again so my house is not only tidyed but deep cleaned. (The job box is what my mom had when I was a kid. Jobs are designated daily, every other day, weekly, every other week, monthly, every other month, every 6 months, yearly. Then you have the days of the months and names of the month and you rotate the jobs accordingly. It is so easy to do and once you get going it takes 30-60 minutes to clean your whole house every day.) I have bought all the wood and with Nic's help it is all cut so that I can build a bench for my kitchen table. Hopefully I can also get that done tomorrow as I have to work Tuesday. But at least there is Wednesday and Labor Day weekend for anything not completed. The Lord has truly blessed my family this summer. I was able to put together at least one playdate a week for the summer for my kids, and do many things as a family. I am actually quite sad to go back to work because I have loved being home with my kids. I wish that it was possible for me to be home. I know that soon it will be. I am counting on it. I am quite envious of all you stay at home moms.

The Fair

There was a fair held in Pocatello a few weeks ago. Rita asked if I would enter the pillows I had just made for my couch. They always need stuff entered in the adult section. I also put in the quilt that I made Emily a few years ago. All of my stuff won second place! Couldn't believe it. That netted me a total of $6 in prize money. The best part was the look on Emily's face as we walked through the fair and she saw her blanket hanging with a ribbon on it. She was so happy.

The Cabin

Landon and I had the opportunity to go up to his parents cabin last weekend with Mel and Vauna, Cade, Janie, Zerric and Audrey. Janie called ahead of time to let me know what crafts she was bringing so I was able to bring up the same things for my kids to have. Janie is fabulous on thinking up ways to keep the kids occupied and happy. It was a lot of fun. We went on a hike that the kids loved. Mel was kind enough to supply suckers for the kids half way through. We took the kids down to go swimming but their were too many boats speeding by which made the water too rough for my kids. Fun was had by all. We headed home Sunday morning so that we could teach our primary class.

Palmer Family Reunion

I attended my first Palmer Family Reunion this year. Landon had a blast hanging out with a few of his cousins, dad, and brother in law Mike. My kids became fascinated by the game of baseball. I through numberless balls for them to swing at and both picked it up better then I would have thought possible. As I can count on one hand how many people had 1-2 minute conversations with me and had to deal with a very rude child who bullied my kids I will not write about my time. :) The most important part was that my husband had a great time and my kids had fun playing with mom. :)

Ice Cream Party

Since we have been back from Canada, I have felt a little friendless. I think I am discovering that I am not as cool as I once thought I was. :) I decided that I need to put myself out there again and try to meet more people. So during sacrament meeting I wrote a note to Landon asking for his permission to invite some families over for an ice cream party for Family Home Evening the next night. He agreed. I ended up inviting 5 families but only 4 ended up showing up. The Steins brought ice cream and so did we. Everyone else supplied toppings. The families who came were the Steins (2 adults, 1 teenager, 3 kids), the Johnsons (2 adults, 2 kids), the Swallows (1 adult, 1 teenager, 1 kid), and the Hulits (2 adults, 2 teenagers). The adults and teenagers hung out in the living room while the kids were in the toy room or outside. It was a lot of fun! Everyone had a blast and we are already talking about the next one. A couple of families didn't end up leaving until 9:30. It helped me remember that I really am blessed by being surrounded by some really nice people.

Lagoon

Landon and I planned a day trip to Lagoon at the last minute the second week in August. As in Monday night we were calling around trying to arrange babysitters for the next day. Rita agreed to take the kids at 2pm and since we couldn't reach Kestrel we ended up having one of the Young Women from Rita's ward come over to babysit the kids for the morning. Landon and I left around 9 am and enjoyed driving down and talking without any interruptions. We spent the first couple of hours at Lagoon by ourselves. We ran from ride to ride. It was a lot of fun. After lunch, we received phone calls from his mom and sister that they were at the park. We met up with Mel and Vauna, Ashlee and Mike for the rest of the afternoon. We rerode some of the rides and rode even more. It was a nice relaxing time. Once we started to get really hot we went over and rode the rapids and got soaked. It felt so good. We ate dinner at Pioneer Village. (I had the roasted corn on the cob and loved it!) We rode on a few more rides but called it quits around 6:30. We made it back to Pocatello before 10pm. The kids went straight to bed when we got them home. It was a really nice, relaxing day. Landon and I don't go on many dates so this was a lot of fun. We have decided we do need to make more time for us to see each other one on one.

Emily's Girl Party

On the way home from Canada Emily asked if she could have a girl party. She wanted to have manicures and pedicures and make pretty necklaces. I said yes but told her we weren't going to a salon for nails. We planned the party for the first Wednesday after we made it back (Aug 3rd). On Tuesday Emily, Cassie and I went out and picked up nail polishes for each girl. Then we hit the craft store where they selected pink and purple beads. I picked up a flower, matching ribbon, etc. We used the party boxes from Naomi's bridal shower in Pocatello to package up the nailpolishes, a little treat and some princess stickers. They would add their necklaces when they were done making them. Emily invited Cassie, Hallie, Mady, and Abby. Abby wasn't able to make it at the last minute but the other girls had fun. Rita stayed at the beginning to help me paint the girls nails and toe nails. While they dried Rita read them Pinkalicious and Goldilicious. The girls loved it. Maggie asked if she could stay and Emily said yes. The girls made their necklaces, which turned our really cute. Emily had asked for pink food so their were sugar cookies with pink icing, watermelon, strawberries and pink juice. She chose cookies and cream ice cream because their wasn't cotton candy ice cream at the store. When Mady's mom came by to pick her up Mady and her brother Bodi didn't want to go so I said that they could stay while mom went home to nap as she was 9 months pregnant. :) Rita called a little while later to ask if I could look after the rest of her kids plus Jamie's kids and babysitting kids. She and Jamie were delivering cookies for the fundraiser they had done for their brother in law's surgery. I decided the more the merrier so 9 more kids joined our party. That brought the total to 16 kids (including mine). The kids were really good and there wasn't any fights. I chopped up the rest of the watermelon, made ice cream cones and sent everyone out to the yard. It was only for an hour so it all worked out. My in laws pulled in for a short visit as Rita and Jamie walked over to pick up the kids. The kids and I went over to Rita and Nic's house for a celebatory BBQ for Nic passing a test at work. All in all it was a wonderful, perfect day!