Here it is!

Okay, here it is, in all of its wonderful glory, Sariah with glasses!

Now pick yourselves off the the floor and stop laughing! Granted, this picture was taken at 11:30 at night. But at least you have it. For all those still laughing, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

FOUR EYES!

How many times did you call that to someone growing up? Or how many times did you get called that? Well, to celebrate me coming into my 27th year of life, and a little early Christmas present I found out on the 23rd that I needed glasses! I could have screamed, "You've got to be kidding me?!" I had been having horrible head aches right behind my eyes for weeks then I started to notice that my vision wasn't as clear. It wasn't bad, things just looked soft around the edges and I found myself squinting at things or pulling a book closer to my face. I had my first ever eye exam and was told I needed glasses. I am not that bad, but he really thinks the headaches are from eye strain. So I ordered my glasses and today, a week later they are here. I have to tell you, so far I have not had a headache. Which is a huge blessing. I am a little nervous about how a look. Jake told me that he always wanted to kiss a girl with glasses. Why couldn't he have wished for a wife that never gained weight?! I am pretty happy that I am able to spend time on the computer again, and read! I got about five or six books for Christmas and I want to dive in! Now, with the right eyeballs, I can! I can also get back to sewing, and scrapbooking. I feel like my life has been on hold till I got these suckers. Every time I read, watched TV too long, or did things were I had to concentrate I got a headache. Now, with the glasses, I don't have that! Yee Haw!! Time to play!

Just from having these glasses on for half a day I understand Jake so much better. I notice things like, smudges, and finger prints on TV screens and Computer screens a whole lot more. I always though he was just a little OCD in that department. I find I am a really careful not to get finger print on the glasses. I thought it would be no big deal, but it is. I have three kids that are learning that mommy now has glasses all the time. I will have to get Jake to take a picture of me when he gets home so you can all have a good laugh!

Sincerely ,

Four Eyes... I mean, Sariah

Happy 7 year Anniversary!

My wonderful 7 year anniversary has started with getting up at 2:20 in the morning with Kimball, the getting up at five with Phoebe, and then five thirty with Warren. They all got mad that I couldn't lay down with them so at six we started our morning! Lovely. Jake is still on his overnight-er with the scouts. I am just waiting for him to get home. It's six forty-five in the morning and I am ready for a nap! Happy Anniversary to me!

***UPDATE****
At eight my valiant husband tromps through the door to rescue his fair bride of seven years. He puts a very cranky me to bed and gets all three kids to take a nap! (Or at least they didn't make a sound) He too even got one too! It is a happy anniversary. It is amazing what sleep can do for ones attitude!

Sleeping

My mother use to say that when she would check on us, as children, we would look like a pile of puppies. All cute and cuddly. Exhibit A: Phoebe, curled up with her Christmas stocking and her teddy bear. Very puppish.
Exhibit B: My boys. They are always changing the the way I look at motherhood. Here they are sleeping like Totem Poles. We did not pose this, it is how we found them one night. Warren really does have his feet on Kimball. We laughed so hard. I just wanted to share.
Sleep well.

Thirty Things about Jake

In honor of Jake turning 30 years old I thought I would list thirty things I love about Jake. So, please enjoy getting to know my honey a little better! (These are in no particular order)

I love how Jake is addicted to babies (not just ours, anyone’s)
I love how he is a devoted Ward Mission Leader
I love how he encourages all young men to get their Eagle Scout Award
I love how he is a hard worker
I love how he rubs my back all the time
I love how he love to teach our children new things
I love his love of the gospel
I love how he will start reading a book and then pick up another one at the same time. He reads three or four books at a time
I love how he loves musicals and will sing the songs all the time
I love how he is teaching himself how to play the piano
I love how he always notices when I paint my toenail
I love his facial expressions when I he is thinking on a math or engineering problem
I love that he puts up with all my crafting, (well not only puts up with, but supports me)
I love that he is so wise with our money
I love that he will reach things that are too high for me
I love who he looks in his uniform
I love how he loves his mother, father, and brothers and sisters
I love how he loves my family
I love that he is working on his masters degree
I love that he cares enough about his boy scouts to chase of a grizzly bear at scout camp. ( He was award a medal for this!)
I love how he does pushups when every BYU scores a touchdown
I love how he plays with my kids
I love how if he doesn’t know something he will learn how to do it.
I love how he always wants to dress up for Halloween
I love how he has a desire to get all our food storage together
I love that he loves to sled with the kids
I love how he loves old war movies
I love how he loves to snuggle
I love that he loves to serve
I love that he LOVES ME!

Happy 30th Birthday Jake!

Happy 30th Birthday love of my life! Enjoy your day.

More of a blog to come later!

NO UTERUS ALLOWED!

Today marks my two year "hysterversary" Or in other words, two years ago I had my hysterectomy at age 24. I think I have come a long way from the time the doctor told me that the only way I was going to be better was to have a hysterectomy till now. There were times, before and after the surgery that I would be curled up in the fetal position bawling. Now, I am able to make uterus jokes. Do I miss it? Yes and know. I don't think many women would miss bleeding and cramps. I sure don't. But I do miss being able to be pregnant. I miss that connection with the baby and Heavenly Father. I really wish that I could have a baby right now,but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I did the right thing. It took my six weeks to finally say yes. I wouldn't turn back. I love that I am no long sick from an unhealthy uterus.
I don't know how many of you have every lost and organ, (tonsils don't count). It is a strange feeling. You can tell something is missing. You have a pain INSIDE of you that you can't touch. It gets really hard when you start the itching/healing feeling, because there is nothing you can do. Is is bearable, for the most part. I don't feel like I am hollow or anything now. I like that I don't have to plan to bring pads or tampons. But on the other hand I have quite a few guest stay at my house and have a little emergency and I have nothing to offer them. I have even run over to my neighbors house to ask to borrow some supplies. You should have seen her face. It was priceless! Okay, enough of this subject, I just wanted to wish myself
HAPPY TWO YEAR HYSTERVERSARY!

SID

After posting about Kimball I have had a lot of emails asking more about his condition, so I found the best website that talks in language that everyone can understand. Good ole' Wikipedia. So here is the link. Feel free to ask any questions you want. I don' t mind talking about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_Integration_Dysfunction

Santa Said...

This poem really sums up how Jake feels about me asking for crafting supplies for Christmas. I find a riot! Enjoy!!

And Santa said...
Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
Or a Cricut, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa, " I said
"You know....good little girls should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited To see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work.
He shook his head quickly, And left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
"You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"

Merry Christmas my craft addicts out there.

Kimball

I have found myself getting frustrated with Kimball lately. I know I shouldn’t, he can’t help most of the things that bug me, because of his Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID). But it really can get hard sometimes. I love this kid with all of my heart, but wow! It takes a lot of work. The biggest thing that has been so frustrating is that Kimball is still not potty trained. It is not that he is lazy, but he actually can not feel the urge. We have to train him to recognize the feelings. Can we say, HARD and it makes for some really interesting conversations. He is getting really good at the pee part. I still have to remind him, all the time, but he will go. Well, he will go as long as he is in the mood. If he is not, and I invite him, he will melt down. Screaming, kicking, and yelling. I then have to work with him to use words and to just tell me no. Oh, the tantrums can drive me nuts, but I have to remain calm. I have to work with him through it. Pooping is a whole other story. He still doesn’t use the toilet. We are having him learn to clean himself up when he has an accident. Of course I am watching and helping along. It seems to help him come tell us sooner, so “it won’t squish all of my butt”. That is the step in the right directions. He use to sit in it forever, because he can’t feel it. Another thing that has been a little frustrating, is Kimball is attached to his “buggy buggy” blanket. This is how he can deal with stressful situations. He has to have this blanket! He loves it. He received it as a gift from some of our wonderful neighbors when he was born. He as never really been attached to anything but this blanket. When he gets scared he will put the blanket on his head and slowly, as he is comfortable with the situation, he will come out. If he gets stressed out he will rub the blanket to calm down. It is best friend. At time we have to treat it like a human or he will melt down. We have been known to kiss buggy buggy blanket goodnight and snuggle it to help it feel better. Whatever it takes. As you can guess, because is has been such well loved (and needed) blanket it is about dead. It is melting away everyday. I have patched, stitched and prayed that this blanket will last. I don’t know what he would do with out it. I soon found myself on a quest to find more buggy buggy fabric. I knew it was going to be hard; it was made almost five years ago. I started searching the Internet. But how do you find a certain type of fabric when you have to clue as to information about it. So I started. After a few days I found it! I really couldn’t believe it. It is now almost seven dollars a yard and shipping is about the same price but it is worth it. I even went to a few fabric stores to see if they would order a bolt in for me, but they said that they couldn’t and to buy all I could on line because it won’t be around for much long. It is going to be a bigger expense then I thought, and I wouldn’t do this for any other kid, but Kimball needs this.
With all of these frustrations I do have to count myself lucky. I have a little boy who will always love to snuggle and give hugs. Kimball craves deep hugs and touch. It is another part of his SID. He loves to run into you at full speed and then squeeze you with all of his might. He loves to take a nap next to me. He will reach out and hold my hand and fall asleep that way. It melts my heart. He is also very in tune with how people feel. He is very in tune with peoples emotions. I once said, “Kimball you melt my heart.” He got very concerned and said, “Mom, I have lots of hearts, you can have one of mine.” To this day if I say that saying to anyone, if he hears it he will come up and hand me one of his hearts. If he thinks you are sad, or you are not having something to play with he will come up and cover you up with his buggy buggy blanket. The kid has a heart the size of Texas. I guess all these wonderful things make up for all the frustrating things. I know that he will get the potty training down and I know that he will learn how to deal with social issues better as time goes on. I just have to stop, breath and learn that we are on his time table not, mine. I sure love you Kimball!

I hope I win!

I hope I win, I hope I win!!

Check it out HERE

The last of the vacation!

Okay, the wedding! Here we go! The wedding was great! My sister looked so good. Very elegant, and classic! It was fun to be in a room were we all got ready together. Phoebe was even in there with us. I even got close to crying. It was just beautiful and full of love. It was fun to be walked down the isle and watch my son, stomp down the isle holding the ring bowl by his side. Oh, and it gets better, in the middle of the ceremony he dropped the ring bowl and it made aloud noise. It startled everyone. He thought everyone was mad at him and he ran down the isle and into the beach house. I wanted to run after him, but luckily between my brother, mother and the wedding planner, he was watched. He sat in a corner the whole time. I felt so bad for him. My sister was so great and told him later she was not mad. What a little angel he is! I was really touched seeing my sister get walked down the isle by my brother. I know how close they are and this was a perfect way for her to thank him for all that he has done for her. The wedding was very simple and classic. The catered dinner was delicious! The dancing great! All in all, the wedding was the best part of the trip! I am so thankful we got to attend.

On Sunday morning we loaded everything back to the ferry and packed the car in the Ferry parking lot, said our love and good byes and headed straight back home. By this time we had been gone ten days and I was emotional done. I was ready to go home. I am sure I was not the best road company, but Jake was so great, he drove the WHOLE WAY! That is a long stinking drive. We made it home and life continues as normal! So, now I am done with blogging about this trip! Now it is time to scrapbook all the photos. I have close to 1,000 of them! Wow!

The next few blogs are mostly just photos. I wanted to share all the photos but that would just be too much. Here are some of my favorites. If you want to see more check out my sisters blog HERE

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog....

THE WEDDING!! III

I can't get over her darling little face in this photo!

Mother helping daughter. My mom looks so good in this photo!

I don't know what they were doing in this photo but it is SO incredibly darling.

Putting on the veil

THE WEDDING! II

I am so lucky to be the mom of these perfect little boys!! They are so darling!!

Cutting the cake

The happy couple

Seven hours of hard work down to cutting it to nothingness!!

Phoebe handing Charlotte her wedding flowers

My Brother, Rich, walking Charlotte down the isle

Me, reading a scripture the at wedding ceremony

The wonderful cake!

For some reason the kids (including cousin Corbin)thought watching cartoons was much more fun then attending the reception.

Shall We finish this vacation?

I guess I should finish up about our vacation! But first of all, Thanksgiving was great! We had a very small one, with my Mom and Jake’s sister Nicole with us. Jake made his wonderful turkey and we had lots of pie! The kids really enjoyed it more this year too. It was fun to hear what the kids were thankful for. Phoebe said she was thankful for the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Kimball said he was thankful for everything and everyone and Warren said he was thankful for turkey. Funny, he didn’t eat any. That night I got some kind of sickness and got to hug a toilet bowl for the 24 hours. It was quite miserable, but it was a perfect time to get sick. My mom, SIL and husband were all here to help. I think I can officially say that today I am officially over all the wonderfulness of this sickness. So, that was our thanksgiving.

Now, back to vacation! After spending a short two days in San Diego we drove to Dana Point early Friday morning. Let me tell you it was a trick to get three kids, our entire luggage and a wedding cake a board a ferry. But, there were about thirty eight people coming to the wedding so we all helped each other. The kids were so stinking excited to be going on such a big boat! Once we all got settled we took off on an hour long ferry ride to Catalina Island. I do not do well with sea sickness and had to try to sleep it off. The kids stayed awake the whole time! They got to see dolphins jumping and whales off in the distance! They loved every minute of it. I couldn’t wait to get off!

(The view from the boat leaving California)
Catalina is such a wonderful Island! I love it! I wish I could go back again. One of the first things you notice when you arrive is that quite compared to the mainland. You are not allowed to have a car on Catalina. You get to drive golf carts, and not everyone as that. Everything is small and in walking distance. There are no large chain stores, all of them are darling little mom and pop shops. There are old fashioned ice cream shops and open restaurants. The houses are beautiful. They are old and well kept. Each has a unique style.

We got to stay at the Beach House. Our view was amazing with a great look out of the harbor. The sunsets were fantastic. The Beach House in and of it’s self was a delight! It was a two bedroom luxurious house. It had a full kitchen, a huge master bathroom (with jetted tub!) and fantastic décor. This is were the wedding was going to happen, so I was a little stressed trying to keep the kids things confined to their room. It helped that there were HD TV’s with cable in each room. Oh and a Bose sound system. I felt like a movie star staying there!

(This is a random house on Catalina, that just shows the beauty of the island)

(This is our view of the harbor, from the beach house)

I think my sister really had a great idea with her wedding. It was very small and intimate. Only the family and closest friends and dates were there. So with the size of the beach house, the night before the wedding my oldest brother Rich made a fantastic dinner. We all pitched in. It was so great to be surrounded by great friends and food.

We got to spend some time checking out the island. I liked looking at all the little darling shops. Jake was brave enough to swim! I thought it was a crazy thing to do, but he loved it. The kids like to play in the water. They discovered sea weed. Wow, I should just get them that for Christmas! I do hope that we can go back to Catalina when we are not out there for a wedding so we can do the out of city things, like the hiking, camping, and the glass bottom boat tours. Maybe next time!

(My bro, Rich being the boss in the Kitchen)

(Jake, Phoebe and Kimball playing in the freezing harbor!)

Second Day in San Diego

The second day we were in San Diego the kids woke up with some sorta of Pink eye stuff. It wasn't classic pink eye, but it was in the same family. Phoebe was also having symptoms of an ear infections! Oh boy. My sister in law always told me that kids always get sick on vacations, but this? Man we were getting hit hard! Charlotte and I had manicure and pedicures scheduled for that morning and we had to get started on the wedding cake. So my wonderful husband and mother took all three kids to the emergency room in San Diego while I got pampered and then made a cake. Part of me felt bad, I know that isn't what anyone wants to do on vacations. I know they were both tired from being up all night with sick kids, but I sure enjoyed having a day kid free! And my toes looked great. After we got primped I was dropped off at my oldest brother, Rich's house. He does catering so he had everything I needed. I spent the next seven hours baking and icing the wedding cake.

Rich left home when I was six years old, and up until now we had never gotten to know each other. It was such a great experience to get to know him and find out a lot of things we have in common. He was my side kick in making the cake. Thanks Rich for the help. After it was done it was back to the hotel too see my kiddos for the first time all day. We got them to bed and then started to pack for the early morning departure to Catalina Island!

Cousin Corbin!

There are two men in my life that I have know never to loose at games. Board games, video games and computer games. My wonderful, handsome husband and my big brother James. So what do I do? I put them together to challenge there mad skills to a wii tennis game. I think that was the most intense game I have ever watched. It took forever! The kept getting deuce! Every time we thought one would finally take the win, the other would come back. It was a blast. At the last second Jake lost. That is okay, I still love him. He will always be my knight in shinning armor!

The kids loved that they finally got to meet there cousin Corbin. The also like having toys again. The played great for being so tired and off schedule. I really think Corbin liked them. He would say "cousins" whenever he wanted them. That kid is just so laid back and darling! I am so glad the got the chance to spend time with him.

Cousin Corbin has a small turtle, it was fun to see the kids react so scared of the small turtle after seeing a huge land tortoise! Uncle Eric was happy to take it out and let them touch it!

Bella was also very thrilled to get to see her youngest grand baby. I wish we could have spent more time over there. But we had a wedding to get too!

San Deigo part two!

The kids liked visiting Charlottes boat. We also let them eat at In-N-Out burger. Jake was thrilled to get some meat! (ChadMichael is a vegan, poor Jake!) The kids had no interest in eating the burgers, just the fries and lemonade. After we ate we headed to Cousin Corbin's house!

San Deigo!

As many of you know, my kids love pirates. They love dressing up like them, talking like them, and playing like them. When they found out that Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Eric live on a sail boat, they knew they were real pirates. They were so excited when we took them to see where they lived. It was great! Kimball fell in love with chasing every seagull he could find. He would just laugh and try so hard to catch them. It was so fun to see him enjoying himself so fully!Going on the boat was a grand adventure. It is a very small boat for all of us, but we squeezed in. The loved it. They liked looking at everything and "driving" the boat. We even got lucky enough to see a sea lion and three seals! The kids were in heaven. Warren has always been my little fish and he just did not want to leave the boat. His new favorite word it "boat". Everything we talked about was boat this and boat that!

The rest of LA

I figure that I better get the rest of our LA visit posted. I know it is impossible to write every little thing we did, because we did so much. We got to see some of the windows ChadMichael designed, we got to see Mito at work. We got to see a movie being filmed, and the best of all, just playing at Uncle ChadMichaels house. His house is a wonderland. It is full of mannequins, and props and animals ands plants. It was so much fun! That you so much ChadMichael and Mito for letting crash your place. (Oh and we even got to take Warren to Ceder Sinai Hospital Emergency Room for an ear infections!) Here are some photos of some of the big places we went:

I have had a childhood dream to go to the American Girl Place. I have brainwashed.. I mean introduced Phoebe to them, so we got to go to the store in LA. It was a dream come true. It is such a fun store. I wish I had more time to look at every little detail. Phoebe was allowed to pick out a doll of her choice. She didn't pick a Character doll like I thought, but a Just like you doll. We helped her pick out the one that looks the most like her. She named her Spring. She picked this name because she has a cousin named Autumn. I thought that was really sweet. Phoebe also asked me to make her doll some clothes! I am already getting one that. I think I have as much fun with the doll as Phoebe! I know I am a geek!

We also hit Le Brea Tar Pits. This place is just so stinking cool! You are in the middle of the city and then you get to walk into this prehistoric tar pit! The kids didn't think it was as neat as Jake and I did, but give them time. I like how tar pits just pop up where ever they feel like it. We saw a couple small ones that haven't had fences put around them yet. Being the scrapbooker that I am I had to have some. I dipped a piece of paper in it and took a sample back home with me. It really is tar! I don't know why that surprised me, but it did. I guess I am easy to please! We arrived early Saturday morning at Uncle ChadMichaels house and left early Wednesday morning, and drove down to San Diego!