Snakes are our friends, too

(Lance is posting this- yes, I am still allowed.) Meet our snake, currently called M, because of the capitol "M" on its side. He/she is still young, but wont get more than 4 or 5 feet max. The all time record for a ball python is almost 6 feet. He/she loves mice. We love its beautiful scale patterns. Come say hi sometime!

Birthdays and stuff

Well, my baby turned 2!!! I can hardly believe it! He got a little 3 wheeled scooter and you should see him ride that thing! It's adorable and hilarious at the same time. He looks way too little to be able to ride it and yet he can. I'm not sure he realizes what a birthday is but he liked the cake and the presents.
Lance also turned 30 and we went to Park City. He went for a MFT conference and I met him there. We took in Iron Man and Prince Caspian. Both amazing!!! It was really fun going to the movies like a young married couple without any children. :) We had a great time and the kids had fun staying with my parents.
I really like that the weather is warming up. We got a used jogging stroller and last night Lance & I put on our Rollerblades and Jen & Alex rode their bikes and we went for a family outing. Daniel enjoys riding in the stroller although he wants to get out and ride his scooter or bike when we get home, so I have to leave time for that.
Jenny only has 4 days left of school and then she's out for the summer. She also turns 7 a week from Monday!! She's really excited to finally have her birthday. It's hard for her to be the last one to have a birthday.
Well, there's laundry calling my name, so I'd better go take care of that. Hope you enjoyed reading a bit of what's happening at our house.
Shiree

I'm a lucky lady!

So Lance is sick with allergies. Today has been the worst day and they are killing him! He can't focus and he feels terrible. He's been feeling sick all day but when we got a phone call around 9:15pm that someone in the neighborhood needed a Priesthood blessing he hopped on his scooter and took off. He called a little while ago to tell me that he's still there, talking to the person about anxiety stuff. Therapy at 10:30pm. And I thought, "I'm a lucky lady!" I'm lucky to have a husband willing to serve when he's' not feeling well himself. And I'm lucky to have a husband that holds the Priesthood and is worthy to exercise the keys when called upon. He gave me a blessing right before I went in for my procedure and I felt such comfort and peace when it was over. I'm thankful that the power of God to heal and to comfort is on the earth right now and that I'm lucky enough to have a husband qualified to act in the name of God to bless me and those around me. Thanks Lance for being that man!

Mother's Day and stuff

So today was mother's day. With all the stuff going on this week I realized yesterday that we hadn't sent out any cards so I quickly wrote some and gave them to those close to me and then we sent e-cards to Melanie and Tracy. Thank goodness for e-cards! But also in the mess of last week I didn't prepare anything for my Relief Society calling--I do the music which normally isn't a big deal but I wanted to do something awesome for mother's day. Well, nothing really came to mind until right before I was supposed to give my 5 minute presentation. And then I was thinking about all those women who get overlooked at mother's day. Usually we think of our mothers and those women who are mothers and there is a whole group of women who get overlooked a little. So I took some time then and want to mention them now. Here's to all the women who don't have children of their own. All those who haven't yet had kids and those who never will. Thanks to all of you for your mothering and care of so many people around you! I hope you don't feel left out this mother's day because you are still mothers--with or without your own children and should be honored as such!

As for my mother's day, I must say that it was a great one! Lance surprised me with a dozen roses! :) And the complete works of Jane Austen (they are all individual and they all match. You'd love it, Tracy!) Jenny gave me cards and a bracelet (thanks for your help on that Julie), Alex gave me a card and Daniel gave me lots of slobbery kisses and some whine. The older kids also gave us another present--see Lance's blog for details--but we had some good talks about obedience and repentance and I'm sure it will all be fine in the end. I did get a short nap today, so that was lovely too.
All in all it was a great day!
Shiree

Dont forget the Freshness

Don't forget Lance's new blog, domestarrunner.blogspot.com. Click on the name to see todays, Fresh new posts!

What a day!

This is Shiree
Today my brother Joe & his wife Ashley came over with their new little baby girl Marley. (My mom came too). Since we've lived on opposite sides of the country for so long we haven't seen them in 5 years! It was so good to see them. Their baby is adorable and it was very therapeutic for me to hold and cuddle a baby. I want a girl!! They had fun playing with my kids and catching up a bit. It's odd because even though we haven't seen them in so long it felt like we'd just been hanging out the week before or something. We also went to the BYU bookstore for some shopping fun and had a great time. We're going to go to my mom & dad's tomorrow to see them again before they head back to Washington.
After they left we had Josh, Megan and Isabella Harris over for dinner. They are moving back to North Carolina tomorrow and we wanted to see them one last time. I've decided that I really don't like it when my friends move away. I don't like moving away from my friends either. But this time is different because I don't know when we'll see them again and that is sad for me. Alex & Isabella were born a month apart and they've been friends their whole lives. When they first moved to Utah we knew we were going to follow them out here. Now they are going back and we don't know what the future holds for us. I've gotten used to having Megan around and I'm really going to miss her.
Finally, Jenny is at her first non-grandparent sleepover tonight. She's at Rich & Julie's house sleeping over with Sammie. Rich took Jarrad & Weston to a fathers and sons outing so the girls are having a girls night. I was invited at first but I'm not well enough to go so Jenny went alone. I remember having so much fun sleeping over at Grandma B's house with Sara when we were kids. I hope Jen & Sam have a great time, but I must admit I'm a little sad seeing her bed empty. She's growing up so fast!

I am alive

but not very coherent. The procedure went well. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. Lance is amazing taking care of me and the kids, and our snake is really awesome! It's just a baby so it's pretty small. Jen and Alex think it is really cool. Daniel is indifferent. Winter is curious and possibly a little jealous. We don't have a name yet. Lance suggested Darcy--a little scary at first but inside a loving guy. I'll have to think on that one. Gotta sleep.
Shiree

We're getting a snake

I've always loved snakes. I've always thought it would be cool to get one and now we are! Lance found one on ksl.com that comes with all the stuff for a really great price. He's on his way now to get it. We'll post a photo soon--I promise to get better at including photos. So if you want to pet a "very friendly Ball Python" give us a call!
Shiree

Comfort & Friends

I am thankful for all of you who have been sending me emails and cards, who are thinking and praying for us and for the peace I feel as I prepare to go to the hospital in the morning. At church on Sunday they sent a sign up sheet around Relief Society (which is the women's organization in my church. We meet the third hour for a lesson just as women and it's wonderful). Anyway, they asked for volunteers to sign up to help watch my kids and bring us meals for the next few days. When it got to me it was completely full and it hadn't even gone around the room. I had three extra people sign up than there were spaces and then my neighbor and my sister-in-law called to ask how they could help. And of course my mom, dad and grandma are all wanting to help. I felt so loved. I feel so loved.
So now I have to be there tomorrow at 6:00am. And I had two people willing to come over and stay with my kids at that early hour. I almost feel bad because there's no way that I can let all of these people do stuff for us.
It's times like this when you can really feel the love of the Savior through the thoughts, service and prayers of others.
Thanks
Shiree

Birthday Find

So today was Alex's b-day and it was pretty great! He got tons of cards and money from generous relatives and he got to play with some of his friends. And we got a THOMAS TRAIN TABLE!! Now, for those of you with kids who are Thomas crazy, you'll appreciate the fact that we've wanted to get a train table for years but never had the space or money and let's face it, who wants to pay $500.00 or more for one of those things? So we found ours used! It's in great condition, it's octagonal shaped (is that correct English?) and it came with TONS of track, some trains and it was only $75.00! Fantastic!! I'm sure it's several hundred dollars worth of stuff. What a great find!
Lance put it together and the kids played until past bedtime. Poor Daniel cried when he had to come downstairs. We also went to McDonald's in Lehi--that's got a cool playland! and had ice cream. I think Alex had a good b-day and he said he feels different. Definitely older. He's a doll! So are Jen & Daniel
Shiree

Lance Freshness

Announcing domestarrunner.blogspot.com, Lance's new blog spot! Click the title, the last link, the link to the side, or here to get to the awesomeness. I figure this will give me a place to do my thing and let Shiree have more control over this site (mine's gonna be SO much cooler though, you just wait!).

Alex is turning 5!!!

I can't hardly believe that my big little boy turns 5 tomorrow!!! I remember going to the hospital with Lance to have Alex like it was yesterday. Now he runs, jumps, reads, writes, plays games, rides a TWO-WHEELED BIKE WITHOUT the training wheels and is so big!
We had a party for him Saturday and had such a fun time. 10 little kids over here playing games, eating cake and candy and playing outside with all the toys. We had so much fun. And it was a little crazy. I'm glad for the kids only room and a backyard with a fence!! He got quite a few presents and loved them all.
I'm sure I'll be blogging again in two weeks when Daniel turns 2 and then two weeks later when Jenny turns 7!! I can't believe how old my babies are getting. They all go to primary/nursery for 2 of the 3 hours of church and I LOVE IT!! I get to teach the adult Sunday School class and lead the music in Relief Society. It's such a treat!
I'm really trying to enjoy them at the ages they are and the stages they are in.
Well, it's bedtime so I'd better post this and get my babies to sleep.
Shiree

Irony

So (Shiree again) I have this policy when I get pregnant not to tell anyone that I'm expecting until after the first trimester. I know the chance of miscarriage is really high up until that point and I've always been a little paranoid of miscarriage. So I followed that rule pretty well with Jenny, Alex and Daniel and as you all know, 3 perfect babies. So this time I got a little lax on my policy and told everyone I was expecting really early. The irony is that when I told all of you I had most likely already miscarried the baby. I have a blighted ovum. That means that in early cell division something went wrong and the egg was absorbed or something. But my body didn't clue in and so it continued to produce the hormones that told me I was pregnant. Yes, morning sickness to the max and an empty placenta. So the bleeding I was experiencing was my body starting to clue in that there isn't a baby growing in that little sac and it needs to get rid of it. But my body is slow at this and now that I know there isn't a baby, I'm ready to stop feeling pregnant. Plus I have no chance of getting pregnant again if my body still thinks I'm pregnant. So Tuesday I go to the hospital and take care of everything. I tried to do it on my own and it didn't work.
Well, I'm sure you're sick of reading this--if you've continued this far. But it feels better for me to write about it as I try to sort through my feelings about what has happened. Oh, another irony is that when I first found out that I was pregnant, I wasn't too happy about having a November baby. And then as I progressed in the pregnancy and thought about it some more I finally came to the realization that a November baby would be just fine. And now, no November baby. I'm sad and yet a part of me is relieved--November would have been a really hard time for us to have a new born, Lance in school, teaching his first class and all that entails. So it's a good thing in a way that we won't have a baby then. But at the same time, I'm anxious to get pregnant again--in a few months--so that we can get our last baby here and be done with this stuff!
Well, now I'm really done. More to post on a different subject.
Shiree