Best Vacation EVER

I had the best vacation ever last weekend.  Well, maybe not the BEST vacation, but the most relaxing vacation I have EVER had!  Our ward had youth conference and since Branden is now twelve, he was able to go with Kelsie and Trevor.  Since Chris is young men's president, he had to go, too.  That meant I was going to be alone--completely alone in my house for 24 hours.  

I am often alone at home.  I'm alone when the kids go to school, but that is only for a few hours. Every now and then Chris goes out of town and leaves me home, but the kids are always with me.  I don't think I have ever been home all by myself overnight since I've had children, and that's 17 1/2 years.

So how did I spend my time?  First I went to a movie and then out to dessert with a friend of mine.  Then I came home and surfed the internet for a while.  The next day I cleaned the house. Cleaning is not normally an activity I look forward to or even choose to do in my free time, but I was able to clean and have it stay clean for more than 20 minutes which, I have to say, was quite rewarding.  After cleaning for a while I watched a movie and then I cleaned some more.

It was so quite and peaceful. It was more relaxing than I ever dreamed 24 hours could be.

  

I have to say I was a little bummed when everyone came home.  I put on my happy face and told them how much I had missed them, but secretly I knew that if I had one more day I wouldn't have minded.  

HAWAII 2009

Wisdom Teeth

I'll admit it. Although I try to mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those in need of comforting, I'm not very sympathetic when it comes to getting wisdom teeth extracted. I think this stems from two main reasons.

1. I never had my wisdom teeth out. Although I am no stranger to pain (can you say natural childbirth?), I have endured two major surgeries and given birth to three large children. The thought of a 30 minute outpatient procedure leading to days of coddling doesn't seem right.

2. I think I have unresolved resentment of a childhood issue. When I was 8 or 9 (everything happened to me then) I had to have EIGHT teeth removed. Four were baby teeth, but four were permanent ones that were waiting to come in underneath the baby ones. So, just like wisdom teeth, they had to cut open the gum, remove the teeth, and stitch it up. The same time I had my EIGHT teeth removed, my older sister had four wisdom teeth removed. Even my young eight year old brain knew that eight teeth was more than four teeth. Yet, I remember (this is the resentment part) sitting on the couch for the first day with my sister and we both had ice and ice cream. But, the second day, she got to stay on the couch and continue to do nothing and have milkshakes and I had to get up and do her chores. What's up with that? I had twice as many teeth pulled but she got to have twice as many milkshakes as I did. Not fair!

I was not looking forward to the day when my children would need their wisdom teeth out. After seventeen years of denial, Kelsie's turn finally arrived. I had to schedule it during the one time of the year that Chris goes out of town to see his dad, but with our weird summer schedule, it was really the only time we could do it over the summer. I was a little nervous about the procedure because I don't do well with health issues; bleeding, needles, vomit, etc. I usually let Chris take care of all that, but I was VERY brave and did quite well. I didn't faint when I went back to see her in recovery (yes, I have done that) and I only had a little headache from the stress of the situation which a couple of Advils took care of quite rapidly.

Kelsie sailed through with flying colors. She was a little cranky and angry the first couple of hours...but that was it. She was quickly back to her normal self except for the fact that she couldn't eat much and kept putting bags of frozen peas on her cheeks. After twenty-four hours, she is just using Advil to take care of the pain.

I know there are more serious cases that require more care (and sympathy) but I am SO glad that Kelsie's was an easy case and an easy recovery. I like to hope that I would rise to the occassion if she really needed my help and sympathy...but for now, I'll continue to live in denial of the pain of losing one's wisdom teeth.

HOW TO GET PAINT OUT OF CARPET

Yep. "HOW TO GET PAINT OUT OF CARPET" was my google question for about five minutes until I realized there was no quick cure for the puddle of sapphire blue paint on the carpet in Trevor's room. I was finally finishing up Trevor's room last week. I had installed the baseboards and was just doing some touchup painting before the room was complete (besides adding a closet door, but it's a weird size and I just haven't made it to the Special Order desk). Since I was just doing some touchup work I thought it would be easier if I just put paint in a paper cup instead of lugging around the big gallon of paint. Worked great. There were a few areas that needed a second coat since Suddenly Sapphire is such a dark and vibrant color, so I had the paper cup on the floor (I know, stupid mistake) while I was cleaning some stuff in Trevor's room. He was at EFY so I thought I'd have the room all finished and clean when he came home--I was trying to be such a nice mom. Next thing I know, I look around the corner and the paper cup had somehow fallen and there was a nice puddle of blue paint on the tan carpet.

My heart started pounding and I started panicking. I tried googling for help...but no easy and sure fire ideas came to me. I thought about taking a picture for the blog--really--but I did not want to waste any time at all in my feeble rescue attempt.

I started blotting and blotting. I went through one roll of paper towels. I started dabbing with water and blotting. I went through another roll of paper towels. I did this for four hours until I needed a dinner break. I was starving, exhausted, and my shoulders were killing me. I told Chris "We're going to In and Out and I'm getting fries and a shake and I'm not sharing with anybody." Hunger and stress had clearly taken it's toll.

I came back from dinner and dabbed and blotted for a couple more hours. I thought it was looking pretty good before I went to bed. Not perfect, but better. The next morning it didn't look as good as it seemed to the night before it so I contined my blotting, scrubbing, and stressing. I went through at least four rolls of paper towels (thank goodness I had bought some from Costco) and all my white hand towels.

And now? There's still a very slight blue tint to the area of carpet, but it looks so much better than I ever dreamed it would. I thought for sure the room would need new carpet or a permanent rug over the area, but it's not too noticeable. I'm still going to work on it a little bit more...I think I can get it looking even better. And yes, I've learned my lesson.

Reunited...and it feels so good!

My little family is finally all back home together.

Branden graduated from 6th grade on a Wednesday and Saturday morning he left for his first ever week long Boy Scout camp. I was a little more secure sending Branden to camp than Trevor, since Branden is a little more cautious. But, a week is a very long time for a 12 year old! However, he loved it! He only called me on the last day to see when Chris was coming up (Chris was driving up to bring back scouts). He earned six merit badges (woo-hoo!). His favorite was wilderness survival where he had to build his own shelter outside and actually sleep in it. SCARY...for me...but he did it! He least favorite was pioneering...too many knots for him. He also earned swimming, enviromental science, photography, and orienteering.

Two days after he came back Kelsie and Trevor left for EFY in Santa Barbara. They had a fantastic time and can't wait to go again.
They came home today...so now we're finally ready to start our summer with everyone home.

While they were gone I learned some things:
1. Branden entertains himself pretty well. The house was extemely quite while he was home. I would see him read for a couple of hours, watch TV, read some more, play video games, read some more. He was perfectly content staying home and keeping his pajamas on all day.

2. The bathroom stays much cleaner with Trevor and Kelsie gone.

3. The living room and kitchen stays much cleaner with Branden gone.

4. And...I finally figured out which son keeps peeing on the seat!

I missed each one of them when they were gone and I am so glad everyone is back home!

Birthmonth

Yesterday was my birthday, but I'm still celebrating birthmonth. I'm not sure when I started celebrating birthmonth, I know it began after I was married and had kids. I think I kind of invented it when I felt I was being jipped out of my birthday one too many times. My birthday always falls close to end of school celebrations, graduations, Father's Day (sometimes it's actually ON Father's Day...I don't reallly like that one), the beginning of summer madness, and my wedding anniversary (that was my own fault to plan a wedding so close to my birthday, but I was dumb and in love). Little by little I realized I wasn't getting to celebrate my birthday because of all the other things that tended to happen the same week as my birthday. I ended up having to celebrate my birthday a little bit earlier because something else was scheduled on my birthday, or postpone my birthday celebration until things calmed down...hence birthmonth was born.

I REALLY love birthmonth. I go out to eat A LOT. I take advantage of celebrating my birthday in any way possible for the entire month. I wanted to get a pedicure for my birthday yesterday but I ran out of time and I was kind of bummed until Trevor reminded me, "Mom, it's birthmonth, you can just go Monday...or Tuesday...or Wednesday." Then I wasn't sad anymore after I realized he was right, I didn't miss my birthday pedicure because I don't celebrate just one day. The kids want birthmonths...but I tell them they're not old enough. Sometimes they get birthweeks if I'm really busy, but I reserve birthmonth just for me.

End of an Era

Branden graduated (promoted?) from 6th grade on Wednesday. It was your typical 6th grade graduation...parents lining up at 6:30 in the morning to get a "good" seat...6th graders walking in one at a time...awards being given out for various accomplishments. Branden received a presidential academic award for having a 3.5 GPA or higher from 3rd-6th grade and receiving advanced scores on his star testing. About twenty 6th graders received that award, but Branden thinks it's cool that Obama signed it. Someone had prepared a video of all the students morphing from their kindergarten school picture to their 6th grade school picture. It was nice to see that Branden grew into his kindergarten ears.

Since Kelsie and Trevor were done with their finals, they went to support their little brother at graduation. Trevor had made a sign that said "I 'heart' Brande(o)n" in honor of his brother and the other Brandon's that were his friends. Trevor made sure to yell and hold up his sign whenever Branden's name was mentioned. It was pretty funny.

After graduation I realized that that was my last elementary school event. I have had kids at that school for 10 years. It's weird to think that I wont be driving there every day next year...but yet I'm not sad. Since I've already had kids at the junior high and high school I'm ready for it. And besides, Branden can walk to school next year so I wont have to drive. Now, that's something to look forward to.

After the graduation we rushed home, changed our clothes and hit the beach! The sun came out and the weather was beautiful. I'm SOOOOO glad it's summer!