Noah's Ark.......maybe I need one!?

I forgot to post about our little flood situation. It's been a wet winter and with all the rain we got in December made a great mess for us! I have a sump pump that helps keep the water out of the drain in the walk out stairwell to my salon and it shorted out and failed. So as I'm working the Tuesday before Christmas I'm downstairs working and notice that the cracks in the cement floor look damp and I thought....weird. So I tell Jason about it and he figured we needed to replace the sump pump before matters got worse. He even  added another one to help with the situation. The crazy thing is that even as Jason is fixing things water is pooling into my salon underneath my cabinet!!! It was insane. Jason got things hooked up, the water started draining and we thought good, we're out of the woods. Oh, contrare monfrare! Jason got up at 5:30 the next morning to check on things and he got a surprise! About an inch of water through out most of the basement. UGH! Neither one of the pumps turned on during the night. So we got to clean up and Jason got the pumps working the way they should and we have been dry ever since! Thank heaven's the basement wasn't finished or else life would have been much harder. My salon insurance covered the damage on my salon floor and I will be getting tile in the very near future so if we have this problem ever again (which I pray we don't!) it won't be as big of a hassle. Here are some of the pic's.......

My floor isn't really this shiny! It's the water.

Where Jason added the new sump pump. 

We feel very lucky that nothing that we were storing in the basement was damaged either.

Thoughts

I've had a lot of thinking time this last week due to my radiation/scan for my thyroid cancer screening. I need to write them down somewhere or else I'm going to go crazy! Now the question is where to start.......
I've had a really hard time with our new ward since we've moved in. I don't remember the last time when I felt a struggle to fit in or find my nitch. Don't get me wrong, I've met some great people and have enjoyed meeting new people. It's not that I want to be clique-y or be tied down to just a few people. I guess that there are a couple of women that for some reason I feel like I need to be accepted by. I know that I've expressed my concerns to some of you about these particular sisters. I just don't understand why I let it bother me so much. I know that I can't please everyone and be bff's with every sister I meet. But as I write about it I think I know why it bothers me so much. These sisters are the ones that stand out to be the 'great examples' and 'spiritual giants' in the ward, and I figure if this is true why do I feel so uncomfortable and intimidated by them?! Why do I feel like I have to please them if really they are as normal and imperfect in their lives as I am? I don't know. It's just something that has been on my mind again.......which brings me to the few sisters in the ward that I do love and adore. I hope that they know who they are! Mostly because they are the one's that get to read my blog! And as for neighbors I am really grateful for Danielle and Bernadette! They are such great girls and I love that we can help and watch out for each other.
I've also been thinking a LOT about my health. I am sick of hospital bills. I tired of hospital visits and doctors appointments. And really I know I have it easy with what I've been faced with. I realize it could be SO much worse. I think it's because this past week I was at the hospital 4 out of the 7 days of the week and it seemed to consume me. It is such a trial to literally be away from your family even though you are in the same house. No hugs or kisses to the kids, no sharing my bed with Jason, no eating meals or doing homework with kids. Nothing. You sit in your room away from everyone for fear of contamination.
I've also realized that I want to continue being healthy for my family. I've missed exercising at the gym since Blakey moved in with us. I know there is always at home work outs but I am way too easily distracted by the millions of other things I need to do at home. I do much better in a social environment to work out. So my goal is next week to start back at the gym and just pray that Blake doesn't catch anything in the daycare!! I've also been more mindful of eating. As part of my treatment I had to go on a low iodine diet and to do that you have to cut out all of your dairy and anything that could potentially have iodized salt. This is the first out of the 3 times I've done this diet that 1-I felt satisfied with eating and 2- I wasn't overwhelmed with what I can or can't have. I have also started drinking green smoothies and I can already tell a difference. I feel full for a long time on these and because it's healthy it's easier to choose healthy for my next meal.
My last thought I am going to share with you today is about Blake. It has been the most 3 blissful months I think I have ever had. I have never felt a love like this before. Not that I don't adore and love Austin and Karlee because I do. I think it just has to do with the brand new spirit straight from our Heavenly Father's presence that gets me. It is so amazing to me that this tiny, sweet little boy can change the mood in a home. It's as though an angel is living with us. I can't get enough of staring into his eyes and trying to get him to smile. I'm such a boob that I'm crying as I'm writing this!! It has been a dream of mine to be a mother. I figured I'd be like everyone else and get pregnant and have a baby. Little did I know that would be one of my challenges on this earth. I was so excited when Austin and Karlee became a permanent part of our family. I reveled with having a 10 month old baby girl and a 4 year old crazy boy. They are amazing kids! But I've always wanted to have an infant. I'm sure most of you can understand where I'm coming from. I never knew or could understand why and infant was so amazing until now. Blake has been an amazing addition to our family and I pray that things go towards an adoption to make it permanent!
That is all for my ranting today. Now maybe my mind can rest and I can look forward and keep on keeping on!

Christmas Day

Here is the living room before the kids tore it apart!

 My silly boy wanted to look at the clothes I got him FIRST so that he could open and enjoy the GOOD stuff he said to me! Ha ha ha! I laughed so hard!

 Karlee following her brothers footsteps. Clothes first then presents!

 The only consistent thing she asked for was a Ladybug Pillow Pet and she got it!

 Austin opening his MP3 player.

 Santa really ate the cookies!

 Karlee got her very own stereo so she would stop stealing mine from the salon. I told her to get a Christmas CD to play in it for us and out of ALL the CD's we own she picked William Hung! Ha ha ha! We got that CD at a white elephant gift exchange a few years back and she LOVES it! Silly kid!

 Funny girl.

 In all the 5 years that we have enjoyed Christmas with Austin and Karlee this is the FIRST year we didn't have to wake the kids up for presents. Austin was determined, I think, to prove me wrong. He asked how early he could wake us up to open gifts.....so I said 6:00 thinking that really we would wake them up again. Boy was I wrong!!  6am and Austin opens the bedroom door and say's "It's the time you said Mom!" I feel as exhausted as I look in this picture!

 Do you see something that Austin is clearly missing in this photo?

I'll give you a hint- it has a red bow on it!

 Do you see the look on Austin's face?! Ha ha ha! He finally saw it too! We got a Kinect this year to enjoy. It's been SO much fun to play!

 This is my FAVORITE present this year!

 My family came over for dinner and presents. Sadly Emma was ill so Scott and Lindi didn't make it. We still had a good time and even a bit of a family fued. Hey, you can't celebrate a holiday with out a fight right?! Ha ha ha! It all worked out and I think everyone ended up having a good day.

Do you see the black and turquoise petti skirt my niece Brinley just pulled out of her bag?

 This is how she put it on! She was so excited for a dress up that she ran to Karlee's room to put it on. After we all started laughing at how cute she looked she was so embarrassed she cried and cried! It was adorable!

 And sweet Blake slept through it all! Next year will be another story we hope!

Ward Christmas Party and Christmas Eve

In the beginning  of December Jason and I were in charge of our Ward Christmas Party. It was a ton of fun and a lot of hard work. We did an Ugly Sweater Christmas Sing a long. I never knew there could be SO many ugly sweaters out there! Ha ha ha! We had Santa come too.

Karlee surprisingly asked for an ipod! Sadly Santa didn't purchase one for her this year. Don't you love her ugly sweater?!

 Austin had a list a mile long and he actually got most of it this year. Spoiled kid! He was excited for his ugly sweater because it had pink in it. (that's one of his new favorite colors!)

On to Christmas Eve. The past couple of years we like to take the kids to Temple Square on Christmas Eve to get them in the true spirit of Christmas. Luckily it wasn't bitter cold this year! Jason stayed home with Blake because he was still to new to take out in the cold. We went with some friends this year too! This is the Woodall bunch! A crazy group of 6 kids that we hate to love or love to hate! Just kidding. I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about!

 I thought it was cool that this fall leaf was still floating in the fountain.

 My crazy kiddo's!

 Cheese!

 Our Christmas Eve Pajama's!

Don't they look cute?!

Karlee's Christmas Performance

This year for Karlee's dance class they performed at the studio. She just loves dance! The songs they performed to were The Grinch and one from Josh Groban called Believe. 

Here is Karlee warming up.

This one is one of the techniques they are learning. They are supposed to hold their head high and look up while pointing their toes as they walk. As you can see Karlee is struggling with all of this! Ha ha ha, I shouldn't laugh but it's so cute when they are learning!

 My pretty girl!

 Here is her class. There are 12 girls in all.

 This is Karlee with her buddy Maddy Batt. They are the same size!! It's nice that she is in a class this year with girls her own age and her own size!

Scouts

So back in November.......

Austin was chosen by his Cub Master to help him in a skit. It was really funny. He depicted how a scout gets ready for the day. He had his teeth brushed, face shaved, cereal eaten, hair gelled. It was pretty funny to watch! Here are some of my favorite pic's!

 After the skit the boys did their Space Derby. The boys make a rocket and it goes down this track. It was fun to watch. Austin had a fun time making his rocket! He even won First Place!! Way to go dude!

Here's the proud owner of a winning Rocket!