New Years again!!

...and I stink because I took absolutely no photos of our Christmas or New Years eve festivities.  :(  Call it being scatter-brained, or just plain forgetful, my brain is mush and I'm not afraid to admit it!
The first semester is over and the next one starts on 1/7.  I finished up with a 4.0 (just barley), which was pretty difficult taking 5 classes and being so out of practice with the whole mom/wife/student at the same time----thing.  We enjoyed have 6 of our missionaries over for a late Christmas eve breakfast and to watch BRAVE.  We also enjoyed having Michael's cousin Kira (love that girl!) stay with us a while.  Most of all, I enjoyed spending time with my sweet family.  I don't tell my kids enough how awesome they really are.  I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful crew to learn from.  Let's talk New Years Resolutions..  hmmm, well I would have to say that #1 on the list is to tell each one of my kids and my husband how special they are, everyday..and have a different reason for appreciating them everyday.  #2. To teach them something new every day..even if it is only that their mother can be patient..and not yell at anyone for an entire day :) #3.  Finish up this next semester like a champ..a little nervous about taking 4 science classes but hey, I can do this!  #4 Continue to exercise regularly..this may sound dumb, but it really helps me to be a much nicer person, and to manage my stress most effectively. #5.  Super excited about doing more projects around my house.  I will probably just gather supplies for the first 5 months until the end of this next semester, and plan on doing the work over the summer.  We'll see, I might not be able to wait that long.  A girls got to dream!!  Lots of big ideas, some may be a little while in the making, but that's ok!

 Hoping everyone had a fantastic Holiday celebrating the birth of our Savior.

Summer Days...
are really stinking hot here in Va.  BUT, I love them anyways.  The past week it's been about 100 with 99% humidity :) got to love it.  Charly has been at girls camp..poor girl but she is having a blast despite the heat.
Lots to catch up on it seems, near the end of the school year my life gets pretty crazy.  With volunteering for every ones classroom activities, field day, setting up Isaac's 504 plan, Charly having pink eye for 3 weeks, Michael working really, REALLY long hours at the fair,girls camp prep., Michael leaving for scout camp for 6days, catering a few graduation parties, tiling the neighbors bathroom,and life in general.. (breathe)  I feel like I'm treading water just trying to keep my head up so I don't drown.  Hopefully that is a good one as far as excuses go, for not keeping up with my blog.
   So the last time I was able to post I was thinking about going back to school.  I've wanted to for a long time but when being a wife and mother comes first (and it should always come first), timing has got to be key.  I've found the right time, it took a lot of searching and praying to find the right school with the right program.  I found it though :)
I was absolutely sure I want to go back and continue nursing.  That was a no brainer.  A few months ago when I was really agonizing over this decision, I asked my cute husband to give me a blessing.  He did, but I guess I was waiting and expecting to get a play by play revelation or something saying this is what you do..and then you do this..and blah blah... and it didn't happen...at all.  It was a rather short blessing.  My only direction was to not read but study my scriptures and there I would find my answer.  At the time I was thinking that I had just gotten some pretty generic advice from a husband who clearly didn't want his wife to go back to school.  What a PUNK I am!  I sat there when he was finished like...that's it, that's all you've got?  I decided to have a little faith and trust that my husband (who really is the best person in the world) had just given me a message from my Heavenly Father.  So I began to read and study more.  Typically I would just open my scriptures before bed and pick a few verses and call it good.  Unless I was preparing a lesson which clearly requires more than that :).  Something interesting happened though.  I had a pretty remarkable shift in my ideals.  Not because I had had a revelation or had read something that made me change my mind.  It just kind of happened.  I just decided to go in a different direction and things have been much easier since that decision.
I decided to pursue Respiratory therapy.  It takes the same amount of time as a nursing degree but it is different in a lot of ways.  I've known many r.t's at the hospital but I had never even thought about doing it..that's how committed I was to my decision to be a nurse.
   I had to do a lot of studying since it's been almost 15 years since I graduated.  I did take classes at nova, and I completed a vocational program for med./surg. assisting but those classes are not transferable...so that meant that because my math and English had not been completed within the past 5 years I had to start back a square one and take placement testing and the whole crappy deal.  I cannot express how much anxiety I've had over this.  I stink at math!  I was going to have to take remedial math with a bunch of kids and here I am almost 32 years old.  I'm at a disadvantage..  I almost changed my mind BUT for me that's almost impossible to do. ..(it's a genetic flaw)  so, I set a date to go and take my tests..4 1/2 hours of testing...uuhhhhgggg!  I sat in my car for a while.  Before I left home, I had a really good experience praying, I had a great feeling and I knew that it would be ok, I had resigned myself to the fact that if I do need to sit in a class full of 18 year olds and re-take Algebra I, then that's what I would do to make my dream a reality.  Again sitting in my car, I couldn't resist the temptation to pray..same thing happened.  I would be ok.  In my effort to stall just a little more I picked up Michael's Book of Mormon and began to read a little.  The verse I opened to was "I am the Alpha and the Omega..."  How fitting..to me that meant "Carrie, I said it's going to be fine, why don't you just have a little more faith, and get out of the car!..NOW!"  So I made the long walk into the college.  Not knowing anyone or where I was going.  Eventually I found my way, walking by people who are so SO SO much younger and more eager to be there.  I completed all of my testing and the math was brutal.  I wasn't for sure how many sections there were and at section 7 I got up and asked the lady watching me from her desk, what to do.  I was finished.  I didn't know the answers ..so pretty much "do you stop the test now, or do I start guessing?"  She said to guess..  Luckily there were only 8 sections to the math test.
I did make a few guesses but tried to work out every problem...some taking up a few pages.  Others I just tried to make an educated guess because I'd never seen anything like it before but I have had one of the most amazing math teachers and he taught me to do what I do know and  get to that point and re-evaluate the problem.    Anyhow (this is much longer that I thought it would be...sorry)  So I finished up, took the English and reading test and a few other things.  The lady behind the desk handed me a paper and said to take it to my advisor.  So I went to find my advisor who by the way was maybe 20...YUP!  He said, wow! you've been out of school 14 years, and you're almost 32, you have 5 F.I.V.E. kids, and... you must be crazy.. then he asked if I had been studying, and what my highest math had been. (Algebra II passed with a D)  Needless to say, he was shocked because I had just tested out of every Math class they offer.  I only needed to pass the first 3 sections but I had passed all 8.  I had tested out of Calculus with analytical geometry II...and more, but that one just sounds hard :)  I was shocked, and completely humbled because of what my heavenly father had done for me.  I hate math, I am not afflicted with false modesty (just like E.Bennett) , I really suck at it.  This was nothing short of a miracle.  And while some would say it's dumb luck, or you're smarter that you thought..maybe even a tiny miracle, to me it was huge. 
  A few friends think I may in fact be crazy for trying to go back.  Maybe I'll fail miserably, I don't know..but I'm going to try.  The fact is that Michael has a great job and supports our family and pays our bills.  But his check only stretches that far.  I've been cleaning a house twice a month for an older lady down the street.  So I feed our family of 7 and buy whatever else we need on $200 a month.  That's almost impossible.  With the cost of food increasing and our children getting bigger,eating more, and out-growing everything.. that's just not possible anymore.  Michael is a good sport and works overtime when he can BUT he is burnt out and loves to be home with the kids too.  So why not fulfill a dream that I've had and help my family in the process?  I certainly won't get rich from this and I have no intentions of working full time but it will help.. What's even better is that one of us will be able to be home with the kids everyday.  We'll still have lots of time being all together too.  I've learned that every one's situations are different.  Some women never have to work, some don't want to, some work full time, some part time, some HAVE to and some WANT to..  Which ever category I fall into, I'm excited for the opportunity!

Slacker

Man, even though I'm trying to remember to post something on this blog, it's just so easy to forget. Sometimes I feel like I'm so ridiculously busy that I can't stop and look around for even a minute..but then when I do look around, I see more things that I need to do. It's like I'm busy all the time but not always very productive. AAHHH!
So, with that said, I'll get on with it.
I think I've decided to go back to school. I'm waiting on another set of transcripts but I do have most of the info. I need to get started. It's been a long decision making process for me. Michael says I just keep sitting on the fence unable to make up my mind. It's a huge life altering decision though. I'm pretty impulsive for the most part and I've noticed that this is totally unlike me..sitting here waiting for someone to make up my mind for me. Frustration!!!! BUT it's all over with. I've made up my mind to do this, now I just need to figure out the when and how.. Since I've been out of school so long I'm probably going to have to re take algebra and chemistry. So dumb, I'm going to do my best to talk them int letting me test out of it. It's just a waste of time. Then there is the fun part of trying to transfer really old credits :) Yay! I really feel like this is the right decision for our family though. Rylie is home for one more year with me. I'm going to take online classes during that year and then have to commute for my clinical rotations. What's motivating me is that I really want to finish what I started. Our children are getting older, and more expensive :) I don't even want to think about what our food bill will be like in a few years. Then there is braces, sports, driving...wrecking, and all the fun stuff that goes along with growing up. I keep waiting for some grand realization that I am in fact, headed in the right direction. I've had lots of neat experiences lately, but the one thing that I keep coming back to is that one line in my patriarchal blessing that says that through my continuing education, I will be able to help support my family. And there it is, black and white. So what took me so long? hehe.

New Year

So the New Year is here. I'm asked the same question every year and every year I look like I haven't thought about my response...because I really haven't " Carrie, what's your new years resolution?" HMMMM, well having a few weeks to think about it I would just say over all improvements, on everything. I feel like I can ALWAYS improve myself, my actions, my responses to other people's actions :) , improve how I fulfill my church calling, how I interact with my children, my home, my relationship with family, and my eating habits. That's enough to keep me busy for an entire year and then some.

Rylie has started the new year off in big girl UNDIES! WOOHOO!!!! This is a day that has been 42 months in the making.. She is such a lovie, I have thoroughly enjoyed this kid. She is so sweet and even tempered. She has a cute sense of humor and the list goes on and on. BUT she is the MOST independent , head-strong little thing around. She's been able to "go" on the potty for a year, at least. She just would not give me the satisfaction of it. It has been a long year. I am happy for her, I think she is really excited as well.

We have also had a few new additions in the new year. A fridge shiny and used but a really nice stainless steel french door with the freezer on the bottom..exciting, and a few new fish in the aquarium that Charly got from Santa.

We are really excited for our family this year. Becca and Troy added two beautiful little boys to their family, AND Kathy, Kathleen and Cami will all be adding new little ones with in the next three months or so. While I am super excited about this, I feel a little left out. Not that I need or want another but I guess I wish I had the option. BUT that's just how life goes and I am more that blessed to have the crew that I do. Wouldn't change a thing :)

Happiness

DEC. 8, 2011



Ten years ago I married my best friend. Ten years
seems like a long time. Long enough to build a family,
a home, a life together. Long enough to understand that
you love this other person more, and in a way that you never knew yourself capable of.



Michael and I both were engaged before we met. I actually knew his fiance` and I remember gawking at how ridiculously happy they looked together. :) I was the rebound. The first and last non blond, brown eyed girl he ever dated.


Love is not being breathless, or excited. The butterflies or sweaty palms. The racing heart or being tongue tied. Love is what's left over when all of those things are gone. Not all of those things are gone completely but our love has changed over ten years and somehow become more real. I've never laughed or cried so hard or so much. I had never experienced the flood of emotions or the type of hard work that being in a marriage requires. I've never known this kind of love or happiness either.



He is the person that can get under my skin like no one else, but the person who is my biggest fan and the one I never want to be without...So here's to the ten year rebound! Here's to making the wrong decisions that make the right ones so easy to recognize. Happy Anniversary Babes!

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to my sweet Charly..aka CHARLES :) I didn't exactly know where we would be 12 years ago. I was a single mother and not too sure that I could really give Charly all that she needed. It's pretty amazing how we have been blessed.

Michael and I have been able to give her an eternal family. What a huge blessing. It's more than I had hoped for. Charly has been such a great blessing to me. She has taught me how to move on and not live in the past. She has made me smile everyday and laugh so hard it hurts. I'm so proud to be her mother.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We were able to spend time with family and friends, eat way too much, laugh, laugh and laugh some more.

I really didn't like my brothers so much growing up, I'm sure most siblings didn't really get along all that well most of the time. Now I really enjoy hanging out with them. They thought I was "the DEVIL" growing up and I thought (and still do sometimes) that they were emotionally retarded. I remember one of them peeing on my toothbrush, another of them feeding me dog food...and I'm pretty sure the rest you can live without knowing. :) I love my brothers though!

I live the farthest away (a whopping 1.5 hours from everyone else) and sometimes it isn't far enough but most days it feels like an eternity away.

We were able to play a few games, hang out with the cousins, Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents and Mom and Dad. It's awesome to be close.

Next to having the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, I am most thankful for my family. I know that the relationships and the bond that we have on earth can surpass this life. Although sometimes we are a dysfunctional family, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for any one of them.

The old maid ...hehe

Today on my 31st birthday, I've realized that birthdays become less fun the older you get :). Actually, I had a great day. It's so fun to see how excited the kids are that Mom has a birthday too. The kiddos and Michael made me breakfast in bed which was really yummy, then I went to volunteer in Stevi's class for a few hours. She was telling anyone and everyone who would listen that her mom was thirty one today. Pretty darn cute! I had lunch with wonderful ladies that I love so much, and then tonight Michael and the kids took me out for dinner. That was a special treat because we really don't go out that much. Twice today for me. So I'm another year older, and I have a stomach ache :) , but it was a fabulous day.
I have the best friends and family, I am one lucky girl.

ps. This morning on Ian's gift, the card read " Mom, you're old enough to be a Grandma." hehe... :)