Freedom isn't Free

Senior Airman Mark. A Forester

I have been reminded again this week that our precious freedom is not free. A good family friend made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan this week. As I have thought about his life and death I am again reminded how grateful I am for our men and women in uniform that are (in the words of Mark's best friend) "brave as Hell".

Please pray for his family and all the other families who have recently lost loved ones in Freedom's name. We are very blessed to live in a free country, but that is only afforded to us because people like Mark are willing to pay the price.

Were ALIVE!!!!

I am back!!!! The last two months have been full of ups and down and everything in between. Since I have blogged our family has shared some great times and some really tough ones too. For the sake of everyone's sanity I will only share the highlights...hold on it was a whirl wind...

(Just for your info. we are going backwards)


THE LAST BIT OF FUN BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED

This is Ben and Joshua riding the four wheeler that Grandpa Mills bought for him in the hill behind our house.

My "Puppy" sitting in the road (I am not totally sure why he is in the road).

My kids with Aunt Beckie at the river, WE LOVE WHEN SHE COMES to visit!

Chase by the baby calf at the local dairy... We love to go get ice cream!!!

Joshua at the local zoo standing in front of the tiger.

All of us at the zoo by the "fake" tiger.

Aunt Beckie, Ellie, and Chase at the park.

OUR NEW HOUSE- still a work in progress

A month and a half ago we moved to Idaho Falls from sandy UT. It has been a very bitter sweet move for me. I really miss living close to family and friends. I have had to get use to the Idaho culture and a lot more farms... not my forte :). We moved because Ben got a job here that is Fabulous. We both feel very blessed to have such a good job and know we were being watched over even though it has been hard. Ben LOVES LOVES his job and in the short time he has been with the company he has learned a lot and been able to travel to Korea, Japan, New York, Texas, and California. I miss him a lot while he is gone but really cherish the time he gets to be home with us!!! I have enjoyed and will cont. enjoying decorating my house and getting to know more people here. I have been blessed enough to make some great friends already (Nicole you have been my life saver). ALL IN ALL EVERY DAY GETS BETTER!!!!

Chase's room, he insisted on it being ELMO.

Ellie's lady bug room

The spare bedroom -it is a patriotic theme. We are blessed to have both my grandpa's and Ben's grandpa's memorial flags along with many other military artifacts and items that really mean a lot to Ben and I.

Joshua's bedroom... what else but the U of U!!! (sorry it's sideways)

The Kitchen

The great room attached to the kitchen.

The living room aka "the home teacher room"


The family room downstairs/ playroom/office

ELLIE'S BIRTHDAY- She turned 3

Ellie turned three on June 19, I felt a little bad because that was the week we started moving so it wasn't as put together as I would have liked but there's always next year right???

Opening presents

The CAKE... she had to have a ladybug cake!!!

BEN' S BIRTHDAY - HE TURNED 30 on May 31

He kept saying he didn't want a party but you can't turn 30 without a party. So I (with the help of my sisters) threw him a surprise party. The theme was Anything Chocolate so naturally we did a chocolate buffet. I love him and am so grateful that he chose me to share his life with. Happy Birthday Ben (way back in May)!!!

The kids with Ben enjoying all the chocolate

Ben lighting his candles. I made him a chocolate souffle cake.

(I am not sure why he is lighting his own candles though?!!

So I know you can't imagine anymore but Joshua's first day of school, Chase's birthday, many visits from family, and the few cakes I have made this summer are all still to come so stay tuned!!!

A LITTLE bit of kindness goes a LONG way

After going somewhere as a family we returned to an unfamiliar car in our driveway. We tried to guess whose car it was as we finished pulling up to our house. When I got out I realized it was our neighbors (seem weird I wouldn't know their car).

Here's some background on my neighbors they moved in next door about fifteen years ago (remember I grew up in this house) the first thing they did was put a nine, yes I said NINE foot cinder block wall all the way around their house. If that wasn't enough they fenced in their front yard completely with double chain link fencing . And still if that wasn't enough they put up an iron fence at the bottom of their porch so you could not get to their door if you tried. As you are probably thinking all of this screams friendly... right??? As a child they complained to the police many times about our cat walking on their lawn or our toys and balls being thrown accidentally into their yard. I began to loathe them and avoided them as a child. As a teenager we would jump on our trampoline and have contests to see who could jump the highest and see over the wall into their yard. When we moved back this last time and took over the house from my parents I asked if they had been any trouble recently, the answer was "no we never see or hear them". This answer was much to my relief and I just hoped it would stay that way.

Now back to the other night. I see this neighbor standing on my doorstep with her husband in the car and I was sure they were coming to complain about the party we were hosting (it was a surprise party for Ben and he hadn't seen it yet so I was sure they were going to ruin it by complaining). Much to my surprise she (and her husband) had come over to asked if she could give my children candy and then this dialogue followed;

"I know we never talk or interact with you but your son is always so nice to us and we really appreciate it. He always runs out to greet us when we are coming or going and if we are already in the car he ALWAYS waves. It has meant so much to us and we had to tell him that his greetings and friendly waves mattered to us, they touched us. We didn't know when you were moving and wanted to come and tell him thank you before it was too late. So if it is OK with you we have bought each one of your kids a little treat and would like to give it to them".

She then threw her arms around me and told me how sad she was that we were moving. I was SHOCKED and didn't have words to respond I was so surprised that all I could get out was Thank You!! That night in bed I couldn't stop thinking about them and just how much Joshua's friendliness had meant to them. We are told all the time that the little things sometimes matter more than the big but how often do we really believe that?? I feel so blessed to have Joshua (and the rest of my kids) and are so grateful for their examples... tonight I have truly learned from a child!!!

Boy Hair

Today while I was putting on make-up and doing my hair Joshua was in the bathroom with me. When it was time to go feed everyone breakfast I wasn't done yet so I gathered my stuff and took it into the kitchen (the very reason why I always hang a mirror in my kitchen). While we were in the bathroom earlier in the morning Joshua had been casually chatting with me and that continued downstairs into the kitchen. After breakfast was well underway and I had been back at my hair for a few minutes Joshua paused in his current conversation with me and blurted out;

J: "I wish you had boy hair"

Me: "What... "What is boy hair"

J: "Well I am just so tired of having to wait while you do your hair, it takes SOOOO long and just wish you could have hair like a boy." (funny enough he wasn't even waiting on me for something right then... it's probbably pent up baggage ha ha )

M: "You mean short????"

J: "I guess... (pause to think) you know the hair that doesn't take long, like mine!!!!"


I chuckled to myself and almost told him to call his Dad and ask him about his lifetime of waiting for me to do my hair, but I didn't there wasn't enough time for that. He then ended the conversation and moved right a along!!!
He is so cute I love his perspective!!!

Pictures of the new house

These are a few pics of our new house

Master Bathroom

Kitchen

Front View (as if you couldn't tell)

WE GOT IT!!!

We got the house!!! After many back and fourths and (us) walking away once they finally came down and we were able to sign the deal!!! I can't explain in words how excited I am. The house is a total dream, everything I have ever dreamed of plus things I didn't even know existed.

I guess what I am really saying is I feel like the most blessed girl in the world... I have three wonderful children, a fabulous hubby, and many many other family and friends in my life and now a dream house!!! What more can you ask for!!!

P.S. This also means NO MORE MOVES!!!! YEAH!!!!

Nerves

I had no idea that buying a house took you on such a roller coaster. Just looking at houses was exhausting and sometimes felt like we would never find one. Then we did, and the real fun began... all the back and forth and trying to beat out the other offers. The goal: come in high enough but not to high that we end up paying more than we have to. The whole thing is a game that leaves you in TOTAL UNCERTAINTY most of the time!!! So I sit here this morning totally emotionally frazzled still waiting to hear if we got the house or not. Deep down I know we will end up where we are suppose to so if it isn't this house there is another one, the trick is having enough faith to believe it!!

P.S. Thanks for letting me vent!!!!

Turning the page... Begining a new chapter

*** Disclaimer: I have never been good with keeping a journal so this has become my journal. Because of that some of the little details you probably wont care about (and sorry if they bore you) but they are for my records!!!

We are moving!!! It has been a long process but Ben got offered a great job in (don't gasp) Idaho Falls. We have been talking to this company for a long time, like six months but it didn't seem like a real possibility until recently. (all the while we were in the middle of the hiring process for a gov. agency, which just made it more complicated.) In the beginning of April he was asked to come interview again. So we made it a family trip. He interviewed and I spent some time seeing the area and spending some time with my good friend Camille!!! Thanks to Camille and Paisley we had a great day!!! Ben finished interviewing and when we meet up with him again. I could tell it went well and that he felt different. We spent another day looking around and getting a feel for the neighborhoods and then came home. I knew that if they offered the job to Ben and it was good enough pay he would take it, I wasn't on board yet!! So not two days later the job was offered with a good offer on pay. We were advised to ask for what we wanted and just see if they would up it, so we did but didn't think they would up the offer. Well they DID!!! Now it was an incredible offer so all that was left was to fast and pray about it and make sure it was right. Have I mentioned I was not sold on this idea... Idaho was not my choice of places on the map and I was banking that if we moved it would be to the east coast with the gov. agency not IDAHO!!! So the next week Ben was so patient in letting me take my time to figure out all of this. I finally prayed (I didn't want to pray because I was afraid of the answer) and fasted, and attended the temple and I knew it was right. Just because I knew it was right didn't mean I wasn't scared though, we are still working on that. I did feel peace though that everything would work out and that I might even learn to love Idaho. I do have to say when I was in Idaho Falls it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I pictured all farms and cows and it isn't that small, smaller than I am use to yes but not all FARMS!!! A week later we accepted the offer, along with that we decided to no longer pursue the gov. agency job. We both felt that would have been a good job but this one was better for our family. So we have been working around the clock for about two weeks now, getting our current house ready to sell. I hope it will go on the market next week and then I will go find a house in Idaho. I do have to say as time has gone by and I have talked to people who have lived or grew up in Idaho Falls I have been put to ease, OK so maybe I judged it unfairly!!!



Although I am excited for what the future holds and for all the opportunities Ben will have I still am sad to say goodbye to Utah. We have all of our family here, have made some great friends and have a great ward. I guess the saying I always tell Joshua rings true right now. Goodbyes are sad, Hello's are scary but it's the middle we live for!!! So here comes move #7!!!

Coach DAD

Joshua started outdoor soccer this week and loved it. I think Joshua really likes soccer no matter what but this time having Ben his coach really helps make it more fun. A couple of weeks ago they called and asked Ben if he would be willing to coach. Ben was a little reserved about it and was not sure he was qualified. After a little persuasion from me he agreed. Once Ben agreed he has jumped in head first, he has coordinated practices and team meetings both of which have gotten the team really excited to play together. The league coordinator told him it was not mandatory that they hold any outside practices or team meetings beside the scheduled games, so all of those he planned were his on his own.
Now we are fast forwarding to the game that was this week. I arrived a little late because the two younger kids were not quite ready but when we got there I scanned the six field to find Joshua and Ben. As I looked at each field I noticed the coaches were present but not super involved. Then I saw the field Joshua's team was playing on. Ben was running down the field cheering the boys on helping them know what to do by coaching them a long. At each break he gave them praise and made sure they understood everything. I have to say I was filled with pride he was going over and above what he had to do. You could immediately tell that his energy was effecting the boys in a very positive way, and that made me very thankful. Thankful that I have a husband who is willing to step out of his comfort zone to be a great Dad. Thanks Ben, and go yellow team!!!!

EASTER DAY!!!

EASTER... It was a wonderful day for us. We did a few egg hunts, read the Easter story from the scriptures with our kids, spent time with family, and watched conference. The kids got new church outfits from the Easter Bunny, the boys both got the outfit Joshua is wearing although I didn't let chase wear it on Easter because I wanted him to wear it ONCE to church before he stained it. Ellie refused to wear the dress that she got so maybe next week at church I will see if I can get her to put it on.They also got candy and a spiritual or church related toy. As for me, I really liked having conference on Easter this year it seemed like it kept the meaning of Easter and Jesus the central part of the day. I have noticed in past years it is easy to get caught up in the worldly part of Easter instead of the "real meaning". I guess Conference just served as a nice reminder through out the day. Overall it was a wonderfully refreshing day for what this life is all about the things that are most important

The kids finding eggs with Grandpa Mills... We let Joshua hide the eggs a few times and never found one, even after all the adults looked for a long time. Ha Ha!!!

The FAMILY


Ellie and Joshua looking for MORE eggs!!!

Total Bliss

This weekend we went to a marriage enrichment seminar paid for by the army. It was fabulous!!! They put Ben and I up in a hotel and paid for our food for three days, along with giving us great marriage classes. We had a great time spending time together and working on our relationship. I spend so much time on everything else but don't stop and work on my marriage very often, so it was a good change. We discussed everything that we love about each other and then spent some time on the things that we need to work on. It was refreshing to just be with Ben (don't get me wrong I love my kids) and enjoy each others company. We also enjoyed meeting another couple the first night and formed a great friendship with them. We hope to get together with them soon. So to wrap it all up I loved spending time with my best friend and husband bettering our relationship along with making some new friends. Thanks Army for a great weekend!!!

Fiddler on the Roof

Joshua finished his last performance of "Fiddler on the Roof" last Friday. He was cast as a village boy. He had the best time and made so many friends. I think he would have done it forever if they would have let him. I do have to say though, he was really good, it was a proud moment for me to watch him belt out all of the words. I think we have found one of his talents!!! Thanks to my Aunt Lisa for casting him in this production!!!! GO GET EM JOSHUA!!!

CAKE

I was asked to post some of my cakes so here are some of them. (when I got them all downloaded I realized that they are all round I have done square ... I promise!!!

This one is my favorite... just kidding this one I made for my dog Bernard when he turned One!!!

This one was for my neighbor for a Christmas party.

It is made of yellow cake and frosted with

marshmallow fondant.

This one was for Chase's first birthday. It was chocolate cake and frosted with butter cream frosting.

This was cake I did for our Relief Society birthday social. It is a "Mad hatter" style made of strawberry cake and frosted with marshmallow fondant!!!

This one I did less than a month ago for my moms birthday. It is chocolate cake with fudge frosting adorned with Kit Kats!!!

Needless to say I am not a professional, but I love it!!!

Looking for a weight loss program???

I found one!!! Being sick for two weeks wasn't enough apparently because Ben and I both got the stomach flu this weekend. Yes it was a great weight loss program, not very pretty though. Ben and I have never been really sick on the same day in the eight years we have been married, so this was a treat!! For the sake of all of you readers I wont get to graphic and will leave it at, it is a good thing we are married because we saw each other in some pretty awful situations and just may have run if we didn't really love each other. Needless to say the weekend was FULL of less than nice things. WHEN IS IT GOING TO STOP!!!! WE HAVE FILLED OUR QUOTA FOR BEING SICK FOR THE WHOLE YEAR IN ONE MONTH!!!

Our life in a nut shell

The recap of the last couple of weeks in bullets:

• Lindsey sick
• All of the children sick
• Joshua's Play practice
• Joshua's soccer games
• Mom, Grandma, and Hunter's (nephew) b-days!!!
• Joshua's first vacation without mom and dad
• Lindsey STILL sick
• Ellie goes on her first date with Aunt Beckie
• Play group with my cousins and their kids
• And many many more things that I can not remember right now!!!

Running, Running, and more Running

OK, is running really fun or is it just the beginning and the end of a run that is fun and the middle is awful!!! I did my first LONG run this Saturday, and at first I was excited to get out there and do it, but that wore off and then I was left with an aching body and miles still to go. I had to find it in me to keep moving my feet even though I didn't want to. As I was starting into my last mile I was giving myself a pep talk like no other. I made it though, I ran the whole way (I am not going to tell you how far it was because it felt really far to me but wouldn't be far to all of you "real" runners). It felt really good to actually finish what I set out to do even though it was hard, it was a small triumph of sorts. I look forward to the beginning and end of my next "Long" run... Here I come Saturday Morning... Am I CRAZY????

Snow Fun!!!!

Here are the promised pictures of our Snow Fun! We went and spent a weekend at our cabin and snowmobiled, snowboarded, went sledding and enjoyed some fun in the Snow.

Just take a moment to enjoy the small stuff

Yesterday as I washed the lunch dishes I watched my beautiful manicure start to peel and crack. The dark purple didn't even last a week on my nails. I found myself for a moment thinking about what it would be like if my day was not immersed in doing dishes, changing dirty diapers and washing laundry. I daydreamed for a minute and then was jarred back to real life as play dough was being hurled across the room. I then got real I would be sooo sad if they (my beautiful children) were not apart of my life. I have been blessed with three beautiful children all of which fought really hard to be here and sometimes I forget that they are truly my biggest BLESSINGS (aside from my wonderful husband). Right then and there with dripping hands and yes, cracked manicured nails I promised my self and the lord I would enjoy them a little more, smile with them, play hide and seek and use this precious time to it's fullest, after all this time is so short and will be gone in a blink!!! So if that was not enough self reflection I came across a blog of a sweet mother (whom I do not know) who's son drowned in the bath tub two weeks ago and is currently fighting for his life at Primary Children's Hospital. Her story is both beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time. I read her story for hours and cried thinking about my selfish thoughts earlier in the day wishing I could have pretty nails instead of the cracked nasty ones I had from cleaning up messes. I knew this sweet mother would take nasty nails and the much less glorious life of being a mother any day over watching her son fight for his life in a hospital bed. I went to bed last night with not only the promise I made to myself earlier in the day but with this one also: I must slow down and not let things "that can wait" get in the way of the most important things, my Children and my relationship with my husband. Thank you for helping me see the light before it was to late !!!

P.S. If you want to visit this sweet mother's story go to www.stakerzxposed.blogspot.com
*Thanks Kaelee for sharing it with me!!!

EIGHT IS GREAT... Love is in the Air

Yes, we made it to eight for all of you who didn't think we would last for eight months. Ben and I celebrated our eighth anniversary this past weekend. Ben planned it all (and if you know him well this won't surprise you) it was ALL a surprise to me... he Loves to surprise me. It was a two day extravaganza!!! He made dinner on Friday and it was gourmet. We had leg of lamb infused with garlic rosemary and lemon, SOOOOO good!!! Along side the lamb we had rosemary and olive oil roasted potato's with fresh green beans. I thought it was so thoughtful that he went to all the effort of finding the recipes then shopping for the items and then making it all, indeed I am spoiled!! He had made arrangements for the kids to sleep at my moms house so after dinner we went shopping and then to a late movie!! The next morning we got breakfast and went to the temple (we always try to do sealings on our anniversary) we missed the sealing time by ten min. but did spend some time at the temple before we went to our five... yes you read right FIVE hour spa appointment. He had made appointments for us to have all kinds of treatments plus a 90 min. massage. We had a great time relaxing and just chatting our lives have been so chaotic lately it was great to slow down. Then we went to dinner and finished off the weekend with jelato!!! It could not have been better. As I look back through the eight years some of it has been total bliss and some of it has been really hard but I wouldn't want to have spent it with anyone else. Love you Ben!!!

P.S. Thanks to my mom and sister Beckie who watched the kids so we could have a great time!!!

SNOW FUN!!!!

So we finally made it up to our family cabin. It has been about four years since I have been in the winter time. You can only access the cabin in the winter time by snowmobile and with little babies the last few years it has prohibited me from going. So finally this year they are old enough (well kind of) so last weekend we packed all of our winter gear and off we went. It was a BLAST, more fun than I even thought it would be. The last time we went we just had Joshua, thus making this time a bit different. We added two kids and a big dog!!! I originally wanted the dog to ride in the sled we hook up to the back of the snowmobiles (it is usually used to take all the gear in). So I got him in it and my sister was nice enough to agree to ride with him and we began the ride in... Not thirty seconds into it he was FREAKING OUT I mean totally freaking out Barking and flailing around. Well, needless to say he walked in following the snowmobiles. We had to stop a few times to let him rest because it is quite far from the parking lot to the cabin. I am happy to report the big winter dog made it!!! Unlike the dog my two boys loved it. Joshua has done it before but as he gets older the more he loves it!!!! Chase equally loved it even though it was his first time, he giggled every time he got to ride. My princess Ellie on the other hand did not like it at all she kept telling me "me not like mommy" me not like." Hopefully in time she will learn to like it. Once she was in the cabin that is where she stayed until (three days later) when it was time to go home!!! While we were there we enjoyed other winter fun too. The kids (I am using the word kids loosely seeing that Ellie participated in none of this) enjoyed sledding and making a snowman in the snow. At nights we enjoyed eating ice cream and brownies and watching movies (by generator because it is too high up to get power) together. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend and a better family to spend it with!!!!


P.S. I have to go now but I will post some of our fun pictures soon!!!