Wrapping my mind around..

This is what i've been trying to do for the last day and a half.. My parents called me night before last to tell my my younger sister will most likely have to have a radical hysterectomy next week.. My sis has been struggling for some time with fertility issues and finally came to terms with her situation and gets slammed with this news which only puts a period at the end of any kind of miracle sentence.. They do have one child (my only neice right now!) and so there are blessings to be recognized for sure!

Here's what I have to wrap my mind around.. My sister has ALWAYS wanted to be a mother, I'm pretty certain I relentlessly teased her for the fact that when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up that was her first response. Motherhood was deffenately second to any senario I had envisioned when I was a teenager.. I had grand plans.. college, a high powered career then perhaps children when i was established.. admitting this now only shows the blogsphere how totally out of touch I was as a Teenager.. don't get me wrong when I had Brad I then knew this is what I was suppose to do.. I in no way want to convey that I don't like being a Mother.. It is my life's calling.. anyway getting off subject.. During Stephanie's wedding shower they did a little game where they asked her then soon to be husband how many children they wanted and then she had to give her answer to see how close they matched.. I don't remmber allot of the other answers but BOTH of them answered 12 and they ment it!!! we all laughed..

So this news for my sister had a profound effect on me the the last 2 nights.. It made me think of what Heavenly Father has planned for us and how his plan is sometimes so different than what we had planned.. Stephanie is very blessed she is devistated now BUT i do know she will be fine.. I have to admit I was pretty angry at the big guy up stairs it was my first gut instinct, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around all of this but mostly I'm praying for a speedy recovery for my sis, I called her yesterday and Just balled with her.. these are times when we all scratch our heads and figure out why we moved so far from each other.. I wish as the Big Sister I could just go out and take care of her for as long as she needs it but I'm not yet in that stag of life.. (i'm being torn by wanting to put a brick on my kids heads so they don't grow up and wanting them to be able to drive and be self sufficent) So She knows what I can do and for now it's just being here to listen to her cry.. We love her and know she is being watched over!

tata

ANOTHER snowy sunday and My life is now my own again!

So once again for the 3rd time this season the roads were way too awful for us to brave Church this morning... I just got a new calling in the Primary Presidency and I'm beginning to wonder if they think I'm avoiding it... I know they don't, they know I live in the sticks but really this is getting WAY old!!!

As for the my life is my own again, THE PLAY IS OVER!!! it was a great success and the kids had a blast But I have to say I'm glad it's done... It was so much work...Here are some pictures.. I have to just share, KayLea was a little ham and did great but when we were getting ready to leave for the theatre the first night of the show she announced she didn't want ME to do her hair, she had heard there would be "someone" there who would be doing the girls hair, I told her the person was really only there to do the lead girl's hair (they needed up-do's) and she might not have time to do a curly high pony tail for her so I would leave with out it being done but she better not argue if I ended up having to do it.. she agree and to her glee we got there earlier than anyone else and she got to be the first one done and was so excited she also got to wear "real makeup" (don't worry we already told her it was ONLY when she was in a show) so besides the fact that she kept asking every 5 minutes if she needed more lip stick she was excited way before the show even started...

Hunter was Mayor Shinn below he's in the 4th of July scene (he wasn't nearly that colorful the whole time)KayLea was the youngest shinn daughter (Hunter's youngest daughter haha!)

KayLea's part was actually invented when we realized the stair step of the girl's heights; above is KayLea behind her two shinn sisters (yes I made the bows)

Ok so I've tried to add a few more pic's and i'm giving up for now i'll try to post some tomorrow maybe.

So I have to say the let down the day after the last show was HUGE... Hunter was exhausted and we were actually suppose to have Friday off of school for a 4 day weekend for MLK day BUT because we've already missed like 6 days for the ice Storm and recent snow days the district decided to cancel the day off on Friday and HAVE school, Hunter woke up and immediately had a melt down due to his homework not being done for the week so I gave him a day off, maybe that wasn't the right thing to do BUT I actually told his teacher and his principal and they both agreed with me that he needed a day off...

All in all i'm glad I was a "drama Mamma" as the kids and their teacher started to call the 3 Mom's who basically were at every rehearsal and anything related to the play... It was a success and I did have fun and it REALLY did help me get over the hump of having ALL of my kiddo's in school half of the day... BUT I'm not so sure I'll do it again.. I probably will have a VERY hard time saying NO if I am asked again and if KayLea is to be in any future plays up until 4th grade I may not have a choice (the play is actually for 4-5th grade's only but she was asked to be in it mostly because she was there anyway and she started learning the dances etc. and the cast and the teacher just thought she was so cute.) BUT we'll cross that bridge when we get there... I can't help but feel blessed that I am able to do these things and be a volunteer for the kids school.. I am so lucky to have great kids and a wonderful husband who not only supports these hair brained things I get myself into but who also doesn't quickly say "I told you so" when I come home exhausted and cranky...

So it's deffenatly time for bed now

ta ta

Snowy Sunday

So today we woke up to falling snow and we couldn't see the Road just in front of our house which means it was a stay at home day... these days have been pretty infrequent in years past (we have averaged 1 stay at home Sunday a year) but this year this is the 2nd Sunday we have been snowed in and it's only Jan!!! I have to admit the Snow and high heating costs are starting to ware on me, and AGAIN IT'S only JAN!!!, Don't get me wrong the BOYS LOVE that there is plenty of snow, Winter Activities started last week and there was absolutely no question that there was plenty of snow for the festivities... I went to Hunter's first Winter Activity day as a parent volunteer but of coarse I don't ski or snowboard so I was assigned to be a floater between the Ski rental guy (to fix any boots or ski's that didn't fit properly) and the "never ever skied before" group... see the actually prefer for those adults to NOT be on ski's so you can dive for a kid that's taken a face plant or to grab them before they get drug by their ski's on the carpet lift... it was fun but it was dang cold on Friday and the wind was whipping even though I came bundled with a stocking hat and my heavy (ugly) coat and my gloves my poor cheeks suffered the wrath of the cold wind... I came home to a burning red raw face, I have very oily skin normally so I have no clue what to do for this sort of thing but after digging through my plastic tub of old bathroom stuff I came across a moisturizer that came with some Hair gel I think, so i quickly slathered it on my face, it did feel a little better but i just figured it would take a bit for my skin to recover.. I quickly planted my toosh on the couch watched a movie and fell asleep on and off, I got up because my face and neck kind of felt hot and itchy, I'm only assuming My face revolted at the prospect of the cold, snow or most likely the moisturizer I had dime size blotches all over my neck and face.. I quickly washed my face and prayed they all would be gone by morning and that It wasn't the kind of allergic reaction that would close my throat.. luckily it wasn't and most of them were gone by morning.. lesson learned.. cover my face and don't use anything on your face you got for free with a hair product!!!
other than that all is well...
Next week we do the play.. we are all a twitter here in the Fox home our only concern, Snow is predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday, Tuesday is Dress rehearsal and the FIRST time all the kids will be on the big stage so it's kinda important.. and Wednesday we have 2 performances in the day and 1 at night then Thursday night.. the kids have worked so hard on this performance it would be a shame if any of it were cancelled due to weather.. we do have the prospect of having Friday as an alternative but it's not ideal...
well that's all that's going on with us.. please don't share with me how you sunned yourself in your pool and it's 60 degrees, i might have to put a hit out on you!!!
ta ta

Back to the Grind

We've been back from Arkansas for almost a week now but trying to get back into the swing of things has taken a little more than it should have.. we once AGAIN have no washer the SAME thing went wrong the repair guy came today and at least seems as though he wants to get things moving ALLOT faster than the last guy so crossing my fingers we will be back up and running ALLOT quicker than 2 months (the amt of time the last guy took)...
Anyway, our Trip to AR was GREAT.. it was fun to see Grandma and Grandpa it was also great because I decided to get REALLY sick about a day into our trip and my kids could just be occupied by the Grandparents and Uncle Jeff and I could loaf and sleep the week away.. it took the better part of the week for me to feel like a human again just in time to come back home and I'm actually feeling allot like crap today and my throat is throbbing AGAIN.. at least this time if it gets bad I'll go in to the Dr. it's just the creeping crud and it went to my chest last time.. KayLea came home with an ear infection but other than that no one else seems to have been affected (yippee!)
the next 2 weeks are going to be busy.. next week is the play I've been slaving away at for so long.. I'm exhausted but excited for it to all come together.. and KayLea and Hunter are gitty with anticipation I'll be sure to take pic's and post at some point but not sure when I'll be on again to post..
I've been thinking allot the past couple of weeks about how great my extended family is.. My Grandma Livingston has been on my mind and heavy on my heart and prayers.. We don't know exactly whats going with her health just yet but I am SOOO thankful for my awesome Aunt Carol, She has been there for all of us as our Medical source of info at various times throught out all of our lives, I can remember when she was going to medical school I thought that was SO cool she would send us stethascops for christmas and we could tell all our friends they were REAL AUTHENTIC from our DR Aunt! Carol and my other awesome Aunt Sandy have kind of taken the lead on Grandma's health and I know My Mom and her other siblings are grateful. My Mom is kind of having a hard time coming to terms with it all, but what a blessing my Grandma who I have to admit I don't know as well as my other Grandma's but She deffenately had a presance in my life growing up I do hope and pray answers will come quick and a game plan will be able to be applied and that we will be able to enjoy her for a long time to come!

On our trip I was so happy to see my littlest brother Jeff.. boy do I love that boy!!! He has turned into such a great guy He helped Brad rescue his helicopter and had lots of fun playing with the boys toys but he also got them to clean when necessary which I have to say warmed my heart.. KayLea also has him wrapped around her little finger just as all uncles should be! Jeff always hated when I came over (when I lived close) because I always made him and Ashley clean so Mom and Dad would come home to a semi clean house.. I"m glad he sees the value in that now! I know it's hard on Jeff sometimes being the youngest of such a large family he said Christmas was pretty boring until we came so I was glad we could brighten his holiday... I also know Jeff feels allot of pressure weather we try to not pressure him or not to live up to what we all want for him I hope he knows he's great and we'll love him no matter what live brings by him!!!
thats all for now have a great week!
ta ta