Heaven

Today marks 9 years since my dad left this mortal existence. This morning as I was laying in bed and the sun was just starting to peak through the blinds I recalled so many memories from that day. It was my cousin Darrin, that called me.  I finally heard the phone ringing after his 5th try to reach us. I remember thinking in my head as Darrin was talking "no this can't be right." I hung up the phone and collapsed into Sean's arms.  He asked me over and over what was wrong, but I couldn't get the words out for a few minutes.  I remember wanting to talk to my mom so badly.  A few minutes later she did call me from the hospital and confirmed that he was indeed gone. She seemed so calm.  So strong.  I then fell to my knees in the hallway of my small Bountiful apartment.  I couldn't believe it.  My mom asked me to call all of my siblings and Grandma and Grandpa Behling. This was an unbelievably hard task.  With each phone call another heart was broken as they heard the news. Tears immediately started to flow with each call.  Plans were made quickly and each were on their way home.

Sean and I quickly got ready to head out to Stansbury.  I remember going in to wake up Tayler.  She was so peaceful.  I held her tightly in my arms. Having her helped me so much. Her sweet new spirit touched mine in unspeakable ways.  She had just turned 6 months. We packed up and headed out to my Mom's.

It seems like just yesterday in some ways, and like an eternity in others. My brothers and sisters started to arrive one by one until we were a complete unit again with my Mom now at the head with her 6 children. It was wonderful to be together.  There was strength. There was love.  There was compassion. I remember sitting in the basement laughing and crying, almost simultaneously. We reminisced. 

People in my mom's ward came to the house all day long.  Some stayed just a short time and others stayed longer.  They hugged us.  Let us know that they loved us. The were a wonderful support.  They brought lots of food.

I remember going to Maverick with Jen to get a Dr. Pepper for our headaches.  Crying does that.

It was a tough day.  A tough week.  The funeral preparations had to be made. One of my favorite memories was going to the temple with all of my siblings that could at that point.  Some were still too young. Today, all of us could go.

My mom truly remained a rock through it all.  It was amazing to watch. I cannot imagine the feelings that she had, the sadness, the overwhelming responsibility.

I was blessed to iron my Dad's temple clothes that his body was dressed in.  I think I must have ironed for 2 hours.  I wanted everything to be perfect.  I remember Sean sitting on the couch talking to me as I did it and saying "this is the last thing you get to do for your dad in this life." I was also blessed to speak at his funeral. I was so grateful to have that opportunity.

The day of his funeral came.  It was PACKED.  I couldn't see all the way to the back.  I believe there was a lot of overflow in the hallways too.  I hope he saw that.  I hope he saw how many people loved and cared about him.  He was such a wonderful man.

The legacy he leaves is great and one that will never be forgotten.  The other day I was talking to Rylee in the kitchen and she said to me, "mom, it is cool that I have a Grandpa that I haven't even met before."  I believe however, that she does know him, but obviously can't remember.  I can only imagine the time he spent with each new grandchild before they came to earth. He loved the babies. 9 have been born since he passed away. He had 3 born while he was still alive.  He stopped by all the time during his lunch hour to hold and see Tayler while he was working in Davis County.  It was so sweet.  I loved his visits.

I am truly grateful for my family.  Each one of them.  I love having an extra guardian Angel watching over us. I am grateful for the knowledge of eternal families.  It brings peace and comfort and hope.

Good to know

So Jackson has been puking all day today..literally. Shocking right? Makes me so sad. I don't know why my kids are so prone to that, especially the runt. After the 4th time I grabbed the bowl and it has been our friend all day. In order to clean the unlucky areas of the carpet I found this awesome vomit remover recipe: it saved me today.

2 cups warm water(not hot). Mix in 1 Tbsp table salt and dissolve. Mix in 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1 Tbsp clear dish soap, and 2 Tbsp rubbing alcohol.

Blot on spot (or in my case) super large area several times. Fill up separate spray bottle with warm water and spray several times over the area you just cleaned with the concoction mentioned above, blotting each time. Repeat. You want to make sure you get the cleaner out.

I just tried it and love it. It takes out the throw up and the smell.

I think it is time to soak my little man in the tub. Happy Friday tomorrow everyone!

Random tid bits..

Man it seems like I have been so neglectful of my blog lately.

I have been playing a lot on PINTEREST! I love all the recipes and tips & tricks I have been learning. It has been so much fun trying new things.

For Valentines Day this year, we celebrated Monday night with a candle light dinner, because Tayler had a soccer game scheduled for Tuesday at 5:45, but they wised up and cancelled it, thank heavens! Our dinner was yum.  We had fun talking and laughing and yes, spilling all over.  What would a dinner be without a spill. Jayson blamed it on the fact that it was dark.  Smart kid.

The reason I was so thankful we did it on Monday is because my back totally gave out on me Tuesday. I still managed to go into Jayson's school class and help with his V-Day party, but after that it was killing and I wanted to die! At 6:30 when Sean got home he put me in bed because I felt like I couldn't move and the tears were freely flowing. I was panicking too due to the fact that I was hosting dinner group at my house the next night and had no idea how I was going to pull that off. I could barely roll over let alone clean and get things ready. Around 8:30, I was shaky and freezing, so I decided to get in the tub and let the jets pound against my back. Well getting in was a fun endeavor and once I got in I really didn't know how I would get out. I sat there for about 30 minutes and then felt like I was going to over heat so I started the process of getting out. When I moved there was no pain. It was strange. I stood up, still no pain. I bent down and touched my toes, nothing?? Craziest thing. Since that point it has been sore, but nothing like I felt Tuesday night. I was so thankful to my Heavenly Father. At that point I realized more than ever that he IS aware of each one of us, and knows when we need that special little miracle to take place.

Afterwards, I went to kiss my kids who had already been tucked and were suppose to be sleeping. When I kissed Rylee she whispered "mom, how is your back?" I told her it was doing so much better. She kissed me and said "good, I said my prayers extra long tonight and asked Heavenly father to make your back all better over and over again."  It was so sweet. The faith of a child is really something amazing. When I was laying in bed in so much pain she was the one that came and laid with me. At one point she asked if it was going to make me die. I chuckled a little and thought I kind of hope so ( kidding of course). I love the little things that take place on a daily basis.  I just need to learn to recognize them more.

I have decided that we are a full blown soccer family! Between Tayler, Rylee and Jayson there is a lot of soccer that takes place and I LOVE IT!! At first it seemed overwhelming and a wee bit tiring, but I LOVE watching them play. There is truly no where else I would rather be. Tayler of course is the busiest, with the most games, because she is on a competition team, but it is so much fun. It is fun to see them active and happy, learning skills and using their talents. I love that they are on a team where they are gaining so much knowledge of what it means to be a "teammate." They have also made wonderful friends through it all. I know it will just get busier and busier as they grow older with different things they choose to take part in, but I am so grateful I am able to be there and I LOVE cheering them on in the stands.  The last game Tayler played on Saturday night almost brought tears to my eyes.  I was so proud of her. It is one of the best feelings. Some people have made comments how all we do is soccer and how we are too busy for anything else, and YEP, that is us!  I will ALWAYS put my family first.  If there is a game and another obligation that is only semi important, you will find me at the game. The greatest thing is that we are always together. How many people can say that?  I am happy. My kids are happy. My husband has a passion for it. He loves coaching and is so good with the kids.  I wouldn't change a thing right now.

So there you have it, my ramblings for the day.

I have a ton of pictures to upload, but our main computer is DEAD and my new laptop isn't working. So for now everything will be sans pictures! Hopefully those things will be fixed soon.

Sisterly Love

Two weeks ago, I was able to go to Denver to meet up with Jenny, who flew in from Georgia, and help Julie who just bought a new house!  Our job: buy furniture and turn it into a home.  It was so much fun and so exhausting, but a good tired!  I am so lucky to have such awesome sisters and get to spend time with them.

We arrived Thursday night. Friday Julie went to work for a few hours, Jen and I got ready and made breakfast (well Jen did :) and then we made a plan of what we needed/wanted to buy.  Friday was the shopping day of all shopping days.  11 hours. yep. 19 stores.  We did stop for dinner at Mimi's too.  It was delightful. Julie has a cute Subaru Forester and we crammed every single thing possible into that car.  It was crazy. I had no idea it could hold so many things!

Our first stop was a furniture store where we didn't find anything that was worth buying.

-- unless of course you consider these puppies as something you can't live without. really. They were the last pair too.  Gosh, that's no surprise right?! haha  (the name of the furniture was WOW and after seeing these chairs that is all I can think of).

  Next was Ikea.  I have to say that store makes me a little crazy, but we made it out with only minimal damage.

This was almost towards the end of the night.  After this picture I think we still managed to go to 5 or 6 more stores.  The main thing we were looking for was bedding for her new gorgeous bedroom set she purchased.

Loaded car.  We even fit the huge living room rug in there.  Still not sure how.  Jen had to lift it up every time Julie started the car so she could shift it into gear. 

When we got home it was about 11 p.m. and the fun didn't stop.  We carried in the many sacks and got to work hanging.  Since we only had until Saturday evening to get everything done. The best part was we went to a store called Furniture Row and Julie was able to get all of her furniture.  She purchased a bedroom set, end tables, entertainment center/fireplace, rug, and hutch for her kitchen.

Here are a few before and after pictures.
Front Room
before

after. we hung curtains, bought pillows and all the other cutsie stuff you buy.

 kitchen:

 hung clock, painting, and bought cute things to put on the table. Also bought new canisters, towels, fruit bowl and rug.

 
we also transformed all 3 of her bathrooms. Here is the upstairs guest bathroom.

her bedroom ended up so pretty!  We also added some vinyl downstairs.  It was so fun to find things, hang things and put things in place. Putting together the Ikea thing was not fun, but that is another story.

We finished around 4 that afternoon with all the rooms and then got to relax a little bit.

Katie, Jared and their boys came over while Julie was still gone to her ward activity. It was so fun to see them and hang out. They brought us some yummy Chinese and we enjoyed being with them. Later, Annie and Steve came as well as Brandon and Shabi and their cute little boy Chase. Love hanging out with my family.

 Sunday we went to Church with Jared and Katie. Cayden gave a talk in primary so we got to go and listen. Cutest thing ever.

There is always craziness when we get together!

After lunch we played for a few minutes and then had to go to the airport.  Seriously, a fun weekend with these darling gals.  Sure love them.

Mission Complete. I am still recovering.. haha.

Long Week

Sunday I returned home from a fabulous trip with my sisters.  Julie bought a new house in Colorado and Jen and I were asked to come and help put it all together.  It was wonderful and I will post all the details as soon as I get the pictures uploaded.

It was nice to come home and see my kids and Sean. They had a great weekend as well, and Sean played Mr. mom like a pro. They even had the house all clean when they left to get me at the airport.  Yep, I am that lucky! That night I put the kids to bed and before I head to bed myself I always go up and re tuck everyone again (silly I know, since the covers will be off again in seconds). Anyway, when I went to re tuck Jackson in he was burning HOT and I could see a big wet spot of sweat.  I picked him up and he threw up all over me. Welcome home! This was the start of our very long, miserable week.  He has been so sick with a horrible cough, pukes, fever and just lays around and moans.  It is quite heartbreaking. I HATE seeing my kids sick.  He definitely seems to be my most sickly.  Poor little guy.  We have just tried to keep him comfortable since there is nothing else to do.  We have taken plenty of baths and tried to keep on top of the Motrin for fevers.  He has no appetite, but thankfully still drinks a lot so he isn't dehydrated.

I have felt like a zombie this week, just trying to stay on top of laundry and everything else. I even went to the store in my slippers.  Yep, didn't realize it until I got there.  I guess I am now one of those people.  Ask me if I cared though.. Nope!  Tuesday night Jayson went to bed just fine but woke up about 11:30 trying to catch his breathe and having that nasty barking cough so now both of my boys are sick. One with the flu and one with croup. Awesome. Thankfully, we haven't had much going on this week so we have been able to just relax and chill at home.

Our big event of the week has been the circus. Last week Jayson received tickets to the circus from preschool (on Thursday). Well, Monday came and he remembered this was the day, I really have no idea how he remembers everything. It was on my calendar and I still forgot all about it. I drew the short stick and ended up taking the 3 oldest to the circus while Sean stayed home with Jackson. 

The circus is always interesting to me, no matter where it is or what acts they do.  A little white trash if you ask me.  Maybe the show "Water for Elephants" makes me think about circus life a little more.  I don't know.  The kids loved it and that is all that matters.  The cotton candy, slushy and popcorn added to the night.  They were in heaven.

We arrived right when it started so we didn't have the best seats, but we still got the full effect.  The people sitting in front of us were hilarious.  The 2 guys decided to commentate the whole thing and we laughed at their comments all night.  The best was the guy serving slush's one minute and out in the ring doing a juggling act the next.  Classic!  Later when we left he was the janitor.  Whatever works right.  My favorite was at intermission. They brought out a bear, sat him in a chair, propped up his arm and then YOU could snuggle up and take a picture with him.  Tempting, but we passed. We really did have a good time. The lady behind me spilled her whole red slushy all over me and didn't say a word. I glared at her once and then decided to let it go. haha.. good times!

This week I am extremely grateful for Wow Wow Wubbzy and Blue's Clues.  I have been able to do a little around the house while these shows/distractions are on.  Also, Sean has been good to come home early and help out.  Keeping my fingers crossed that my major OCD of lysoling and washing all bedding, etc. will kill all these nasty germs.