An update on us!

At long last I've caught up on my blog, it's finally up to date!  No more letting myself get behind ever again.  It's such a chore playing "catch up"!  My house AND my children have been neglected this whole last week...  Okay, so maybe that's not entirely true... my house yes... it can stand to use some vacuuming and dusting; the pile of dirty clothes in my laundry room is stacked higher up than I can reach... but my kids haven't been neglected.  They've just been watching A LOT more television than I would have liked them too- Noah's going to turn into the "boob tube monster" any day now if he continues to watch it as much as he has... We've done some fun things this past week, but we can all stand to get outside more, now that the weather is cooperating and it's GORGEOUS and SUNNY!

There is only one thing I have left to write and post about before I can say I am 100% completely caught up on my blog; it's a post with lots of pictures from our trip we took the first week in November to San Diego to visit my family. I started to write about the trip a long time ago, but then I just stopped and skipped ahead to writing about more recent events.

Anyhow, this post is meant to be an update about all the events and changes that have transpired in our lives since the beginning of the year.  We've all been busy!

The boys were sick pretty much all of January and February.  Even I fell ill for a few days.  Darn flu bug!  Spencer noted just the other day that "Cohen's had a runny nose non-stop since last October!"  Yes, yes it is true.  That kid has been a "snot machine" all winter!  We've been to lots and lots of doctor appointments (at least one every single week).  Just for the record, in case you were wondering: I am not a hypochondriac mother... I actually try to put off going to see doctors.  Sometimes the doctor appointments we attend are because the kids are sick, or we go for well-check ups and other times they've been to see specialists; whether it's been Ian visiting the pediatric dermatologist to have the strange patchy hyper-pigmentation on his arm looked at (click here to read about that visit), or to have the strange lump on Cohen's neck looked at (we go back on Monday to the same doctor to have it re-evaluated), or to have Bentley's helmet readjusted (click here to read more about his helmet)... yes, we spend A LOT of our times in doctors offices!  I hate it, but that's just life as we've come to know it for now.   Speaking of medical conditions, I still need to take Bentley in to see a physical therapist to work on his muscle tone and strength.  He's kind of "floppy" like Noah was as a baby.  He's rolling all over the place now on his own, but still needs to learn how to sit up.  It's also that time of the year again that I need to begin getting Noah (and Ian) enlisted in some sports.  Baseball starts next month and he loves baseball so I hope I can get him registered in time next week to get him on a team for the summer.  Both of the boys have also been pestering me about getting them back into swimming lessons like we did last year.  I can't believe it's already that time of year again!  They loved having the swim lessons last summer; it looks like I'll be spending another one of my summers by the pool watching them learn to swim!  I'm still debating whether or not to put Cohen in lessons.  He isn't the biggest fan of water, but like his brothers, he NEEDS to learn to swim; it's just one of those necessary "life skills" that I feel every person should be trained to have.


Those boys sure do keep us busy! Noah's still in preschool twice a week until the end of May (though he hasn't been to school this last week because of Spring Break); the preschool is in Orem so there have been many times that my sister Tricia has taken him to and fro for me since two of her own children (Bella and Daniel) go to the same school.  When I take Noah, I have to stick around Orem for 2 1/2 hours while school is in session, so I take the other 3 boys with me to visit the library, shop at Costco and do what ever other kind of shopping I need to get done for the week either at the mall or the health food store or the grocery store.  It's a pain taking all the boys with me shopping (I never have any room in my shopping cart after I've got them all seated in it) but I manage to make it through trips to the stores with them (I could actually save 15 minutes every time we get in and out of the car if only my boys knew how to buckle themselves into their car seats on their own). Right now, Bentley's doing almost all the same things that Cohen was doing exactly one year ago and Cohen is up to no good in the same manner as Ian was last year at this same time.  And Ian, well, he's on the verge of turning 3 in May and he thinks he's one of the big boys like his older brother Noah and cousins Daniel, Luke and Jake.  I feel like he's been forced to grow up faster than he really should just due to his size; he's the same size as all the 4 and 5 year olds out on the playground and most strangers (children and adults) don't usually understand he's still 2!  I think he's close to being potty trained (fingers crossed).... he'll go potty on his own with out me having to tell him, but he still has accidents every now and then... I'm nervous when he doesn't wear his diaper, because he's my kid that sometimes likes to do "pooh art" on the wall! YuCK!  Oh, funny story: so the other week we were at the zoo using the restrooms.  I was in one stall helping Noah button his pants when I lost sight of Ian.  I quickly realized he had run into the stall next to us and locked the door!  GREAT!  I begged and pleaded with him to open the door; I didn't want to be the mom who had to crawl on the disgusting floor underneath the stall door just to retrieve her child.  I waited for a moment to see if he would comply, but it was during that wait that I heard some tinkling, then the toilet flushed and I heard Ian zipping up his pants!  Soon enough, he came out from the stall and proceeded over to walk over to the sinks to wash his hands!  REALLY?!? My two year old just did the whole "potty thing" completely on his own!  He was beaming too!!!  His grin was from ear to ear!  Then he told me he wanted a dollar!  What that kid and his brother Noah will do for $$$money$$$!  I'm telling you, they're probably richer than me!

Moving on with my update...  My man, Spencer, has been BUSY BUSY BUSY!  He's still in school at the University of Phoenix trying to finish up his Masters classes.  He's on track to graduate the very beginning of August.  He has class one night a week on Wednesday's for about 5 hours.  Right now he is the middle of doing his Student Teaching.  He would have liked to teach high school English, but the district placed him in a junior high here in A.F. teaching 9TH grade English.  He really seems to enjoy teaching the classes of kids and hasn't complained about the bratty teenagers YET. He did tell me though that on one of his first days teaching, a fight between two students broke out in his classroom! One kid punched another kid in the face after being harassed and teased.  Teenagers REALLY scare me now a days!  It's scary to think that they're going to be the next generation of adults we have to deal with in a couple of years!  Anyhow, that's all beside the point... Spencer's up and out of the door before any of the boys are ever up in the morning (7 o'clock) and we don't see him home until the very earliest, 4 p.m.  At times it's later than that... he's a very busy guy, juggling school and student teaching and WORK!  Yes, student teaching doesn't pay the bills, so he still has to work!  He still manages to run the company he shares with his brother and he also is an original distributor for Yoli; it's a vitamin water that is sugar free and completely natural. (If you're interested in trying some, just let me know and we'll send you a box of the stuff or you can find out more about it if you click here).  He's also applied for a few different teaching positions in high schools around the county; we're keeping our fingers crossed that someone will want to hire him for this up coming school year (it's a TERRIBLE time for new teachers to land a job here in Utah); I did try to convince him in February after I returned home from my trip to New York, to apply for a teaching position in either one of Rodchester's high school's or community colleges (they pay teachers MUCH MUCH better in New York); we even started to look at homes out in New York and found a few that we liked (the architecture of the homes in New York is simply magnificent! A lot of the homes are older Craftsman homes, Victorian homes or Colonial style homes; I LOVE them!) but it's been a while since either of us have seriously thought about moving back east and I think it will probably be a while before we ever do so.  I'm happy to report that the Jazz basketball season is almost over; well that is if you don't count the Playoffs which the Jazz have (unfortunately) made.  At sometime here soon I'll have my husband's undivided attention again (just kidding, I always come first before the Jazz).  With what ever spare time Spencer does have, he likes to write lesson plans (okay, well he doesn't love writing lesson plans but he has to do it- twice a day), on Sunday evenings after all the kids have gone to bed his friends still come over and they produce a new Jazz podcast that they post on their Jazz blog for listeners all over the world to listen to (they have a LOT of followers through out the country and even in places like Japan and Korea).  Spencer is VERY passionate about his Jazz blog.  Click here if you want to read it.  Baseball season just began.  Spencer's still a loyal fan of the Atlanta Braves, although they haven't been playing very well for the last few seasons.  We hope to find time during these next couple of months to take the boys to a lot of minor league baseball games.  I hope to make it down to San Diego during the summer for a visit and maybe even take the boys to a Padres game or two; and I wouldn't mind going to Del Mar to watch the horse racing.  I LOVE horse races!  Soccer season also just began and though we're not season ticket holders this year like we were last year, I still plan on making it to a few games with our family for the season.  It's also golfing season... for Spencer that is (he just went and played a round of golf this morning).  The snow has all melted and the turf is green again; he bought a pass to a near by golf course so he can start going golfing and driving golf balls more regularly, alone and with friends.  And like he did last year, he plans on taking Noah with him every now and then, and when Ian isn't having a bad day, he'll take him along too!  The boys CAN NOT WAIT to go golfing with dad!

I've been keeping busy just chasing after the boys... they definitely keep me on my toes!  I try to take them out a lot; since the weather's been nice we've visited the zoo and the fish aquarium more frequently (we have passes).  We also have passes to Thanksgiving Point and we've gone a few times now outside to Farm Country; just the other day I let the boys run through the gardens at Thanksgiving Point and roll down the giant hills (Cohen actually tumbled down the hills).  We still visit the Dinosaur Museum a lot! At least once a week; usually in the evenings after their afternoon nap.  I would have thought that the boys would be bored by now with the dinosaurs since nothing ever changes in that museum but they ABSOLUTELY LOVE it there still!  We've been down to B.Y.U.'s Bean Museum two or three times (it's free) and once when we had gone, we got to see the wildlife photography on exhibit; I was actually tearing up while I looked from picture to picture.  This world that God has created sure is a beautiful place! I'm toying with the idea of getting the boys another pass to the Discovery Gateway Museum again this year; we need another new adventure.  At times it would be nice if we just lived closer to the ocean; I wouldn't have to bother buying all these dumb passes to different parks and museums but instead I could just throw swim trunks on the boys and we'd spend every afternoon at the beach.  The boys would LOVE that, especially Noah; he LOVES the beach!

I just celebrated my birthday two weeks ago.  I'm 29 now.  I've decided now that I'm 29 that I need to find some more "ME" time for myself every day; even if that means waking up at 5 a.m. so I can spend two hours alone before Spencer leaves for work.  I'm still carrying around the baby weight I've gained from my last 2 pregnancies (fortunately I really didn't gain much weight with my first two pregnancies otherwise I'd probably still be carrying that weight too!) and I feel like a frumpy mess.  In December, I registered to take participate in a mini triathlon that wouldn't be held until the end of May here in American Fork.  I was excited to start running, biking and swimming, trying to condition myself for the race and I felt confidant that would be able to complete the race fairly easily, but... well some months have passed since December and I've only been on the treadmill a handful of times.  I am NOT ready for this triathlon and it's only a little more than a month away.  I doubt I'll race in it (besides I'll be busy moving and unpacking around the time the race is supposed to take place...-more on that in a minute); I wish I would not have procrastinated for so long before beginning to work out.  5, 10 years ago the race would have been a cinch for me, but today, my body is JUST NOT WHAT it used to be.  I still might try to do the race (I'm not completely giving up yet) but I've decided I can't get down on myself for not reaching my goal; instead I just need to find some "ME" time each day and go with it!  I'd like to really start swimming a lot again like I used to. Maybe next year I'll be ready and back in shape to be a hard core competitor in the triathlon.  I'd also like to start finding more time to read.  I have at least 7 books on my book shelf that I've started to read; I have this terrible habit of finishing about 3/4 of a book and then I set it down and completley forgot about it.  I'd also like to set aside more "ME" time during the day aside so I can practice playing the piano.  In January, my sister Tricia generously offered us a piano of hers; it's a very nice piano (an upright Young Chang) in excellent condition and it's only a couple of years old.  I was really excited to have a piano in our home and the second it arrived I sat down to play something on it! It had been YEARS since I last played the piano; few friends and family members actually know that I had taken piano and theory lessons for 10 years when I was younger.  (I started playing when I was 6 years old and quit just before I turned 17).  I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I was actually I really good piano player; I never played church hymns (I can't play church hymns so don't think to ever ask me), instead I played classical stuff and jazz pieces.  My teacher, Mr. Trousdale (his name was pronounced the same as my own last name but spelled differently) had me play in private recitals and school talent shows and even at the Bach Art Festival.  I hated to practice the piano and lessons were once a week, usually either REALLY late at night, like at 9 p.m. or very early in the morning, like at 6 a.m. and by the time I was 16 I cared more about playing sports and hanging with my friends than playing the piano.  My parents saw that I was beginning to loose interest in the instrument so they gave me a choice to make: either continue to play and start practicing more (I was enrolled to perform a piece the following month at the San Diego Bach Art Festival) or quit lessons and they'd sell the piano.  Regretfully I chose to quit lessons.  I think my decision disappointed my piano teacher and my parents.  It was the first time my entire life that I didn't see Mr. Trousdale come to our house every week; I am the youngest of 5 children and all of my older siblings had been taking private piano lessons at our house from Mr. Trousdale since before I was even born!  It's been 12/13 years since the last time I took piano lessons; my fingers are no longer familiar with the piano keys- they stumble over them now as I try to play and I read the music now like a snail!  I NEED to find more "ME" time to practice playing the piano; I feel it's such a shame to see a "learned" talent like the one I had go to waste.  There are other things I'd like to do with my own private "ME" time, like learning to sew and trying to bake yummy gluten free foods... I'll figure it all out, I'm sure of it, but I know it will probably just take some time.

A lot of those things I'd like to begin doing during "ME" time will indefinitely have to be put on hold for a while...  we will probably, most likely, be MOVING in May; in fact I have already planned to start packing some of our things next week .  We've finally got an offer back from the bank about the price of a house (it's a short sale) that we've been trying to buy since last April!  Originally, the sellers bank (Bank of America- they're the 3RD party in this whole stinkin' matter) approved the price of the house we want to buy back in December (it took B.ofA. 9 months to decide on the price).  Originally, the bank wanted us to close in the middle of February but then our lender had us ask our agent to ask the bank if we could wait to close in March.  B.ofA. said yes to our request, but it wasn't put in writing.  While we were waiting for B.ofA. to put the closing date in writing, we received word the first week in February that B.ofA. transferred the person working on the house's account to a different department, so closing the deal would have to be put on hold until somebody else at the bank could open it again!  We were SO UPSET!  We waited patiently with our agent and the sellers agent every day to hear back from B.ofA., hoping to hear if they'd reopened the account... days and weeks passed by... FINALLY the last week in March we heard back from B.ofA. and they reopened the account and were ready to close on the house; only this time, they had the house reappraised (only 2 months after they did it the first time) and they told us they wanted us to buy it for $15K MORE than what they told us they'd sell it to us before at!  We were FLOORED!  We've decided to go ahead and buy the house; it's still an amazing deal and we don't want to wait any longer on buying a home (we've been looking at buying a home now for more than 2 years!  We've looked on the MLS at listings for Utah and Salt Lake County practically every day and we've walked through at least a couple hundred homes).  We will settle and buy the house for what B.ofA. has asked us to buy it at if we must, but before agreeing to buy it at their price, we've decided to try and bargain with B.ofA.; we submitted a counteroffer last week offering to buy the home at a price just above the original price they agreed to sell it to us for and just below what they're asking us to buy it at now.  Regardless of what happens, we will probably still close on the house in the 45 days that the bank requested, so that means that the closing date will on or before May 15TH- our lender told us he could probably have us closed by May 1ST.  For now, we just have our fingers crossed hoping that the sellers lender (B.ofA.) doesn't decide to temporarily close the house's account again like they did to us before!  It will be SO NICE to finally move and get settled into our own home + the view from our new house will be sweet! We'll be able to look out and see the lake with the mountains behind it...GORGEOUS!  B.T.W. I hate to complain about this whole housing matter, but it's been so FRUSTRATING trying to work with B.of.A. and any bank who owns a mortgage for that very same matter!  My patience is really running thin, particularly when I have friends, family and strangers from every angle telling me just to be patient. Worse yet, I hate it when a friend of mine is complaining because they've been house hunting for 3 weeks!  Ahem! If they think 3 weeks is bad, try 2 years! (sorry, I hate complaining and I'm not fishing for your sympathy; the truth is that it's just getting ridiculous and STRESSFUL waiting!)

So that's it! That's my LONG update on the fam.  Sorry for babbling so much, but I couldn't leave out any details for my family's sake.  They like to know how we're doing and I rarely ever find a minute to talk to them for long on the phone (it's because my boys start getting into things they shouldn't when I start talking on the phone; they're little rascals)!