Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- And Baby Made 3

Since I shared Faith's birth story the other day, I figured I would share our other children's as well. Fourteen years ago, Robert's and my lives were forever changed when Tyler joined our family. I had a very normal pregnancy with her, I only got sick when I didn't get enough sleep. I remember days when I worked late and had an early morning class having to pull over on the way to school and try to find a bathroom FAST!
I was in the middle of my undergrad work and worked at Taco Bell during my pregnancy. I quit work a few days before Tyler was born. The day before my due date I stayed home from my classes and rested. Robert and I planned on heading down to my parents house that night to watch movies if everything was still OK. My parents lived about 40 miles away. Robert got off from work around 4. All was looking good until shortly before Robert got off work. I called my mom to ask her the unforgettable question "When your water breaks can it be a trickle or is it a gush?" My mom said she was on her way. So I sat around waiting for my mom and Robert to get home. I was not having any contractions, in fact I was laughing at the whole situation.



So when my mom and Robert got there, my mom took us to get some food knowing once I was admitted to the hospital it would only be ice chips and since I still wasn't having contractions she was afraid it would be a while. So we got some ice cream and walked around the neighborhood trying to start contractions. After about an hour we went to the hospital. I was admitted and they had to check to make sure it was my water that broke (since it was just a trickle I guess they thought I might just be having an accident). They recommended walking to try to start contractions. So we again started walking. For those of you who know my husband though, he doesn't do things half way. So to him if walking was good, so were aerobics and any other exercise. So here we were walking the hospital (multiple floors worth) doing any exercise we could think of to try and start labor. NOTHING WORKED! So finally the doctor said we needed to induce before the baby started having problems.



So we started the Pitosin (sp?) and again began the waiting game. I was getting pretty scared by this point because I didn't want any medical interventions to have the baby. So it was traumatic having to be induced. However when the doctor started talking about a c-section because it had been almost 10 hours since my water broke and they were at 1/2 of the maximum dosage of Pit., I almost started freaking out.



Once the doctor left we started praying. For those who don't know Robert and I married when I was 18 and I had Tyler at 19. So for a young girl this was all getting pretty scary. My mom soon remembered a reflexology chart in her purse and she told Robert where to start rubbing my feet to stimulate the female organs. They took turns and this seriously hurt worse than labor! However 10 minutes later I was finally in labor! I took a few minutes of fighting the contractions, before I finally listened to my mother and started breathing with the contractions. After that I found that it was something I could handle. Three hours and twenty minutes later Tyler was born. Robert was so excited he promptly fell asleep in the Lazy Boy! It was 3 in the morning, but still! We had a beautiful baby girl who was healthy and finally here.

For some reason I can not find any pictures of Tyler before 3 months old. Don't know what that is about! Boy has she grownup to be an amazing and accomplished young woman (she came home yesterday with forms to fill out for clubs to help get into college!). I love her so much for all she is and all she does for us. Very rarely does she complain when asked to help and is always willing to help shoulder the load when I need it. I love you Ty!

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Senior Prom

My senior year of high school my family moved from Arizona to Idaho. Now we didn't just move to Idaho, but to Downey, Idaho and for a girl used to living in large towns and cities it was a shock! I was used to big high schools, lots of places to go around town, and lots of people. Now I lived in a town of 600 where the high school took in people from 4 towns and the surrounding country. Moving into a place like this is always difficult since people have been friends their entire lives.

Luckily I found some great friends and one of them asked me to prom that year. His name was John. We doubled with our good friends Chris and Katee. Our date started out at Chris's house where we made cookies and shot some archery. That was my first time shooting a bow, so it was pretty funny (I found out what a wimp I am!) For some reason I can't remember what we did for dinner, it was either at Chris's house or at the local Flying J restaurant. Then us girls went home to get ready.

The one thing that I hated about our date is that our dates signed us up for the promenade. This is where at the beginning of the dance they announce you as a couple and you walk into the dance in front of everyone. That was not my idea of fun. I really don't remember the rest of the night (I have a REALLY hard time remembering details of my life) but I know we had a good time at the dance with our friends.

When I got home that night I found out that my biological father had tried to call me that night and my dad fielded the call for me. It amazed me and maddened me that he would try to contact me when he hadn't the majority of my life. It was shortly after this when he tried again that I told him emphatically that I did not want anything to do with him. It was definitely a down point to a great night.

Can you tell what year this was fromthe picture? Take a guess.

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Remodeling Woes

So the big bathroom reveal is almost here. Derek should be finishing today! YIPPEE! So I thought I would share with you some of the little problems that have showed up along the way. The first problem happened when Robert started the demo process on the floor. This is what he found around the toilet.

It turns out that the inlet valve to the toilet had been leaking for who knows how long. Now we knew why the linoleum was lifting. So he ended up staying up until about 1 in the morning ripping out the subfloor in addition to everything else.

We then decided we could save some money by refinishing the vanity instead of buying a new one. I thought a lot about how I wanted it to look and then remembered this hook board that I had bought for the bathroom whenever it was finally painted. I loved the colors on it so I decided to match the finishes to it. So I took the board to different paint stores hoping to match the color. Well apparently none of the computers could match it.

It is hard to tell from the picture, but the wood is a very dark brown (the color name is espresso) with some burgundy undertones. The stores kept thinking it was a black color. We finally ended up going with a high gloss black paint since that was the closest we could find.

So I then went and painted the vanity and medicine cabinet in the black. Then we went to go find a counter top and sink for the vanity. We found out that all the counter tops were either too big or too little, none fit! The day before Derek had joked about making a tile counter top and now we figured we would have him make it and we would buy only the sink. We started looking for a sink and none of them fit the hole in the counter top for the sink and the hole couldn't be enlarged since it was up against the side of the vanity already. We were then left with the option of buying a new vanity or a vessel sink. We went the cheap route and bought the vessel sink and had Derek tile the counter.When Derek put the medicine cabinet back in we found the next problem. It no longer fit! With new lights and the sink issue we had problems. The lights rested right on top of the medicine cabinet. So we ended up going with just a mirror and some great shelves Derek then had to build. (By the way in anyone needs a medicine cabinet we have one).

When Derek was going to replace the toilet, he was going to replace the inlet valve to make sure we no longer had any leaks, but he couldn't find the shut off for the cold water anywhere. We then called a plumber who had replaced our water heater and found out our cold water has to be shut off at the water main. Our valve ended up being fixed instead of being replace.

When we bought the faucet for the sink we worked with the sales clerk to make sure it would fit the vessel sink. When Derek went to install the sink we found a different problem with the faucet, the drain. Most sinks have an overflow so they have an overflow valve on the drain. Vessel sinks don't. So we tried to find a drain in the finish of our faucet and couldn't find one. We found that we would have to special order either the drain or a new faucet with a minimum cost of $80 for just the drain! I came home and decided to look online for an alternative. We ended up finding a drain and a faucet for about $60 cheaper than the faucet we bought in town. Score! They arrived, fit the sink, looked great, but the base didn't have a strong connection. Derek first tried to fix it with silicone and when that didn't work he was able to fix it with Gorilla Glue.

So it has been fun and crazy redoing the bathroom, but it looks great!

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Our Little Miracle Arrived

Five years ago this summer I started working on getting my masters degree. I had finally found a program that would work for me as a working mother of three. It was an on-line reading program through NNU. It was great because we only had to be on campus one week out of the year. A few months into my program I found out I was pregnant. I was really upset. Having a baby in the middle of a masters degree wouldn't be the easiest thing to do and the program I was in had everything planned out for the 2 1/2 years it would take to complete. You completed the program with a cohort group so I couldn't just quit and pick it up again later. We had also made the decision to not have anymore children a few months prior and sold all of our baby things. Our decision was based mainly on the fact that I didn't feel like I could handle another child with the struggles Jesse was already exhibiting at the age of three. However I shouldn't have been surprised because with each pregnancy I had a dream telling me how many children I had left to be born.

So after much tears, worrying, and prayers I finally felt that things would be OK and that Faith would actually be a blessing to Jesse (not sure of that yet, but maybe in the future). So I went through the pregnancy pretty well. It was an advantage for some things such as when the heater became a problem as it did every year in the school I taught in, it was taken care of much quicker than usual, especially when I started having class outside because it was making me sick. I also got out of a few field trips and jury duty because they were in my last month of pregnancy. Something about being on a bus for a few hours each way didn't make the administration very comfortable with me going.

Well we found out with our earlier children that I have to be induced with my children otherwise I would be pregnant forever. So we scheduled the date with my doctor to have Faith in the Nampa birthing center. Since he was moving offices at the time of my delivery, his wife was going to be the one delivering Faith.

It ended up being a very easy delivery. I think we arrived around 8 or 9 in the morning. They broke my water and induced me. I took many walks had some contractions, but none that were regular enough to say that I was in labor. Then all of the sudden I transitioned without really anything going on (my mood changed slightly was the only reason we knew). I had about three hard contractions and Faith was born 15 minutes later. The doctor had stepped out to see a patient who was heading into labor in her office across the parking lot. The nurse told her not to leave because I have fast labors, but since she wasn't my doctor she didn't realize how fast I go. So the nurse, my mom, and Robert ended up delivering Faith.

When she was born the nurse was amazing. I didn't even realize something was wrong but Robert and my mom watched her as she unwrapped the umbilical cord from Faith neck TWICE. Then the real problem was seen when they saw a true knot in Faith's cord. She was a little blue so they got her on oxygen immediately and she perked up and was OK. We were told that it was a miracle she survived the pregnancy. The nurse told us that often times when there are problems like this then the labor are fairly easy to help protect the baby. It is amazing how our bodies know.

I am so thankful that our little angel was safe and survived to be the little stinker she is today. I really love her and all my children and thank my Heavenly Father for the blessings they are in my life.

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Dr. Seuss Day Disaster

Don't forget about my giveaway!

So Piggy backing on my last post I thought I would relate to you one of the many adventures of my first year of teaching. Now remember this was not your ordinary teaching job. I was warned and so were all of my references (to see if they thought I could handle it) that this class was the class from you know where. Well within my first two weeks of teaching was Dr. Seuss Day. At our school, Dr. Seuss Day was really celebrated with week long activities and a family reading event in the evening. It culminates on Friday with some sort of classroom event.

Karen, a fellow 4th grade teacher and the teacher who let us live with her, and I decided to have a fun read in with our two classes and make green eggs and ham with them. We started by pushing all the desks in my classroom out of the way, gathering in my room, letting the kids socialize a little and then settle into reading. We divided the class into groups so Karen could take them to the teachers lounge to cook with them.

Well when she took her first group down I soon discovered we had a major problem on our hands. Unknown to me (heck I was still learning the kids at all), we had two rival girl gangs in our classes. It was my girls versus hers, and the two ring leaders and their main backers were all left in the room together with me. So shortly after Karen left, we almost had a big fight break out in my room. I can't remember how I kept it under control until Karen got back, but we learned that we couldn't do activities together without a lot of planning to keep these groups separate.

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday-An Unexpected Hiring

So I thought for today I would share how I got my first year teaching. I graduated from ISU in December 2000 and was substitute teaching in eastern Idaho until the new school year when I could look for a job. Robert was getting ready to get out of the Army. He had saved up a months leave to help look for employment and it was a situation of whoever gets hired first will determine where we live. On the day Robert was coming home from the Army (we were geographically separated because of work and school) I came home from subbing to have an message on the machine about an interview in Caldwell. I had never heard of Caldwell so I called my dad to find out where it was. Then I called the school and they scheduled a phone interview for a few days later (Valentine's Day). I found out that they had gotten my name from the college and since I hadn't even applied for the job, I had to hurry and get an application and fax it into the school before the interview.

On the day of the interview I finished subbing, got home, and shooed Robert out of the house with the kids so things would be quiet. Then I sat and waited for the phone to ring. This was my first real job interview (other than for fast food and retail in high school and college) and I was nervous. The interview went o.k. and then it was time for more waiting. Later that evening I received a call from the principal that they had narrowed it down to me and one other person so they wanted us both to come in and teach a lesson. The only day I could do it because of subbing commitments was the next day. The principal was worried about me getting to Caldwell and I assured her that if I left my home by around 6:00 I could be there by lunch time. So I then had to quickly come up with a lesson (on using adverbs and adjectives) before the next day. I called my mom (a teacher) for help and we came up with a lesson.

The next day we left Tyler, Britain, and Jesse with my parents and drove to Caldwell. I met the principal and the interview committee, taught the lesson for another 4th grade class, met with the committee and then went out to meet Robert in the car. As Robert and I were talking about the lesson, someone knocked on the window to the car.. She introduced herself as Karen the teacher of the class I just taught and a member of the interview committee. She had missed my lesson because her husband had been in surgery. She told me that she had an apartment above her garage that if I got the job I could live in until we got settled. Wow what charity and trusting to offer your home to someone you just met.

Well this entire time I was praying that I would not get this job. I was told upfront that this class was a nightmare. The teacher had been sick most of the year and had been in and out. This class would go through multiple subs in one day because they would leave and refuse to come back. However with my limited experience of teaching in Eastern Idaho in schools with high levels of LDS people in it I had no clue what this class would be like. So I prayed that unless Heavenly Father really wanted me there that I would not get the job.

I had to wait for the other candidate to teach her lesson the following day to hear the results. So the following afternoon I received a call that I got the job. There was a substitute hired for the following week and I could start after that. However I felt it would be better for me to just get in there and start rather than have to deal with them after more subs. So I packed up some essentials for me and Jesse (he was 1). Robert would stay behind with Tyler and Britain since they were in school until we could get things settled. I moved to Caldwell the next day (Friday). I had the weekend to get things ready to start teaching on Tuesday. The principal agreed that the first little while should focus on me building a relationship with the class and working on discipline since they had none. This gave me a few more days to learn the curriculum and get settled.

This was a very crazy year and a whirlwind of an adventure. From getting the first call to starting the job was about a week. However Heavenly Father must have really wanted me there because he provided the housing for me at Karen's, the school found me a babysitter for Jesse, and everything fell into place from the beginning. Amazing how things happen!

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Christ Centered Easters

About 5 or 6 years ago I found a great book that changed the way our family celebrates Easter. It is called A Christ-Centered Easter. This book sets out a week long Easter celebration focused on the last week of Christs life. We have used the majority of the activities in the book each year and the children love it! They now ask for these activities over the traditional commercialized ones. We still dye eggs, but even that is connected to Christ as we talk about the new life he has given us through the atonement.

We start off on Palm Sunday with a special home evening celebrating the Triumphal Entry of Christ. We make palm fronds, have a pictorial representation on the wall, and start a Love One Another wall. Throughout the week we read parables, do resurrection eggs, learn Easter hymns, try new foods, try carrying a heavy beam, have a night without light, go on a treasure hunt, make Eater morning rolls for Easter breakfast (they are hollow to represent the empty tomb), etc.

Easter morning the family is awoken with the Hallelujah chorus and we have a special Easter devotional followed by eating our Easter rolls. We then enjoy church and complete the day with a very special dinner where we sit on the floor as in the time of Christ and eat only food that was available to Christ. We read all the comments from the Love One Another wall and focus on the Savior. It is a wonderful, special time in our home. I have really come to become closer the the Savior each year during this time as we focus on Him. My book is now falling apart and I need to put it in a binder before I loose the pages. I am really looking forward to starting on Sunday and having another memorable year focused on Christ.

You can get this great book at Deseret Books.

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Mountain Adventures

My freshman and sophomore years I lived in Flagstaff, AZ. I loved it there and had many great friends. Over spring break my sophomore year my parents were out of town and it was just my sisters and I at home. We lived in a subdivision at the base of the San Fransisco Peaks. One day some friends (Catherine and Elizabeth) and I wanted to go for a walk. My oldest sister told us to stay off the mountain and we could go. So we went walking in the woods. After a while we stopped on a small hill and started talking. Soon Catherine saw what looked like a cave just a little bit up the mountain and we thought we would check it out.

We started walking up to the cave and soon lost track of where it was. We were only in our tennis shoes and light jackets with no equipment, food, or water. We were soon climbing over logs and rocks taller than us and things were pretty treacherous. We couldn't find a way back down and figured the only thing to do was to head farther up to try to find a way down. The snow soon got very deep and several times one of us lost a shoe in the knee to thigh high deep snow and had to try to find it. After climbing almost to the top of the mountain, we decided to try and head down.

At times we sat on our bottom and slid down until one of us almost went over a ledge. We finally came to a point where we could either go over the rocks or under them to try to keep going. Liz and I wanted to go over and Catherine wanted to go under. She decided to go under and would come back and tell us if it was OK or not. After waiting awhile we decided to check out going over the rocks. We soon came to a ledge and could either stay on the ledge or jump off of it about 20 feet to another ledge that looked like we could keep going from.

After while of being stuck on the ledge, we saw Catherine and she was down the mountain. we tried to get her to tell us how she got down, but she told us to stay put and she would get help. She said the way she got down was to dangerous. We later found out that she ended up climbing down massive rocks, trees, and even fell down the mountain at one point and was stopped by a rock. She followed some tracks to find her way back home to get us help.

While she was gone we decided it would be safer on the other ledge. We would climb down as much as we could and then jump. Liz went first and then went. I ended up falling and landed on her. If she would not have been there I would have fallen down the ledge. When we finally got to the ledge we found out it was smaller and we could not go anywhere. So we sat there frozen and waited.

It was starting to get dark. At some point I had the thought that we really blended into the rocks since Liz had on a jean jacket and I had on a brown jacket. My coat had a red lining so I turned it inside out. This is how we were finally saved since when Catherine brought the rescuers we were not in the same place as when she last saw us.

When Catherine got home her parents called search and rescue to find us. They had to climb up the mountain to get to us. It was then that we found out we were stuck on a 100 foot cliff. The rescue was lit by a helicopter, but they could only use it for lighting because of where we were on the mountain. We had to rappel off the cliff (my first rappelling experience) which was very scary to do in the dark and not knowing what we were doing. We then had to hike the rest of the way down. I ended up going to the hospital for mild frost bite and our escapade was all over the newspaper and TV news. Not the way you really want to go back to school after spring break. we ended up getting a lot of teasing over it and needless to say my parents weren't to happy with me when they got home. Somewhere I have the newspaper article, but I couldn't find it to post.

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Oops, Almost Caught!

When I was a junior in high school I lived in Bullhead City, AZ. I only lived there one year but had a lot of fun there. I had my first official boyfriend, had some good friends, and other adventures. One day two of my friends and I decided to take the afternoon off from school and go swimming. We headed over to my friends house since they had a pool and no one was home. We hung out for a while and then we heard someone coming. We had to hurry and sneak around the side of the house so we didn't get caught ditching. We made it and I can't remember if we headed back to school or went somewhere else, but either way it was a fun afternoon.

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Trouble at Daycare

I don't remember how old I was, but when we lived in Hyde Park, Utah we went to a babysitter named Grandma Johnson. One thing I remember was nap time. We all had to lay down on nap mats to take a nap, well except for the big kids. One day when I finished my nap I went outside to play with the other kids. I can't really remember how it happened, either I hit this boy or I was jumping on the trampoline and hurt him, but somehow I hurt this boy and he ran in to tell Grandma Johnson. I got so scared that I ran and hid in the playhouse so I wouldn't get in trouble. The thing I remember most about that day was being so scared and hiding. Eventually I was found and had to go to time out. Then it was the dread of her telling my mom what happened. I'm not sure if my mom did anything or not, it was just the dread of being in trouble that was the biggest consequence that day.

Tell Me The Stories Tuesday-Playing in the Cemetery

Well when I was little (can't remember what age) we lived in Hyde Park, Utah. Right across the street from our apartment was a cemetery. My sisters, friends, and I would go play in the cemetery. I don't think we thought it was creepy, we would just play by the nice trees and grass. Sometimes we would play tag and often we would play Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board.

I think this was one of our favorite games growing up because I can remember playing it in several towns we lived in. We always thought it was freaky. If you never played the game the basic of it are that one person lies down and everyone tries to lift them (which is hard). Then one person sits by their head and while rubbing the temples tells some scary story. Then everyone chants light as a feather, stiff as a board. Then you lift the person again and this time they are really light. Playing it in the cemetery added to the experience. I don't remember a whole lot from this time, and the little I remember is hazy, but this is one thing that has stuck in my mind.

Tell Me The Stories Tuesday-Make-up

In honor of Tyler getting her first make-up, I decided to right about when I first started wearing make-up. The summer between my 8th and 9th grade year, we moved from Tuba City, Arizona to Flagstaff, Arizona. At first I was so excited to finally be out of junior high in into high school. However we had heard that 9th grade in Flagstaff was still part of junior high and I was so upset. I would not be with my sister and I would be pushed back into junior high. I was so glad when we found out that that year a new high school was opening in Flagstaff and all the 9th graders were being moved to the high school.

So it was the night before the first day of school. I had pictured in my mind starting the school year off wearing make-up, but my mother had never mentioned it. We always knew that it was no use asking to wear make-up, it would happen when my mom felt we were old enough. So when she still had not said anything I was getting upset and worried. I really didn't want to start the school year off in a new place without make-up and then all of the sudden start wearing it a few months later. I finally decided to ask my mom if I could start the year off wearing make-up. She totally forgot about it with moving and raising the five of us living at home. So she went out bought me some make-up and had my two older sister teach me how to wear it that night. I had Sarah on one side of me and Jessica on the other giving me all the tips and advice on what to do. I was then able to start the school year off wearing make-up. It sounds so silly now, but I remember I was really worried about it back then.

Tell Me The Stories Tuesday-Love Found in a Freezer

After my mom divorced my biological father, my mom worked hard to provide for my two sister and I. We moved around as needed because of work and money. One place we lived was Hyde Park, Utah. Here we lived in the upstairs portion of a duplex. One day my mom was in the hall outside our home cleaning out the chest freezer. A man came to visit our downstairs neighbor. He was the father of the dad who lived there. Well from that time on, my mom and this man became friends. His name was Herman and his wife was dying of cancer.

Well my mom was really struggling at the time and a few months after Herman's wife passed away, my mom and Herman approached all of Herman's children to see if they were o.k. with him marrying my mom. They were and they married shortly thereafter. They married so quickly so Herman could help my mom. At the time Herman had quite a bit of money. However, he gave it all up to raise another family and support us. Herman is my dad and I love him very much. He has given up everything for us and worked hard to provide for our emotional and physical needs. A few years later Herman adopted us girls and we were sealed together as a family in the St. George temple. I was able to wear the dress I was sealed in as my baptism dress.

We like to tease my parents that they met in a freezer. As I look back on it, the hand of our Heavenly Father was sure involved in bringing them together. It was at a time when mom really needed it and a time when dad was soon able to join our family. It amazes me how willing his children were to approve of the marriage so shortly after their mothers passing. I am so thankful that my parents were able to find love in that freezer and that we have been able to be a family together.

Tell Me The Stories Tuesday-My Favorite Smell

Growing up there is one smell that I remember most about our home. It is fresh baked bread. It's not that my mom made bread every week or all the time, but it was just such a memorable time each time it was made. My mom would work away in the kitchen making the bread and the smell would soon permeate the house. I loved that smell! Then it was watching the golden brown bread come out of the oven and set on the cutting board. Then it was agony waiting for the bread to cool enough for us to cut it and start eating it. Because you know there is nothing better that warm, fresh bread, melting with butter. I think we always had at least one loaf gone within an hour of her baking. Luckily she always made at least 4 loaves. Even now when I make bread I can't wait to have that hot, fresh slice of bread with butter.

Tell Me The Stories Tuesday-My First Memory

Well this isn't the happiest memory, but I thought I would start this series with my first memory. It happens a week before my first birthday. All I can remember was my dad taking off on his motorcycle and my mom going into her bedroom crying. I thought my dad was going to the store or something so I couldn't understand why my mom was crying. I remember going to my mom asking what was wrong. Later I learned that my dad was leaving our family and my parents were getting a divorce.

I am so thankful that my mom had the courage to divorce my "dad". This was a hard thing for her to do and led to some trying years for her, but made it so that we could have a truly wonderful father join our family. We have had the opportunity to feel his love for us girls and be sealed to him for eternity. What a blessing this has been in our lives. I love you dad!