Dieting, Jobs, Swimming, and 13

1. Last weekend, I tried the eat whatever junk food I wanted and then only vegetables for meals diet. I don't know if I was not getting enough calories, or just not enough proteins, fats, etc for Joshua. But he wanted to eat every hour and after two days of my veggie plus some chocolate diet, he stayed up all night crying and hungry. So I ate normally the next day and he was happy and eating and sleeping regularly. Having done this, I have come to a major (for me) decision. I am going on a real diet. I want to lose the baby weight. I still have not gotten rid of my size 6 jeans, so I will make them my goal. I was 135-ish pounds when I bought them. I am 160-ish pounds now. So my diet will be no junk food. I will eat as much healthy food as I want, and obviously enough to satisfy a nursing baby boy. The last time I was able to lose a bunch of weight quickly, I had only changed one thing in my diet. I only ate desserts on Sundays and Mondays. I lost 10 pounds in about a month. This was just before I got pregnant with Anya. At that time, I put my whole family on the diet. But right now, a major way of saving money on food is baking homemade cookies, brownies, muffins, or rolls every day. We cannot have our food budget go up to accommodate as much fruit as my kids can eat (They still eat around $200 of fruit a month) and I can't lose weight on daily cookies and bread. So I am going to eat the veggies while my kids eat cookies. We can afford the veggies because we get all sorts of veggies from Bountiful baskets and some of those go bad every week. I will snack on the surplus we don't use. So, we shall see how this goes. Obviously, I know, this is stupid to do right before a holiday and a family reunion. But it doesn't change that I need to make a life change. So I am giving up on my I want to lose weight by eating cookies method.
2. John's company is closing down Aug 1st. They were very nice and told everyone June 1st. So we have pay through August, and we will get paid for whatever holiday time John has on the books that he has not taken. So again, we are at another jobs cross roads. John has been applying for jobs, and he is now starting to get interviews. I don't think we will be tragic and without pay this time around because John has been working for good people and they let him know in plenty of time to find another job. The company is closing for a rather interesting reason. The company was funded through the military. They had five years of funding left until Congress got rid of earmarks. Apparently, the military funding was coming from an earmark on some law somewhere. So no more earmarks means no more funding. 
3. My four oldest kids have had swimming lessons last week through this Friday at the rec center (paid for in May). I have been so jealous of my kids watching them swimming and diving everyday. I think I have forgotten how much I love swimming. I have also been very impressed with the pools at the rec center, so I am going to buy a one year family pass when John has another job. The kids are loving it, even if they say differently. Adam is young enough to openly admit he loves it. Ruth, Kate, and Johnny will say otherwise, but you can tell how much they are enjoying themselves through what they say and by watching them in the pool. Which brings me to number
4. I now know that 13 is a painful age for the parent as well as the child. Yesterday I had a tough day because every time I spoke to Ruth she scowled at me. Every time Ruth walked by me she scowled. If I asked her to do anything well, I had to hide in the army barracks first. Plus, every time I talked near Kate she had to argue that I was doing the wrong thing. Joseph whined all day because he was kept up by a hungry crying baby, and no matter how hard I tried, Joshua would not nap. Adam was being aggressive with everyone most of the day too. Five all day moody kids is tough. A friend of mine told me you have to go kiss your twelve year old while she/ he is sleeping the night before the 13th birthday because you won't see that happy kid again for a few more years. I was hoping my kids would be the exception.

Summer Fun: Liberty Park

Walking A lot

Playing in the water

Trying to get  Johnny wet

Trying to get Dad wet

Child Abuse :)

Cheesey Smiles

The Park is also a great place for me to have fun taking pictures of my kids.

 

I really do have a lot of kids.

 

One Reason to Love the Internet

One reason I love the internet is I could easily get back in touch with two of my roommates and best friends. We got to schedule a little time for our families to get together and it was so fun. It still seems like college when we get back together minus all of the little kids running around.

Our Babies

New Blog in Tabs

I have started a new blog. You can find it in the tab above titled, "my opinions". I have been and have been wanting to write about political and family issues. At the same time I want this blog to stay my family scrapbook. So if you are interested in my raw political opinions, click on the tab above. I expect to update my opinion blog a few times a week.

For Fathers Day

What do you love about Dad?

• Ruth-- Oooooooo.....Everything!
• Kate-- I love that he is a strong member of the church. I love that he loves time with his kids. I love that he loves mom.
• Johnny-- He's fun. He's nice.
• Adam-- Ummm playing ping pong with him.
• Rachel-- um, everything.
• Anya-- um, um, um, um, um I love Dad.
• Joseph-- no.

What are your favorite things to do with Dad?

• Ruth-- draw, games.
• Kate-- My favorite things to do with Dad are to go out to dates. Um let's see, drawing, um let's see-- oh gosh, thinking--what is it called? I love to make games with him and talk with him.
• Johnny-- Ummm make games, read scriptures about the priesthood and then I like to do um...Are you writing everything down? I say, well, I like to do umm family search. At first I don't want to do it, but then when I get into it, it is fun.
• Adam-- playing wii, playing ping pong, and also one more thing, play chicken invaders with Dad which we almost never do.
• Rachel-- ummm, do the hot cocoa thing together.
• Anya-- um do.
• Joseph-- Dad

What part of Dad do you want to be like?

• Ruth-- the funny side and he's nice.
• Kate-- I want to have an awesome spouse. I want to have his humor. I want to be in the church and be a dtrong fast member like Dad and I want to have lots of kids.
• Johnny-- uhhh, uhhh that's a tough one. Well, there is a lot. I want to be smart, a good programmer. I just want to be like Dad. He is fun, nice, good.
• Adam-- I don't know.
• Rachel-- ummm ah, play games.
• Anya-- like
• Joseph-- Dad.

Happy Father's Day!

14 Years

Last week (I am behind on posts) I had my 14th year wedding anniversary. I have been so very blessed to be married to John Robertson. He is the best man I know. (My mother will disagree and say that my father is the best man I know.) That is okay, I am very blessed to have had 2 amazing men in my life. But right now, my focus is on my AMAZING husband.

John and I met at the annual labor day picnic for our singles ward in 1996. I first saw him standing at the institute building parking lot waiting for a ride to the picnic. John was wearing cut off blue sweat pants, a white t-shirt, I think with a leopard on it, and untied soccer cleats. He had a soccer ball held to his side. I was wearing short, cut off jean shorts, a sparkly green or blue t-shirt, and sandals. My hair was bleached blond (that is its own story) and flipped out on the ends. I had a car but was waiting for directions to the picnic. I thought John was a really old man who should have been married by now, and he thought I was 18 and just out of high school. John disapproved of my attire and hair, and I disapproved of his attire. But we introduced ourselves anyway and chatted easily until it was time to go.

When I got back into the car my sister Lila reproved me for talking so freely to John. I felt embarrassed at the time. I know myself better now and I know that I am just a big mouth and talk on forever. That has not changed.

At the picnic, John and I began talking/arguing about The Fountainhead by Ann Rand. We did so for a while until we were asked to play volley ball. I mentioned that I did not like volley ball because I always got hit in the face by the a ball. John thought that was very unlikely. But, guess what? I got hit in the face with the ball. John got a first hand view of my lack of coordination immediately. After the volley ball game, John and I talked more and more. He told me that he did not have a car and needed to shop for some things like a shower curtain that his apartment did not have. I gave him my phone number and offered to take him.

A few days later my sister handed me the phone and said it was a boy. I was disappointed that it was John and not the boy I wanted to call me. John asked for the promised ride. So we set up a time to meet. John wanted to go out for dinner first so we went to The Boston Market. We talked so very easily together again. We went shopping. When I took John home, he invited me over to hang out with him at his apartment a few days later.

We hung out together nearly every night after that. But, I did not like him; he did not like me. We thought we were just casual friends. We even tried setting each other up with other people. That never worked very well because everyone thought we were a couple since we spent so much time together. Several months of  hanging out passed before I realized that he was more than a friend to me. I decided to tell him. That was near the end of February 1997.

When I told John, he sat away from me thinking for a while and then very resolutely stated, "I'm sorry. I do not love you." I cried, and said, "Then I am not going to be your friend any more."  I left very determinedly to not talk to John again. As soon as I was home the phone rang. John said he was sorry and asked if I was okay. I knew at that moment that John did love, and he just didn't know it yet. I still planned on not talking to him anymore. John called every night. He told me he was lonely and begged me to be his friend still. I gave in just before spring break, March 1, 1997,  and drove him to the airport. We both went home for spring break.

I had a great time. I thought I could be over John completely. My friend Amy and I talked about  dating other guys. I arrived back in Michigan before John. I talked to my bishop some and he said, "John is a fool. He doesn't know what he has got." Then he told me to date other guys and let John be a lonely old man.

I picked John up at the airport on Sunday night. My friend Amy came with me and sat in the front seat on the way home. John did not like that. I didn't talk to John all of that week. Amy and I had planned to go to a singles dance some distance away on Friday night after I got out of work. John walked the two miles from his apartment to my job, bought me a donut and waited for me to check out of work. He asked me not to go to the dance, and to hang out with him instead. I resolutely said no. My plans were set. Amy would be mad. I didn't want to hang out with John that much anymore. John told me that my friends should be more important to me than some strangers at a dance. When I persisted in the noway, not doing. John told me that I was making a bad decision and needed to think about my friends more. I reluctantly gave in and made another friend upset.

That night while hanging out with John at his apartment, he said, "I made a mistake. I do love you." We were engaged April fools day 1997, and married in the Salt lake City Temple June 7, 1997.

My life has been wonderful since that day. Nothing in life is too hard because I am sharing my life with John. The day I got married, my father warned me that marriage would not solve all my problems. That may have been true. But a temple marriage with two people who are determined to live the gospel and keep the commandments as completely as they can does solve all of one's problems. I have been blessed abundantly everyday for 14 years.

John at his 25th birthday 1996 in the apartment we spent so much time just hanging out

Me at John's 25th birthday  Oct 1996

janurary 2001

July 2003

March 2006

Sept 2010 hopefully we will be getting new pictures soon.

Unwise

I have had a request to post where we will be going for our field trips this summer. I am not going to do this because while we will be going to all public places, I feel like putting up where we will be going, and especially when we will be doing something on a public blog is unwise. On the other hand, I will let everyone, who is interested, know that I found all the places we have planned to go this summer by putting into google things like "Museums SLC, UT" "Kid friendly hikes SLC, UT" "trains, UT", "parks, Salt lake City", "Farms to visit in UT",  "National Parks, UT" "Fun things to do in SLC, UT". That is how I found neat-o kid friendly hikes, and various museums and parks. There is a wealth of knowledge to be had on the internet.

One of a Kind

Johnny is taking an archery class, MWF for three weeks this summer. He had his first class on Monday. They did not shoot any arrows. They just sat the kids down and talked about safety and the different types of bows and arrows. That did not deter Johnny from loving the class. On the way home he excitedly told me about the rules, and all of the different types of bows and the different types of arrows. He repeated all of the archery terms to me. When, we got home, he told all of this to John. If Ruth or Kate had taken the class, they would have come home and talked about how the first class was such a waste and how it was unfair that they didn't get to shoot any arrows. My Johnny is one of  a kind!

The All-Purpose Answer

Tonight's family home evening's lesson was on friends. Near the end of the lesson, I asked all of the kids what they could do to be a good friend. When I got to Anya, she replied, "ummmmmmmmmm.......Jesus."

The New Plan

My children always want kittens. They like the cats when they are grown and not so cute, but then they crave kittens. So we got a girl kitten last summer and decided to let her have babies with a firm decree that we will give all of the babies away. Then we would let her have more babies and give all of those away too. Then we would let her have more babies...you get the picture. As of Sunday, our cat has had her first litter of kittens, and we are beginning our first experiment on having a bunch of kittens temporarily. The kittens are just so adorable. Still we are going to give every kitten away. If I do not have to deal with too many emotional outbursts, our new plan for having just kittens will continue, if I have a lot of emotional outburst, I may rethink things. Today, we are all happy with our 5 little prizes and our good mommy cat.

I Wish I Brought a Camera

Today was the first field trip of summer vacation. (We do 2 field trips a week every week of the summer.) So today, I took them to Cottonwood Canyon to a kid friendly hike to see the Doughnut Falls. When we got there, the road was blocked off. We parked on the road, set up our picnic by the rushing river and talked about what to do. We decided we would hike the mile up to the trail head since we were there anyway, even though Rachel did not wear shoes. (Do I really have to inspect every kid every time we leave the house????) So we ate in the sun by the river in the beautiful mountains, put the food back into the car and began the walk. This was just like hiking in the mountains, expcept that the trail is paved. As we hiked further up, the road/paved trail began to be more and more snowy-- not good for Rachel so I let her ride on my shoulders. After some banks of trodden down snow we left the pavement and made it into this beautiful fairy land. With a very twisting river and a lot of rocks and logs to hop along with a few small water falls. Still we pressed forward to the trail head. We really wanted to play at the falls. We went up about 20 feet at which point the snow deepened to about a foot and a half. The little kids fell every minute or two, and I knew there was no way we could make it to the falls. We walked back down to the fairy land and the kids played. They ran through the river, explored the woods, tossed rocks into the river, collected rocks, took some clothes off to get wet, threw snow balls. And oh, how I regretted not bringing a camera!!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes, I think I am a genius. Most of the time I know I am not. Recently, I have had a genius idea and I mean GENIUS!!! I am impressed with myself.  You see, Ruth is in Young Women's and is doing Personal Progress. I am also doing Personal Progress along with Ruth. Kate is an Achievement Day Girl and is working on her Faith in God. Johnny is in Cub Scouts has his scout stuff to do, and is also working on Faith in God. If I do not stay on top of my kids, they do not complete their stuff. This is rather a big responsibility to remember which kids need to do what by when etc. After a couple of years of floundering and having  a very sad cub scout, I finally came up with a genius idea. Every Monday night we have Family Home Evening without fail. John is very strict on that. Now, at the beginning of every family home evening, the kids and I go over what they have completed. I then assign them their goal for the next week. As the next Monday approaches, my kids know they are suppose to have their goals done and they do them. Then on Monday I sign them off and reassign for the next week. We are getting the stuff done quickly and smoothly and happily. Yes, sometimes, I am a genius :-D!!!

Nervous

School has ended. That I am really glad about. I have a full summer planned with a lot of fun things and very scheduled days for the kids and I. I enjoy the free time I have with my kids. But with the end of school this year comes an end to an era of our lives. We will not be sending our kids back to public schools. We will be home schooling/mixed with online school beginning in August. Now that it is closer, it seems more real and I feel nervous about the whole thing. I have always done some home schooling during summer vacations to keep my kids up on their math, reading, and typing. I am wondering how they will feel about that now that their school will be in our home. I am wondering about my loss of nap time, and how I will deal with losing my only real free time.  I am wondering about my kids making friends. This is a big change and I am nervous about it.

On a side note, Johnny's teacher said that she thought what we were doing was right for him. She said that he got all of the questions right on the state testing (I think that still puts you in the 99th percentile-- one percent of children can do that.) She also said once more that Johnny doesn't belong in a regular classroom because he needs more than what public schools offer. It is nice to be validated by a school teacher.

Now begins a new era in our lives and the lives of our children. This is taking faith on my part. I keep second guessing this decision, even though I know it is the right one.

2 graduations!

 On Friday, Kate graduated from the 6th grade, and Adam graduated from kindergarten. I went to both graduation programs, and ate snacks at both and took pictures of each child with their teachers. Then I helped John with his thing, took all of the kids to This is the Place State Park, then all of the kids to the mall, then all of the kids to get ice cream, and finally home for a spaghetti dinner around 8pm. Our summer vacation is officially started, and I think we started with a bit of a bang. By the way, Johnny finished 3rd grade and Ruth finished 7th grade, but they don't get graduation programs or pictures with their teachers. 

Ruth

As she gets older, she is not so sure, but I think I have a beautiful daughter.

2 Cuties

My mom bought Rachel and Anya these dresses. They just love them and wear them as soon as they are cleaned. (Notice the crayon on the fence...such is my life.)