Decisions...

Wow, it's been a while. I usually don't go this long in between posts, but sometimes life just gets in the way.

So I have made a major decision recently. It has taken me a couple of months to finally come to this decision, but I have chosen for the time being to put my little bag business on hold. It was not an easy decision to make, nor was it one that was made lightly, but one that I feel is necessary for right now. It has been a fun almost two years making bags, but there are other more important things vying for my attention.

I had been going back and forth on this decision for quite a while and prayed a lot about what would be the best for my family, but the day I actually decided, I had an overwhelming feeling of relief come over me. That was answer enough for me. While part of me feels like a major quitter, the other part of me is ready to get back to just being able to take care of my family, cleaning my house on a regular basis, doing a better job at my calling, being able to get to the 10+ projects that are lying around in my garage and sewing room half done, being able to have time clipping coupons again, and getting back to actually doing a good job again at managing our finances. My wonderful hubby has been so supportive through the whole bag making business thing, and when I told him I needed to put it on hold for a while, he was nothing other than understanding.

While running a business from home is not in the cards for me right now, I am hoping that maybe when all my kids are in school, I can get it going again. I am just so grateful for wonderful friends who were so supportive through the whole thing, and were always there to bounce ideas off of. This is Lucy Mae Locket, signing off. For the time being at least.

Birthday Girl!

Can I just tell you how much I love this girl? Honestly, in this house full of boys, I don't know what I would do without her. She is such a sweetheart and has brought so much joy into our home.
I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to us.
When she woke up the morning of her birthday, I asked her how it felt to finally be five (she's been wanting to be five for months now), and she said "I'm not 5! I'm only 4!" She honestly didn't believe that she was five yet. She thought I was trying to trick her. Trent and I finally convinced her that, yes, she really was five.
We spent the day in celebration, of course. She got to go to grandma's for a little bit in the morning.
Then we went bike shopping. She picked out the girliest bike there was to be found. Then we went and had lunch at her favorite, Chick-A-Lay, as she calls it. She asks for it almost every day, so I thought it being her birthday and all, it was a good excuse to go. After lunch, she went to school, where her classmates sang her happy birthday at least five times, according to Miss Jen.
And yes, the beloved balloon launch.
Where will these balloons end up, I wonder?
We have been so lucky to have Grandma Great, as my kids call her, here to celebrate all of the birthdays with us.
We love when she comes into town.

We will be continuing the birthday celebrations today by going out to lunch with the grandmas and getting pedicures. It's a running joke with the men in our family that the women like to drag their birthdays out for at least a week. I proudly state that, yes we do, and we are not ashamed of it!

Something to Celebrate

My mom turned 51 this last week, and was very happy about it I might add. My mom is all about embracing age. She loves that with each passing birthday she can say she is another year older.  She is such an amazing and wonderful woman.  I am so grateful for the example my mom has been in my life.  She has so many wonderful talents, and uses them a lot to serve others.  Some things that come immediately to mind when I think of my mom:  *World's greatest grandma... My kids always look so forward to spending time with their grandma.  They love her to pieces.  *She's an amazing cook... Everything she makes comes out just delish.  *She is a pillar of strength... My mom has gone through so much and has had so many trials, but she never lets things get her down.  She always chooses to look on the bright side of life.  *My mom is incredibly independent...  If she has a plumbing problem, or her vacuum is on the fritz, she just goes and fixes it.  Very rarely does she call anyone to get minor things fixed.  *Most of all, she is just a wonderful mother.  I love her so much and am so grateful that she is my mom! 

To celebrate her birthday, she took Vivi out on a date for Viv's birthday, which is the day after my mom's. What a nice grandma. When they got back, we had homemade chicken pot pie for dinner. Yummy.

For dessert, an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, mom's favorite.
Poor mom, she never gets to blow out her own candles. She's so nice to always let the kids do it.
Don't worry though, she got another wish opportunity when we did the balloon launch.
I've said it before, this is my favorite birthday tradition. We all love watching the balloons fly ever higher into the sky and speculate on where they will eventually land.
After the balloon launch, Mom, Vivi, and Preston had a rousing few games of Ring Around the Rosie.
Ashes, ashes...
They all fall down!
Happy birthday mom! We love you!
Okay, so this has nothing to do with my mom's birthday, other than it was taken on that day, but I have to say, Trenton is such a goofball. It is hard to get a regular picture of him. You know, one where he is just smiling. He is always doing some crazy pose or another. You pull the camera out, and something just comes over him. "Mom, take one of me doing this!" Doing family pictures gets a little interesting. I'm convinced he doesn't know how to just act natural when there is a camera around. I guess maybe that's when his "true" personality comes out.

Letting Go... Man It Can Be Hard

Yesterday I sent my firstborn child off on a field trip. An overnight field trip to be exact. My kids have never been away from me overnight, unless it was with a grandparent. So to send him off on buses with teachers and other kids I barely know was, well, it was extremely hard for me. I put on a brave face though, so as to not embarrass him in front of everyone.

When he brought the permission slip home, I asked Trent if we should even let him go. He of course thought I was being silly. Which I admit, I was. It is hard to see Trenton growing up so fast. Sometimes I still picture him as my little four year old boy and not the 10 year kid that he is now.


Before he left I probably told him, okay, it was way too many times, that I would miss him. I asked if he would miss me too, and he said, "Sure mom." Then he looked at me a little guiltily and said, "Actually, I think I might be too excited to miss you." Stab to the heart. Hey, at least he's honest. He did promise to miss me at least once before he got home from school today. I'm glad that he was excited to go. We all need things to be excited about in life.

Ahhhhhhhhh...

Can I just say that this kid is cr-a-nky lately. That's why I am extremely grateful that he is taking naps again. Not long ones, but at least it gives us a momentary break from all of the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that this kiddo is so into of late.

It's nice to see that he does have a mellow side to him, even if it is only while he's asleep.

Sunsational

A few nights ago we were out and about doing a few things. While driving, we came to the top of a hill, and this burst into our view.

I had to pull the camera out right away. I love taking pictures of sunsets. What a beautiful way to end the day.


Last night while in my kitchen baking cookies, I glanced out the window and saw this. Can you believe this is the sun? This was taken at about 5:00 pm last night. I remember several years ago, 8 to be exact, the sun looked like this due to several fires here in Colorado. It looks strangely beautiful, but ominous at the same time.

Boating Fun

Our friends, the Dransfields, were so kind to invite us out on their boat with them today. It was so much fun.

Melinda showed all of us up with her wake boarding skills. After she finished and was getting back on the boat, Preston looked at me and said, "Mommy, dat was awesome!" He was thoroughly impressed. She caught air several times.

Lamar has some pretty snazzy wake boarding skills as well.

Trent too. Trent had some fancy foot working going on while he was wake boarding. You can tell he's a snowboarder.

I'm not nearly as tricky as the other three, but it had been about 16 years since I had been up on water skis. I didn't catch any air, but I did get up on my first try! And I did travel outside of the wake for a brief moment, until I face planted in the water that is.

Miss Kimberley was looking fabulous and glamorous as usual. Isn't she lovely?

Pete was in charge of the flag. He did a very nice job at it. ;)

Captain Lamar. He looked so happy to be out on his boat. Boys and their toys. :)

Preston loved watching everyone wake board/ski behind the boat. You could tell by the look in his eyes that he wished it was him out there, fearless little thing that he is.

Thanks Dransfields for such a fun time!

Don't Get Too Close

Well, it finally happened. Trenton has hit the "don't get too close to me in front of my friends" stage. It took him so long, I was hoping it wouldn't happen. When I walk the boys to school in the mornings he'll stay right by me, and even hold my hand part of the way, but as soon as we start to get close to the school, he'll start to walk ahead of me, and then when we actually get to the school, I barely even get a wave goodbye, let alone a hug anymore.

I ended up driving the boys to school the other day and I hadn't changed out of my pajamas yet. Trenton kept asking me if I was going to get dressed before we left. I told him no, that I wouldn't be getting out of the car anyway. He says, "Well, what if someone looks in the car and sees that you're still in your pajamas? That would be so embarrassing!" I ended up going in my pajamas of course. My bright hot pink ones with white polka dots. I think he's gotten over it.

So my first born doesn't think so much of his ol' mom anymore. When did this happen? I used to think he would never hit this stage. Several boys I know have been like this since the first grade. I should have known that it was only a matter of time. I guess I should just count myself lucky that he lasted until the fifth grade. At least I still get hugs from him at home, while none of his friends are around to see of course. ;)

Brotherly Love

Imagine a grown man, about 26 years of age, two small children, ages 6 and about 3, and a teenager, oh, probably anywhere from 13-15 years old, driving along in a pickup truck on a quiet back road on their way from Orem to Provo. Imagine said grown man, Scott, say to the teenager, Mike (Scott's youngest brother), "Hey I bet you couldn't jump out and run alongside the truck while it's moving at 10 miles an hour." Mike responds back with, "Sure I could." Scott, "No, you couldn't." Mike, "Yes I can." At which point, Mike opens his door, and starts getting into jumping position. My dad, Scott, again says, "You won't do it." Next thing we know, Mike is no longer in the truck, and we feel a big BUMP in the road. Now imagine that same truck screeching to an abrupt halt. Yes the bump in the road was indeed my uncle Mike. Luckily the truck only ran over his shoulder and not his head. So back in the truck goes uncle Mike, and we rush to the nearest E.R. Mike has a broken bone in his shoulder (go figure). I remember sitting there next to my dad when the doctor came out and asked, "Well sir, now how did this happen?" Silence for a moment, then "Ummmm... Uhhh."

The Funny Lookin' Cow

I have been thinking about my dad a lot lately. Its funny how I'll go for a bit and not think of him too much, and then other times I can't stop thinking about him and some of the funny things he used to do.

Today as I was driving on the back roads to go run some errands in Parker, I was reminded of the back roads my dad used to take us on sometimes to get from our home in Orem to my great grandma Menlove's house in Provo. My brother and I used to love it when dad would take the back roads because that meant we would get to stop and look at what we endearingly named 'the funny lookin' cow'. Funny looking was putting it mildly. It looked like a cross between a cow, a yak, an oxen, and who knows what else. Let me put it this way... it looked like someones breeding experiment had gone horribly wrong. Whenever we were going to grandma Menlove's, my brother and I would beg to go the back way. More often than not, my dad would humor us. I think he liked seeing the cow just as much we did, if not more so. We wouldn't just drive by either... My dad would almost always stop, and we would get out and go stand by the cow's corral and just sit and stare at it for a while, comment on how funny it looked, then head on our way to grandma's house. I'm grateful for a dad who would take time to stop and smell the roses... er, I mean, stop and gawk at the funny looking cow.