randomness

- I am happy that Scotty won American Idol. I have not watched it for a while but like it better now that it's nicer. He seems like a nice kid and I like his deep old country voice. He was awesome with Tim Mcgraw last night.

-I am excited for So You Think You Can Dance! It starts tonight. I enjoyed Dancing with the Stars too. Cory and I need to take a ballroom class.

-I went to Zumba today for the first time in a long while, it felt good. I need to remember that before so I don't get lazy and not go.

-Tristan got hit in the arm by the ball last night and cried but he got to walk which forced in another player for a score. They won the game. We need to practice at home this weekend.

-Sugar is my weakness! I've got to work harder at cutting back. Chocolate and Dr Pepper taste so good. I had dropped soda but I caved when Cory was gone. I'm fine with less animal products and can easily stay within my goal of 10% or less of my diet coming from animals. We have meat most Mondays and sometimes on other days if we got out but we usually don't order meat. It's kind of gross once you get used to not having it. We order sides a lot if we are in a hurry and grab something somewhere. Last night we stopped by Wendy's after the game but we got fries, fruit cups, and salad. They were out of baked potatoes, boo. I also like to order sides from KFC like corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, baked beans, cole slaw. I cook eggs for the kids for breakfast some days. I am trying to get them into eating a real breakfast instead of cereal. They drink organic soy milk on their cereal but I don't really want them having it every day. The boys are good about eating oatmeal. Lidia hates it. As I talk to other moms at the school and hear the kids talk about their friends, there are a lot of families eating a more vegetarian diet. Hopefully as it gains popularity there will become more restaurant options because Americans in general don't like to cook.

-I wish it would stay warm already. Cory and I went on a short bike ride the other day. We are out of shape. We could ride more if it were nicer weather, well and if we just had more free time. He is still not caught up in the yard. I still like my bike.

-I am thankful for all the people that post how to videos online. If I don't know how to do something, I can learn by watching someone show me how. Pretty awesome.

-Avery and I are watching Hong Kong Phooey on a netflix disc. I loved that show as a kid.

hip hop

Aiden had his dance competition Saturday and recital Monday night so we are done with hip hop and Aiden says he doesn't want to do it next year because it's exhausting and kills him. What?! Man I have some lazy kids. He still likes the dancing video games though. It will not work out for him to go once he turns 12 anyway because it's at the same time as mutual. Strange that I will have a beehive and a deacon come July. Aiden and Cory are going to the weeklong scout camp this summer. Since Aiden will not be 12 quite yet, it's the week of the 4th, Cory has to go. It will be fun for both of them and I will be glad for Cory to go since it's way up in Wyoming by Yellowstone. Lidia has a week of girls camp in August but it's not so far, in Heber where I went two years ago. Avery and Tristan are liking baseball OK. It's hard for Avery to pay attention in the outfield. He wonders off sometimes. We'll work on that. He did get the ball and throw it to the pitcher when it came his way. He gets frustrated when he doesn't catch the ball and gives up instead of practicing. Tristan doesn't want to practice at home but likes being part of a team when there. They are just starting games since it's been so rainy. They look cute in their uniforms!

Cory's Hong Kong Pics

eating buns at the bun festival. It is filled with lotus seed paste; quite sweet.

This is me on the Mine Train ride at Ocean Park. It was the only ride with less than a 45 minute wait in line. How long? About 5 minutes.

 they climb these bun towers at the end of the festival

 Cory and Derek exploring in the rocks. This is supposed to be the cave where the pirates hid their treasure.

 bun festival parade

 Ocean Park is literally on the sides of the mountain, nice views. The one with the dome is the Mine Train. Being on the side of the mountain makes it twice as exciting.

The tram takes you to the top of the mountain for the other part of the amusement park. Sure beats taking all those stairs.

 Cory went there just so he could buy Tristan a red panda toy just like he got last year but lost at the hotel. Tristan was so surprised he nearly cried.

The first dish at the resturaunt on Lamma Island. Next came the razor clams, the abalone, and the best calamari I've ever had.

Kamakazi caves, where the Japanese hid their suicide boats during the war. The boats were never deployed.

No pics here of where most of his time was spent, work and the hotel. He did get out and do some things though. He is very happy to be home now. We saw Pirates of the Carribean 4 tonight. It was pretty good I guess. Avery said it was too scary for him. It was less scary than the others though. I am enjoying watching Cory enjoy his new car. So far he has said that he likes the sound of the engine and the tight steering among other things. It has a gauge that shows your fuel efficiency and he is very aware of it and trying to save every drop he can. So although the car will zip around pretty quickly Cory doesn't drive it that way. I do. hee hee He also synced his phone with the hands free bluetooth right away as well as hooked up his ipod. I love the rain sensor wipers and wish my car had those. I'll have to get Cory to make some remarks about these pics and add the other pics that are not cooperating.

Home!

Cory is home and we are very happy. I slept very well last night for the first time in a long time. He was lucky again and was upgraded to first class on his flight home yesterday and it was on time. The kids were so excited, it was hard for them to settle down and get to sleep last night. Good thing it's Friday. Cory likes his new car!

welcome to America

Cory is in MD and sick of traveling. He comes home tomorrow. Yippee! It's nice to at least have him only two hrs ahead instead of 14. He is there for only one night by himself and of course he was randomly chosen as guest of the day and got a free upgrade to a two bedroom suite along with some treats. Too bad this doesn't happen when we are with him.

Two more days...

Cory gets home Thursday night! We are looking forward to it. He leaves Hong Kong today. His parents leave Utah today. They are driving to Nauvoo for their mission. We went to Provo and hung out with them Saturday. My neighbor's son gets back from his mission in Mozambique tomorrow. I made a skirt out of some fabric he had sent home for her daughter to wear to his homecoming. Now I've got to make five "Daphne" dresses for Lidia and her class to wear in the Scooby Doo number. Her recital is early June. Aiden's is Monday. I have an allergy cold and it's cool and rainy today. Right now I'm on skype with Cory. He's trying to stay up and start adjusting time. His flight leaves at about 7pm my time. I have a nice honey do list for you Cory. It starts with the yard and garden. They need your help.;)

 the skirt I made with the African fabric, it's simple but fully lined

 the kids saying bye to Elder and Sister Newman

it was windy, rain on the way

 the kids enjoyed the Bean museum at BYU

and we enjoyed yummy sherbet at the BYU creamery

 Avery thought this guy with the big eyes was soo cute

 Tristan says he fainted when he saw the big kodiak bear

 Lidia says the liger is her new favorite animal

 the kids enjoyed playing in the rocks and icey water at Bridal Veil Falls

 petting the nice furball

the Provo River is very full and fast moving, I told the kids to stay on the path and away from the river. we saw a few kyakers in the water but they didn't last long

Ready

I am so ready for Cory to be home. Just sayin. When you have your other half away you really realize what a big part of you they are. I'll be very happy to have my whole self again and the kids will be happy to have their dad back too. I hope his flight is on time next Thursday evening. We will all be at the airport waiting.

A funny note. Aiden is obsessed with growing a mustache. I hope he is over it by the time he actually starts growing facial hair.

Anyone else ready for school to be done? I am looking forward to no homework for a few months.

my conclusion for now

After taking Avery and Aiden in to the doctor for referral for evaluation for ADD or Aspergers or any autism spectrum disorder I have come to the conclusion that this is not right for us. Maybe it is for some but I feel like you are self diagnosing. There is no real test. They just ask questions and basically ask you if they are and if you say they right things they will drug your kids or just label them. Now maybe if I actually went through the whole process I would find some helpful people with some helpful info somewhere but in reality I can read on my own and I know my kid best and it's just trial and error to figure out what might help them. I think that there is too much pressure for kids these days to be streamlined and all fit the same mold and so those who don't fit the mold have problems. I think Aiden's problems are stress related. He is always doing well by the end of the school year. I just need to work with the school to help him feel a part sooner. I think that Avery and Aiden maybe have personalities more like Cory's. He is a deep thinker like them and takes a bit longer than some to process his thoughts. I did not observe Cory as a kid but he doesn't really remember much from when he was little other than playing pretend out on the farm. Maybe his mind was in pretend land a lot too. I see nothing wrong with it until schools try to make them be just like evryone else and do things in a certain amount of time. I wonder how Cory and I would both do in school these days. Would we both still be the good students we were? I go back and forth on this issue but ultimately I just pray about it and do what the Lord tells me to and have faith that it will be the right thing for them in the long run. The kids are taking end of level tests now. We'll see how they do. If the real tests are anything like the practice tests, I think they kind of suck. I have found errors and the way the questions are worded doesn't make sense. I can look at the answer choices and the information given and figure out what it is they want me to solve even if it's wording is wrong but the kids can't.

Mother's Day

 Happy Mother's Day Mom!

 I got this cool shirt and sandals and a long white linen skirt that I wore to church today.

I also enjoyed chocolate covered strawberries from Cavanaughs today. I could eat them all day, wonderful. Even better is that I got them 60% off last night because it was nearing closing time. I should have bought even more. As a matter of fact almost everything I bought was half off. nice. I got an orchid and a flamingo plant that I'm hoping to be able to keep alive, we'll see how well I can do with house plants. I spent several hours shopping by myself last night while the kids were at home watching netflix. It was nice. I bought the Thor hammer and helmet. I couldn't resist. The boys loved the movie and Aiden was up very late that night pretending in his room. 

The kids all sang with the primary for Mother's day. Avery is not very cooperative so Lidia went up with him. I told him that if he didn't know the words he could just stand up there and smile at me so he did. He stood there grinning as big as he could the whole time stretching his neck so he could be sure to see me. The kids also made nice cards for me and changed their clothes and put them away after church without me yelling at them. I talked to Cory this afternoon. He has one more weekend in Hong Kong so he is spending that time finding us all some fun things to bring home to us. Today I have not felt very well but I napped through a movie we were watching this afternoon and I feel better. It's chilly and rainy today, blah. The kids are camping out in my room with me. 

disappointment is not fun

Lidia did not make cheer. She is very disappointed. She called me crying to come pick her up. They tell you right to your face in front of evryone before you leave tryouts. Only 3 or 4 girls didn't make it. She is older than the other girls that did not make it. It hurt her feelings so bad. She was so looking forward to it. They said they were going to choose 20 girls but only 18 were trying out so we thought everyone would get chosen. Well what a let down. I am kind of relieved. I never thought of Lidia as the cheer type but for some reason she wanted to so I supported her. It's a busy schedule and you have to keep up good grades so I'm not even sure she could handle it. But knowing tha she had to maintain a 3.0 was motivating her and I was excited about that. She needs motivation. We'll have to come up with some other things to keep her motivated. It was very hard to see her be so sad though, broke my heart. I told her how great she is and that if she really wants it she will have to work hard to improve and try again next year. I told her that she has a lot of other talents and not to worry about it. Well she didn't agree so I had to tell her about all her talents and how your talents are usually the things you find yourself working on in your free time because you enjoy it and for Lidia those things are learning about animals, singing, helping her family, etc. You can't wait until the week of tryouts to take an interest in cheer. Utah has stiff competition for anything performance or sports related. There are so many kids everywhere and they all take lessons to perfect their skills. Cheer is a combination of dance and tumbling, both of which Lidia tried in the past and then it fizzled out. That's fine though. When you find your thing it won't fizzle out. Anyway, I tried to cheer her up and distract her so we asked Shannon to come over and hang out with her and they played games and watched movies and I took the boys to see Thor. It was pretty good. I hope she feels better tomorrow. Her brothers felt bad for her too, Tristan cried. Avery didn't really understand what was going on and told her to stop whining.

bin Laden no more

coming into our neighborhood today, lots of flags welcoming a mom back home from Afghanistan

I think you all have seen this one

So I think it's pretty cool imagining this raid that took out Osama bin Laden. I love that pic of everyone in the situation room in DC watching it, the intensity in their faces, especiall Hillary. I mean this has been thought out and planned for years and the timing was right and they got up the courage to do it. Those Navy SEALS are just awesome. So glad none of our guys were hurt. I hope they get some good intel from the electronics and hard drives they took. I also think it's pretty cool how they all kept the secret so well and then told us about it later that same day. I do not want to see pics of him dead but I understand the need to show one. I am glad that they got him. I am glad they buried him at sea. I am glad that the intelligence community can show some evidence of what they do. Most of what they do is kind of prevention and so no one knows about it all. I am glad the military can be proud of a goal met since it seems our other jobs over there are never ending. I will admit that it does annoy me when people credit Obama for this. I realize the president gets blamed for everything, good or bad, but I don't agree with doing that either. I hope that Obama is learning in his presidency and perhaps that is why he has changed his stance on shutting down gitmo and has not shrunk defense spending like some liberals tend to do. I don't say Bush should have credit either. I would like our president, who ever they be, to be humble and show more gratitude for the Americans serving in military and defense. Maybe his personality rubs me the wrong way but he seems phony and unemotional. I would be crying like Boehner. A lady in our neighborhood came home today after leaving her family including a 6 month old baby to go serve in Afghanistan as a tank shooter for 14 months. I cry just thinking about it. I want to see truth in all of our politicians instead of all the phony baloney. We live with reality everyday and we want leaders that live in the same reality. I know Obama will get a bump in the polls from this but I hope it's temporary because we need different leadership in my opinion. I do not agree with most of his positions. I would not vote for Trump, hope he doesn't even run. He's a loose cannon. I'm interested to see some debates about real issues like this awful economy. But hooray for America and bless us as we continue to fight these evil terrorists.

18 more

Cory will be home in 18 days! It's all perspective right? That may sound like a long time but not when the total time gone is way longer, like 68 days. Bless all the single mother's out there and all the military wives that go for a year and more with their husbands away. Hong Kong's labor day is today so Cory is off work again. Boy if we were there we would be happy for so many holidays but he would rather work. Oh well. He went to the temple and then was heading to the market to find me some art to hang in the living room which I just totally rearraged yesterday. I made a big mess but have cleaned it all up now. I couldn't have done it without Ginger and Ryan coming over and helping me move the big couch. I got it moved about half way and then I was stuck. Avery has requested that Cory bring him home a red dragon just like Tristan's. Well he can probably find a red dragon stuffed animal but it's not likely to be just the same because I bought Tristan's in England.

The kids are starting end of year testing. I hope they try their best. Lidia is trying out for cheer this week. I have never seen her want something so much. She is actually trying to make good grades and is practicing her tumbling, which she rarely did when she was taking tumbling classes for over a year. Maybe this could be a really good thing for her. I hope she does well and makes it. I wasn't too fond of the idea to begin with but if it motivates her that is great and the girls at our school are pretty good kids. It's charter school so it's kind of small beans compared to the regular jr high but I like that about it. Baseball starts this week for Tristan and Avery. I hope they enjoy it. I don't want to be fighting them to do it. Tristan wants to but Avery's mood changes every day. Aiden's hip hop class is preparing for a competition at Lagoon and their spring recital. I hope he catches up from missing when we were out of town and then again when in the play. Auditions for our town's summer musical are Saturday. I'm still deciding whether or not Lidia and I want to try out. Not sure if I want the commitment.

I have to say that I am so thankful for the blessings of the priesthood. Cory gives me a blessing before he goes out of town and it really does help me so much. It gives me peace of mind and confidence that everything will be just fine. I am also reminded of blessings of paying tithing recently. We have recently made a few large purchases like our bikes, Cory's car, trip back home, and his travel expenses which we have to pay and get reimbursed for. Well I had a very huge american express bill coming due and I was not going to be able to pay it without dumping our savings. I was not happy about that even though I knew we would get reimbursed soon. I also had a large tithing check to turn in, I only remember to pay every other month or so. I went ahead and turned it in on Sunday instead of waiting. On Wednesday I sold the beetle and for more than I initially thought and on Friday we got our reimbursement and that was the day the AMX bill was due. So now instead of dumping my savings, it has grown and I am much less stressed. I am also happy that our new bishop is not afraid of making some needed changes in our ward and that he supports the reduction of junk food given out at church and the promotion of truly living all of the word of wisdom. I also appreciate a certain nice older sister at church who always tells me how beautiful I am. She asked today where my husband was. I hope she wasn't thinking there was a problem. He's at church too, just in another country. I guess a lot of people in the ward didn't know he was gone because it was also news to the sister who called about my visiting teaching. I apologized for being such a slacker lately but when she heard my excuse for why I was so busy and tired she asked if she could do anything to help me. hee hee. Nothing anyone can do really but it's nice to hear her sympathy.;)