Thanksgiving

So I'm a bit late with this blog but since I started my new job as a 911 dispatcher all of my spare time I try to spend with the kiddos! It's hard going back to work after being a stay at home Mom. I love my job but I really REALLY miss being around the kids! So here are a few pics of the festivities... it turned out loverly and was really fulfilling (literally!).

Sophie's earrings

Sophie came to me one day with the dangly earrings that I wore for Halloween saying "Momma, I wear these?" I explained to her that to wear these earrings you have to get holes poked into your ears and that it hurts really bad. Her response to this was

"I be brave Momma, I be brave!" How could I tell her no... so off we went to the store.

She picked out some sparkley pink earrings and they sat her down on the stool. She sat beaming from ear to ear. When they showed her the gun she got a bit nervous so she squeezed my hand. When the time came to put the earrings in she did not even flinch. She was so amazing! She proudly shows off her pretty little ears to anyone who wants to see them (and some that don't). What a cute little princess!!

Merry Christmas

As the Christmas season comes and goes I hope that we can all take time from the world and remember the Savior and the enormous sacrifice that was made for each of us.

Despite the trials and the heartaches that come along with this earthly life, there are the pleasures of each smile, snowflake, kiss, sunset, first step, and every other wonderful experience. Take the time to stop for a moment and be thankful for the little things.

Remember to tell your loved ones just how much they mean to you because we are all on the Lord's time and not our own. Live each moment to the fullest! Love to all, Jen Grover

Halloween 2008

Halloween was fun as usual! I don't know what I will do once I don't have kids in the house to celebrate Halloween with. Their excitement is always contagious. Especially with the little ones. I try to savor it while it lasts!



Sophie is the is the dragon dancing front and center, Isaac the doctor in green, Seth the red ninja battling the knight and Kenneth Jr. is the mad scientist waving from the back!

Fall time fun!

The last few Family Home Evenings have found us decorating for Halloween and picking apples at our friends farm.

The kids had a great time doing both!

The Girls

Somewhere between Yellowstone and Island Park, there is an area that grows hundreds of beautiful wild flowers. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of my own beautiful wild flowers too!

pic

Took forever...

Well, with my excellent sleuthing skills I finally solved the case of the missing password. Normally it would not have taken me so long to get in and just change it but it seems like lately something is always going on.

Take last week for example. We lost the keys to both the suburban and Kens work truck which left us with only the PT Cruiser. This normally is fine since we walk to church and that really is the only day we all go to the same place at the same time, but then tragedy struck our poor tire! After picking up Megan after mutueal which was watching the Meteor shower (until 12 am!) The tire blew out on the back tire on our way home. Fortunately we weren't too far from home but now... NO CAR! Ken had to get up early early to get the donut tire on before Eli's appointment for Speech therapy at 8am.

Of course bad luck always goes in threes so to top it off, Sophie's arm got broke. Isaac fell off a bench and managed to fall onto poor Sophie. It was so terribly sad. She didn't scream right away, just kind of whimpered so we thought that maybe she had bonked her head. Ken scooped her up in his arms and said "show Daddy where your owie is?" and she held up her little arm and there it was... all bent inbetween her elbow and her wrist. Ken and I dashed off to the hospital leaving Kenneth in charge. We spent 4 hours at the hospital. She had broken both bones in her right arm. They are what the Doc called "Green Fractures" which meant that it wasn't completely broken through, it had a hinge. The doctor decided to wait until the next day to set her arm since he needed to push the bones back into place and we didn't want him to do it unless she had some sort of anesthesia. Our poor luck that night was that she had just finished mammoth proportions of dinner. Homemade Mac n' cheese, green beans and jello salad. I guess the doctor didn't want to see for himself personally just how much she had eaten. He sent us home with strick instructions of "no food or drink." and put Sophie's arm in a splint.

We got into the hospital Monday at 11 for her 12pm appointment. They had a pink blanket on her bed for her as well as cute pink scrubs for her to wear. She was SO excited about all of the pink!!! We spent a total of 5 hours at the hospital. 15 minutes was her arm actually being set. The rest of the time was prep and then post. She got all the goodies she wanted though. Her request was ice cream and jello. She even got a pink cast to wear!

We went back to the doctor today for follow up x-rays and he told us that her arm is healing well. 99% fabulous were his exact words!!

She had been great to not complain about her arm at all. It doesn't slow her down either. The moment she got home she was ready to play! The only time she has said anything is when it is itching. What a good girl I have.

See how cold it is!

Okay... Maybe I'm exaggerating a little but not by too much!!

What happened to global warming??

I don't really understand what is going on. I thought the ice caps were supposed to be melting and that everything was going to be hot...

So my DH decided after looking at the calander for a great length of time, that yes, summer is officially here. He celebrated by turning off the heat to our gianourmous house. I think that was not such a wise idea. I was afraid to get out of bed because it felt what I can only describe as "camping cold" when the rest of your body is okay because your in the sleeping bag but the tip of your nose that sticks out to breathe is absolutely freezing.

We all reluctantly got up but ended up huddled together with the blankets on the couch waiting to thaw before making breakfast. Unfortunately, because our house is so huge it takes forever to warm it back up. Daniel, our friend and my nanny, made a fort over the air vent for the kids!

Sophie had fun with her Dad at Disney Land... or at least from what I can gather. The only thing she really talks about are the Winnie the Pooh Pots that she got to ride in. Although she was ecstatic to come home. She ran all over the house until she had made sure to see everyone and give them a hug. She was terribly sad when she realized that Seth and Isaac weren't coming back home with us. All the way home she said "Sethy and Isaac home too" and I would say "they will be home later" and I would hear a sad little sniff from the back seat and a small "okay mommy".

Seth and Isaac are still with their Dad and won't be home until Sunday. Needless to say, my house is a bit more lonely this week. Maybe that is why I am suffering from insomnia tonight. In the mean time I am organizing their bedrooms and washing their massive amounts of laundry so they won't keep running out of underwear. (I don't understand how two little boys can go through so much underwear in the first place!)

Megan also had a birthday on Friday. After having Seth and Isaac miss her birthday 2 times in the last 3 years I asked Megan if it would be okay to just celebrate after they get home. She said it would be fine. We did have cupcakes for breakfast though and I took her out to lunch. She also got to open a few presents but not all. Her biggest thrill was that she got to go to Young Womens today! She is sooo excited. I am excited for her. I loved my time in Young Women's. I am hoping that it will teach her to be a bit more responsible. She has a hard time with some things.

At any rate... I'm tired of the cold. I want to wear capris and put away my sweaters. We are supposed to be going to North Carolina for a wedding on the beach and I am hoping to see just a bit off sun on these white legs of mine before we go. Oh well. I will keep my fingers crossed. At least its not a drought I guess.

Looking forward to summer?!?

So summer starts tomorrow and I am not sure if I should be excited or if I should order mad amounts of elephant traquilizer darts...

I actually am sad since Seth, Isaac and Sophie leave Saturday morning to go to DisneyLand with their Dad. Sophie hasn't been gone for this long and I always miss the boys when they are away. It really stinks because they will be gone for 2 weeks.

The good news is that it will really give me alot of one-on-one time with Eli (Meg and Bri will be with their mom for part of the time). I don't think it's fair that I should have to share my children, unfortunately that is what happens in a divorce.

We shaved Seth's head this week. When I say shaved, I mean 100% completely bald. He came home missing a large chunk of hair. His new way to show that he is nervous is by pulling his hair and he had had a really rough day at school. I was sad when it was getting shaved off but to be honest, he looks really super cute with it.

I had a good laugh when he was talking to Grandma Couch on the phone about his new hair cut. He was stating how he was nervous to go to school... he said "I'm afraid they will call me whitey." further on in the conversation Grandma says "oh, you'll be twins with Uncle Dee." (who shaves his head also) to which Seth replied, " oh, that's just creepy."

I know I promised pictures but the latest report on my camera cord is that it is in a "box... somewhere" which really doesn't narrow anything down for me since I have hundreds of boxes in my house right now. Someday, I promise I will post some more pics. Till then you will have to suffer through my meaningless rambling. Sorry:0(

Moving on up...

Yay! The day has finally arrived and I am resting cozy in my new 4200 sq. ft space. I call it a space because it is not really a house and definately too big to be classified as an apartment. Rather it is my new sanctuary. Really, it is. A 100 yr. old church building with the chapel as my new living room, kitchen, 5 bedrooms, a play room and one bathroom. The old baptismal font is where my new master bathroom resides and the pastors office now belongs to my husband. I love the space and despite it's emanse largity of space, it feels cozy. I have 5 stained glass windows, the largest being 12 ft tall by 7 ft wide.

Okay, so its not 100 percent complete but the truth of the matter is that while we have been renovating, I have been living in my Grandma's old house that I can't do a whole lot with. I was just ready to go... so go I did. The only drawback is that I still haven't finished moving ALL of my things and the clutch went out on the truck... again. Which makes pulling the trailer a little difficult. Hey, it's heavy alright!

Eventually, however and hopefully soon... we will be all the way moved. Then I will have the 30 yr. goal of decorating and rearranging furniture. I will be posting pics soon as soon as I find my cables to my camera.

April Snow storms bring may flowers??

Fun things are planned today. I was so excited to watch the weather this morning and see that the forecast did NOT include snow! HOORAY!!

Today is beautiful which is good because the kids have been dying to have a bon fire in the back yard. What better thing to do for FHE tonight. Bring on the hotdogs. Not to mention that Ken has been itching to ride the dune buggy again since he was too busy moving boxes this weekend to enjoy his toy. Better get it done now before we move into town.

All the kids love riding but Sophie gets the biggest kick out of going fast. I guess she's like her mother. Finally someone to ride the fun rollercoasters with... now I just have to wait a few more inches so she can actually ride. Eli is too small to ride, but we figured out a solution. We strap the car seat in and off he goes! It's funny to watch. Isaac screams like a little girl the whole time and Seth is way too overly cautious. He keeps reminding me... "mom, both hands on the steering wheel."

Well, off I go to begin the day. Is blogging addictive?

An update on world

When I was a little girl, I often dreamed of the day that I would get married and begin a family of my own. A family with the stability that I didn't have until I was 11. A family where the gospel was at it finest in the home and the children were prime examples of model parenting.

Unfortunately, as happens to many, my dreams were only that, dreams. Although the allusion of a dream was lived for 7 years, shattered by the free agency of another.

In the words of my 8 yr. old son with autism. "That was harsh, huh mom." Sometimes children have the clearest perception of the world. Yes, divorce is harsh. I was three month pregnant with my third child when my allusion of my life became the harsh reality that it actually was. Ignorance is bliss until bliss slaps you in the face.

But as it always does... life moves on. In the face of the toughest trials I have learned my greatest lessons. Life is not easy, if it seems easy, something is tragically wrong.

Along my adventure and my growth, I relearned to love, trust and to give of myself completely. Although at times I have periods of regression. I am now the mother, step-mother and third wife. Among thousands of other titles that I hold, these are my favorite.

I have 4 step-children. I love them all and grow to love them more each day that I learn who they are and realize their full potential. They have be hurt. Lived through experiences that no child should have to ever endure and I work to unravel the pain and replace it with love. It is a hard job, but I am happy that Heavenly Father chose me to do it.

I have 3 wonderful children from my first marriage. They were my strength when I needed it the most. I am convinced that you never truly know the purest feelings of love, untainted by the world, until you have children.

Then there is the newest member of our family, the ours baby. Created in a union that is stronger than anything this crazy world can throw at us.

Since the time that we got married our lives have been one exciting and often dreadful adventure after another. It will make us stronger or rip us apart. If it rips us apart, we will no longer be whole... so we fight it at every turn.

Our family is not complete with one member missing.