Vacation re-defined.

Serious business

We took a week off and headed to the cabin.  I know what you're thinking...Ahhhh sweet vacation!  Well, that would only be true if you count laying sod, painting doors, chasing after children, organizing and cleaning as a vacation.  We had friends and family join us on the weekend.  The question I've been asking myself for the past week is where is that sweet spot between teaching your kids to work and having fun.  I realize that spot is going to vary by your perspective. (being the kid or the adult).  In case you're dreaming of owning a cabin.  Start dreaming of years and years of projects.  The projects get old and tiresome and expensive, but maybe I should be grateful they are giving me an opportunity to teach my children to work.
We did need a break for a fashion show....

and a little 4-wheeling

 Rocket Launching

 And a little time to chill

Happy 4th of July!

Bubba and Shmuffy

Bubba and more Oreos

Dance Camp

I ration dance out-fits. Princess gets one new one a year right before dance camp.  We were in the dressing room and the first two she says, "I look fat" "What?" Then she put on this very simple one and she loved it.  You could tell she felt good in her skin and I love that

Race Day

Bountiful Tsunami Tri
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How to Ride a Bike without training wheels...

The training wheels came off and according to Pie this is how you ride a bike:

Me: Pie how do you ride a bike without training wheels?

Pie: You hold the wheel steady and you gotta FOCUS!

Me: And you tell yourself I think I can I think I can

(I said this because when I was running along side her I heard her say it)

Pie: NO mom, I KNOW I can!

Little stink!  I love that confidence!

Grahams go with everything...

I love graham crackers.  I think they go with just about anything, chocolate, marshmallow, a cold glass of milk, icing, you name it.  My mom says when each of us kids were blessed as babies, she asked my dad to bless us with a sense of humor.  I am grateful for that!  This life is hard at times, and if you can throw in a little humor it helps. I went to the UPS store today to mail back some company returns.  The box was had been in my office and then in the back seat of my car.  The box had some generic dental and medical supplies in it.  I went to tape the box shut and noticed the edge of a zip-lock baggie, I opened the box back up and found a zip-lock full of graham crackers.  Obviously at some point one of my kids dropped them in there.  Then I had a little vision of this warehouse worker un-packing  returns to open this box and find a baggie of graham-crackers thinking to himself  "what the heck?"  I was tempted to put a note with the grahams that said, "take 5 love the Bingham kids" but thought I might get in trouble. So, according to my kiddos Grahams also go with Dental supplies

To be or not to be...continued

Not going private for now.  In case you were wondering I had someone throw me under the bus at work and another someone that I think, I made feel bad (unintentionally).  There are things that I like about 'private' and things I like about not private.  And to clarify, those of you with 'positive blogs'  I love your blogs!  I've said it before, I am super grateful for blogger,  it is the longest running journal and or scrapbook I've ever kept.

4 doors down

I was standing in my kitchen yesterday afternoon and I heard sirens, lots of sirens. I thought man, those sound close. The phone rang and Indy said the neighbors four doors down had their house marked off with yellow tape and had full scale emergency vehicles out front. I walked outside and looked up UofU life-flight was circling. My neighbors started pouring out of their houses. What could have happened? Nice family 3 kids, the dad is full service military and had just deployed on June 4th. It was their son. Their 15 year old boy that hung out with good friends all weekend and had just said the prayer in Sunday School the day before. Shot himself. His friends found him and started CPR. They life-flighted him and did Surgery to keep him stable on life-support until his Dad could get there. The note said something about feeling like a failure and that he could never measure up. Why and How? How does a 15 year old boy that is loved and supported by a good family and great friends feel that way? My heart is so full. Our neighborhood took flowers over to plant in their yard and lay at their doorstep. Our hearts and prayers are with them.
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Surf's up Bubba is One!

This is my first attempt at a fondant cake....It's a surfboard...I don't think I will play with fondant again it stressed me out!

Happy Birthday Bubba! We love you!!!

A 'funny' on fathers day

I had all 4 kiddos with me on Saturday at Walmart. I saw these shirts and I thought "oh that would be fun for the kids" Obviously I didn't READ the shirt until I got home. When I realized my mistake. Master says, "mom let's give it to him anyway, it will be funny" We laughed our guts out this morning when he opened it. I will say shout out to fathers everywhere! They have a big job. I am a lucky girl. I have been blessed with a father that has given me more than worldy possessions can buy, and a husband that is more than I could have ever wished for. Happy Fathers Day!

It's official!

This kid is officially ours. He loves double stuff Oreos. If he didn't Indy would start to wonder where he came from :)

How does your garden grow/

What is the opposite of a green thumb? A black thumb? That is me!!!! I love flowers. I have tried this before and failed! This year so far so good. I think the rain has helped.

What it's really all about.

The shoes!  What was I thinking?  I sometimes forget my kids have ears.  Last week when Indy and I were discussing the modesty thing Pie says, " you can pick out my dress, but REALLY it's all about the shoes.  I get to pick out my prom shoes."  AGREED.  I said Pie you can wear any shoes you want.  (Within reason of course the ones pictured above are Jimmy choo and if she wants those she better start saving now.)

To be or not to be Private and Comparisons

I'm thinking it's time.  I try to be as open and as transparent as possible on my blog but I've had two really bad experiences in the last two weeks;  it has come back to haunt me. Have you ever sat down to read a blog and it made you feel bad?  Maybe you were not in the best place yourself and then you looked at someone else's "perfect life". And try as you might you compared.  When we compare it leads to jealousy and pride, both are extremely destructive.  They are negative thoughts which only lead to more negative emotions.  There is a great quote by Sister Hinkley (which I am determined to find) that talks about pride is not in the having it's in the comparing.   When we read other people's blog we have no control over what they post.  It's their blog after-all.  If they choose to post only positive stuff then that is their right.  On the positive side, I think blogging and sharing is awesome.  It has allowed me to see and hear the perspective of others.  It has allowed my to keep current with what is going on in someones life that I may not see very often.  I may not see or know that person but their words may touch my heart and help me in a way they will never know.  On the negative side, I know that for me I can't go blog surfing if I'm in a negative place.  It's like giving Satan an open pass to plant negative thoughts and feelings.  As much as I try to give a true picture on my blog; I edit.  Have you read "The Secret"?  I don't always want to throw my negative thoughts and feelings to the universe by blogging about them.
What is the solution?  Go private?  I think if it makes you feel bad, don't read it.  If  my blog has made someone feel bad or less than; I truly apologize.  Meanwhile I'm not sure what to do; any thoughts out there?

Uncle and Faith

Remember the hand game you played as kids where you had your knuckles squished backwards until you cried "Uncle".  Everyone has stuff (trials) that they are dealing with big or small, wide or narrow, yesterday, today and tomorrow everyone has 'stuff' they are dealing with.   If we didn't have stuff there would be no growth, no change.  I don't believe my 'stuff'' is any bigger or weightier than anyone else's.  It's just mine and I have to figure it out.  My Dad is dying.  It's a reality that I am accepting in small moments.  His first diagnosis was 2-5 years. Now it is looking like 6-9 months.  He is in Oregon with my beyond awesome sister, and because of the distance I don't have a constant reminder, the clock is ticking and this is going to happen.  But the reminders are there and they are coming more frequently.  When we first found out Sport had Down Syndrome I told Indy I could handle a special needs child, but I couldn't handle a special needs child AND a traveling husband.  Things are constantly changing and evolving for Indy at work and it's meant A LOT of travel.  Some of you may say, no big deal.  My full time job, plus four busy kids, plus special needs child that is 8 and still in diapers = a good amount of stress.  I have always wanted to be a 'stay at home mom;  for various reasons (mostly health insurance) it just hasn't worked out that way.  About 2 months ago the still small voice started whispering I needed to pay attention as in CLOSE attention to my children.  I get one chance to take 4 awesome little people and help them grow into awesome big people. Because of the stress and demands of my job I feel like I am constantly multi-tasking; looking at my phone, returning emails, stressing about work, when the soccer game, dance recital or small child saying 'mommy' should have my full attention vs. "hold on a minute".  If I ask them to hold on for too many minutes they are going to be old and leaving the house before I give them my attention. UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE  Time for a change. After pondering and pondering and praying....Nothing felt right.  Finally a good friend said, "you need to exercise faith" DUH.  I made a decision and figured at some point if I was on the wrong path the Lord would re-direct.  I told my boss 4 weeks ago I was quitting or in this case retiring.  I think he almost fainted.  The last 9 months at work I have been busting my fanny to turn my territory around.  Honestly a year ago when I had Noah it was in the dumps. The hard work has paid off and things are finally turning around.
My retirement plan lasted 5 days.  My region director got wind of it and said, 'No, you can't quit'.  Serious?  Remember how I said I would have faith if I wasn't on the path I would get redirected?  This is my new direction.  I am staying with my awesome awesome company.  I am switching to strictly handling Special Market, and a handful of large group practices.  I'm excited about this opportunity; I think it's a great opportunity.  I will be saying good-by to my regular accounts.  Some of those accounts I have called on for 15 years, 8 years, 1 year, and all I consider not just my clients but my friends.  Change is hard, but change is good.