What to say...

I miss my mother. Everyday. On a side note, we are in full school mode now. Helping in Abigail's class on Wednesday's now. I have all my kids in school, at least for 3 hours. Means I can clean my house in the morning without Abby yelling at me to stop vacuuming.

The dog hunt..

The kids want a dog. We almost got a dog in Salinas, a beagle to exact. However we had a small child and were deemed unworthy of being dog owners. Then we moved to Stockton and once again had a dog picked out from the animal shelter. But our check still had a Salinas address so we couldn't adopt the pet. By that time I had decided on getting a cat...nice and simple. Went down to the cat shelter and picked out a frisky kitten...wouldn't let us take it home because Anya was too young. Good grief....it is impossible to get the pet you want anymore. We were directed to an older, yellow tabby who we took home. Tiger has been a nice cat, a little paranoid as he scratches on all closed doors and hates to go outside if the door shuts behind him. Last August a gray tabby showed up on our porch and he is now a permanent member of the Taylor family. So we have two cats and I am happy with that. But now the desire for a dog is in hyper over drive from my offspring. When asked what kind of dog they want everyone has a different desire....

Abby-I want a Chihuahua!!!
Anya-Husky dog, a husky dog...pleaaaseeee!!!
Kaleb-uhhhhh....a cute dog....
Alexis-We need a Lab or a golden retriever..
Thor-German Shepherd named Kong

I don't know, it is all very complicated. After looking on petfinder.com for shelter dogs, I have reached the conclusion that pit bull owners must be the most irresponsible and let all their unaltered dogs have free reign of the neighborhood. I mean really....how many pit bull mixed dogs can there be...ALOT!!!!

Food....

Sarah is a great cook...I loved when she would come to my house and make me good things to eat. Now that she left me in Cali all alone, I don't eat good food anymore. After starting and finishing one round of P90X, ( I am now doing Chalean extreme mixed in with Jillian Michaels) I can no longer eat without dissecting every little calorie, fat gram, carb and protein percentage. It has kinda taken all the fun out of eating. So now I just watch the Food Network, and the Travel Channels "Best places to eat your self Sick" and remember the good time I had with eating. I did eat a whole box of Good & Plenty this weekend....and only felt bad about it on Sunday :)

My decision...

I am going back to school. I have 7 classes, 21 credits to get my degree from BYU. I know that I will have to pass my Stat's class, however, I can get a D and be just fine..lol. It's ridiculous to have spent so much time and money, and not finish what I started. Life is FLYING by, I'm turning 38 on Sat....scary.....and I would like to be done by 39.9.. :) Wish me luck!!!!

Sept is...

Sept is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Of all the people who get cancer, children getting sick seems the most unfair. It was very hard to watch my mother die of Lymphoma, I can't imagine the pain of losing a child to this dreaded disease. A little over 5 years ago, through an LDS group, I was linked the story of a little girl named Allie.

charitymom.blogspot.com

Her mother is an amazing women who has started a charity in honor of her daughter. Give her site a read, it is a great charity to give to.

What a week...

It all started last Friday morning when I woke up, sick!!! The kind of sick where your throat hurts so bad you'd rather just not have on anymore, you run out of energy just lifting your head off the pillow (but you must because you have 2 kids to get ready for school) and your house feels like an icebox. Normally I wouldn't have cared....I mean, no-one likes to be sick but hey, a few days in bed and you can be as good as new. But NO, I had teach the YW on Sunday....and Monday was our Stake temple trip and I was FINALLY going to get mom sealed to her parents... (only taken me 2 years) I had no time for sickness...so I did what any person of dire circumstances does, prayed like there is no tomorrow. Prayed to get well so I could teach a lesson I had no desire in the first place to have to be teaching...I know, I know...I shouldn't be afraid of a bunch of YW but I am. But most of all, I didn't want to miss the temple. It was the most important date I've had in a very, very long time. And guess what....all my pleading worked...by Sunday morning I was a functioning adult again. Not 100 % by any means, but I could move at a slow pace, talk and swallow again and teach my lesson. And the girls didn't eat me, or yell at me or worse yet, ask hard questions ( RS sisters are good at that...the really hard questions that is ). Monday was bright and beautiful, we all got to go to Folsom and enjoy our day at the temple. The Stake provided the babysitting, Alexis did baptisms and I got to have mom sealed to her parents. The blessings of a sealing are just what she needed and I'm grateful to have been able to do it. I did miss my workouts...and my eating was wayyyy bad ( taco bell burritos for lunch on Monday ) but I am fully recovered and back at my P90X program. And because I can't eat anything sweet or fattening, I have resorted to reading blogs about all the good food I am unable to partake of at this time. There are alot of food blogs out there!!! I am missing my fish tacos though!!!!

Accomplishments....

Life is wonderful because...

• Abby can now pee and poop in the toilet....hallaluea I have no more dirty bums to clean!!!
  
• Kaleb and Anya have started school. And so far they like their teachers, and I can make them walk home together....which makes me a mean mom because it is 99 degrees today and I still didn't pick them up!!!
• I have been released from Relief Society just in time to not have to teach..isn't that great!!! But Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor because I am now in YW (secretary) and I have to teach them on Sunday...oh, the irony!!!
• I didn't spend $60,000 on new windows and solar power that the salesperson almost had me convinced we needed...our roof would have been solid solar panels.
  
• My tomatoes plants have produced enough fruit for me to eat a tomato whenever I want to...and nothing can beat a fresh, garden tomato!!!
• On Aug 24th Thor and I started P90X....we are pushing 40 and Thor has put on a few pounds....so we eat ALOT of protein atm...too much for me somedays but I'm committed to helping him so I follow the diet too.
  
• And the best news of all....Monday we have a stake Temple day and I am going to have my mom sealed to her parents...better late than never :)