Well I am officially 30 as of Saturday and it really is all its cracked up to be. I don’t know too many people that welcome 30 with open arms and there is reason behind that which I will illustrate with a story that I will call My First Day in my 30s ( true story).

My last day at 29 was awesome Tyler took me ( and Marriah) out to eat and to the movie Errand of Angels ( which I absolutely loved) it was so nice just the two of us ( I say just the two of us because Marriah was asleep most of the time so she was low maintenance). It never happens that Ty and I go on a date without the kids- I know it is lame but its easier- so being just he and I there was no breaking up fights, no shushing kids to quiet them down, no “I gotta go to the bathroom” nothing but a quite evening with my sweetheart. Just as I was about to think turning 30 isn’t so bad the storm came. Just after 12:00 am on my birthday Tyler started getting kind of restless and had a hard time falling asleep so he went in the living room to watch TV so I could go to sleep and he could tire himself out then try laying down again. Well about 1:30 Tyler comes in and wakes me and says he isn’t feeling well so as not to wake Marriah who still sleeps in our room occasionally I went out and sat with him. It was scary he was white as a sheet going from hot and sweaty to cold and clammy in a matter of seconds but the scariest part was he couldn’t breathe very well. I stayed up with him repeating ” calm down and take slow even breaths” and then just as I thought he was asleep he makes a run for the bathroom exploding from both ends. Finally at 4:00 he was able to fall asleep so I went back to our room leaving him to sleep on the couch propped up in time to discover Marriah awake for her mid night meal. So I had to tend to her, Finally at 4:30 I was able to get some sleep only to be woke up at 7 am by the kids. Well birthday day came and i found myself stuck in my regular everyday routine of cleaning house, doing dishes and making breakfast and feeling completely sorry for myself that no one not even Ty or the kids had acknowledge my birthday. Ty then comes to me and says “I think you need to take me into the doctor I feel like I am going to die.” So I say, “let me at least feed the kids since the food was already right in front of them and then we can go.” Well, not wanting to wait, Tyler headed straight out to the car ( i don’t blame him if i felt like i was going to die i wouldn’t care if the kids were fed either). I quickly put the food away and grabbed some diapers and ran out to the car. We dropped off the older two kids at my parent’s house and headed for Community Care where Dr. Thompson who had seen Tyler already twice in two weeks for various other issues was there telling us that we needed to go to the ER to get tests and an IV in Tyler. So off the the Emergency Room we went only to sit there for 5 hours. They never gave him any fluids although they put in an IV port but instead they only took fluids to run blood tests and stool and urine samples. In fact they were talking about taking his appendix out which most of you may remember he hasn’t had since he was 13. So needless to say we left there feeling $1000 poorer and more confused than when we went in. They pumped him full of drugs that left him still nauseated and extremely groggy and lethargic and said he must have a virus. He slept through the night but again I was up only this time with a crying, stubborn two year old that thinks she needs a certain “bottle” to go to sleep. So my birthday ended where it began wide awake in the dark of night trying to calm someone else down and wishing 30 could have proven me wrong. Is it no wonder my Mom has been 22 for so long? I think 22 is looking pretty good to me too.
For more details about Tyler’s health and results of his ER experience go to :
http://www.blogger.com/www.14ty.blogspot.com

I got this quiz from Niki http://thenicoleshow.blogspot.com/2008/08/doing-my-homework.html who got it from her Relief Society and as I was reading hers I thought how would I answer that. At the end of her answers she invited us to try and so here goes:

1.What is the most thankless job you perform? At first changing poopy diapers came to mind but that isn’t true since Marriah always smiles at me while I am changing her and seems so much happier afterward so to me that says Thanks Mom for cleaning up my crap. Fortunately for me I have an awesome husband who is really great at thanking me for doing stuff especially when I point out what I have done for him. So I guess my thankless job would have to be laundry maybe that is why I loathe it so much and sometimes cooking since most of the time no one eats my cooking or complains about it.

2. List 3 characteristics you feel describe you: I am a bit of a homebody, a foodaholic, and very Family oriented.

3. List at least 1 of your accomplishments that you are proud of: Serving a mission, marrying my husband in the temple and keeping three kids alive and happy. Sorry I know you said one but I couldn’t decide which one was most important.

4.If you were to hire yourself for a job, what would be your job title? (for example: West Valley’s Taxi-Soccer-ballet-cooking Queen) Rigby’s Pooper Scooper- I tend to take crap from people instead of defending myself, I am constantly cleaning up after everyone and I feel there is no end to diaper changing.

There you go now you are welcome to copy the questions and answer them on your own blog but be sure to let me know so I can read your answers.

I usually attend education week as a host and go all three days but since I am nursing I just went Saturday. While there I attended a class of a lady I hosted for once before and she said all the right things then so since I was in search of some answers I hoped she would say all the right things now and she didn’t disappoint me.

You see in the past 7 years I have gained a significant amount of weight and tend to base my self worth on my size instead of who I really am…inside. I was listening to a tape I made my family while on my mission and I turned to Tyler and said, ” I am actually a pretty cool person.” I wasn’t saying it to be conceited but as a new knowledge I had actually come to learn. Something I never see because I only see what is staring back at me in the mirror. My sister has a friend who went to live with an ex-drug dealer down in Texas that she met over the Internet. This girl grew up in the church, went to BYU-I and was even at one time engaged to be married in the temple. She was taught the gospel but because of her low self-esteem she only saw in herself an ugly, fat girl ( which of course was absolutely not true) and felt like the only chance she had at someone loving her was this loser she was willing to give up everything she had even her family and her beliefs to be with. That shook me up especially since I have two daughters I am afraid that the way I see myself is the way they will see themselves; that their only value is in their size so I knew I needed to do something about the way I see myself – that no matter what size you are you are important. Well so I prayed. I knelt down and poured out my heart to a loving Heavenly Father and asked Him to help me in this endeavor to see myself the way He sees me. That is when I had the opportunity to attend Merilee Boyack’s class at education week. She started her class by telling the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. If you recall, Goldilocks found things too hard or too soft or too hot or too cold until she came to something that was just right. Next, Sister Boyack showed a picture of a pretty average looking person and she said do you think she is too tall or too short or too fat or too skinny? We answered saying no she is just right. Then she showed a picture of a friend of hers in Africa who was a little overweight and she said is a little loud when she gets excited and she said by American’s standards this woman would be too fat, too poor and too loud but by Africa’s standards she is rich because she has enough food to feed herself and her family and she shows lot of love to everyone – to them she is just right. At this point she turned to the audience and said, ” to Heavenly Father you are just right.” Suddenly, I felt as though our Heavenly Father had His arms around me and was saying “see Anndrea you are just right.” Of course just as I am doing now while writing this, tears filled my eyes and I at that moment came one step closer to seeing myself through Heavenly Father’s eyes. I know I have along way to go but I am commencing on a path in the right direction. I hope to one day be able to look past the double chin and flabby jabbers and see the beautiful soul that Heavenly Father created. All too often we compare ourselves to someone else. Everyone tries to put their best foot forward and that is what we end up comparing ourselves to instead of their real foot. Sheri Dew put it so eloquently when she said something to this effect- sometimes I wonder if the judgement in Heaven will be a breeze compared to the judgement we face on earth amongst our peers- and might I add the judgement we face within ourselves. I just need to remember I am a daughter of God and He knows me better than anyone and He loves me and that is what really matters not what the world thinks because frankly the world is pretty screwed up.

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 – Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.

(Note to readers: I did not write this to get praise only to testify of the things I have learned for myself for the benefit of others.)

Here are the directions for any one who wants to play along.
1. As a comment on my blog leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.
It’s actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one abut you. If you don’t want to play on your bog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Lately I have been really feeling life fly by especially when it comes to my children growing up. I feel like before I know it they will be gone and their childish laughter will be just a memory. I love the adoration they show me and know that will definitely not last long. Some of my favorite times are when Jacob and Elizza start playing together and break out laughing or they start dancing and shaking their bums or when I catch Marriah watching me and when I look at her she gives me this big beautiful grin. I regret though at times I don’t sit and just enjoy this. I find myself a slave to order and having things just so or wishing my life away not realizing by doing this I am losing my time with them. Their is a song by Trace Adkins that I listen to to remind me that life goes way too fast anyway without me wishing it away too.

I was just introduced to a song that brought tears to my eyes it is called Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman it is about this dad that writes about the short time he with his daughter before she is gone. Interestingly yet sadly, he wrote this song after getting his two daughters ready for bed and rushing through it so he could go on and do other things and was getting really frustrated at his daughters for taking too long. As he was leaving their room his mind went to his oldest daughter who at the time was 20 years old and how quickly she grew up and he didn’t take the time to cherish moments with her, he wrote this song to remind himself of that. Now the sad part is a few months after writing this song one of his younger daughters was accidentally struck and killed by a car his son was driving. None of us know how much time we have to enjoy these moments with those we love. Death may not be what seperates us but time will and I hope that each day I can remember this and not worry about dirt on the floor or clutter but will hold onto moments whether they be good or bad and just enjoy the journey I have as a parent. So as a note to myself remember that poem that states:
“Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs.
Dust, go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby.
Babies don’t keep.”

Sorry to get so sappy in this blog I guess this has just been weighing heavily on me lately. If you would like to hear those songs I talked about here are the links.

You’re gonna miss this

Cinderella

( Note: I wrote this during nap time I am trying to be better and devote my time to my kids while I can)

I’ll take any I can get!

I work for a company who has their main office in Meridian, Idaho. That is near Boise. About 4 + hours away from Idaho Falls via the Interstate system.

We went over there for the summer picnic. Friday July 11th. It was pretty fun. We had a silent auction that raised over 1100 bucks for a scholarship fund in honor of a co-worker that died 3 months ago. He (Emil) was 53 and loved baseball. I still miss him.

Jacob got a bloody nose in the bounce house when someone smacked into him. But Anndrea took care of that, and he went right back in.

That night the company put us up in the Marriot Courtyard RM 430 On S. Eagle Rd. Just south of Exit 46 on I-84

A Map…

Nearby there is a BBQ place called Dickey’s BBQ place. Didn’t get to try it this trip but maybe next time. I love BBQ! Right up the street there was Krispy Kreme, and a Walmart, and a Shopko, and everything else it seemed like.

Saturday we went to roaring springs water park. Jacob’s favorite ride was the Racing Ridge. My favorite was the Wave Pool. Anndrea & Elizza liked the lazy river. Elizza actually fell asleep on the lazy river. http://www.roaringsprings.com/attractions.php

Despite putting SPF 50 Sunscreen on…. (2 times) Anndrea got a little sunburn on her shoulders, Elizza a little on her face, Jacob, a little on his face and arms, and me, well I just lobstered my shoulders back and front. Now I know all about those sun guards called rash guards. I have one in the mail, for next time. I am healing but it has been a very painful process. No water blisters thus far, thank goodness. I still have lots of pain in my shoulders and upper arms. Guess I will not leave it all up to the sunscreen next time.

Saturday we drove to Twin Falls were I got us a room at the Red Lion via Priceline for 59 bucks. They usually go for $110.00 I am glad we got it because we were all really tired. We took our time and drove the rest of the way home Sunday.

It was a fun trip. I just wish I had more sun sense and protected my epidermis from the UV’s. I guess the lesson learned was never fully trust your sunscreen, it will fail, and betray you.