A Much Better Week: Pt. 1 - Sun. & Mon.

Perhaps it was my concentrated effort to stay optimistic and patient. Perhaps it was because I got to spend a lot of time with family. Perhaps it's because my kids are superstar travelers. Last week was much, much, much better than the week before.

I want to thank everyone who sent kind words my way after my rant from a couple weeks ago, whether it was by phone, email, comments, or in person. It meant so much to me. Being a mommy is a ton of work, fun, and stress, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I made a promise to myself a while ago that I wouldn't complain about my kids in FB status updates or on my blog, but especially on FB. I had to un-friend a few people because all they seemed to do was constantly complain about their kids, whether it was a newborn who wasn't sleeping through the night, the toddler who was hard-headed, or the school child who seemed unruly. They were depressing to read. I felt sorry for the kids.

I feel like my children ought to be celebrated, for lack of a better word. My kids aren't perfect. My house is in a constant state of unkemptness (I made up that word, but you know what I mean). Sometimes we have cold cereal for dinner because it's just been one of those days. But I love my children and I make sure that they know it. They often reciprocate. I'm always receiving "I love you, Mommy" notes, flowers from outside, hugs and kisses, or simply a smile and an "I love you so much, Mommy."

Accidents happen in our home. Big messes are made. The kids fight. Someone gets horribly ill. We get bad news from the doctor. Poison control needs to be called. These things are just a part of life. They just usually don't happen all at once like they did a couple weeks ago. They're usually more spread out, rather than concentrated into a few short days. That week was just a bit too much for me to handle.
 
The important thing is that I made it through. There are a million things that could have gone worse. I know how blessed I am. There are a lot of people in the world who are much worse off than I am. I am truly grateful for all the blessings Heavenly Father has bestowed upon me.

Now that I'm done rambling, I'd like to get on to what this post is really about: our trip to Utah.

We arrived Sunday morning, so we were able to relax and enjoy a quick lunch with my mom and step-dad before we got ready to go to afternoon church. I decided to go to our old ward, since I know more people and have friends there.

Because the kids had gotten up at 4am for two mornings in a row, they were pretty tired. I got Moses to stay awake just long enough to take the sacrament. He zonked out immediately after the water. Asher passed out soon after.

When the meeting was over, I was kind of in a pickle. I had two boys that were sound asleep and had no idea what to do. Akiko was ready to go to Primary and I needed to get Moses awake to go because there was no way I could carry both him and Asher with me to Sunday school. Akiko offered to carry Moses for me, but nearly dropped him on the floor, which woke him up.

Now that Moses was waking up, my friend Robyn offered to take Akiko to her class for me and another man in the ward helped me get Moses off to his. I was free to take sleeping Asher to Sunday school.

Since I've been in Primary for the last two and a half years, it was nice to get in an adult lesson for Sunday school and Relief Society. Except I dozed off during Sunday school. I felt really bad about that, but I also felt a little better, too. Asher stayed asleep the whole time for both hours.

Akiko and Moses had a lot of fun in Primary. Akiko got to see most of her old friends. Moses saw most of his, too, but he didn't remember them. He was not quite two when we moved.

We relaxed at my mom's house the rest of the day. Akiko and Moses spent a good deal of time playing in the snow in the backyard. Kristen came over for a bit after she got off work. We went to bed super early that night. Everyone slept very soundly.

The next day, we went to lunch with Kristen, my dad, and my uncle John.

Akiko was extremely excited to see Grandpa Fred.

After lunch, we drove down to Utah County to visit my grandparents.

Asher loves dogs. He was cautiously excited to meet Pugsley.

But he totally won over Grandpa Con and kept sharing his toys with him.

I'm really sorry about these pictures. The delay of the flash would miss the perfect shot, or else the pictures are blurry because I didn't use it. It was a no-win and I'm still learning how to use the manual settings on my camera.

The two Akikos being cute.

Moses spent much of his time making silly Potato Head configurations.

But he did also give Pugsley some love.

My kids and me with Grandpa Con and Grandma Mary Brady.

It was really great to visit and catch up with my grandparents and let my children get to know them a little bit. Akiko and Moses both said they had a lot of fun visiting them. Grandma even gave Akiko an early birthday present: a Rapunzel doll. She had received a couple bracelets from my dad at lunch. She said, "You know what's weird? Everybody just keeps giving me presents!" Is that a bad thing Akiko?

Because there are so many pictures and events that happened this week, this post is going to have to be split up into two or three parts.

To be continued...