Cobalt 220

It's been a dream since I was a teenager:  to own a boat.  I've always loved boating - not so much the skiing, tubing, and water sports, but more the freedom and peace I feel sitting in a speeding boat in the sun.  We've been boating a lot with friends over the last year or two, and I finally got John on board to buy a boat.  The boat was signed, sealed, and delivered on July 11th.  It has been everything we have hoped for.  We were able to take it out over 11 times before we had to winterize it.  I'll post about those trips later.

We bought a Cobalt 220 with an open bow.  The kids love it, I love it, and so does John.  I've learned how to back a trailer up now so I'm not quite as nervous as I was when we first got it.  

When we are in the dock area, going wakeless, and approaching the buoys, Maddens favorite thing to do is say "wait for it, wait for it, wait for it..."  That is always sure to get a smile on my face.  Usually he falls asleep during boat rides, but I bet it is perfectly relaxing for him.

I'm excited to share the boat with other families that we love, and also to be able to spend that close time with my family.  I'm so glad that John did this for me and I think that we will have lots of fun memories aboard!

Our Shipp Sailed

It's been a whirlwind of emotions with Grandpa Shipp being gone.  He turned 90 years old this summer and was in great shape.  On our way back from Bear Lake, we stopped in to see Grandma and Grandpa.  The front door was unlocked as it always is, so we quietly knocked on the door indicating our intent to open the door.  Charley the dog didn't bark, and my family walked in.  Both Grandma and Grandpa were asleep in their recliners.  It made my heart skip a beat for a minute because they didn't wake immediately.  We made a little bit of noise, and they finally woke.  Grandpa asked me to make him some sausage and toast.  I gladly did.  Grandpa counted out dollar coins for the kids, up to their age, plus one to grow on.  I don't think I'll ever forget his hands touching the kids' palms while placing each coin carefully in their little hands.  We spent a half hour and then headed home.  It was a tough visit.  They seemed to be getting tired.  Grandpa seemed to be getting worse.  That was around August 20th.  A week later, we started discussing moving both of them down to Salt Lake to a care center.  So, reluctantly, they came down.  My mom said that as Grandpa was pulling away from his house he would say, "Goodbye house, goodbye USU, goodbye Smiths..."  They arrived in Sandy on Saturday August 31.  My mom picked out a beautiful care facility so that they could enjoy their time and each other while they were cared for 24 hours a day.  Plus, what a blessing it would be to be able to have them close and be able to visit often.

 Grandpa was irritable and uncomfortable, we just assumed that maybe he was overwhelmed.  Many times during the day, he would say that there were too many people in the room (even when it was just grandma, my mom, and him).  I think at that time, we didn't realize how close he was to slipping through the veil.  John and I took the kids over for just a minute on Sunday to check in.  Grandpa sat in his chair, still uncomfortable and asking to go to the hospital.  We waited most of the day Sunday to get a doctor in the room to help comfort him.  We didn't visit Monday because we didn't want to overwhelm him.  Tuesday, first thing, I got the itch to stop in and see them with Jack and Madden before Jack went to school.  I arrived at about 9:30.  Casey was in sad grandma's room sitting with her, holding her hand, and talking to her.  Once Casey saw me, she excused herself and started to head out.  I asked her if everything was okay and she just cried.  Casey felt compelled to go first thing in the morning and ended up staying for a few hours!  Grandpa was asleep, on Morphine when I arrived.  I talked to Grandpa, though he was asleep.  I kissed him and hugged him, told him that I loved him.  Then I moved in to Grandma's room.  She was just sad.  During the next few hours, my mom came, Randy, Cindy and Kristy, and Kelly stopped by.  I left and took Jack to school, but felt extremely impressed that I should go back.  So, I brought Madden back.  Just before we said goodbye to Randy and my cousins, I was looking into grandpa and noticed that he seemed to be more translucent and blue than I had thought he had been.  I pointed it out and everybody went in to check on him.  He was still breathing and other than color, nothing seemed to change.  They left.  My mom, Madden, and I went into Grandma's room and talked to her.  She had been laying on her bed all morning- hadn't moved from her fetal position on the bed.  I thought it was odd that just out of the blue, she said that she needed to go to the bathroom and then she wanted to go talk to grandpa.  Madden and my mom walked her to the bathroom and I stepped out to take a phone call. When I came back in to their room, Madden and my mom had just taken grandma to grandpa's bedside. Grandma said, "I love you, John."  She kissed her two fingers and placed them on his lips.  Grandpa died immediately after her sweet, simple goodbye.  It was an extremely sad moment, but it was incredibly sweet!! How grateful I was to be there to witness such a beautiful thing.  More importantly, I am go grateful to have been a part of his life and to have known him.  I love Grandma and Grandpa Shipp-- they have made a tremendous impact on my life.  Grandpa, you will never be forgotten.  Til we meet again...

I'm Back on Board

I'm back and I'm excited to jot down my thoughts and add pictures of fun things that are happening.  It's been too long.  For my own sake,  I'm making a list of what is to come.

-Updates on the kids
-Las Vegas with Holly
-School's out
-Lake Powell #1 (kick off to summer)
-Walk for Hope
-We bought a boat!
-Maiden voyage
-Las Vegas with Kirt and Leslie
-Yuba Lake
-Max Cup socer tournament
-Deer Creek
-Bear Lake
-Utah Lake
-The Shipp Sailed
-School starts
-Things Kids Say
-Lake Powell #2

That's my list for now, but I'm excited!!

I'm Not Going to Judge

I showed Jensyn (half jokingly) this picture of a cat.  She looked at it and got quiet and then said, "Oh, it's cute!  Mom, I'm not going to judge it because it has wrinkles."  What a sweetheart.  I am glad that somewhere we are teaching her something!

Santa and Toy via Santa Clause Lane

Every year we look so forward to having Santa and Toy make their appearance on our street.  It was SO cold this year, but it was fun still.  Madden was scared and didn't want much to do with him, but he loved Santa's horse, Toy.

Again, I am so grateful living where I live.  We have wonderful neighbors and a fantastic neighborhood.

 This is the crew who makes this fun event happen.  

Matt's Hilarious Nightly Family Prayer Fight

I've gotten approval from our Relief Society President and the Bishop to have this awesome man come speak at a Relief Society night in January.  I love watching him on Studio 5...he's so funny because everything he says is SO true!  I only hope that I can get our ward members to come see  him.  I would be totally embarrassed if only our presidency and the RS committee was there.  That would be bad.

I am 110% positive that I married the most handsome and kind man ever.  He is definitely my other 'three-quarters' (because I can only perform a fourth of what he can do...thanks for picking up my slack sweet John!)  He adds so much to my life and I am so grateful to have him!  I am looking forward to a great winter with him home!

A Full Heart

I consider myself to be a very blessed person...for many reasons.  I have a happy marriage and a handsome husband who happens to be my best friend. He is an extremely hard worker and can provide for me and my family on his own.   I have 4 of the most darling children that I think I have ever seen (and I am learning that 'each crow thinks his is the blackest') something that my mom has told me for years.  I have a nice home in a nice neighborhood (in a great city, in a nice state, and in the best country).  My kids are smart, quick learners (but somehow I can't teach them to clean up after themselves...go figure.)  I have been blessed in abundance.  We've been blessed with fabulous relationships.  I love the family that I have married into:  Dave and Aimee Rudd and their family, John and Sue Russell and their family.  These families have welcomed us into their families as if that is where we belonged.  I am so grateful for extended family on John's side that we have.  I admire everything about them, and my kids do too!

I am grateful for my own family...my mom and dad, my sisters and my brother.  My family came to my rescue last week when I was completely confined to my bed for an entire week.  Holly doubled her load for a whole 24 hours with my 4 kids, added to her 4 kids.  She even braved taking them to church!  She had nothing but sweet things to say to me about my kids, but then again, Holly only ever says sweet things.  Chelsey almost doubled her workload, as well, though she probably even had her hands more full with three babies under three of her own, plus my 2 babies under 4!  Casey used her weekend to do the same.  It was my parents who took me and sat with me in the emergency room while I rambled...that Morphine does that to me (and it makes my nose and face itch...Chels, that one's for you!).  Mind you, I am NOT an emergency room kind of person, but I couldn't even move an inch from laying flat on my back without excruciating pain across my lower back, bum, and leg.   I've had 4 Cesarean deliveries and it didn't come close to the pain I was experiencing!  John was in Lake Powell with a group of buddies from our ward, and so he couldn't be of any assistance.  So many people jumped in to save me that week, without any hesitation.  I called my my visiting teacher to come and get my girls to school (thanks Rochelle), and she was so sweet and offered to take the boys while she was getting ready to go out of town!  My awesome friend, Kjersti picked up the boys from her and had them for a few hours until my parents picked them up and took them to their house.  From there, it just took off.   I could not have kept an eye on my kids, or recovered without the help of so many willing people.  And, oh how I missed my sweet husband.

When I was down, the kids were so scared because I was crying and I couldn't walk.  Jack and Jensyn, with scared smiles on their faces came into the room and Jack said:  "Mom, don't worry, I can give you a blessing."  That made my cry even more.  What a sweet little boy I have.  When they realized that wouldn't work, their scared smiles turned into teary eyed kids.  They weren't used to seeing me so wrecked.  I love my sweet kids!

As of late, I have been brutally aware how grateful I am for mental health for my family and myself.  I never knew that mental health is such a trial for many people.  It is scary how many people are unstable with their emotional (and physical, haha) life.  Mental health...that's a big one.

Oh, wow.  There is so much more on my mind right now, so much gratitude in my heart for all that I have been blessed with!

I love counting my blessings.

Bear Lake 2011

It's been years since we've been to Bear Lake.  We decided it was time to do some kind of a mini vacation before school started with Kirt and Leslie.  Bear Lake it was.  We headed up there on Friday morning and spent the rest of that evening, all day Saturday, and came home on Sunday.  I love Bear Lake, although the waters were so high that we couldn't 'beach it' where we were used to.  We headed into the Idaho side of the lake...we definitely chose the wrong side as far as weather goes.  You could see blue skies on the south end, but the north end, where we were, was stormy and cold-ish.  We had fun none-the-less.  The kids enjoyed playing in the water, digging sandcastles, and having fun.  We spent time in the pool, riding hay rides, and sitting around campfire.  I love Kirt and Leslie--we always had such a great time when we lived so close to them, so I am grateful that we can continue their friendship through the years.  I'd say any vacation with family is a fabulous one.

Our season pass to Lagoon is nearing its end.  We have had a lot of fun there this year, but I don't think we will renew it next season.  We used the pass a lot in April and May, a few times over the hot summer months, and more recently we finally took out the motor home.  It was a nice cool day on Saturday, but it was still packed!  Grandma and Grandpa JJ also purchased season passes and this was the first time that we were able to join up.  The kids had a blast!  Jack loves being tall enough to go on BAT.  I am certain that is his new favorite ride at Lagoon.  Jensyn's favorite has always been Colossus, but this most recent trip, her new favorite was Spider. That is good news since she wouldn't have anything to do with that or Wicked once she rode both of them once.  Since we had the motor home, we made all of our food instead of buying the stuff at the park.  Lunch was mediocre, but dinner was so yummy!  We had shredded pork tacos...one of our favorites.  They don't require much, just the taco, pork, and guacamole.  So delish.  I have been happy to do Lagoon this year and anticipate doing it again in a few years or so...but I think I am Lagoon-ed out for awhile.  I do know that we will head out at least one more time for Frightmares.  I always like this time of the year there.

Big Bad Jack

This big guy is such a hoot.  (Every once in awhile, I call him Big Bad Jack so in reply, he calls me Big Bad Mom...I love him!)  A few weeks ago, Jack started becoming annoyed that he had training wheels on his bike. He asked John to just take them off.  John took them off, and seriously, this is what he did...

Brothers

These two boys are the light of my life!  They get along so well...they truly care about each other!  If Jack is riding the Jeep, Madden climbs in and assumes position.  Madden holds on and they ride for hours.  If Jack is not in the Jeep, you can often find Madden in the drivers seat driving.  If this is something that Jack takes notice of, Jack comes over to get into the drivers seat...and then Madden knows the drill.  He scoots over to let Jack be the driver once again.  They build ramps, they go up mounds of dirt, they drive from spot to spot in the yard with the toy chainsaw in the back and do 'work.'  These boys are definitely boys, and I love every minute of watching them be boys together.