Sunday, Sunday

Well, it's Sunday again. It seems like Sunday afternoons are the only time I can kind of sneak away & do a little blogging. :)

This week has been good. I've been potty training Dallin. He's doing really well... which means I'm not super stressed about things. (BIG sigh of relief!) I really, really don't like potty training. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, it's my LEAST favorite thing about parenting. I still stand by my statement: If you potty train 4 children, the 5th should be free!! (I know, I'm sure I'm repeating myself...) Anyways, Dallin is doing well. There have been some accidents, but he's getting there. This morning I took him out of his crib and his diaper was still DRY. WOW. I wasn't expecting that!! Yes, he's still in a crib... there's no one following him, no one needing the crib, so what's the rush of taking him out? He won't climb out because I've told him enough times that he'll fall and hurt himself. And that's really stuck with him... that and the one time he tried to climb out he scared himself to death and hurt himself enough to make an impression. But now that's he had a dry diaper, I feel like I need to take out the toddler bed and run with it. Maybe he will night time potty train now?? No idea, but I'm going to try him in the toddler bed tonight. BUT I'm not taking the crib down... there may still be some use still... like when he needs a nap during the day... then I can put him in and know that he will sleep. (ya, this post makes me feel old... really exciting, potty training talk, lol... I need to get out more, alot more!)

Last weeks wedding order went really well! I did it! I made 21 dozen cupcakes & a 2 tier cake, while potty training Dallin and I had 10 kids home with me on Thursday & 6 kids with me on Friday. WOW. I did it. Pretty amazing, really. I started all of my prep work the Saturday before, and picked away at everything I could, so that by Thursday and Friday, I just had to do the last minute things. And I even had enough room in my 2 cake fridges!!  (Big relief there!) The wedding went well apparently. The mother of the bride sent me a message on Facebook and told me that the cupcakes were a hit, and that people kept going back for more & that she couldn't pick a favorite because they liked them all! I'm always sooo happy when I get some feedback... I'm so glad they were happy with everything. **All smiles**

We have a long weekend this weekend. It's so nice to have tomorrow off. I'm going to lay in bed for as long as I can... which, if I'm really lucky, will be until 7:30 or 8:00am, lol. I don't know if I'm broken, or what my problem is, but I have a hard time sleeping more than 7.5, 8 hours. I know sometimes it's because I have so much to do, I just don't sleep well... my mind is always sorting through details, always trying to figure out how to best spend the hours in my day, sometimes I just stress about things & sleep just doesn't happen. I don't have as much on my plate this week, so I'm optimistic that I will be able to sleep tomorrow morning. *crossing fingers!*

I sat with my Dad in Sunday School today. It was really nice. That's one of the things I am loving about living back in Alberta. It's really great to live close to my parents. My mom was home today, she wasn't feeling well. So my dad was at church on his own, and we sat together during sacrament meeting... well, we took 2 rows... our family is too big to sit in one row now. ;) Sitting with him in Sunday school was so nice though. It just feels good to be close to my Dad. He's just such a good man, I love him!! I love hearing what he has to say. He has so much wisdom, I always learn from him when he shares things in class. I am so grateful to be here right now. We were away from family for 6 years (because of Bryce's military work)... and we've been back for about a year & half. I don't know how else to say it, it's just good to be close to family again.

Christmas time was crazy busy this year, like all the other years! I had bought the kids a gingerbread house to assemble & decorate. (ya, I'm not that crazy to make it... why bother, I can buy one for $5... and it frees up more time to do other things) So, Christmas came, Christmas went, the house didn't get built. So I told the kids that we would do it for New Years. New Years came and went. House still didn't get done. That red gingerbread house was staring me down all January. ALL January. And the kids didn't forget about it either! One day, I decided that we have a new Christmas tradition. This is it: I will buy a gingerbread house kit and we will do it for Valentines Day. Smart, hey! There's alot less going on in February than December! I went to Bulk Barn last week and bought a bunch of cute pink, red and white Valentines candies. The day before Valentines Day, I assembled the house so that it would be all set when the kids went to decorate it. The next day, things were SO busy, and the kids were all CRAZY, so we didn't decorate it. But we did it the next day (for fun-Friday). It was great! We were all relaxed and happy. And I was really happy because it was done... no more red box staring me down! And last night, we ate the gingerbread house together! The kids were happy campers! It's like Valentine's Day lasted 3 days in our house! Last night, Bryce & I were with the kids & were dancing around to music and eating candy. (YES, Bryce danced around the living room with the kids... many people wouldn't probably believe it, lol, he's so reserved & kinda serious around most people... but he's hilarious around us! LOVE HIM!!) Since things went so well with doing the gingerbread house in February, we've definitely decided that this is our new family tradition. And I love it!

I'll post pictures of the finished gingerbread house when I get them from Bryce later... they are on his phone. ;)

Here are a few pics & videos from this past little while... see, we are alive, just not blogging all the time ;)

Here's a funny app Bryce put on his phone...

 I went snowboarding with my brothers, Jonathan (left) and Graham (right) at Lake Louise in Banff, AB. SO MUCH FUN! (January 2013)

Dallin cutting his pizza with a spoon and an upside down knife! (Feb 16, 2013)

Not sure what Madi's doing. I went to wake the girls up one morning and found Madi sleeping like this. She told me that she was asleep... but later told Bryce that she wasn't really asleep. Lol, either way, she's a crazy little girl! ;)

Here's Adam at the Remembrace Day ceremony at his school this past November. Love my cute boy!

Here's Bryce & Adam, Madi & June on Remembrance Day November 2013. The kids were sad because Bryce was going back to Wainwright to work...  it was a hard good bye...

My handsome Bryce with little Dallin & sad June. It was really hard to have Bryce leave part way through church. He was gone so much this fall. I was happy to get a picture of Bryce in his dress uniform. So glad he's home way more right now! Hope that lasts!!! Better yet, hope he gets into med school and isn't away all the time!! ;)

Well, I'm off. We are having the missionaries over for supper. And the kids want me to make a cake for dessert. (I kinda get a kick out of that... you know, just whip one up... some of my least favorite words... cakes take time, and alot of it!) So I guess I better mommy-up and get making some food!