new running shoes and more...

These are my two favorite things right now! New running shoes and a compression sleeve for my very unsightly and painful varicose veins. I'm so excited I found these. They made running today a breeze (and by breeze I mean bearable).

email purging and picture taking

So I have been purging my e-mail the past few days. Unsubscribing to everything, fixing my settings on good reads and facebook so that they don't notify me when one of my friends picks their nose. I am so excited! I can't wait to have less e-mail to look through everyday. The problem is that I can't remember what I have unsubscibed so I am sure I have done it more than once to a few places. Do you think two unsubscibes equal subscribe? I hope not.

My live-in downstairs called me today while I was out. He was trying to take a picture of the herd of deer in my back yard. He was determined to do it but couldn't seem to make my camera work. I think we spent a good 10 minutes on the phone trying to figure out the problem, but since he can't think of any original words so he just kept repeating what I said to do and saying he had done it, we did not fix the problem. He was just so determined. It's funny the things he gets excited about. The deer are beautiful and it is fun to see them, but they are literally out there everyday, its funny that today was the day he decided he had to have a picture of them.

When my sweet husband got home he was able to help him take a few pictures. I thought it would be appropriate if they are my day 4 pics. So here they are...

Buttercream or Cheese and Fruit

Lest you think I am showing you my food for the newly committed to eat right me, I would like to point out that the tub on the left is in fact not cottage cheese but buttercream frosting. I chose to show you all today my horrible horrible quandry. Do I eat smart/healthy or do I indulge with a little buttercream frosting. So far I am staying strong but I can't promise how the rest of the week will go.

Sunday is a happy day when church is at 9am!

It's a new year.

It's Sunday.

To us Mormons this means a new church time.

We share our church building with 2 other congregations so our services are spread out throughout the day. So last year our family went to church from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.

This in my opinion is the worst time to go.

My littlest was always ready for a nap and the rest of my kids were rowdy from being kept inside all morning.

Our new church time is 9am.

I love love love it.

It is spectacular!

It is great.

It makes me want to dance.

I can get up at 8.

Get everyone fed and dressed by 8:45.

Walk out the door.

Make it in plenty of time to sit a breathe for a minute.

Then worship for a few minutes at least.

That's usually all I get, with six kids I am calling it a win.

My job in the church is to teach all the kids 3 through 12 songs for 40 min.

I teach the younger kids for 20min and then the older ones for 20min.

This is hard for me but I am learning slowly to love it and to not be quite so nervous every week.

At 12:00 we head for home and then I have the rest of the day to spend with my family.

Time for a nap, if I want one.

That might be my favorite part.

The pictures I am sharing today are of Riley and Colton.

They are having fun on the couch.

They can do this because we have 9:00 church and we are home by 12:00 and then the possibilities are endless.

I love Sundays!

Day 1 in pictures

I'm going to try and take a photo everyday. Not necessarily of me but just something to document everyday of the year. It's just a thought. I'm not sure I can really do it, but I'm going to try. I think it will be fun and I might even learn something.

This is me starting the first day off right taking a picture.

Lots of stuff...

Crazy stuff going around in my head as of late...

Need to start exercising again. It's gotta happen.

Need to start making my time for me more meaningful. I spend a crazy amount of time escaping from the chaos that is the Mellenthin home but I am not sure I am making that time count for anything. I want it too!

I have been reading this blog I recently found and I believe that it is changing me. I mean, I know you have to choose to change, but I really think this might actually be the catalyst to make the change. The blog is http://www.lemonademakinmama.com/ She has started a journey with her family. It is inspirational to read. I actually even bought the book Crazy Love by Pastor somebody or other and am committed to read the book. I want to be more committed to be more Christlike. I want people to know when they meet me that I am a Christian and I am living my life the way Christ taught us too. Sometimes I wonder how apparent that is in my everyday. I'm not sure it is.

I haven't written on here in quite a long time and much has happened in our home.

In April of 2010 my husbands' very best friend for High School had a tragic accident that has resulted in a traumatic brain injury.

We chose in August to allow him to come live in our home. We felt that it was the only realistic option for him.

When the decision was made it was made on the contingency that I could reevaluate every 30 days if it was working and we could move him home to his parents in Idaho if it wasn't.

This has been a hard time for me.

The first 2 months were great.

He had regular therapy scheduled and although he can't communicate very well he can do most things on his own.

He was upbeat and determined to heal his brain by hard work.

He tried hard.

He did really well with my kids.

This was a hard adjustment for him.

He has had some hard months of late.

He is depressed a lot and short tempered.

This has been hard on me.

I want to fix it.

I can't.

We are all doing the best we can and I know that.

In the past week he has rallied and is much more upbeat and I am crossing my fingers that this will continue until we can find him an apartment to live in and a job that will keep him somewhat busy.

This is a very condensed version.

There have been many highs a lows.

Hopefully, if I continue to write on a regular basis I can explain more of how things are progressing.

There is still very far to go.

He will never be where he was and we will most likely have to continue to help him with the day to day things for the rest of his life. We didn't know when we were making the choice to let him move in that we were committing to this.

We have discussed it and decided if we had known we would have made the same choice.

I am going to really try and be more diligent about writing on here. It is therapeutic for me. Please don't feel the need to read it. I am sure for most of you it is quite boring. For that, I am sorry.

April 14th and 15th, 2010

4-14-2010 and 4-15-2010

I am thinking...I haven’t yelled this morning and I feel good. I hope it can last. I have been on vacation in VA for the last 6 days and that has definitely helped with my perspective.

I am thankful for... My sister, and life, and good friends and my security. I love that I know who I am. I learned a lot about myself in the last week, being virtually free with nothing pressing. I like to read books and spend time with family and good friends and just be.

From the kitchen... Chicken noodle soup and breadsticks. I haven’t actually made them yet but I need to do it before enrichment tonight so hopefully they will soon be “from the kitchen”, right?

I am wearing... My robe… not feeling great today and so I haven’t forced myself to get dressed.

I am creating.... I will get back to you on that one

I am going... I have to go to Costco today for groceries and then drive dance. Oh, and I have book club tonight! Yay! I love book club!

I am reading... On my trip I read, Daddy Long Legs, which was so fun and light and lovely! Then I read, House Rules by Jodi Picoult, it was an excellent book. It gave me tons of insight into autism and aspergers. I learned a lot. On the plane ride home I read Candor, which was very The Giver-esque which is always a winner for me. It needs a sequel though.

I am hearing... Colton is playing Donkey Konga (Konga drum game for the gamecube) It’s a little annoying but at least I know he has rhythm.

What I have learned about parenting this week… Well I was gone for a while and had some time to reflect on that. The things that I am hoping to do better at are to be more patient and take things in their stride. It does no good to fly off the handle. I know my kids tune me out when I do that. I am trying to do better with that. Sadie told me yesterday when I told her to do something “You know Mom you aren’t God” when I said “what did you just say?” she said “Are you?” with a very confused look on her face. She is funny and I love her but she is in major need to some good parenting. I hope I can measure up.

Blog I am enjoying… http://frugalwifewealthylife.blogspot.com/ There are definitely some good ideas here!

One of my favorite things... Life Cereal! I had a bowl today for the first time in a long time. It was so good!

A few plans for the rest of the week... Jillian has a dance competition on Saturday so Brian and I are planning on spending the day up in Clearfield. Should be fun.

A picture to share... This is me and some friends from high school in VA this past weekend. It was so fun to catch up and spend some time with them.