The Last Supper:

A few days before we moved some of our friends threw us a good-bye dinner. It wasn't very long (I had Zumba to teach), but that 2 hours that we spent together was so much fun. I miss all of them so much. I miss Lisa and Doug and our Hand and Foot nights and dinners we would always get together for. She usually hosted since we have no table. My kids loved playing over there and we always had fun.

Here is my Lisa:


My friend Ginger and her husband Kevin are such a crack-up. It's great when you can be yourself around someone and they don't judge you. For some unknown reason (I'm thinking it's because Ginger finds me unbearably HAWT) we were always grabbing each others butts or doing something off the wall. I also loved to give Kevin, her husband a hard time....Can I get a little WHAT WHAT???


We had just started hanging out with the Hilton's, but man...they are a funny couple. Mitch home taught them and they both would come to my Zumba class. I loved to give Brent a hard time at class and Mindy would just sit there and laugh. Again, it was just awesome to get together with them because we would do nothing but laugh. They had such awesome personalities. I'm going to miss all of our friends, but not to worry we are planning some fun vacations this summer and the laughter will start again.

The Group:

Happy Birthday/Baptism Peyton!!

I'm really late in posting this. Life has been crazy, but I wanted to say a big Happy Birthday/Baptism to my boy Peyton!!

Peyton turned 8 on September 23rd. Eight years since that little boy entered our lives. He was such a cute baby, but definitely hard. I'm happy to say that he has turned into the most sensitive, cute, funny little guy ever.

We had a party for him that Saturday. He wanted to have a Star Wars themed party. I want to thank the following vendors for having what I needed to make this a galactic, wet day. Walmart: For having Star Wars EVERYTHING so I could decorate our backyard. Dollar General: For still having water noodles!!! We cut them in half and made them look like light sabers. They also had water guns that were pretty stars wars-ish looking and water balls for "bombs. Then finally to Family Dollar: For still having water balloons!! Thanks to my friends for the slip n slides and pool. Mitch and I filled and tied over 300 water balloons. They were gone in 15 minutes. We had 5 little boys and 2 girls over here and water was flying everywhere. They had a blast. Then a lunch of hot dogs (*gag*), chips, grapes and of course his favorite drink of root beer. We then did presents and of course he was stoked about everything he got. Then of course we dug into the Star Wars cake that took me 9 hours to make and was devoured in 30 minutes. Oh well. It is how it is. Then of course they trashed my basement (oh well) and home they went. I think he had a fun day. I'm actually positive he had a fun day because he couldn't stop talking about it.

We gave him a Nintendo DSi for his birthday. Boy, was he ever excited. He also got 4 new games to go with it from family members. Thanks! Those games are expensive.

On October 9th Peyton got baptized. He was the ONLY one in our stake getting baptized that day, so we had to arrange EVERYTHING! It was insane, and to be honest I wasn't too thrilled about it. As if I haven't been going through enough stress as it is, but I'm happy to say that it went really well. I want to thank my friends for bringing food and helping me out with prayers and standing in the circle. My grandpa said a talk on the Holy Ghost and I gave one on Baptism. Then came the dunking. It was such a beautiful experience and I'm so proud of him. He was baptized and confirmed by Mitch. What a great day. He looked like such a stud in his suit. I wish I had pictures of it, but of course I still can't find my disc.

Here is one of Peyton from when we got our family pics taken. So handsome.


We love you Peyton and are so proud of you and your decision to get baptized. You are such a wonderful boy.

Never Again:

Price doesn't have much to do. Seriously. So when we moved here, we had a lot of people tell us a bunch of free things that could be done around here. One was heading over to the local museum and watching them feed the snapping turtle, alligator and big lizards. So a few weeks ago, I asked the kids if they would be up to it. I will admit, I was a bit hesitant because...well...I know what they feed them.

So off we went. I felt pretty lucky in that there was only one other set of people there waiting to see the action. I did explain to the kids how they fed the animals and they seemed intrigued. What came next will forever haunt....all of us. Except for maybe Cohen. He thought it was cool. Weird kid.

First on the menu: A hamster. Apparently the pet store couldn't sell this particular hamster because it kept biting people. Fitting end for said hamster? I'll let you decide. Anyway, he tossed that sucker in and my kids literally gasped. The snapping turtle came right up and snatched it and took it way down into the murky depths of the tank. All you saw was sand billowing out everywhere. Next were a couple of mice. I don't think I have ever seen Peyton more terrified. He sat there with his hands over his mouth, trying not to scream as the alligator attacked each little mouse. The last mouse took a bit to get eaten and we watched the poor thing climb onto a rock...trying to live. Needless to say, my kids were quite well traumatized by the time they started feeding the lizards.

Here are a few of the lines from Peyton that echoed throughout the museum during this display of...nature:

"PLEASE!! We will take the mice home and take care of them if you don't want them!"

"NO! No! NOOOOO!"

"Mom. This is horrible. Will you please take us home?"

Me: So...uh..What did you think?
Peyton: I think I never want to see that again!
Me: Agreed.

So thanks to all of you who recommended this "activity" and said that it was actually pretty "cool". My kids have not forgotten it...and neither have I.

Age Old Question:

The battle has been going on for many years. Man vs. Woman. He-Man vs. She-Ra. Superman vs. WonderWoman. Batman vs. Catwoman.



VS.




I don't know when it happened. I don't know how it happened. But lately Cohen has been very aware of his gender. Not only have I gotten a line like this: "I will do it the MAN way!" but I've gotten a line like this "I want a burrito from a man!".

Seriously?

I'm still here!

It has been a really busy month! First of all my computer died SO SAD! but my awesome hubby surprised me with a new laptop! SWEET! So when I find my little disc to post pictures...I will.

Anessa has started Level 5 of swimming lessons and she's doing really good at it! She's going to be trying out for the swim team here in a few weeks. She has been working hard on her multiplication facts, reading and writing. I can't believe she's going to be in 5th grade!!

Peyton will be starting gymnastics here in a few weeks. The adventures in our house have not ended. Him and Cohen are constantly making up a new story line to entertain us with. He has also been reading up a storm. He reads so well. I'm one proud mom.

Cohen of course has been making us laugh with his quick wit and funny personality. We have been working on sight words this summer and he's catching on quick. He has been helping his dad out with the garden, and when I say that I mean he's been eating the peas out of the garden as quick as we can pick them. I can't get him to eat veggies that I make, but whatever works I guess!! Right?

Aja is doing really good. She's a little actress. She sings songs, dances and bowls us over with those pleading eyes every day. We. Are. Suckers. She's been having fun running around outside trying to keep up with her brothers. The poor girl recently had a run in with a spider or something, but she woke up with bites all over her face. She looks rough. I'm hoping they disappear soon. For now, she's sleeping in our room while we deep clean and hopefully kill whatever has gotten to her.

Mitch and I are doing really good. Just busy with work and raising our kids. I recently had the opportunity to do a Zumba demo here in Price. It was a lot of fun and hopefully will get more people interested in it. Mitch has been really busy at work, but he's managed to keep up on our garden and I'm happy to say that we have some fine pumpkin and squash plants growing and an endless amount of peas. Hopefully we get some tomatoes before it gets too cold. I was excited to hopefully get some raspberries, but the stinkin birds keep getting to them! I curse the birds! Life is good. Price is a great/interesting city. We are trying to learn to sleep through the hours of 2-5 in the morning when it seems that people like to come home or go to work. It's really weird. Price is a whole other world I tell ya!

Born on the 4th of July! No..Seriously.

My Grandma Moore was born on the 4th of July. Sweet. So we decided to pack up our bags and head to SLC for the weekend. Man. It was busy. We got into SLC on Friday and OF COURSE had to hit up our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Puente. Seriously. When you live in a teeny-tiny microscopic town and you head to the "Big City" you need to plan where you are going to eat because in your teeny-tiny microscopic town...there is NOWHERE to eat. Anyway, back to what I was saying. Saturday morning we managed to get my Pop out of the house and see the Last Airbender with us. Great movie! The kids loved it! Then off it was to my grandmas for swimming and birthday celebrations. Didn't get any pictures of kids swimming as I was in the pool too, but trust me..they had fun. After getting sufficiently wet, we went to the SugarHouse fireworks show. We hadn't gone for a long time and they had actually stopped doing it, but had managed to get funding to do it this year, so we decided to go. The kids had so much fun. I just love watching them because it makes me feel as if I'm getting some high parenting points.

Daddy and Aja waiting for the magic to begin. Hey..Nice garments, babe!


My mom and step-dad, Jim. He thought I wouldn't be able to get him on camera. Did I mention that I've got 4 kids? Yeah...I've got the picture taking skillz down by now buddy!


Peyton and my cousin, Chase, hanging out. Yep. I said cousin.


Ness with my cousin (far right) and a friend. They had fun and most DEFINITELY acted like girls. Aja kept trying to keep up with them. She would sit by them and gossip in her little toddler voice. So cute!


The birthday girl herself. She's having FUN! Whee!


We rarely ever get pictures of us together and I thought this one was cute.


So Aja was with the girls being girly, and Cohen was with the boys doing what boys do best, fighting with swords, but when the fireworks started it was a HOLY CRAP! DUCK AND COVER! moment and they dived into mine and Mitch's laps. Pretty funny. Aja wouldn't let Mitch un-plug her ears and she wouldn't do it herself. So this is how Mitch spent his time watching fireworks.


Cohen has the cutest profile. We make the best looking kids ever!


Sunday we headed off to Grandma and Grandpa Bennett's house. It was pretty chilly up there and my kids didn't want to be outside too much. So we played inside, looked at the garden and OF COURSE no trip to Idaho would be complete without Mitch burning stuff down. We had fun visiting and catching up with Grandma, and she got herself some laughs from my kids shenanigans. Unfortunately grandpa was sleeping when this picture was taken, but my kids sure do love him and grandma. They talked about them all the way home.

My Supreme Dislike of Autism.

This week has been tough. I won't lie. I won't sugar coat it. I've escaped into the recesses of my room more than once this week to find some peace. Ugh. Regression. BIG TIME regression. I've been noticing it more and more the last couple of weeks, but what do I do? Cohen seems to be having some sort of reaction to some type of food, but can I figure out what it is? Nope. I don't even know where to begin.

It's heart breaking. It's so hard to hear his swimming teacher say "Cohen...Cohen...COHEN". I can't even get his attention. She's had to save him more than once because he just jumps right in the pool all because he's gotten away from me and I couldn't catch him in time. Even getting his attention at home is impossible. Lately we will be walking, and he will all of a sudden stop, contort his body and scream "LOOLOOLOO!" at the top of his lungs. The constant repeating of the same phrases from SpongeBob over and over again. It's as if he can't talk about anything else. His life and experiences are all compared to what he sees on the TV. Then of course there is the flexing. I have tried so many things to get him to stop. My last resort now is a weighted vest. That is the only thing I can think of that will help him.

I've been reading a book called "Tilt" by Elizabeth Burns. There are some really good passages in here that really explain what I'm feeling lately. My first one is found on the cover actually. It says:

"every family spins on its own axis"

There is so much truth in those words.

"Listen. We're wrestling with a God who asked us to step onto the mat. We're bargaining with a deity who's pulled aside the curtain and peered right into our souls. There are no secrets left. We're just here, breathing or gasping. We have no Doctor Spock for the Disabled. We have specialized hand-books depending on the syndrome; we have grief manuals; we have missives of inspiration. But nothing sticks, nothing solves, nothing answers the big questions."

I cried when I read that part because it is SO TRUE.

"And then when I was leaving she said to me, 'I think those of us whose children develop normally never know what it's like to love the way you do. Your heart has to stretch.' Mother, I just cried and told her she made my day."

Seriously.

I know we will get over this little bump in our road of life eventually, but as of right now, I'm worn out, but there is a peace in knowing that through all this Cohen and I will emerge just that much stronger to face the next hurdle.