High Anxiety!

Right now I am so stressed out. We are still trying to sell the house and the holidays are here. Our neighbors finally sold their house but they let it go for about $24,000 less than it was worth. This makes it even more difficult for us to sell because now we seem really over priced. Dang it!

There are so many other things adding to our stress and Zack and I are both suffering from extreme symptoms of anxiety/panic attacks. We have narrowed down Zack's "dizzy spells" to his most stressful moments and are assuming that they are stress related. For me, I have been having severe asthma attacks, that have been nearly crippling and the inhaler barely seems to help me. It's odd, but my asthma isn't nearly as bad when Zack is with me. He is my medicine ;) Even now, as I sit here typing, it is driving me crazy to look at the keyboard, the "G" button looks too small in comparison to the others....grrrrrr. I am not even including the stress of what Washington is doing to our country - that's a whole other post!

I have no idea how to de-stress myself and calm down except to ask for a blessing from Zack and our home teacher later on today.

Other than that, we are all healthy enough, happy enough, and are loving the fall/winter and the holidays. The boys' Primary Program is today and I am excited to see them perform. I also cannot wait to eat, eat, eat for the entire weekend of Thanksgiving.

Just FYI, the lady is breathing into the bag, not puking into it.

Halloween 2009

Well, this Halloween has been an unusually busy one for us. I was in charge of our Ward Halloween party and it was a big one. We think at least 200 people came :) I had a lot of great helpers that made everything run much smoother than it originally would have. THANK YOU!!!
I was so exhausted that I was not really in the "mood" to do Halloween the next day. Poor Mikey wasn't feeling well either, so he missed the Trick or Treating...
Can you tell by looking at most of our costumes that I LOVE cheap or free costumes?!?

Here are our costumes:

A Babe Magnet - Zachary





Billy Mays for the Power of Oxyclean! - Mikey



A prisoner - Tommy



Darth Vader - Scotty




Little Orphan Annie, Daddy Warbucks, and the Terrible Miss Hannigan.





Zack was so wonderful...the bald cap was terrible so he went the distance and actually shaved his head! I think it freaked Tommy out and surprised many of the teenagers at church!

Missing my man

While Zack is spending the week in Hawaii, I have been thinking of some of my favorite things about him. One of my favorite is when I hear him tackle one of the boys, grab up their bare foot, and with hand poised to pop their little toes, he'll shout, "Pick a letter between question mark and 9." (or he'll pop them) They'll squeal and yell, "Boat!" hoping they're right. Zack then hollers, "Wrong - it was Jupiter!"

POP!!!

Oh, how I love him!

Baby Steps

Today, I ate.........leftovers!

This is really hard for me to do and I have no idea why. However, in order to try to save some money, I am trying to not let things go to waste. Last night for dinner I made low fat Chicken Tortilla soup. It was so yummy. It was even better today since all of the flavors had more time to marry. Anyway, I am so proud of myself!


As a side note, it sickens me that on those House Hunting shows, people buy 4,000 sq. foot homes to make sure that their three dogs have enough space inside and out. What a slap in the face.

Remember when...

Remember when you'd want a cheap dinner out so you'd take the family to Chuck-O-Rama? Well, gone are the good ol' days.

We went a few weeks back and it cost us $60.00!!! Emily was free, too! What a rip-off. It really bothered us, so we weren't upset in the slightest when Mikey dropped a full plate of food on the ground. Well, maybe we were a little embarrassed since it was really loud when it shattered. Then we made sure that everyone stuffed themselves to the gills to justify spending that much. Not a very fun time at all. So, I guess Chuck-O-Rama gets to be put on the "Never Again" list. Too bad.

Good job, Mikey.

Love is....

...waking up to cool breezes coming through the windows, a hearty family breakfast, and this on the TV.




I get emotional just thinking about it!!! Fall and winter are coming!!!

Up next:

Last get-a-way of the summer

We were blessed to have the opportunity to stay with Zack's parents up at their cabin for the extended weekend. We had a great time visiting with our family. The boys always love time with their cousins. I've hurt my back and the house needs some attention so I'll make it quick.

Emily watching Caillou on our MP3 player. Whatever stops her screaming. Sheesh!



Mikey and Zachary on a hike with cousins Katie and Annie, Grandma and dad. They were "lucky" enough to find a half buried deer carcass. They dug most of it up and reconstructed the animal. Yummy.



Uncle Lincoln pulling Scotty, Little Lincoln, and Will for a ride.



The cousins trying to trick the hummingbirds into drinking from Mikey's cup. Mikey does this for hours at a time. Literally. He prefers doing this to riding the ATVs.



Scotty's new look. The dry air maybe?



The kids at the "lake".

Graceful as a .....

A friend of mine from Texas posted this today. I cannot stop laughing!

First Day of School 2009

Zachary - 7th


Michael - 6th



Tommy - 3rd



Scotty - Kindergarten



Emily - I am loving having a girl!!!

Most Boring Post Ever

1. Emily was stung by a wasp - yet another reason to go out of my way to hunt them down...

2. My house has never been cleaner - I have never been more insane.

3. School starts tomorrow for Zachary - JUNIOR HIGH!!! I am so excited for him!

4. School starts Thursday for Mikey & Tommy. Life will be just that much more crazy.

4. School starts next Wednesday for Scotty - can he really be old enough already?

5. So tired I apparently have forgotten how to count.

6. This is the first year EVER that I didn't want them to have to go back to school. WOW.

7. I am really looking forward to some mommy daughter time...so excited - hope she'll start to enjoy being with me. Dad seems to be her main squeeze right now.

8. Still looking/waiting for our miracle - no, not a baby!

9. Zack and I have gotten emotional with the cooler weather we've been having - can't wait for more!

10. I am still laughing at our jokes we had prepared for our talks two weeks ago but didn't share...not really funny though. Sad.

11. I have discovered that I am addicted to FB and still eat popcorn and Kit Kats nearly every night.

12. I am starting to feel old because I hate the t-shirts out for young girls - "To be honest...I'm a liar" ugh! What kind of girls will my sons have to deal with when it comes time for dating and marriage - why is being ladylike so unpopular?!?

13. Even I am getting bored with this post - I'll post 1st day of school pics soon-ish.