I'm an Icecapader!

The little kids have discovered that the wood floor makes for a perfect sliding luge. Of course, you have to yell "I'm an Icecapader!" while doing it.

I've been tagged!

Things I've come to realize.....

1. I've come to realize that my family.... ~ is my whole life and I can't imagine being anything other than a mom!
2. I've come to realize that when i talk.... ~ sometimes my mouth goes faster than my brain.
3. I've come to realize that i need.... ~ the support and love of family and friends. I couldn't make it through a day without it.
4. I've come to realize that i have lost.... ~ too much time with my kids worrying about dumb things that have no importance on life...such as keeping my house clean!
5. I've come to realize that I hate it when... ~ people judge me for making the choices I've made to build my family.
6. I've come to realize that when I'm hungry .... ~ nothing sounds good to eat so I end up eating junk that I don't really care about like the chocolate chip cookie dough I ate for breakfast and now I'm sick!
7. I've come to realize that money.... ~ is relevent. The more you have, the more you spend.
8. I've come to realize that people.... ~ fascinate me.
9. I've come to realize I'll always be... ~ stressing about my kids.
10. I've come to realize that I'm in love with... ~ Jay and my kids. Life would be nothing without them!
11. I've come to realize that my cell phone is... ~ my lifeline, my entertainment and my biggest time waster. If I'm not talking or texting, I'm lost!
12. I've come to realize that when I woke up this morning... ~ it had snowed AGAIN!!!!
13. I've come to realize that right before I go to sleep at night... ~ my mind races with all the things I didn't get done during the day.
14. I've come to realize that right now I'm thinking about... ~ how am I ever going to get my house back in order after the remodel and flooring projects.
15. I've come to realize that babies... ~ have played an important role in my life. All I ever wanted to be when I was growing up was a mom and here I am! I have the best kids I ever could've hoped for.
16. I've come to realize that when I blog... ~ I spend too much time on the computer.
17. I've come to realize that today i will... ~ probably not get all the things done that I need to.
18. I've come to realize that tonight I will... ~ go to bed exhausted.
19. I've come to realize tomorrow I will... ~ start all over again!
20. I've come to realize that I really want to... ~ take a long nap (and it's only 9:00 in the morning!)
21. I've come to realize everyone I tag to do this will.... ~ roll their eyes at me!

I tag everyone reading this! How's that for sneaky?!

Still here!

just to let you know, I'm still here! The last week has been a hectic, crazy one to say the least. We finished painting the livingroom, and began installing the laminate wood floor throughout the house. It's turned into a much bigger job than we anticipated (don't they always!) and we are STILL putting the floor in. We had to tear out the subfloor in the kitchen, which was a job in itself, but that's done now and hopefully things will fly now. We asked a friend who works for the flooring company we bought the supplies from to come help us with one little issue and he found a section that wasn't completely snapped in. Of course, it was in the middle of the dang floor! He tried everything he could to get it to go but eventually had to tear apart about 15 feet of flooring we had laid in order to snap that one stupid section together. What a man!

Anywhoooo...I'll try to post something a little more substantial once this floor is finished!

25 years and counting!

Oh yes! Believe it or not, I'm old enough to say that 25 years ago yesterday I began my life as an Anderson. I remember my wedding with such vividness and although a lot of water has passed under that bridge, it still amazes me that it's been so many years. It's shocking to look in the mirror and realize I'm not the young whipper snapper that I used to be. Those crows feet are edging out of the corners of my eyes and I have a permanent crease in my brow. But as I think of all the experiences that brought on those lines and wrinkles, I can honestly say each one played a vital role in making me who I am today. Looking at my incredible man, I can't begin to imagine what my life would be without him! We've certainly had our ups and downs, like any normal relationship, but the key is we've come out on top with a deeper love and appreciation for each other. I naively chose him to be my companion and if I had known 25 years ago what I know now, I would've strapped him down and forced him to marry me the moment I met him! He's the best thing that could've happened to my life and I thank the Lord every day for him.

I was pondering on the different paths my life could've taken and it kind of scared me, to be quite truthful. I could've pushed him aside to wait for my "missionary", I could've ignored his attempts to woo me in order to go to college and pursue a degree in music (that wouldn't have gotten me very far!), or I could've selfishly given him the boot at any point in our courtship because I was too scared to take a chance on the unknown. Instead, I gave up my missionary, put aside my own education in order to help him achieve his, and I took a chance. I have absolutely no regrets!!!! He's given me more than I ever could've dreamed off. We take the best parts of each other and have made a oneness that can never be broken.

Babe, I can't wait to see what the next 25 years holds in store for us! I love you!

This week's excitement

The days just seem to fly by lately! We're in the middle of a major redo in our house. We decided that with our tax returns we needed to spiff up the house, so....this week has been filled with tearing things apart, moving furniture to allow painting, etc. and just making bigger messes in general. We are putting laminate flooring in the sitting room, entry, hallway, kitchen and dining area and new carpet in the familyroom and down the stairs. Of course, that means painting everywhere first! The sitting room has received a fresh coat of beautiful gold paint (Jay is putting the finishing touches on it right now!) and the rest will just get a touchup of the current color. Whew! What a job! Thank goodness spring break is next week so we will hopefully have time to get it all done. And did I mention we are putting the laminate in ourselves?! Those of you that know Jay will understand the irony in that. Give him any kind of a ball and he's a pro. Put a hammer in his hand and he's lost. He's actually getting better and I keep trying to tell him he can do it, but he's a little intimidated. The guy we ordered the flooring from said it's basically idiot-proof so I'm hoping we can do without making idiots of ourselves. Jayson will be home this weekend for spring break too, so he's been enlisted whether he likes it or not!

We also have a scheduled surgery tomorrow for Jordan. He tore the cartlage in his shoulder during football season and injured it even more at the state wrestling tournament so off to the hospital he goes! Jayson actually had the same surgery during his senior year, so we know what to expect. It won't be a walk in the park, that's for sure. It's a pretty painful surgery and the nurse even told me today to expect a pretty sore kid. Jordan has talked Cecy into entertaining him all next week with videos and such, "just like she did with Jayson". He won't admit it, but I think he's starting to get a little nervous! Poor kid! He tries so hard to be the tough guy.

On top of all that, Jay and I are taking off Monday thru Wednesday for our 25th anniversary. We had been planning for years to go on a Hawaiian cruise for our 25th, and then we had an unexpected surprise that depleated our funds for the trip. More about that later! Anyway, we decided to just take a couple of days and go down to Little America in Salt Lake, the hotel we stayed at for our honeymoon. I'm just looking forward to having some deeply needed one on one time with Jay. Doesn't matter where, just as long as we can have time to be together without all the normal distractions. It's hard for me to believe it's really been 25 years, though! Man, oh man! Where did all that time go?! I still feel like I should be a newlywed, or at the very least, a young mom. Here I am, closer to 50 than I like to admit, with two adult children. In fact, Cecy is the same age I was when I had Jayson~ eekkkk! But through all the ups and downs of our 25 years together, I can't begin to imagine my life without Jay. He's the best!!!!! Sometimes I don't feel like I deserve his goodness.

Not so cute Jake

Ok, my beautiful, funny, rambuncious (I don't know how to spell that!), four year old son is having one of his meltdowns. My little guy has a temper that when it's triggered....LOOK OUT!!! As I said in one of my earlier posts, I think he has some issues that stem from his previous experiences before he came to live with us. He was a rage filled baby and toddler, and although much of his anger has calmed down, every once in awhile it rears it's ugly head again. For example, after I had picked him up from preschool, I hurriedly put him in the car and he insisted on doing up his own seatbelt. I shut the door, hopped in the driver's seat and took off. Not three seconds later he began to throw a fit because he couldn't get his seatbelt done up. Rather than pull over and help him, I just told him it was ok and not to worry about it. Big mistake on my part! He proceeded to get angrier and angrier as his frustration level rose. By the time we got home he was in a full fledged raging fit. I calmly drug him out of the car, took him in the house and put him in his room for time out. I've found the quickest way to calm him down is to leave him alone. Unfortunately, he decided to begin destroying his room and then proceeded to dump the laundry basket out and throw the laundry all over the place. Trying to talk him through it when he's in the moment is useless. I stood over him and waited until he stopped his screaming and then calmly told him he couldn't come out until the laundry was picked up. His room was too far gone for him to be able to clean it up himself, so I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to take care of that part. The laundry was another story! He tossed it up and down the hall several times, into his room, out of his room and into the bathroom, down the hall again and finally ended up tossing the laundry basket into the hall closet. Once he calmed down, I told him he could come out as soon as the laundry was cleaned up and then he proceeded to quietly reverse the damage he had done. I swear, that boy is going to age me faster than the rest of the kids combined!

My heart breaks for him when he loses control like that because I know there is a part of him that simply cannot control the anger. I know that he suffered neglect and abuse before he came here, and I have no doubt that has had an effect on his ability to cope. He's improved by leaps and bounds but I think there are underlying issues that will be a challenge for him to deal with for a long time to come. Of course, part of it can be chalked up to personality, but seeing his hurt heart at times like this almost brings me to tears. Why did he have to experience the challenges that he did? Why didn't the Lord allow him to come to us before all of that happened? I'll never have the answers to those questions, but as his mom it's my obligation and duty to try and teach him that he IS loved and will never be abandoned again. My sweet boy, I love you with all my heart!

Love notes

Maleia is going through a stage where she loves to write love notes to everyone. Here's the latest!

Where does the time go?

Wow! I just got on here and realized it's been a week since I posted anything! Last week was definitely nutso, though, in my defense. My cute nephew married his beautiful, tiny sweetheart from the Phillipines and Cecy and I got to doll the women up that were in the wedding. What a blast! Actually, Cecy and I headed to Salt Lake the day before and got a hotel room. We decided we needed a little girls night out, so we took advantage of the situation. It was fun to spend some one on one time with Cec. We don't get much of that anymore! I guess that's what happens when kids grow up. Cecy has always been my bud and while she was growing up, she would almost rather spend time with me than with friends. She's always been a mama's girl! Now that she's an adult with a life of her own, we don't get to spend as much time together and it makes me sad. I just hate having to let go!!!!

Speaking of letting go, yesterday was Jayson's 23rd birthday. My little baby boy is a grown man! It's so hard for me to believe that I have a son who is almost the age that Jay was when we got married. That means Jay and I aren't too far off the age of our parents were when we got married either! Aackkkkkk!!!!! Anyway, Jayson is the definite leader in our family. He is such an amazing person and I'm so in awe of the man he's become. Everyone in the family looks up to him and he has set such a great example for his siblings. I'm blessed to call him my son! Jayson, we love you and miss your "stinkin' guts"! I hate not being able to see you every day, but I'm so glad you've found your niche!

Jayson, as many of you know, is busy coaching at Snow College and trying to keep up with his classes. He actually could've graduated from Snow this spring but he chose to drop some of his classes which will allow him to continue next fall with the football season as he finishes up his associates degree. From there, who knows where the road will lead. He wants to stay involved with coaching, and would prefer to stay on the collegiate level, but we will see where things go after next season. It has been fun for us to follow him and I'm sure wherever he ends up, we'll be right there to cheer him on! But for now.....GO BADGERS!!!