I have some time on my hands

So this sunday morning I find myself home with my three girls while Coop is at church with Rob. It feels like I'm in the middle of winter again with half of my family sick. The girls just have runny noses and are coughing, but still, who wants to be the mom to take that church. So we're all home in our jammies watching Enchanted, which by the way cracks me up. Let me just give you a brief over view of the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago Shelby kept complaining that her throat hurt, I took a look and her tonsils were bright red, she had a fever the night before too. That only lasted about a day and then two days later Coop had the same symptoms, wonderful. Naturally I started feeling sick, but didn't pay too much attention to it because hey, I'm the mom right? I don't get to get sick. Well that started on Friday, by Sunday I felt like I had been hit by a truck and finally paid attention to my body and stayed in bed all day. It actually worked! I got better by Monday morning I was feeling great, but had a little cough still. No big deal. Well Tuesday morning (Rob's birthday BTW) the little cough got so bad that I couldn't talk or walk around to much without coughing up a lung. The fever started to come back and I made my own diagnosis of pneumonia. Well I had to work that night so I called in sick but still went up and saw one of the anestesia docs to confirm my diagnosis...yep, I was right. So after another day of antibiotics I was again on the up swing, plus had healthy kids...ahhh, that was nice to get that over with because we had McDougal family reunion coming up. We were all healthy for it. YAY! We went up to THIS IS THE PLACE MONUMENT for family day. It was really fun. We looked around, rode the train, did some crafts, played some games, rode horses, and of course ate some treats. Here are some pics




We really had a fun day up there and afterward headed over to my brother's house for a bbq, outdoor movie and sleepover. Here's some more pics

Here's the kiddos getting ready for the movie. Shelby is clearly excited to be getting her picture taken.
What a handsome little manSorry, but how cute is she? And eating a roasted marshmallows, mmmmm.
Yes, she was happy for most of the night. Who wouldn't be happy with a root beer float?

Anyway, so that was the long weekend and this morning both girls woke up with coughs and runny noses, so here I am able to update.
In other news, the house is finally for sale and the house next door is still getting finished. The sheet rock should be getting started this week. Hopefully we'll find someone to buy this place soon and we can start building the new one. Time will tell.

Monthly updates

Well, here I am again and another month has passed. I'm going to quit apologizing for myself because clearly this might be how it is for the next little while. Right now we are in the middle of finishing little odds and ends around our house to sell it, we bought the house next door and are fixing it up to flip it, and we are preparing to build our new home out in West Haven (YAY). So needless to say things around here are crazy...oh yeah, need I remind you that I also have 4 children. So I'll do my best to get on here every once in a while and give a shout out. These are all in kind of a random order so just try and keep up.

Right now things are actually feeling pretty sane because we just got back into town yesterday afternoon from Cedar City for the summer games. Rob played basketball with a team that we went down there with last year. It was totally fun and the team did OK too. We kind of counted this as our summer family vacation. We stayed at the Abbey Inn (Cooper decided that next time we go down there that we should stay in the Cooper Inn) and it was lots of fun with an indoor pool and yummy breakfast. We took the camera but it stayed safely in its case the most of the trip. Here is a picture of the kids in there sleeping arrangements. Whitney actually slept in her car seat, but the other three shared a bed, for most of the night at least. At about 2 am Coop fell out of be and that woke Shelby up. He, however, slept right through it. Then she came into bed with us.We took Rob's brother down with us so we had two rooms. The first night Rob, Abby, and Coop slept in with him but the next two nights we all stayed in our room together and let Brian have some space. He was a champ being with the kids the whole time. They love him so much. You'd think that I would have got a picture with them all together, however you are mistaken:(

Last weekend we went camping with some friends from the ward, the Bees and Aardemas (we so love our ward and are having a very hard time thinking about leaving). This basically the only picture we have of Whitney. That's my friend Sharon holding her. Yes, it was raining and Sharon is innovative and through the burp clothe on her head to keep her dry.



Here is Abby on her cool princess bike. She was the oldest one up there and was SO in charge. She is always trying to be helpful in one way or another. She really kept some of the kids taken care of.
Here's Coop and Shelb. Aardema's were geniouses in suggesting that we take up the kids bikes. They were all on them most of the time. We had the little 4-wheeler up there too and they loved it with the open space.
Here is Ms Whitney on her blessing day. I only took a few pictures but Barb is a champ and always takes her grandkids and does a big photoshoot with them with her own camera. Whitney, of course, was adorable and Rob gave a beautiful blessing. I'm so greatful to have a husband who takes his priesthood authority seriously and is worthy to take care of his responsibilities.
And here is Whitney today. She is loving her siblings so much. I was straight in front of her and could get her to smile but the minute I called Abby in she turned into a cheeseball. You can tell that Abby was sitting to the side. She looks so cute when she smiles. She's getting pretty chubby too. I love those cheeks!


And lastly, every summer we have shaved Coop's head. Last year we though it would be funny to shave his head into a mohawk, but he looked so cute that we let him keep it for a few days. This year he kept asking when he gets his mohawk again and finally, the day after Whitney's blessing I gave him one. I did it on a Monday morning so he could have it all week before we cut it for church.Well, that's about it for now. A few milestones on kids (because remember I count this as my journal)...Abby is loving being home for summer vacation, though she gets bored often and I'm on the countdown to school already. She is really a good reader, but isn't really thrilled about having to do it. She needs things to be her idea.
Coop got a big boy bike a couple of weeks ago and loves riding it where ever he can. Hopefully we'll have the training wheels off by the end of summer.
Shelby's new favorite word is "NO", and that is in capital letters for a reason, and "MY SELF". She is sooooo 2 years old. We still love her, but I'm really looking forward to her growing out of this phase.
And of course Ms. Whitney is doing the adorable baby thing. She just started sitting in the bumbo and is kind of a fan. Hopefully we'll start working on rolling over soon.
Rob is crazy busy with work (which is such a blessing in this economy) and I am trying to juggle 18 things at once.

What a crazy, wonderful life!

Things are crazy here!

So when I get on the computer to blog I really get bothered when people haven't updated in a while. Well now that I am one of those people, I apologize. Can you give me some credit though? I just had baby number 4 a month ago. I can't believe she is already a month old! She is doing wonderfully. We had the jaundice issues for a few weeks, then she decided she didn't want to gain weight. But we're back on track again and Ms. Whitney is a champ. She is so good in not minding that she occasionally gets climbed on when she's eating or getting passed back and forth. She is sleeping really well, usually only waking up once in the night, so really, I can't complain. The other kids are adjusting pretty well too. Abby is by far the greatest to have around cause she can hold hold her if she wants to be held while I get other stuff done. Shelby is my delivery girl and is so excited to run and get me a diaper, blanket, burp clothe, whatever. And of course Coop has always been good to entertain himself while I take care of whatever else needs me. Plus my friends in the ward have been so awesome. I've even called one and told her I needed a nap and she came over, picked my kids up and kept them for a few hours so I could sleep. Of course Rob is the best husband in the world and helps out with whatever I need. He hasn't slept in on a Saturday in I don't know how long, but I sure have:) Needless to say we are surviving and getting back into a routine.
Some fun little news about me that I thought you guys might enjoy (by enjoy I mean you're going to laugh, then feel sorry for me, and then laugh some more). I didn't think it was all that fun when it started cause I didn't know how I would pull it off, but things are working out OK, so I will share happily rather than bitterly. Here's the story, on Sunday morning conference weekend my bishop called and asked if the bishopric could come over and visit the family in between sessions. Of course I said yes, not thinking anything of it. When I told Rob, he laughed at me and told me to brace myself for a new calling. I said, "No, they wouldn't come over on conference weekend to extend a calling. They're just doing family visits" (Deep down I think I knew I was being delusional). So when the bishopric got here I wasn't too sure, but had a pretty good idea-either Primary President (our president is getting married next month) or Young Women's President (ours has been in for a while now). Well, I was right, they called be to be the new YW President. Did I about die? Yes! Did I consider going inactive cause I didn't think I could pull it off? Absolutely! This was Sunday, mind you, and I was due to have my fourth child, under 6, that Wednesday, plus had a husband who had just been called to High Council so I hardly see him on Sundays. Yes, all these things went through my mind. Now though, a month later, I am still alive and well. This is just one more thing that we are adjusting to with everything else. I have awesome councilors who make my job pretty easy actually. So overall I'm enjoying it.
Anywho just thought I'd try to make an excuse for my absentness (I just made that word up) in the blogging world this last month, and sincerely ask for your forgiveness:)

PS Happy Mother's Day to you all, I love ya!