Well, I finally have a minute to reflect on what's been happening lately.  I've been so busy I haven't been able to visit Grandma or Cheryl in ages.  After I finished renovating the main floor bathroom, my next project was the pantry.  I finished tiling the last of the pantry and grouted today.  I was just going to tile, but then I decided I hated the wire shelving and took that all down and I will build custom shelving that will work great for a lot of our food storage as well as a rolling can rack and a column of shelves for normal pantry food.  I'm excited to get all of the food out of our kitchen and garage.  I have Joshua starting preschool next week across the street and luckily he's not the only young one.  Then I have a girl come play with Joshua twice a week for two hours while I do organizing projects.  The kid just does not like to play alone, he doesn't even watch TV alone.  We took the RV out a couple of weeks ago as a family, though Dave and the kids have used it two other times for ward campouts.  It was great and I'm excited to use it more frequently to bond with each other.  We would have taken it out this weekend for memorial day, but we have a baptism to go to tomorrow.  The kids are enjoying school and I'm enjoying less fighting.  The house also stays cleaner. I am fairly confident that tomorrow morning I will be down to minus 25lbs... again since I gained about 12 back over a couple of months.  Just in time to pig out at chuckarama 😁.  I have been super good this week preparing for the meal. Lol

So, I'm a little embarrassed to share this with people I know, but here is my first YouTube documenting my diets.  Don't laugh too hard and don't tell me if it's lame. I really think this will help me stick with something. https://youtu.be/XXsAXGZwPOQ

Dave gave the fhe lesson tonight about not giving up.  It was a great lesson that my kids needed to hear, but the best part was when the kids could hear Dave's voice trembling because he couldn't get through it without crying.  They have never seen him cry and they were surprised and I think touched - I was.  In case you haven't heard it before...
Quit, give up, you're beaten" 
They shout at you and plead 
"There's just too much against you 
This time you can't succeed". 

And as I start to hang my head 
In front of failures face 
My downward fall is broken by 
The memory of a race 

And hope refills my weakened will 
As I recall that scene 
Or just the thought of that short race 
Rejuvenates my being 

Childrens race, young boys 
Young men, how I remember well 
Excitement sure, but also fear 
It wasn't hard to tell 

They all lined up so full of hope 
Each thought to win that race 
Or tie for first, or if not that 
At least take second place 

The fathers watched from off the side 
Each cheering for his son 
And each boy hoped to show his dad 
That he could be the one 

The whistle blew and off they went 
Young hearts and hopes afire 
To win and be the hero there 
Was each young boys desire 

And one boy in particular 
Whose dad was in the crowd 
Was running near the lead and thought 
"My dad will be so proud" 

But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip 
The little boy who thought to win 
Lost his step and slipped 

Trying hard to catch himself 
With hands flew out to brace 
And amid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face 

But as he fell his dad stood up 
And showed his anxious face 
Which to the boy so clearly said 
"Get up and win the race" 

He quickly rose, no damage done 
Behind a bit that's all 
And ran with all his night and mind
To make up for the fall 

So anxious to restore himself 
To catch up and to win 
His mind went faster than his legs 
He slipped and fell again 

He wised then that he had quit before 
With only one disgrace 
"I'm hopeless as a runner now 
I shouldn't try to race" 

But in the laughing crowd he searched 
And found his fathers face 
That steady look which said again 
"Get up and win the race" 

So up he jumped to try again 
Ten yards behind the last 
If I'm going to gain those yards he though 
I've got to move real fast 

Exerting everything he had 
He regained eight or ten 
But trying hard to catch the lead 
He slipped and fell again 

Defeat, he lay there silently 
A tear dropped from his eye 
There's no sense running anymore 
Three strikes, I'm out, why try? 

The will to rise had disappeared 
All hope had fled away 
So far behind so error prone 
A loser all the way 

"I've lost, so what", he thought 
I'll live with my disgrace 
But then he thought about his dad 
Whom soon he'd have to face 

"Get up" the echo sounded low 
"Get up" and take your place 
You were not meant for failure here 
"Get up", and win the race 

With borrowed will "Get up" it said 
"You haven't lost at all" 
For winning is no more than this 
To rise each time you fall 

So up he rose to run once more 
And with a new commit 
He resolved, that win or lose 
At least he shouldn't quit 

So far behind the others now 
The most he'd ever been 
Still he'd give it all he had 
And run as though to win 

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling 
Three times he'd rose again 
Too far behind to hope to win 
He still ran to the end 

They cheered the winning runner 
As he crossed the line first place 
Head high and proud and happy 
No falling, no disgrace 

But when the fallen youngster 
Crossed the line, last place 
The crowd gave him the greater cheer 
For finishing the race 

And even though he came in last 
With head bent low, unproud 
You would have thought he'd won the race 
To listen to the crowd 

And to his dad he sadly said 
"I didn't do too well" 
"To me you won", his father said 
"You rose each time you fell"

When I prayed after searching for a tool I needed last month, I opened up my scriptures and read "swallowed in depths of the sea".  My mind immediately thought of the backyard, where the tool could be buried in several feet of snow.  So I bought another one and did the job.  Well, today I found that tool, laying in the garden area which was covered in snow last month.  I laughed out loud as I remembered praying and asking the Lord to tell me where it was. Sometimes it's the little things that lets me know God loves and cares about me...and has a sense of humor.

I got a electric hedging thing and went around the yard going a little crazy with it.  In a way it was fun and relaxing, like I was working on some art.  Below are some before and afters or in betweens, in a mixed up order.  I'm not done with the spiral tree, but don't know if I will be able to finish it.  I scooped all of the poop over on the swing side of the backyard and we are having someone clear out all the junk (old cabinets, pallets, and tree branches) and then we will put a little fence so the dogs can't go over on that part of the yard.  I also cut down all the bushes over by the swing so that there will be less wasps over there when kids play. I took all the kids to a new dentist, a pediatric one, hoping the kids would all like it better than our regular dentist.  I was right, their staff is very friendly and helpful.   Will had to get a crown on his tooth and so they gave him laughing gas.  He did great, but doesn't like the crown.  

Happenings...

So, in an effort to do something fun and different for dates and stuff, Dave and I invested in a Bob Ross kit.  Ever since I was young, I thought it would be fun to paint along with a show.  Dave painted most of this, but I helped with some bushes and other small details.  We put paint thinner on with the base coat, which was a mistake.  Our clouds blended instead of being fluffy and everything was just too wet altogether.  However, I think it looks pretty amazing considering.  It took way longer than we thought, so we'll have to finish the other half another time.  It was such a nice weekend, we let the kids out and Maddy rode her bike for the first time.  We can't find training wheels for Wills bike, so, he didn't really try to ride.    I got some yard work done pulling out old weeds and pruning some bushes since I know once the wasps come out, I will not come out.  I would very much like to have a taken care of yard though, so we'll see what I can do.  I also installed 3 new lantern lights outside.  They are a lot bigger than the old ones and let off a lot more light.  I like them.  Now that we have days where it gets a little warmer 40s & 50s, we've also been organizing the garage.  We got pegboard for all our tools and put some shelves up.  We got some bids for the downstairs bathroom and luckily the sewage pipes are right under where the bathroom will go, so as soon as I have time to pull the rest of the drywall off, we will rent a jackhammer (doing ourselves will cost $50 and a few hours instead of paying someone else $1300)  and then we'll be ready for the plumber to come put in pipes.  I had to put that project off to tile in the laundry area since we got a new washer and dryer.  The kids now can and have been doing their own laundry; it has been great!  We got the detergent pods so they don't have to mess with measuring stuff and they can just throw a pod in the wash and press a button that we programmed in.  

I gave him heart to heart bear and it was so sweet watching him.