Saturday

I had some baby stuff that I was going to take to my cousin so last Saturday I figured I'd take the kids for a ride up to South Jordan. I thought it'd be fun to see if my mom wanted to come up and ride up there with us. She met us at Shopko. The kids thought it was fun that Grandma came in our car. We met my aunt & uncle for lunch then went to their house and the kids played for a while. Then we went and got some ice cream, yum! Here's a picture of the kids at Leatherby's before we went home.

Stressful Hour

Last night I was going to get Zachary in the tub and the first thing I do it take his hearing aids off. I went to take them off and they were gone. A few times he's taken them off in my room. I asked him where they were? He instantly started crying and said "they got dirty". I knew he had been playing outside in the dirt earlier and I instantly panicked. I said "WHERE ARE THEY?" He just had a look on his face like he just didn't remember. I asked him if he took them off outside and he said yes. I felt so sick because I had the sprinkler on outside next to where he had been playing. I said "I need them". I asked again if he took them off outside or in the house. He kept giving me different answers. It was so frustrating. We were outside with a flashlight looking on the ground. I finally told him "let's say a prayer that we can find them". We did that and kept looking. Finally after an hour of looking everywhere inside and out I told him to just get in bed. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep without knowing where they were. I was going to tear the house apart looking for them. I called Paul and chatted with him for a minute and told him that we couldn't find them. While I was talking to him I thought of one place outside that I hadn't looked. Zachary had a shovel outside and I had noticed there was a pile of dirt. I hadn't looked there so I went out again with the flashlight. When I got out there, right next to the pile of dirt, I looked over and saw them sitting on top of the pet-porter that was behind our shed. I was sooooo relieved. Those babies cost $4000 and I wasn't ready to have to replace something like that any time soon.

When we were looking on the ground I just kept thinking that I'm sure he wouldn't have put them on the ground, he really is pretty good to make sure they are in a safe place. But he kept pointing to different places, I think he just knew that he had taken them off outside but couldn't remember the exact place he put them.

After I found them I went in his room and told him that I'd found them. You could tell he was really relieved too. Phew!!!

Cutest Boy

Seriously, the cutest little boy I've ever seen.

11 Years

Today is my 11 year anniversary at my work. It's crazy that I've been here this long, it seems like maybe just a couple years ago. I've had my 3 kids since I've been here. It's such a great place to work and I plan on being here for many more years.

Flashback Friday - Me

Kids

One of my favorite parts of the day is when Zachary gets on the bus. He's always so excited. He sits down and puts his seat belt on then looks at me out the window, raises his eyebrows really cutely, smiles, and waves. Some mornings Savanna will come out with us and when he waves she says "he likes me".

There is a corn field by the road on our way to the daycare (or most places) and the other day we saw this older lady parked on the side of the road and she was in the field picking some corn. I said to the kids "is that lady stealing corn?" We laughed. This morning the entire field had been plowed and it was just dirt. I said to Savanna "look, all of the corn is gone". She said "Uh, that lady taked all the corns". It was so darn funny.

Kids at the Park

Monday on our way home Zachary asked if we could go to the park. I had gotten Burger King so we stopped at the park and ate then the kids played for a while. They had fun.

Emotions

This week has been really hard. Every 5 minutes I feel like I'm going to cry. I'm missing Paul terribly, I've missed him since the day he left, but more so this week. I know this week I've spent more time thinking about what he's going through. I really miss his hugs. We always hug a bunch of times every day and I really am missing that. I feel like all I do is yell at my kids when I'm home in the afternoon. My house feels like a wreck. Work has been crazy and the last several weeks I've worked many nights after the kids have gone to bed.

He left Sacramento on Sunday and arrived in Phoenix, AZ Tuesday night. He had to drop off a load of insulation and pick up a new trailer at Morton Salt in Glendale and head back to Los Angeles. Tonight he ran out of hours to drive after his drop off and is sleeping on a not so very safe road in LA. They can only drive a certain number of hours a day due to DOT regulations and once those hours are up you cannot move. Usually he's at a truck stop by then but this is the 3rd time he's ended up in a bad spot.

Every time he gets a new dispatch we hope he'll be coming home but now I don't think he'll be coming home until the first week in October. A few days after he submitted his time off request, they got a company wide message saying that no one could submit any more time off requests until after October 3. But we hoped his was approved before that was sent out. But as time goes on I'm guessing it wasn't. So if he comes home right after that it will have been 7 weeks out. Too long!!

Frustrating

Last Friday Paul was in Washington state and heading to Sacramento, CA. He had to be there by Sunday night and ended up having a super late night and having to park for the night on the side of a road in Sacramento because he was out of drive time and couldn't drive to an actual truck stop. He had to eat some fruit pies he had in his truck because it was too late to walk anywhere, and probably too scary of a place to be walking at night anyway.

This morning was a run-around and he finally got dispatched to take a load to Phoenix, AZ. At least it's not in the same 3 states he's going back and forth through for 5 weeks.

When I talked to him this morning I told him how the weekend wasn't long enough. Then realized how selfish I was to even say that considering he hasn't had a weekend in 5 weeks. I really try not to complain to him about things at home or the kids. I really hope he comes home soon for a few days and can relax and feel normal again.

Flashback Friday - Me & My Brothers

Just some cute old pics of me and my brothers.

Tired?

Tuesday night when we got home Savanna was so onry. I told her to take her toys upstairs and she kept crying and saying that I needed to help her cause her legs didn't work. I told her that they did and sent her on her way up the stairs. I went in the backyard and when I came back in she hadn't come back yet. I went to see where she was and she had sat on the stairs and started watching TV through the door and fell asleep with her face in between the bars. It was so funny! I had to take a picture with my phone to send to Paul. Her eye is stretched open but she is totally asleep.

David & Jessica's Baby Shower

Saturday we went to a baby shower for my cousins girlfriend. It was really fun and my aunt had the cutest decorations. Everything was pink & black. I made a cute fleece blanket and got a few other things to go with it. Afterwards we just sat and talked for a few hours. It was a super fun day.

Cute Kids

The other day when we were in the car going home, we took a road that we have taken before but it's not our usual route. Savanna asked "why are we on this road?" I said "oh no, we are lost". Zachary said "we are not lost". I said "well where are we?" Savanna said "we are right here". It was so funny, we were in the car of course, why would I ask where we were?

Any time I forget to turn on the fan when I have a shower and the mirrors fog up, there is always little messages written in the fog. Hanley will write "I Love You Mom" and this morning on the side mirror there was a monkey face. Then the mirrors get washed and the next time it's something different. It's cute.

Zachary had his first homework last week. When I told him that we had to do his homework he said "I don't know how, will you help me?" When I told him to write his name on the top of the page he kept saying "Help me" and wanting me to help guide his hand. I told him that he knows how to do it by himself. Every letter he wrote he made a funny sound and was so silly. I just can't believe that my little boy is actually big enough for homework.

A Few Hours

The first of last week Paul was in California Tuesday night he was in Las Vegas on his way to Salt Lake. On Wednesday his stay was in Springville so we got to see him for a few hours. We went to pick him up to bring him home for a little while. I didn't tell the kids where we were going and when we pulled up by his truck I said "that's like dad's truck", they were so excited when they saw it was him. "It's our dad!!!" they yelled. We went to eat and went home for a while. It was so good to see him but it wasn't nearly long enough. This Monday will be 5 weeks that he's been out. It's been way too long.

Savanna goes to Preschool

Today was Savanna's first day of Preschool. They do the school at her daycare. She was super excited and thought it was so fun to finally wear a backpack. She felt like a big kid. She asked me "are you going to take me to highschool?". It was so funny. I told her "no, but I'll take you to preschool." She's too cute and I can't believe she's almost 4.

Update

Over the weekend Paul was in Fontana, CA. He had to stay there for 2 days waiting for a load to arrive to deliver to a couple places near Fontana. He finally left there Tuesday morning. Tuesday night he stayed in Las Vegas and is now on his way to Salt Lake. Hopefully that means he gets to come home but we are trying not to get our hopes up until we know for sure.

We figured that automatically every 3 weeks they would schedule his 3 day home time. Finally last week he submitted a request for time off which could take up to 2 weeks to be approved. He told them that if it's automatic then to disregard the request. Another driver told him that he requests his time off the week after he goes back on duty. I guess some drivers really never request to go home, so you have to request it every time. So he'll have to make sure he does his time off request every the week after he goes out every time. But however many weeks he's out is how many days he gets home, i.e. if he's out 5 weeks, then he gets 5 days at home. We miss him a lot!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fun weekend at my parents. We arrived on Friday and stayed until Sunday evening. It was nice to relax. The kids had a blast as usual.

When we first arrived they made Grandpa set
up the pool and slip-n-slide.I love this picture.
Zachary was trying not to smile but right after I took
the picture he laughed. He loved the attention
the girls were giving him.

Mikey & Trenton playing the PSP.

The kids kept wanting to ride their bikes so we sent them across
the street and they rode around the dirt circle and we
didn't have to worry about them in the road.
Zachary could have kept going around and around.

As soon as we told the kids that my brother Robert was
coming over, they all got excited and said "we're going
to get him". As soon as they see him they want to wrestle.

Garrett joined in on the wrestling.
A little while later he had a bloody lip and said he got elbowed.
I assumed it was from Hanley then he said "it was the littlest girl".
Savanna must have been playing too rough.

Zachary and Lanie love to be together. We were trying to get them to hold still and hug but they couldn't stand still.

Brynlie's Birthday

Yesterday was Brynlie's 2nd birthday. I can't believe she's already 2. We took her some balloons and a little present; a little purse, little girl jewelry, hair clips and $5. I think she liked the balloons the most. We only see her every few months so I don't know if she really knows who we are but she sure likes the kids. She got the biggest kick out of everything Zachary did.