Where have I been? Publishing with hesitation..eek!!!

I'm warning you, this COULD be an angry, mean, rude, sad post! I'm in an angry/depressed phase about friends and people and life and whatever else you want to add to the mix.

Do you guys believe real friends exist?? cuz they don't to me...

Still looking... "Everyone hates you until proven otherwise and once its been proven, there is still doubt"

I consider myself the "forgotten child" with friends, family, groups and whatever else I want. I often catch myself wondering "where do I fit in?"

Family and Friends are a BIG thing in my life and I'm talking beyond my immediate family, I love my husband and children but I think it is important to be close with your extended families too. I love family get together's (is that even a word? my spell check says it is not correct). Anyway, maybe I just need to spell it out for everyone so they know what I like and want and then I don't get hurt because "that" didn't happen.

I really enjoy getting together for Ice cream or dinner with friends and family esp on my birthday (not for presents, because I probably don't see you enough and want to see your face, probably cause I miss you!)

I really enjoy walking, so if you want to go, please let me know. (been asked a few times this week who I go walking with and I say well, no one, because no one will go with me! Rude huh!)

There is someone and I'm not going to mention names, person probably doesn't even know I have a blog, but I want to be second (because someone else is first now) in their life and well, I don't know if I ever have been and well, lets face it I SHOULD be! I would do and give anything to spend time with this person and it breaks my heart to know that I am not as important as they are to me. When things happen to this person, I don't want to find out about it through others, I should be second to know. I hate hearing through the grape-vine. I've cried many times wondering where I exist in their life, cause most the time I don't know. I know when I'm around they enjoy it (well at least I hope they do) but do they even think of me when I am not in front of them?  They invite me to things but not to much, occasionally single things but just mainly things big amounts of people are invited to. Maybe its because I am married and have kids and the others don't? still an invite for me to decline (prob wouldn't be declined in the first place) would be nice. The ones I feel are second in this persons life, are in the house where this person resides, they get to go on adventures with this person and then I get to hear about it afterwards or before but not invited? Why don't I get the same adventures? oh well, that's life I guess. I hate life!

MaKaylie turns 1

MaKaylie turned 1 on Friday, July 15, 2011! We didn't do anything on her birthday but we did on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, she had her 12 mo checkup and she weighed 17 lbs 2 oz. with average height and head circumference. After her Dr. appointment, Chelsi Kaylie and I went birthday shopping for Kaylie. Got her about 5 super cute outfits and then a baby learning laptop (to try and keep her away from mine). 

On Saturday, we got together with the Schultz's and had some cake and Ice Cream sadly, I forgot my camera and only got like 1 or 2 pictures but I got a few more of Kaylie before we went to the party in her new dress..

Birthday cake for everyone else at the other party (wouldn't let me move it down by her other cake).

Kaylie before the Schultz's Party

Birthday cake for Schult'z Party

Birthday gifts from Grandma Schultz and Aunt Amy

Here are a couple of pictures of her on her actual birthday and then I will include some of her at her parties. :) Enjoy! 
 

The outfit I bought for her at the Swap Meet in Hawaii for her to wear on her 1st Birthday cause she is the "Princess" 

For a day anyway!

First bath as a 1 yr. old, too cute! 

The onesie and tutu were made by my friend Mary Winterfield

Bonnie and Kris Kuhni - sadly 1 month later, Kris passed away :'( We always enjoyed his company, such a great sweet man! 

Grandma Perry and Kaylie

Grandma Jan and Caitlyn 

Her very own first Birthday cake!

Kaylie really didn't want to eat her cake, we kinda had to force her LOL

The "mess" of the cake

Vaction (not long enough)

So, the week of  July 4th, our awesome nieces from Arizona were going to come up and we were going to have a family reunion (it had been 2-5 years since we'd seen the girls and their families). Well, finances came into play and the reunion wasn't possible :( Our niece Chelsi said she wanted to move to Utah so Eric and I talked and decided that we would take a short vacation and drive to Mesa, AZ to pick her up and bring her here where she would live with my SIL Amy.

So, on Sunday July 2, I went to church (I had to teach) and then when I got home after church, we gathered up the last of what we needed and loaded up the van and headed on our way. We drove to mesquite where we stayed the night. We got up the next morning around like 7 am, got some breakfast and headed to Arizona. As we were driving to Arizona, there was some pretty cool aircraft flying over us. Eric said like WWII fighter planes or something like that. I did get pictures:

 

They were flying around the Hoover Dam area. 

Anyway, We got to our niece Lisa's house and visited for a few hours. Stephanie, her children and her husband were there along with Lisa and her children and of course Chelsi was there. David was in another state doing Army stuff, then a little while later, Peggy Ann and her husband came over to visit. The kids played and enjoyed every second they were there. Lisa made us lunch (pizza) it was yummy! Around 4 pm, we gathered up Chelsi's stuff and said our goodbye's and it was an emotional goodbye for us all, esp. Chelsi. 

We left Arizona and drove back to Vegas to watch the fireworks but we did stop at the Hoover Dam to take some pictures and so the boys could see the Hoover Dam. Here are the pictures taken there:

Eric, Chelsi, Kaylie, Austin, Mathew and Jaxon at the Hoover Dam (I am taking the picture). I apologize that they are dark, I don't have a photo editing program to lighten them.

Chelsi and I at the Hoover Dam

Once we got to Vegas, it was firework city, they were going off every which way you looked. Everyone goes to the parking garage roof and there the fireworks are, going off right in front of you in all directions, it was pretty cool, the boys were scared they don't like loud noises so we left shortly after. We stayed at this beautiful place and we only had to pay $40 cause we had a nice credit from Expedia for some travel mix up we had earlier in the year. This place was like a timeshare condo, 2 bedrooms, front room, balcony, laundry room, 2 bathrooms 1 in each bedroom, a full kitchen, living room, dining area, and a pool down below. It was way pretty and way comfy. We got up Tuesday morning and headed for home. It was the fastest trip we've ever taken. We wish we could have stayed longer but we couldn't.

When we got into Utah, we took Chelsi to Amy's (Amy is my sister in law "SIL" and Chelsi's Aunt) and then we drove home. Chelsi lived with Amy for a few weeks til she decided to move in with us. She moved in the end of July and we've had a blast with her, she has been a big help with me not being in my depressed phase (which I hated, hated being depressed), she has also helped with the kids and cooking and cleaning and etc.. We love her lots and the boys do too!

Caden's 2nd Angel Birthday

To read about what we did on June 18, 2011, click the link:

Caden's Angel Birthday

Baptism!

On June 4, 2011, Austin was baptized. Yes, 2 days before his 9th birthday! He had his little prep meeting with the Primary Presidency and then his Bishop's interview sometime in May.

After the baptism, we went over to Thanksgiving Point Deli and had yummy .50 cent ice cream cones and opened presents for Austins birthday that would be 2 days later. So proud of you Austin and your decision to be baptized.

Pictures from the day below...ENJOY!!

Grandpa Johansen baptized Austin

Grandpa Perry confirmed Austin

 Forgot to get a family pic taken at the baptism,

so when we got home, we took 2 pictures. 1 with me taking the picture and 1 with Eric taking the picture. 

<---- Mom with kids after baptism

Dad with kids after baptism ---->

These are some of the gifts he got for his baptism

Engraved Scriptures from Mom and Dad

Tie pin from Chapman's

Scripture bag, highlighting pencils, Stripling warrior, picture and bookmark (not pictured) from Grandma and Grandpa Perry

Cute little gift from the Spackman's Austin ate most of the red and green "Now and Later" before I could take a picture of the cute thing!

Primary Teacher.. WHAT??!!

I completely forgot to mention that just before we blessed the kids, I started going back to church. It started when I went to church with Jan, my step mother. She teaches Young Women's and was doing a lesson on Pro-creation and she really thought it would be a great experience for the girls to have a live model.. i.e. MaKaylie as she was a newborn. Well, I feel that it was a great experience. During this lesson, I felt like I really needed to start going back to church. So, I did! I started going to my own ward. I and MaKaylie went alone a couple times, then the whole family came a couple times, then there was General Conference, then we blessed the kids and then I think I got sick and didn't go for a couple of weeks and then 1 night, my phone rang and it was a phone number I did not recognize but for some reason, I answered and this was the phone call..

Man on phone -Hello, is this Tina Schultz?
Me- Yes!
Man on phone - This is Brother Upp, the Bishop would like to meet with you tonight, would you be able to meet with him tonight?
(me trying to get out of it) Umm, well, I have an appt in Orem and I don't know how long I will be.
Bro. Upp - Well, why don't we plan for 8pm and if that doesn't work, you can call me and we will work something out.
Me- Do you want just me, or my husband and I?
Bro. Upp- Just  you.
Me-OK *nervously

I go to my appt in Orem, and I get home before 8, like 15 min before so I go up to the church and walk in and Brother Brough meets me (Brother Brough is in the Bishopric). He takes me to a room and we both sit down, I mention to him, I'm really nervous about this and he says "it will be fine, don't be nervous." He then proceeds with this... "We've prayed about this and we would like to extend a calling to you, we would like you to be a Primary Teacher!" I said  "uh, are you kidding me.. I'm shy, never taught a day in my life, kids intimidate me and you want me to teach them?" He says "yes, we feel you will do a great job and feel very comfortable in asking you so, are you willing to accept the calling?" How do you tell our Heavenly Father No? So of course, I accept. He then says "I do not know what age group you will be teaching, or who you will be co teaching with but you will start this coming Sunday (mind you it is a Thursday) and immediately following Sacrament, we will set you apart. You will need to call the Primary President Sister Lu Hilmo to find out what age and with whom are you teaching" I shake his hand, walk out, get in my van and drive home. I tell my family, called my mom, texted my friend Anita and then, I call Sister Hilmo. Unfortunately, Sister Hilmo was not available so I had to wait til the next day to speak with Sister Hilmo. Sister Hilmo calls me while I'm getting read for work on that Friday and says "We are so excited about this, we know you will do great and you will love it". I told her what I told Brother Brough, that I was nervous, scared and intimidated and she reassured me that I will do fine. She then says, you will be teaching the 4 turning 5 yr olds (CTR 4B) and you will be co teaching with Sister Spackman (Anita). I cannot tell you how excited, yet still nervous I was to hear these words from Sister Hilmo. I kept saying to myself beforehand, "I hope its a young class and that I teach with Anita!" I called Anita on my way to work, to tell her, but she already knew and we were both happy and Anita said that she wouldn't make me teach til I felt I was ready.

Here's a little background about Anita. She is my visiting teacher, she lives just a few houses away from me, She was already teaching Primary, (not sure how long she's been teaching but she is way more comfortable than I am about teaching). She is married and has 3 boys and 1 girl. Her boys are Damon (9), Brock (7), Gage (3) and her daughter Jayda was born in June 2010. Our boys are friends and I'm sure Kaylie and Jayda will be friends too. :)

This all happened in mid Nov and of course, it was just before the Primary Program in Sacrament so I had 1 regular week, then the next week we spent Saturday morning at the church with the kids practicing their parts and Eric had something going on so I had ALL the kids with me. The boys participated and I held MaKaylie the entire time and Anita had her baby Jayda and then the next day, my whole family went to church (2 weeks in a row), the boys and I did the program while Eric and MaKaylie watched.

The next week, we had family pictures on Sunday so we all missed church.

The end of December, Anita and I found out we would have the 6 turning 7 yr olds (CTR 6) and I became more nervous about this as these kids were older and closer to baptismal age than the ones we were currently teaching and what if they asked me questions that I did not know, what would I do? I got over this fear pretty quickly. We traded one of the kids with the other Ctr 6 class so that I could have Mathew with me. Anita's boy was already in our class and I felt that if Mathew wasn't with me or Brock, he may not be too keen on coming every week.

I got away with not having to teach for a while. Well, the last Sunday in Dec, Anita asked me if I thought I was ready to teach yet and I was like umm, no way! Well, she felt otherwise! She asked me if I would teach on January 9th and I said I guess I will, but I'm really scared and nervous and she said that I'll do fine. Well, January 9th came and before class, I was shaking really bad cause I was soo nervous. I taught and I believe we had 15 min to spare, so we played a game the rest of the time. She then asked if I would start teaching every other week and I nervously said yes.

I never ever thought I would be a Primary Teacher but I'm glad that since I am, I get to teach my little Mathew and I get to be with Anita! She's had bouts of sicknesses with her and her family these past couple of weeks and hasn't been able to come every week but she has came if she had to teach and she asked me just this past Sunday, if I feel like I got the crappy end of the deal having her as my co teacher cause of the sicknesses and I looked at her funny and laughed, NO Anita! I do not feel like I got a crappy end of the deal, I love having you as my co teacher I don't think there is any one I would rather teach with!   I completely understand that we get sick, and there isn't much we can do about it but deal with it and do what we need to do to get through it. You're awesome Anita and I love you!

I just wanted to let you all know, that since I have become Mathew's Primary Teacher, he comes with me every week, he told me he will come every Sunday and he has, without hesitation. Austin comes too, at first when I ask if he is coming, he says no and we remind him that he should come so that he can be baptized and then he changes his mind and comes. Every other week, I bring MaKaylie with me (the weeks I don't teach, unless she is sick) and Jaxon has only came 1 time. I am working on getting him to come and getting Austin Baptized before June.

One other thing I find interesting about all of this is on the day we blessed the kids, I was sitting next to my mom in Sacrament and she looked at me and said "this little girl (pointing to MaKaylie) is going to bring you back to the church" and look at us now. I've gone more since she was born, then in the almost 10 years I have been married.

Anyway, this post was super long, so to those of you that read through it all, Thank you! 

What an Eventful week

This week was kind of busy. Eric's birthday was on Tuesday, we didn't do anything on Wednesday except, I made him enchiladas since that is what he wanted for his birthday.

On Thursday, it was Jaxon's 3rd birthday. He and I met my SIL Amy, her son Aiden and his friend Owen at Jumping Jacks in Springville and played for about an hour or so. On the way home, we stopped at Jeanie's cause Jaxon really wanted to go and play with Brody since he hadn't seen Brody in a couple weeks and I don't mind visiting my sister :) I love her and we have fun whenever were together :) So we were there for about 45 min before Jeanie had to leave to go get her kids from School. Then we got home and the boys played for a bit til Dad got home, then i had been asking Jax all day where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner and he said he wanted "That Texas place Dad and I go to so he can eat peanuts because he's never been there" a.k.a. Texas Roadhouse. Well, unfortunately Roadhouse was PACKED!! Bummer! So his next choice was Chick Fil A, and of course Chick Fil A was also packed, he then chose McDonald's so that's where we ended up we ate, then the boys played for a bit, then we went home for the night.

In other news, MaKaylie will be 8 months old on the 15th of March and I noticed I believe on March 1, that she had a tooth poking through on the bottom left side. She's been really good this week so I was surprised that she wasn't fussy much when I saw the tooth. She also had an appt on March 1 and we've been experimenting with formula's and we think we finally found 1 that is working and she has gained 1 whole pound in 1 mo which is more than shes gained in 1 mo in her entire life. So on Feb 4, she weighed 13 lbs, 9 oz and now she is 14 lbs, 9 oz. YAY!!

Today, Eric and Austin are at the last BYU Basketball game! Hopefully they will win.

MEN and Watching Sports

I think its really quite stupid for men that watch sports that:

1. SCREAM at the TV while watching the game.. the athlete's, nor the Ref's, nor the coaches can hear a word your saying!!!
2. If the game is pissing you off, I have a solution... CHANGE THE CHANNEL!!!
3. If your gonna swear at the TV, while watching said game, watch your language when the wife and the children are right next to you!!!
4. If the game is depressing you, because its not going the way you want, STOP WATCHING IT!
5. The world is not going to end because your team lost!

Just saying...

Yes, in case you can't tell... I HATE Sports, mostly football, basketball, soccer, sometimes baseball!! I HATE watching it, not a huge fan of going to the games either! Wait, I do enjoy going to the softball games that my husband coaches for 'Timpanogos High School' The only time I will enjoy it, is when it is my kids playing.

And for the record, I'm not incriminating anyone, I'm just talking 'In General' most men do it!

That is all!

Hmmmm??

Here I am designing my blog, I've added pictures, tickers and other things! Eric says I'm addicted.. ha ha!

I really don't think anyone reads it!  If you do read it, leave a comment, leave me some feedback on my layout..is it too much, is it good, needs help? This will let me know I'm not wasting my time..and while your here, feel free to "Follow" my blog :) followers make me HAPPY!!

 Thanks!

Flooding, YAY!!! NOT!!!

We had a pretty bad snow storm 2 days be fore Christmas and a good majority of the townhomes/houses in our area have flooding issues. Well we hadn't ever experienced "weather" flooding. Only just Mathew leaving the hose in the window well while we left the house for over 10 hrs. ;)  Anyway, we were doing stuff all day (I might have gone to work) and when we finally sat down to relax before bed, we noticed wet spots in various but random spots on the carpet that was wet or damp. So I walked over to 1 of the 2 window wells in the basement and noticed about 2-3 inches of standing water above the tree bark filler whatever you call it and the carpet below the window well was SOAKED! So, I called my father..the landlord ;) to inform him of the water, checked the furnace room and there was water in there, vacuumed (with a wet vac) the water out of the window well, til I started sucking up tree bark and gravel. My father came over the next morning and we lifted up the carpet and noticed that ALL of our "Spill guard carpet pad" was SOAKED so we lifted all that up too and had to use my carpet cleaner to soak up the water out of the pad so we could lift it out of the house. otherwise, its super heavy. Anyway once we got the carpet and pad up, we noticed cracks in the ground starting in the furnace room and going out into the family room and all over from there.

We took the carpet out to the garage and laid it all out and put the pad out in the garage too. Anyway, there is currently a litigation going on about the flooding issues in these homes so a guy came to look at the damage and the cracks and he had a tool, and was banging around down stairs and from his banging, he discovered that a big area in our basement is hollow and the rest is solid.. he then said "i wonder how deep this hole is?!" oh, awesome (as my chair sits right on top of this hollow area). Anyway, since this big flood, we have only had minimal leaking just a couple days after this big one and so far nothing since... anyway, here are some pics:

 Water in the furnace room

 wet carpet

I didnt get a pic of the cracked ground before we set the basement back up, pad and carpet-less :( its freezing cold down there and since our bed was in that corner at the top of  this pic, we moved our bed and MaKaylie back into the master room and Austin went back to his old room (MaKaylie was originally going to have her own room) so a couple weeks later, we moved upstairs and this is what it looks like now:

all fits perfectly :) I must admit it is really different having MaKaylie in here. I havent had a baby share my room with me, past 6 months and she just turned 7 months.

Well, now my husband has hounded me enough about going to bed, so I guess I'm off to bed so he will stop nagging ;)

Of course, I cannot forget my Angel!

In all this blogging, I didn't get a chance to do a post about our Angel Baby, Caden. Since he isn't here on earth with us and isn't hitting milestones all I can really say is we wish he was. It has been 20 months since we buried him. The boys ask me questions about him every so often. like does he need shoes, No kids, he doesnt need shoes, and when will he come see us, He is with us whenever we need him we just cant see him, and all sorts of questions.

I did end up totally redoing my very first post about Caden, "June 2009, (From the beginning)" in the blog Archive. It is the entire story of what happened with Caden if your curious. 

Here are a few pictures of the memories we have:

 Mold's of Caden's hands and feet.

 Christmas 2010

His Christmas tree.

 The additions they've made to the Baby Land. before, the Angel statue was just on the grass, now they've got the brick section with the 2 beautiful benches.

The Snowmen Wreath was made by Great Grandma Johansen. Thanks Grandma. One of Caden's friends family, left a snowman on a stick. This friend's family also left one on every one of the babies headstones or plots (if there was no headstone laid due to weather).

Blog

Ok. I'm really bad at remembering to Blog. So tonight, I did 6 posts plus this one. So be sure and look at them all, if you have the time. Sorry if I ramble in any of them. I'm tired. pics included with all but this one and the sprained ankle one.

ENJOY!! :)

MaKaylie is 7 months old

Little Miss MaKaylie turned 7 months old on 2/15. The first week of Feb, she had her 6 mo check up (late) and she weighed 13lbs 9 oz, 26' long. I mentioned to the dr that she cant eat more than 4 oz of formula at a time and is demanding it every 2 hrs because if I give her more, she spits up anything beyond the 4 oz, he looked a little concerned and went on a search for some formula.. he walked back in with 3 small cans of Enfamil A. R. and said it'll take prob all these cans before you notice a change in her if its going to help. Well, lets just say, in 1  feeding, just 1, I noticed a HUGE difference, she didn't spit up anything. Next, I gave her 6 oz, she kept it all down. I was shocked she was doing so well. I then went on a hunt for Similac Sensitive for spit up in the powder form and the shelves were empty and all they had was a small liquid bottle. So after visiting the 3rd empty shelved store and 3 different stores I asked whats the deal and they said Similac has run out of the powder form and is only sending the liquid.. I was like are you kidding me? I am on WIC so they provide any kind of Similac without any questions. I bought the liquid and it did not work as well as the Enfamil. So I will be getting a prescription from my dr for the Enfamil A.R. (added rice starch) as for now, she is back on the regular similac because WIC cant get me in til the first week of Mar.

Here are some pictures taken of her in the cpl weeks to month ago.