Dealing with Loss

There have been four losses that we have had to deal with between December 2010 & February 2012.
#1) My grandmother, Carolyn Snell Wilson.

She was an amazing woman, and I miss her a lot. She had leukemia.  I look up to her very much, and still think about her often. I know that she is in heaven smiling down with her mom and dad and little sister waiting for the rest of us.

#2) My kid's pediatrician, Dr. Gregory Nielsen.

It was a very unexpected death. I had just seen him a few weeks before I heard the news. He was my kids pediatrician for six years. We saw him for earaches, colds, diaper rashes, e coli, the flu, immunizations, and much more. He was a wonderful doctor, and a good friend. Jumping into motherhood so young, he helped guide me and reassure me of my parenting skills. We have been through 4-5 different pediatricians since his death and we haven't found anyone close to as wonderful as him. 

#3) Whitney Houston.

Judge me if you may, but I wanted to be her for most of my childhood. I would listen and sing her songs for hours a day. The first CD I ever listened to was The Bodyguard soundtrack. In my opinion she has the best voice ever. I had a really really hard time dealing with her death. I cried for months. It is just such a tragedy. I had hoped to meet her some day. 

#4) Krishna. 

She dissapeared shortly after her second birthday. We checked the pound every week and never saw any sign of her. She was special because her and I shared a birthday. She was beautiful. I loved her.

I had another baby

Introducing our fourth child, Conrad Alexander!

I noticed I hadn't introduced him on the blog yet so here he is. He is such a wonderful sweet lovable baby. He makes us happy. Life with four kids had been tough at times, but incredibly joyful other times. These munchkins keep us on our toes. I have had to re-evaluate my parenting. I have purchased over ten books about parenting over the last year and a half, and have checked out about that many from the library. It seems my kids all hit unfamiliar stages all at once, and each child is so different you can't really use the same strategy as you did on another child. Life is hard, but I'm working on it. Those precious moments when they look into your eyes and smile, and you know you're everything to them makes it all worth it.

Goodbye, Art City

We sold our house in Springville in November of 2012. It was good, but kinda sad. We made a lot of great memories in that house, in that neighborhood, in that city, an that ward. Awwwww, I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it. It was a very bright and happy place. Very humble, but the people were friendly, and kind. I miss the Springville library. I miss the SMofA. I miss the friendly first ward, I miss Reams. I miss my loverly friends. I miss our trees and garden and yellow walls. I miss my kids having close friends. I miss catching butterflies on warm summer days. I miss taking walks.
Things are different here. Not neccesarily worse, but different. Things are getting better.

The HOUZZ

Countdown to baby #4!

Silly Springtime

We had lots of fun last spring. Michael and Wesley played in the mud.

All three kids helped us in the garden.

Justin cut his head open while tearing down our fence. 

But all in all, we had fun. I am currently having a bad case of spring fever. I have already planted ranunculas and primroses. They are just divine. 

Sex Ed

Vent post warning.
Hi there!
I am going to talk today about my opinion on the newly passed Sex Ed Bill in Utah:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/utes/53570545-90/abstinence-allow-bill-education.html.csp
It requires all teachers in Utah to either teach abstinence-only sex education or no sex education at all.
Meaning: teachers are no longer allowed to teach students about birth control, STD's, or even the risk of teenage pregnancy. My opinion: ridiculous! Seriously, just pathetic, unrealistic, irresponsible, etc, etc.
I realize lawmakers want parents to teach their children about sex, but the reality is lots of parents just don't talk to their kids about sex. In the future of Utah I see more teen pregnancies, higher rates of STD's, more confused teens, all because of the ignorance of this bill. Teens are going to want education about sex, and if they don't get it at home, or at school, they are going to get it from their peers, from the internet, and other places that will most likely be highly inaccurate. Teens need to be educated about sex correctly and hear all about chlamydia, HIV, herpes, the risk of unwanted pregnancy, and how to prevent all those things. Also, I read a newspaper article that locally teen pregnancy has been on the rise. Well I'll tell you one thing, this bill is not going to fix that. If it passes in the senate, I'm seriously rethinking about my decision to keep my kids in the Utah school system.