And the Winner is....

FAITH COX

This week was the elementary school elections. You can run for office if you are in 4th, 5th and 6th grades. Faith came home on Tuesday and announced that she was running for secretary. One student from each class is chosen in the primary election and she won that...it does help that she ran uncontested!!

So, she came home and enlisted the help of her oh so awesome sister, Vilate, to make signs to put up around the school! She was allowed to have 7. They made 2 and I thought they turned out great!!

On Wednesday, we went to school early to hang up her signs...I was amazed at how many signs were already up...and how professional some of them appeared. WOW!! Who knew that elementary elections were sooooooo HUGE?!?!?! I took it upon myself to come up with a sign...and then I forgot to take a picture...ugh!! It was awesome...I cut each letter of "Faith 4 Secretary" out and mounted the white letters on colored paper. Each letter was larger than a 5x7. It was really cool...at least I thought so! Wednesday night was spent making stickers...those were really cute! Thursday Faith handed out 90 stickers and today she handed out another 60 and got Hyrum to hand out 30 to the 3rd graders. The election is open to all 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders.

Yesterday we worked on the all important speech! This morning she went to school, delivered the speech and at the end of the day found out that she beat out 2 other 4th graders and 3 6th graders!! How awesome is that? I totally was setting myself up to be prepared to give her a big hug and tell her that I was sooo proud of her trying and her hard work on her campaign. But...I got home from my school and she said that she WON!!! SO COOL!!!! Now she is talking about running for president when she is in 6th grade....ugh! I am not really a fan of elections. Too much extra work for this lazy/busy mom.

Congratulations

Miss Faith!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crazy days at my house!!!

Why is it that when you finally get a good night's sleep, you feel soooo tired the next day? I was a good girl and went to bed early last night, 9:30! But today I am sooo dragging!!

Here is a recap of the past few days:

On Monday David and I went to the hospital to visit my sister. She had a proceedure done that went a little awry, so she had to stay one night in the hospital. Kelli is fine, and it was good for us to go and visit her. While we were gone we left all six kids with a great friend. I say great because it takes someone great to say yes to watching 6 kids afterschool, when she has her own 3. Thanks Krissy!!! While we were gone Nephi fell asleep. When we got home he was still napping...but when he woke up his upper lip was super swollen. We called Kaiser and ended up in the ER. He had an allergic reaction to....SOMETHING!! Ugh....I hate that it is sooo difficult to figure these things out. They gave him some Benedryl, which they said with a sad face that it would make him sleepy...don't they know that a mom LOVES anything that will help put their kids to sleep at bedtime?!?!?!?!? They also prescribed an epi-pin. Basically it is a shot of epinephrine that you give someone having an allergic reaction that might be causing their throat to close and cut off their air supply. Kinda scary when they give that to your 16 month old little boy!!

Today I took Nephi in to see his doctor for a follow-up. She said that he should have allergy testing done so that we don't give him whatever he was allergic to again. Apparently with food allergies, if that is what it is, if he is exposed to it again it could prove to be a much more serious reaction...hence the prescription of the epi-pin. Interesting....we go for the allergy testing on Friday morning...I'm really not looking forward to it.

Yesterday I got to help with picture day at the kids' school. It was 4 hours of chasing Nephi, he was a really good boy, and telling kids to please wait in line until they were called up. It was really fun, the kids were all great, and I was amazed at how many kids there I DON'T know. I felt terrible saying, "Hey you. Please stand still." I have got to learn more names!! Nephi was hilarious. I was working with the class picture photographer. We were outside in between some classrooms. Every time a class was finished with their picture and got off the risers, Nephi would scramble up to the second or third step and smile at the camera and say, "Cheese." It was very entertaining. When he wasn't saying cheese, he was sneaking off to the playground, water fountain or into Mr. Mosher's 3rd grade classroom taking the plastic coins and running off with them.

I think that my family single-handedly keeps Kaiser in business. For the month of October I have had or have scheduled at least 8 appointments. Man I HATE going to the doctor. I am sooooo tired of it!!!!! I don't know how we would survive without insurance!!!

Well, the day is still young...I have lots to do, but I just don't want to do it...so here I sit blogging....okay, okay...I will go and get something done and surprise my wonderful husband with a clean (relatively) house when he gets home. I hope he doesn't have a heart-attack!!!

Proposition 8

Well, I really feel that I need to write something about Prop 8. I just saw a YouTube clip on a friend's blog. At first it seemed kind of sappy....but as it continued, I felt so impressed that this is the right thing. Marriage is between a man and a woman. The Lord has already spoken on this issue. Pretty simple.

On another friend's blog, I got involved in a discussion that I probably should have stayed out of. I had someone tell me that what I was saying was just "religious dogma." Okay, I'll admit, that I had to go and look up what that meant. Maybe it is religious dogma (which by the way means - according to http://www.dictionary.com/ : A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a church). But, ya know when it is just me and I really ponder marriage the answer I get comes to ME. I know that the Lord has a way of doing things. He really knows the BEST way to do things - a way that really works. I want to be on His side and doing what He wants me to do. The answer that I get is that His way is: "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." Yes that is what my religion teaches. So, yes it is religious dogma, BUT it is also what I KNOW TO BE TRUE!!! I KNOW IT!!!!

The Lord has prescribed a way for His children to live on this earth. He has prescribed a way for us to follow and be happy and then in the "end" be able to live with Him again and even become like Him. What a blessing that is. What a blessing that knowledge is! Those who choose to follow Him will be blessed and will have eternal happiness. I know that they will not always have an easy life - got it, but in the "end" it will be way worth it. Those that choose to not follow Him and think that they know better might have what they think is happiness...heck they might even really be happy here and now, but in the "end" they will be anything BUT happy. They will see the error of their ways and will have to answer to God why they chose what they did and then live through eternity with the consequences.

Looking at Proposition 8 with a little different spin, the nature spin: Nature has selected against gay marriage. It's true. David took a class last semester on Anthropology. He learned a lot about natural selection. One thing he taught me was that nature chooses things to continue reproducing and to not. The meer fact that a homosexual couple cannot reproduce tells us that nature has selected against it. Nature doesn't allow for that couple to reproduce. Interesting.

Also, in my Early Childhood Education Class I had to look at some information on birth order. I found it very interesting that they listed a "Sexual dysfunction resulting from childhood sexual abuse" as homosexuality. Check it out if you are interested at http://www.birthorderplus.com/. So it seems that even the scientists can't figure out if it is a dysfunction or not. With nature selecting against it it sure appears as such.

Now, just to clarify, I am NOT saying that those with homosexual feelings are "bad," "evil," or "hell-bound." Personally I don't believe that it is something that someone is "born with." I believe that some people might have more of those types of feelings than others, but it is not a DNA thing. I am sure that it would be a very difficult thing to deal with and I don't know what that is like from first-hand knowledge. But, I do know that the Lord has said that it is not okay to act on those feelings. The action is what I have a problem with. The action is what the Lord has a problem with. I do know people that have chosen this lifestyle. In fact, my old hairstylest...the nicest man around, was gay and he lived with his partner. I love him. He was so kind and loved my kids...he moved which is why he no longer does my hair. He was great, but I didn't approve of his life choices, so we just didn't discuss it. We chose to be friends and enjoy our time together. He knew my position and I knew his.

I know that our Father in Heaven loves all of us. He truly does. I know that we need to protect marriage. I am encouraging anyone who reads this to vote YES on proposition 8.

October starts with a BANG!!

Well, here we are a week into October and we have already had three fieldtrips, with at least four more scheduled for the month. Faith left on October 1st for a three day - two night fieldtrip to Mount Lassen. The bummer was that exactly 2 weeks before she left, she was jumping rope and hurt her foot. She was on crutches for the trip to Mt. Lassen and had to miss a few of the hikes. Faith and her great attitude had a blast playing games with Duncan's mom. I was told today by another mom that they were impressed that she went on one of the hikes. They said that she was a real trooper! As of now, the foot is still hurting and we will be going to a foot specialist on the 15th!

Hyrum left the day after Faith to go to Camp Winthers for one night. He had a blast. The third grade has been discussing the water cycle and were able to spend all day Thursday following the water cycle along the river up to the top of the mountain. They had a great time.

On the 1st I got to take Gloria and Helaman on their first fieldtrip of the year to the library. It was fun, but Nephi sure was a pain! There are computers in the children's section and he sure thought that they were fun to play with. Glo and Helaman loved checking out their own books. It was really fun!

I took Vilate to the dentist on the 2nd, and although not as funny as the previous visit (see last post) it was interesting! Vilate stood outside the door to the room and refused to go in. The poor receptionists remembered me from two days before and immediately ushered us out to get the referal!

Helaman had to go to the doctor right after Vilate's dental appointment. He woke up on Thursday with a swollen face. They said that he had something called perotitis. Apparently he had a viral infection in his salivatory gland. When the doctor told us the treatment, as much sour candies as he wanted, he was soooo excited and Vilate was majorily jealous. It is amazing how quickly it healed! He is all better and we have had 6 days in a row of no doctor/dental appointments. I am so excited, but I am anticipating that we will be back to Kaiser soon!!

Our good friend and apartment manager, Alma, had a great party on Saturday afternoon. Earlier this year, or maybe it was last year, she entered an Emeril Live contest. The contest was a cheese contest where the contestants had to submit a reciepe that had cheese in it. Alma submitted her Cheese Tamale with Jalepeno Peppers and WON!!!! She was one of I think 4 winners. Well, as her prize she was flown to New York for the taping of the Emeril show. The show aired on Monday, October 6th. Alma was given a DVD with the show on it and we got together two days before and got a sneak peek, private screening. It was awesome!! Alma is a magnificent cook and made all the items that won for the party. It was wonderful. We ate it all while we watched the show on the "big screen" in the community room. Congratulations, Alma!!!!

And finally the best thing this past week was General Conference. I love this time of year and I really LOVE conference. I really enjoyed the words that were spoken and feel so blessed to live in a time and in a place where I can hear the words of our Prophet. The rule at our house is everyone must sit and listen each time the prophet speaks and if you have been baptized, you must also sit through the Sunday morning session. Overall the kids did really well. We did put a TV in the girls room so that they could have something that they could enjoy and that would keep them out of our hair!!

So, there you go!! Never a dull moment at our house!! Looking at the calendar I see that next week brings much of the same - I am soooo excited!!!

Bye-bye September!!

September was a busy month for us, but which one isn't? I have 5 kids in school and my days are full of dropping off and picking up, homework, cooking and cleaning. We survived Hyrum's birthday party, Center's Day, Culmination Day, signing up 2 kids for preschool (HOLY COW - a lot of paperwork!!), Camp Nauvoo, two fieldtrips, the cannery, 2 dentist appointments (those were really funny!! Keep reading for details!), Hyrum's first Cub Scout award, a Daddy-Daughter dinner, and some other activities, I'm sure there were more that I am forgetting!!

I can't believe that there are only 3 months left in this year! It seems like it has just flown by. I remember as kid that the years seemed soooooo long. Oh, how I long for those days again!

I got to go to the cannery - our church owns a cannery in Sacramento. We canned tomatoes. My friend Krissy and I went together. We started the evening by going to In & Out for burgers first. Yummy!! We had to be at the cannery at 9:30pm and I got to work the salt, putting one pellet of salt in each can, and then I went to the lid station where I got to make sure to have enough lids in the stack to be put onto each can. Finally I got to work at the station where the tomatoes in the cans. I don't think I have EVER been so red-orange. There were tomatoes EVERYWHERE. I survived my first cannery experience and really had a good time. For those who don't know, the cannery is run by volunteers and each ward is assigned times to go and staff the cannery. I believe that all the tomatoes that are available to the church are canned in our cannery. It sure felt good to be of service. When I got home I took a shower and ended up getting to be around 2 am. It was a long day.

Helaman and Gloria weren't going to go to preschool this year, but we decided that we would try it and see how it goes. They are having a fabulous time. They go each day from 12 to 3:30. Gloria is loving having her own friends and Helaman likes hanging out with the boys! We have started walking to school at least 3 days a week. It is a little over a mile and Helaman rides his bike while I walk and push the other 2 kids in the double jogger. We have a friend that goes with us. Helaman's friend Lorelai (apparently they are going to get married after Helaman's mission, just ask them!) and her mom and sister walk with us. It is a nice walk and I really enjoy the conversation with a friend!

Hyrum got his bobcat award in cub scouts. That was sooo cool. David and I got to go up and Hyrum got to put his bobcat pin on me. I love scouts and it is really fun to help Hyrum accomplish the things in the books.

As for the dental appointment. I took Gloria and Helaman, Nephi came along for the ride. We got in and while sitting in the waiting room, Gloria was telling a lady in there that she was going to see the dentist. Glo seemed really excited and Helaman seemed to be okay...that is until....they took us back. Gloria took one look at the room, from the doorway and ran to the other side of the hallway screaming, "No, I'm scary!" It was really hard to not laugh at her choice of words. As I approached her to try and gently coax her into the room, she bolted down the little hallway screaming all the way, "No, I'm scary!!!" So, while all this is going on Helaman is standing at the doorway to the room saying, "I'm not going first, Gloria's going first" over and over again. Don't forget, I had Nephi with me and I didn't bring the stroller because I wasn't sure if there was room. So, while I am chasing Gloria down the hall, Nephi is getting settled in the dentist's chair in the room. I'm sure it was very comical for those spectators in the office. After what felt like 20 minutes of my kids screaming, they finally took pity on me and ushered me out with the promise that they would let the insurance company know and refer us to a pediatric dentist. I bet that when we finally departed from their office, they breathed a huge sigh of relief and then had a good laugh at my expense. I hope that they enjoyed the show that we put on and I am sooo looking forward to going again to the dentist with these lovely kids of mine - NOT!!

So there it is in a nut shell...my month of September. I hope you all enjoyed your September as much as I did!!