May 25th thru May 27th {Nielson's House}

Wednesday, {25th} I got up and ran on Sandi's treadmill this morning and the boys enjoyed being played with & loved on by the girls again.  Got ready fast because Logan had his graduation and everyone needed to go.  We all got in the car{s} and headed to UVU where the graduation was being held.  It was craziness there!  T

he parking guys were mean, too. (:  We met up with my sweet friend Candace & 2 of her three kiddos to head to Vernal with them for a few days.  It was great to see her and her babies, too.  I love that we can always pick up right where we left off and that there is absolute comfort with each other.  The kids were all good on the 2.5 hour ride back to her house, but Grayson was kind of grumpy & irritable.  About 20 minutes from their house, he started really crying-like he hasn't for a while-and I could tell something was up.  He said he had to go potty & Candace pulled over on the side of the road, but he'd started to have a bit of an accident and was crying saying, "I had an accident."  I told him to hold it, got out & he finished up on the ground-but I felt so bad for him.  My first reaction was frustration and then I remembered how tired he was, the fact that he had driven a lot in two days, and he was embarrassed.  And, he's been so great about potty training, too.  I was mostly worried about cleaning the carseat cover which is totally selfish.  I'm so thankful, once again, that kids-especially mine-are so forgiving & resilient.

We got to the Nielson's house and we were all so happy to be there.  We said hi to Brian on his way out & had him grab a quick group shot of us, which is just comical.  Who knew when we neighbors as newlywed college students that 6 years later we'd have five kids under 3 between the two of us!  Beckham was totally excited about the two sets of stairs at Candace's and after fighting the child gate for a couple hours, I took it down and figured he'd learn.  At one point he fell down from probably the fifth stair & Candace and I looked at each other and winced & waited, but he poked his head out, smiled, and climbed right back up.  After that he was a pro-go Beckham!

We all hung out for a while and then put the kids, minus Gray who played quietly, down for a nap.  Candace and I did some catching up, ate some lunch, and just enjoyed being together.  When all the kids were up, we took a walk up to her mom's house 1.5 miles down the road.  We each pushed a double stroller with two kids and then Candace strapped Ash to her in the snuggli.  So hilarious-I'm sure we were quite a sight.  It took us 27 minutes to get there-about 1.5 miles.  Her parents have a fun house for kids & the boys jumped on the trampoline, while the littles explored and were pushed on the swing.  Candace's Dad took Beckham for a ride on the gator and pulled away without buckling him in, but I wasn't too worried.  When he brought him back he said, "this is a good kid!  He just watched us up there with all the noise from the hammers & was great."  Yep, that's Beckham.  We headed home after half an hour or so & it tooks us 25 minutes to get back, so I loved getting the extra exercise in!

 The evening was a whirlwind of getting everyone fed; Candace's parents & sister Monica joined us, and then getting kids ready for bed, which seems to take a good chunk of time each night.  Put the kids to bed and mine both struggled a bit, but eventually gave in and were asleep by 9:15.  Candace and I chilled on her bed watching an episode of Drop Dead Diva, visited with Brian for a while, and then went to bed ourselves about 10.  So happy to be with friends!

Thursday {26th} the kiddos all woke up early-like before 7-so the day was going pretty quick.  Jhett and Grayson got along super well.  I was incredibly impressed that they had no issues the entire three days with fighting or being mean to each other at all.  They struggled with teasing words in the car, but even then, were really pretty good.  They played during the morning dressing as Buzz & Woody while the three littles took their morning naps.  Candace and I visited & watched DDD. 

When the babies woke up, we wrangled all 5 kids into the car and headed to grab chicken nuggets for them for a picnic at the park-we had other food too! (:  Grayson was not setting the best example in the car with words he was saying & I was getting frustrated with him.  He had to sit an extra 3 minutes in the car once we got to the park, apologized, and was great the whole time at the park.  All the kids were good there.  Ash slept in the car the whole time and Lyndi just wanted to chill with the food for the first half.  Beckham was a madman climbing the stairs and just fearlessly heading for the slides & whatever else he could get to.  My work was cut out for me with him.  Grayson and Jhett loved it and did awesome.  Fun times at the park!

On the way home from the park things started to get a little crazy for me and Grayson.  He was saying things in the car {mean mommy, poopy stinker guy, etc.} and wouldn't stop when I asked him.  He was being whiny & just pushing my buttons.  When we got to Candace's we cleaned up toys & Gray just kept pushing limits.  I was about at my breaking point with him.  The other four were going down for naps {Beckham was well adjusted to his playpen in Jhett's closet & did great} and Grayson just had a meltdown, but I melted with him.  I was embarrassed-even though I knew Candace wasn't judging me-I was frustrated, and I didn't know how to get the behavior to stop.  Because I overreacted, it drew out the period of his tantrum & things just spiraled downward.  I felt a bit out of control, stepped away from the situation, and left him in time-out to go in the living room.  Candace sweetly asked if I was okay and if she could help and I started crying.  It's so stupid, but even as upset with him as I was, I didn't want her to think any less of him or of me for kind of losing it with him.  It's so raw having anyone see you so exposed with your kids & so vulnerable.  She was totally sweet & reassured me that we all have those times-which I know-but it's so hard when you're in them.  I went back apologized to Grayson for getting so upset & not handling the situation with more peace & he apologized for being naughty {although about 85% of it was just normal 3 year old/boy behavior}, and we hugged & sat in the rocking chair for a while together. 

 I put Bex down & the others went down, too.  Grayson and I read books for a while and he played super well and watched a movie quietly while the four others took great naps.  Candace and I had some great discussions and I even got emotional talking to her in person about losing Tom and it was just nice to be together to talk since it happens so rarely. 
My mom called & I told her about my losing it & about crying when talking about Tom.  She said, "Oh, I hope you have fun-you don't get to see Candace very often...stop crying!" (:  It was funny, but it must have gotten it out of my system because the day went better after that.  I definitely struggle with letting one 15-20 minute period of time that's less than ideal with Grayson affect my whole day & my attitude toward him for the whole day, which just isn't fair. I tried not to do that this time though, and felt better the rest of the day. 
Brian came home and told us we could get away for a bit together-insert great husband award here-and kept all five kids himself.  We ran to Blockbuster & rented a couple movies, I took a free treat and had delicious frozen yogurt at Farr's, and we stopped to pick out Candace's new cell phone.  We got home and Bri had the three babies in seats feeding them dinner {he'd also changed Beckham's extremely poopy diaper!} and the two older boys were playing well together.  Thanks Bri for half an hour of uninterrupted time with your wife!

 We had dinner & made sugar cookie dough in the midst of the craziness.  Lyndin is hilarious & kept debating over taking food from Beckham's tray and finally couldn't handle the temptation anymore.  Those babies got along so well!  They just played parallel to one another, but had a great time, too.  They are SO similar in temperament and so easy to have around.  Ash is a doll baby too, and simply adorable and easy to keep, too.  She smiled so big at me the entire time and I loved cuddling her.  Put it in the fridge while we cleaned up dinner & got the babies occupied playing and then Jhett & Grayson got to cut out cookies.  They loved it & were super cute to watch.  The littles were definitely tired at this point and wanting us to pay attention to them, so we finished & put the cookies into bake.  Got the kids all bathed-such a comical experience! 

 Got everyone in jammies, read some books, got the twins {Bex & Lyndin-only ten days apart} & Ashlynn in bed, and cleaned everything up while Jhett and Grayson sat on Candace's bed and watched a couple Diego episodes.  Brian was at his softball game for all this mayhem, which I'm sure he was grateful about!  I have to write this down for documentation sake, but I was totally cracking up & have NO idea where he learned this.  I went to tell the boys only one more episode of Diego and then it was bedtime. Grayson said in a very matter of fact voice, "Okay mom, we'll just sit here, put our hands in our pants, and watch the movie."  WHAT??  I said, "Umm...don't put your hands in your pants, why don't you guys lay on your bellies?"  Hahahaha!  I texted Zac because he was in an important corporate meeting & thought it might give him a good laugh in a stressful meeting, and then called Grandpa Alan to tell him.  He laughed & reassured me it was normal boy behavior.  Oh my!

After these rascals went to bed, Brian got home and us three chilled with our laptops & visited.  At 10:00 PM on the dot, their power went off and Candace calmly asked, "is it ten?"  I thought, "Does this happen every night at ten?"  But, I laughed when I learned it was a scheduled 2 hour outage, so Brian used his generator & we miraculously & awesomely had power!  We stayed up for another hour & then hit the sack.  I slept with Grayson and he is ALL over the place, but I do love cuddling him.

Friday {27th} the three of us slept in a while longer & Gray slept till about 9, which was so needed.  We all felt refreshed & happy.  Candace had gotten up with her sister & gone to the gym early, but I slept, so I ran on her treadmill instead.  It was the first time in my couch to 5k plan that I had to run for 20 minutes straight & it was awesome!  Yay me!

Got showered & kids ready and babies napped and headed to grab lunch.  I ran into Cafe Rio to get lunch while Candace braved the waiting in the car with 5 kids.  There was a crazy long line in there & I worried about Grayson in the car with her-he's quite into doing & saying the opposite of what he's told and I didn't want Candace to have to struggle with him.  Sure enough, I grabbed the food & went out to the car to a shaking her head/laughing Candace.  Of course the middle row of babies were wonderful, but Jhett was crying and I asked what happened.  She said he needed to go potty & she asked him to hold it, but he couldn't, so she had to climb in the back & pull him out that way to pee outside.  On the way getting him out, she accidentally bonked his head & so he was sad.  Grayson said to her {in support of his hurt friend, I'm sure...}, "You are the meanest mom ever!"  Oh man.  Then she got everything situated again & climbed in the front to sit down.  From the backseat she heard, "Dumb mommy."  Arghhh!  Grayson!  Totally unacceptable!  He has never said that to me, so I was really surprised, but not at the same time.  I was ticked, but waited till we got to Candace's sister Lynise's house.  And Candace was sticking up for him reminding me he was 3 & it wasn't a big deal.  I reprimanded Grayson-quite calmly-and explained that we NEVER talk to our own mommies & especially to anyone else's mommy or big people that way.  He apologized to Candace and reassured her they were still friends and I let it go at that. 

{Sidenote: It was crazy to see the differences between J & G.  If Jhett said anything Candace didn't agree with, she could talk rationally through it or say something like, "What you're doing or saying makes your friends sad and it makes Jesus sad.  Do you want to make Jesus sad?"  He would say, "No!" and be better.  My kid would say, "I do!"  The making mom/dad/friend/Jesus sad card just doesn't work for him.  It's not that he doesn't understand either, he does.  And I have to be okay with that.  He is stubborn.  He is not willing to see reason unless he's ready & rational.  I think he's pretty normal.  Whether it's a result of my parenting skills or lack of them, or that he is just an extremely strong personality, I have to NOT compare him to Jhett or any other kids.  Jhett is a great kid and I loved being around him and seeing him and Grayson expand their friendship.  I also think he is a good influence on Grayson.  But Grayson is a good kid too and even though he's stubborn, and wants to be completely opposite right now {about EVERYTHING-you can show him a circle & he knows it's a circle and he'll insist that it's a triangle just to do it}, I think a lot of it is normal three year old, testing his boundaries, behavior, and of course it needs to be addressed, but I also need to be easier on him and not let his 15-20 minutes total in a day where he's driving me crazy, determine how the entire day will go, because I think I'm just encouraging the behavior I'm not fond of by staying focused on it.}

Anyway, we all got out and had a picnic lunch at Lynise's.  She is a sweetie and her kids are older & great with all our kids.  They boys-especially Grayson-LOVED her house & her toys and backyard.  They played and when the wind forced us inside, they roughoused & played till it was apparent that the littles were ready for an afternoon nap.  I was laughing at the casual way Lynise & Candace watched the kids running like crazy & my boys loved it, of course. 

Got home and put the four youngest down and Grayson played quietly by himself which was great.  This allowed me and Candace to watch "Country Strong," which was okay.  Loved the music, but probably wouldn't see the movie again.  Kids woke up & played, made messes & enjoyed each other, and we made chicken salad for dinner. 

Candace & Brian took Jhett, Grayson, and Lyndi up to her folks to work with the cows and I kept Bex and Ash and finished dinner.  Gray loved sitting in the pickup eating donuts {he was scared of the cows}, and getting eggs from the chickens. 

Brian offered to drive me back to Sandi's when they got back instead of having Candace drive me by herself the next morning, so it was a whirlwind of packing up, getting ready, feeding kids & getting in jammies, and saying goodbye. 
I am so glad we got the opportunity to stay with the Nielson's.  Love them so much.  The spirit is so strong in their beautiful home and I just love our friendship and the realness in all of it.  I think it just strengthened the relationship realizing that we are both doing the hardest job ever-raising kids-and even though we're far apart, we're doing it together.  I learned many great things I want to start implementing in my house and am grateful Candace was willing to abandon her schedule to fit us in for a few days.  The boys LOVED it and I hope we can keep the friendship between our kids up, too.  I'm grateful too, that she just loves me for me-flaws & all. 

Said quick goodbyes, loaded the boys in and headed out.  It was fun to visit with Brian for 3 hours since we didn't really get to see him while we were there and the boys were both really good the whole way.  I can't believe they didn't sleep since it was definitely bedtime, but Gray played the matching game on my phone and Beckham was just chill until about five minutes before getting there.  T&T met us at a gas station and picked us up to go to Sandi's.  Such a fun couple days!