Happy 27th birthday to me!

Well, I am now 27 years old. I remember a girl I know saying that she woke up on her 27th birthday, looked in the mirror, and really just felt like she was at the prime of her life. She couldn't ask for anything more and just felt in the best shape of her life! Ha! I spent Thursday night awake with Tommie and Dallin. They both have had bad coughs lately and just need to be held. So, I sat in my rocking chair for hours with them. But, Brittany Alhstrom Arnett had just lost her 5 week old baby- laid it down for a nap and it never woke up :( so horrible -- so honestly, I was grateful that I was up just holding my babies. James let me sleep in and took care of breakfast.  I looked in the mirror and definitely didn't feel in the best shape of my life! Ha. I am so swollen this pregnancy- my face and mostly my feet are huge. Anyways, I really did have the best day ever. The weather was amazing and I went for a bike ride with the boys and sat int he yard while they played for hours. Gram Cracker came to babysit my boys while shaela and I went and got pedicures and peanut butter jamba juices - my all time favorite. The boys slept the whole time and then we all went to target. This new baby will need some new clothes. Everything is looking nasty 3 boys later... :) James got home from work early so we left to dinner at 6 with shaela and jared and brad and julie. We all filed in to Jared's new truck- boys in front, girls in back - ate at abuelos and drove to a place called Top golf.  It's kind of like bowling but you hit golf balls towards targets. It was too busy though so we settled for walking around the casino and talking stick resort. Of course everyone seeing how uncomfortable James was and that made brad and jared only want to walk around the casino longer.  It was fun to just all be together- no kids- and we finally sent Brianna and Mansi home around 11:30. As i laid there, contractions galore, James snoring too loud to sleep, I thought -- you know, I may feel huge and uncomfortable- but I am definitely happier than I have ever been. I love not working, I love being home with so many little kids. They really do need me, all the time, but they love everything I do still. I had so many hugs, so many birthday "presents", and the kids sang to me non-stop all day :).




We took the family to the Phoenix temple open house. It was a long drive but a beautiful temple. By the time we were done and hit dairy queen, it was 10:00pm and the kids were so tired.  There was a lady with a flat tire not he side of the freeway that James stopped to help switch her tire out. There he was in his church suit, laying on the road- what a man. And of course, doing missionary work the whole time. I sure love his ability to just forget himself and help others. We made it home at midnight but felt lucky we've been able to take the kids to 2 different temples this year.

It's time to plant winter lawns which means extra landscaping hours for James. I seriously felt so bad for how busy he was this week. Besides a work meeting on monday, and late nights of lawns on thursday and early friday morning, Saturday he was up and out the door by 5:30 and didn't finish until 6:30. He met me at the grocery store to help with the boys and then had to meet with the sister missionaries. I laughed as every time he'd open his mouth to talk to them he'd be yawning and rubbing his eyes. They were like "Bro. Andersen, it's only 8:30" Ha, but he had worn his fit bit and had walked more steps on Saturday then we did the day we ran our half marathon. I am glad those big work days came before the baby though. I will be relying on his help here for the next little bit. He watched the boys Tuesday while I went to relief society activity and even rototilled our garden. He broke a large sprinkler pipe - which stinks for him- but I couldn't believe he is still thinking of planting our garden too.

The weather has finally gotten nice. It's only hot now in the afternoons. But, the mornings are in the upper 70's to 80's and I think all we do is play in the mud. James has scalped our front lawn, before planting it, and all the boys want to do is be out there in the mud, raking and playing ball. I love it. I decided that no little boys can touch my phone or iPad anymore. They were addicted to playing songs, or watching little PBS kids shows. So, now that we are outside, I never have to hear them asking for it anymore. SOOOO nice! :)

Everyone got hair cuts this week. Dallin seems so old now, especially as he walks around in his high tops and gets in to everything. He looks so cute. Yesterday was the primary program and Jackson did so good. Way confident and serious up there. Julie did a great job as the primary chorister. When all the kids sang "Our father has a family, it's me...it's you...all others too" (whatever that song is called) it hit me really hard again, that I am doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do. He wanted these babies so close. When I was first pregnant and so sick, I was kind of feeling depressed and frustrated with everything. That song had come to me so strong that being a mom is how I become what He wants me to be. After that, it was easier to not "blame" my problems on pregnancy. And, yet, here I have probably forgotten that lesson again and needed to hear that it will be ok, I can do it. I can make it through this crazy stage of life, and that I will have help. "God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be— This is how He shares His love, for the family is of God." Needless to say I actually cried at church. Ha! That never happens... everyone was commenting and James kept saying "no really, shawnne, what's wrong?" Ha ha. Dang pregnancy hormones. Jackson said "wow mom, is it because I did so good??" "Sure," I said. :)




I had my 37 week doctors' appointment. I am being tested for some liver problems (since i wake up at night itching my feet really bad -- weird-- but now that I have had a pedicure and removed all the dead skin- -maybe it's mosquito bites :) embarrassing) But, if those come back positive I will be induced here int he next few days. If not, I bet I am getting close. I really don't feel good anymore and that usually means it's coming. I went way wild and cleaned everything last week or so. Even the blinds and we had the carpets clean ( happy birthday to me. seriously, I used to talk about it everyday.) . Everything's dirty again, but, hey, my nesting came and went.  ha ha. The freezer is stocked with meals and baby clothes are washed. So, any day now right?

Wilford was in town for the weekend. I got to see him for like 30 minutes and he visited with James for like 10 minutes. I felt so bad because all James wanted was to go to lunch or something with him. Sometimes he really just craves that "Dad" time.  Yet, that just doesn't happen much. It's ok because Wilford is an amazing example of sacrifice and consecration. I just felt bad that James hasn't had that time in so long. Especially since when Dad stayed here in July, he was so sick and never left bed. We had thought about flying James to Utah to just spend the weekend up there. But, the timing just hasn't felt right yet and we really want the yukon fixed first :). We're cramping our little car.

Well, it's almost time for Jackson to be home from school and the boys will be waking up. I still have bills to pay and mail to file. The end for now.

September's miracles, october conference

 Well, I almost didn't think this month would come. October really is my favorite time of year but somehow I kept thinking that I might just be pregnant forever, Mesa will always be so hot, and I am doomed to continual sweatiness. But, the weather is changing, the air isn't constantly on, and the mornings and nights are actually feeling nice outside! We spend the evenings int he backyard or going on walks and it isn't too bad. I wouldn't say it is cool yet- but definitely not as hot.

I am 35 weeks now. I have had some really bad hip and lower back pain lately. It leads to lots of contractions and just overall feeling of "ugh". But, I can't seem to find too many things that make it better. I am actually not even wanting to go to the doctor about it- trying to skip appointments to make this pregnancy go by faster! Ha ha. dumb, but effective! I will say though that it has totally motivated me to get my body back into shape after this baby. :) I loved this past conference talk this weekend where the guy basically said "are you uncomfortable in your own body? can you do something about it? Then...do it!"

Conference weekend was great. We haven't had James home for the whole weekend in a really long time and they boys never left him alone.  The kids seem to just play quietly and I laid down A LOT which actually really helped my back cramps. Maybe that's the solution.... lay down :). It seemed like all our family were out of town, and it was just us. Which made for a boring priesthood session night. But, I loved that the kids were asleep by 7:30 and I just read. Nerdy, but wonderful. James went with the Brown boys out to eat and then to watch the ASU football game. As for conference, I felt impressed too:

- Don't get 1st and 2nd commandment confused-- put God before others - Story of man who refused to work: aid is there but if we don't step up and take it- we feel total despair- God wants to help us but it is our responsibility to get up and work- so he has something g to help us with. He does not wait until we have reached a certain level of goodness - his help is available now. But we have to trust it is there. 

6 tips to raise spiritual confidence

1- take responsibility for own spiritual wellbeing 2- take responsibility for physical body - if you are uncomfortable in own body- do something about it- it deserves for you to be master of house3- embrace obedience- wholeheartedly "when I do good, I feel good" Lincoln4- repent quickly - 24/7 5- become really really good at forgiving all men all the time6- accept trials and setbacks as just part of mortal experience 

-Acknowledge and face weaknesses but don't allow them to immobilize you - they will be with you your whole life-Need peace?        Make time to pray everyday- share even mundane details - family prayer is non negotiable       Choosing to read scriptures  is more important than anything else- rearrange priorities         Schedule fhe       Don't let anything prevent you from going to the temple        The more we do this- the more satan will want to harm us but his ability to do so is lessened 

-How can we avoid errors in personal decision making? -recognize God doesn't want us to just live,exist and die. He wants us to do something greater 

Another favorite moment of conference was when I was changing dallin's diaper. I asked Dallin how such a tiny amount of poop could smell so bad? I mentioned to Tommie that it looked like a little squirt of toothpaste, but smelled so bad. Jackson over heard and said "toot - paste? Sick mom!" Ha, that's become a new phrase... "just a little bit of toot paste". We keep laughing about it. 

Dallin has quite the hair lately. I can not get it to stay down. I snapped a few of these pictures during a session. What crazy adorable little boys I have!  :) 

I really feel a miracle has happened. We had a $7000 bill from the emergency room visit with Tommie's first skull fracture. I had fought insurance companies to get coverage, been told they would pay a portion, but the bill kept coming back in full. I was getting so frustrated and feeling like there was now ay to pay off those, the other doctor's bills, the baby, and everything that kept breaking :).  A few weeks ago on a friday we got an official notice that insurance denied the claim and it was now our full responsibility and payments needed to begin. James came home from work that friday, frustrated with a few problems he was trying to handle at work and I decided I just couldn't tell him about it. He found the letter anyways and we kind of had a depressing weekend thinking about how to pay for everything. Well, monday morning I called down to set up some payment options with the hospital. The lady told me my account had been paid in full. I couldn't believe it. Some, anonymous donor, looks for people who's insurance denies the claim and then offers to cover it all. I just went quiet not he phone thinking about how incredible. All too often we think we know the way the Lord could answer our prayers. For me, this was for insurance to cover some of the bill. I felt frustrated that prayer of mine wasn't answered. But, Heavenly Father had an even better idea! :) And, somewhere in arizona, is some charity that I have no way to thank or know who it is. Incredible huh? Talk about a great reminder that Heavenly Father knows ME, personally, and all my problems and cares. Now, we can just focus on the smaller bills and that means, that I think the Yukon will be fixed within a month too. SO grateful. I will love having a car to fit all my kids :) 

Our fridge and dishwasher broke again in the past few weeks. Talk about frustrating! I couldn't handle life with no fridge-- how do some people do it? We ate way too many peanut butter sandwiches and crackers.  And the dishwasher, right before the repair guy came, it just started working again. Incredible huh?

Can't forget free krispy kreme day. If you dressed like a pirate, you got a whole free dozen donuts. Kids loved it and ya, we just sat in the store and ate donuts with shaela and her kids (and some friends) :)  Did I mention Shaela announced she's pregnant again too?

This week is October break. No school for Jackson and I'm afraid I am going to be SOO boring to him :) But, I am excited to have another week of not too much going on.  Jackson also had some bad cavities - ok 9 - that we took care of this past 2 weeks. It made for 2 really long appointments for him, with lots of laughing gas and pain, but one silver tooth and 8 cavities later -- he's a new boy! I was impressed with how brave he was!

And, look how handsome he is! Love his kindergarten pictures this year!  I went to my first parent teacher conference and Mrs. Jankunas had nothing but positives to say about Jackson. She says he is so smart, and way past kindergarten level. But, she said he is also the one that answers all the questions and helps everyone. I was glad to hear he was a rule follower, and not a rule breaker. :)