Get rid of the junk!!!

I grew up in a house that was not at all organized.  There were some rooms that were just “junk” rooms and became the catch all for anything that needed to be moved out of a main room or no longer had a use in the house but my parents couldn’t stand to part with the item.  We also had a lot of “junk” drawers that were full of things that needed to be put away but they didn’t have a normal place to go so it was thrown into that drawer.  When I got married, I decided that I didn’t want my house to be that way.  I wanted everything to have a place that is belongs or it needed to be given away.  I wanted others to be able to come to my house and walk into any room and not feel ashamed for the mountain of stuff that didn’t have a place to go.  My house is far from being always clean but I do know that I can tell my boys to clean a room and they know exactly where every item goes.  I am also a fan of using bins for organization.  My kids can open up the cupboard with the school supplies and pull out any item that they need.  They can grab the container for crayons, grab a pencil out of the pencil box, or grab an eraser from its container.  I don’t have a drawer just full of junk.  Everything has a place and when I open up a drawer that might have a few different items in it, they are marked and placed together.  I like walking into a space in my house and not feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that always accumulates as we go through life.  We have lived in some small spaces.  Sometimes it can be hard to give everything a designated place.  That is when I use some tricky organization skills or just take a look at what I have and see if I really need it or if it is just taking up space.  I really feel like it helps a house to feel more like a home when there are not piles of stuff taking over.  I know that I probably am giving my kids a complex and now they will become hoarders when they are adults but we all have to scar our children in some way, right?

Who is Nova?

I am a person who is okay at doing a lot of things but I am not great at doing any one thing.  I am good at baking but I cannot just make up my own recipe from scratch.  I enjoy photography but I am taking pictures for National Geographic.  I love to sing and I can carry a tune and read music but I am not going to be the next Adele.  When someone asks about the one thing that I do or that fully explains what I am...I can't answer that.  I really am just middle of the road on many different talents.

There are many things that I wish I was an expert in.  I would love to play the harp.  I could even be just ok while playing it and it would sound like I really was an expert.  It is really hard to mess up the sounds that come from a harp.  I wish that I was a runner.  I have tried to like running.  I just can't do it.  Everyone says to give it time and you will love it.  There was a time in my life that I ran three miles a day, five days a week, for eight months.  Ya, still no love for running.  I wish that I was a great speaker.  When I have to talk in front of a group, I have a stomach that is doing flips and flops for an hour before to an hour after.  I can practice a talk or a presentation a million times.  When I stand in front of a crowd, my bind goes blank and I suddenly forget how to read.  I fumble through the presentation and quickly sit down to think of all the stupid things I said.  I would love to be able to stand in front of an audience and be able to just talk and tell them what needs to be said.  To sound like I am a fun and uplifting person, not someone who doesn't know how to read or talk.

I guess everyone will have things in life that they wish they could do better.  All you can do is keep trying your best.  I feel that for now, I am okay being an ordinary person.  I can make crafts, bake, and do some Zumba and feel that I am a good person even though I don't excel in any one thing.

Copperton Park

On Sunday we decided we needed to go on a picnic.  We haven't been on one in a very long time.  We decided to head to Copperton Park since we haven't been there in an even longer time.  The boys had so much fun.  There were a lot of people there but the park is big enough that there is room for all.  Here are some random pictures.  They are not the best because I only had my phone with me but the boys kept begging me to take their picture.

Trying to get back to normal

It has been a crazy year.  It has been a hard year.  There is much of the year that I don't remember.  I don't know that I would say that I wouldn't change anything because I sure wouldn't wish this year on anyone.  It seems like everything that could go wrong would but I did learn a few things from this year.  I have the best husband ever.  He does so much for me and I know that I couldn't have made it this far in life without him.  I learned that Heavenly Father loves me and is looking out for me even if I feel like life is not fair.  I have amazing children that are so forgiving and understanding.  I also learned that I have some great friends and family.  It has been a year since my first seizure.  I keep waiting to feel like normal but I don't know if that will ever happen.  Every time I feel like things are getting back to how they were, something new happens and changes my world.  I have decided that rather than waiting to be "normal" I am just going to have to embrace the new me.  The girl that can't juggle as much as she used to, the girl that can't remember a sentence said two minutes ago, the girl that can't remember words and has to explain what they mean and hope that my poor husband can guess what I am trying to say.  I am not going to feel guilty for what I have not accomplished in the last year.  Instead, I am just going to start today with what I have missed doing.  I am going to start reading, baking, crafting, exercising, blogging and just having fun with my kids more.  If I have a bad day and don't get any of that done, I am not going to feel guilty,  I am just going to start a new day.  I know this is easier said than done but at least I have said it.  That in it's self is a large step taken in the right step. :)

Pre-school Graduation Program

Hayden is done with pre-school.  He is very sad to be leaving his teacher but is already asking when Kindergarten starts.  They had a cute program where they sang a few songs they had worked on and showed us a movie they had made. 

Hayden's teacher said some very nice things about him.  She said that he was nice to all the kids and would play with everyone.

Taylorsville Dayzz

We have gone to Symphony in the Park for Taylorsville Dayzz every year since we have been married.          We have even converted a few friends to join us.  This year the boys even got to ride a few rides.  This will probably be trouble because they will think that they need to ride every year.  These are horrible pictures.  It was so bright outside, I couldn't see in my viewfinder what I was taking a picture of.

 Grandpa Larry even was conned into riding down the slide.

 Some of the Prax kids.  My children treat them like they are siblings.  Hayden is not one bit nervous to wrestle their children.

 I don't know why Jackson can't just take a normal picture.  He always has to be doing some dorky pose.

 Blake felt the need to take some pictures.  Here are his pictures of the Morrill clan.

 We had a fun night even though my kids were CRAZY.  They couldn't hold still for two seconds.  That is why we like coming to the park to hear the symphony.  My kids can be crazy and no one cares.

My month in a nutshell

One month ago I woke up in the middle of the night to  strangers in my bedroom.  I was really confused and didn't know what had happened.  I did not even know who Chris was.  I did know that I needed to use the restroom and my social security number.  I was loaded into an ambulance and informed about what had happened...I had a seizure and was not responding afterwards.  I spent the day at the hospital trying to get my blood pressure back to normal and taking many tests to see if I had a tumor or any other obvious cause for a seizure.  I was sent home to recover.  My tongue was huge and I had bit through it several times.   My memory was horrible.  I couldn't even focus on a sentence without getting distracted.  I felt like an adult crammed into a child's brain.  I knew things but could not quite get to them, simple things like words.  A week later I had an MRI, lumbar puncture, and EEG.  They were horrible tests.  I did find out that I am not epileptic.  There was a small white spot on my brain but the neurologist thinks that is because I get a lot of migraine headaches.  He prescribed a migraine medicine that also controls seizures.  That was the worst thing I have ever done.  You know when there is a mile long list of possible side effects with a pill, I had every one but two of them with this pill.  At first I thought I was just having problems because we had just moved and I did too much for my body to handle, but I have realized that it was the pill that was causing to many problems.  I told my doctor that I would rather have headaches constantly than not remember what I am saying, be too tired to do anything with my kids, or just feel like I am crazy all the time.  I already am hating life because I can't drive for three months.  I feel like I have lost any freedom I had.  I also am mad because I wanted to do some fun things with the kids this summer.  I stopped taking the pills and have started to feel like myself more each day.  The headaches have come back but I am okay with that.  I had been taking this medicine for 3 weeks and felt like a horrible person the whole time with the mood swings, anxiety, memory loss, swollen tongue, not being able to read, and sleeping over 12 hours every day.  I have stopped taking the pill for 3 days and feel more like myself than I have in the last month.  I will be meeting with an opthamologist soon because one of my optic nerves is swollen and that could have caused the seizure.  Hopefully it was just a fluke and I will never have a seizure again or the opthamalogist will be able to detect something.  I am also hoping that with me getting back to normal, I can do some fun thing with my boys before school starts again.  I am so grateful for the many family and friends that have helped out during this hard time.  We could not have made it through the last month without everyone's love and support.

Year End Luau

Saturday was the Year End Luau.  It was the last activity of the year that I was in charge of.  That thought makes me so happy.  This was already a stressful activity but I had a few extra hiccups.  I  had a seizure the Saturday before.  I am not able to drive for 3 months because of that and I also am having a few physical problems that are common after a seizure.  I had great support from family and friends that helped me finish the last details and worked at the event.  I am so grateful for that.  Here are a few pictures of the boys having a blast:

I think that I need one of these in my back yard for Hayden to climb on.

Lego animals

We went to the zoo to see the lego animals.  I don't know why I didn't take some pictures of the boys with the lego structures.  Here are a few pictures of my "monkeys".

Hayden is 4!

I can't believe my baby is 4.  He wanted to have a "Cat in the Hat" party.  The pictures are out of order because some are from my camera and some are from my SIL's camera.  The party was supposed to be outside but of course we had bad weather that day.  It was pretty windy and everything I would try to set up would blow away.  We had to cram in our apartment for most of the party.  

Hayden's cake.  I don't know if you can tell, but it looks like one in the Dr. Seuss books.

I wanted to add a little more to it so it wasn't so plain.  Hayden would not have it.  He loved it just like this.

Some of the food.

Bean bag toss.

Jackson thinks he is just hilarious.

Blake loves to play with Jonas.

Sack race.

And this is how the day ended.  I have a constant wrestling match going on in my house.  It drives me crazy.  It is a good thing I have cute boys or else they would be out in the street. :)