Family

We have so much going on! We have moved into a bigger home. We have decided we are going to save for 2 more years and then build our dream home! I am so excited! We want some land so OakLeigh and Weylon can finally have all the horses they desire! (well at least 2 of them) We are so close to being debt free! It feels amazing. Brandon has worked so hard for us. He got an AMAZING bonus this month. The stinking govt took a massive amount for taxes but we still ended up with enough to pay off both vehicles and almost all of our medical bills! WOOHOO! I feel bad that over 10 grand was in my medical bills from my radiations. But we are so close to being debt free! And it really does feel so FREE!!! It is so nice to see how Brandon has changed. And myself. It says something, especially for me, to look at amazon and load up the cart with great stuff I would love...then think for a minute and exit out instead of hitting purchase to paypal credit or something stupid like that. It actually feels really good to not tie myself down with credit debt again. I will never go back to those ways. We have worked to hard for our future and kids future to go back to old ways. Brandon is getting a new calling tonight. He and I have to go meet with stake presidency tonight. HMM! I know its for him because I am already the Relief Society President of our ward. I know they can't stick anything else to me. ha-ha That is very relieving. My calling is great...so far. It keeps me very busy attimes and very slow at others. I keep thinking that its still a funny joke that I am in the RS presidency though. (Its really not that funny) However, when I was called and sustained in church, I have never in my life felt such power of the Holy Ghost testifying to me that I needed to do this calling. For some reason, I am in this and I know I need to be. I have never felt that so strongly in my life. When Brother Thornock read my name he got teary eyed too. It was amazing. It was indescribable the overwhelming feeling that came over me. So I will press forward. And do this as best as I can. With my Heavenly Father's help I know I can do it. As inadequate as I feel about it, I know He wants me to do this. So that is what I am up to lately. Church, my family, my daycare. I am so ready for summer though! I love that I can stay home with my babies, I love that I can contribute financially, but holy moly, home daycare can wear on a person. I am ready for summer. I am ready to sleep in if I want to. ha ha ya right! Brandon and I had made the decision that we were going to home school our kids. And I felt so torn. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I know eventually it will be the best decision for our children. Especially the way the common core standards are being rammed down our throats... But after much prayer and thought, I know it is the wrong time. I am not supposed to home school right now. So our kids are actually doing wonderful in school right now. OakLeigh loves to learn and read. Her favorite is art of course. She just finished tumbling. She was really funny to watch. She has zero coordination, but she sure tried! Weylon is doing better and better each day. His reading has improved so much. And he seems to be able to focus so much more this year. I think he just needs time to grow up more. He is in soccer right now. He just isn't that competitive. He likes to run and slide around but doesn't really go for the ball at all. Its funny. Savanna loves to do school. She loves to read and write stories. I must say, her stories are very amazing. They actually leave me waiting for the next chapter. They are awesome! I will have to put a sample on here. She will be our famous author. She is as good as the Harry Potter author. And I am not just saying that because I am her mom. She really is that good. And then there is Memphis. He is spoiled rotten. He screams bloody murder if he doesn't get his way. It drives me crazy. He can be the kindest, sweetest little boy. Then on a flip of a dime, he is a rampaging rabid animal. He loves to be my helper though. He loves transformers and power rangers. He wants his own water fountain for his birthday. ha ha Brandon as always, is such a good husband and father. He always has our future in his mind and works so hard to ensure that it will be a good, stable future for us. He works very hard. I really hit the jack pot with him. He loves me even if I am this old, wrinkly, chubby woman. He tells me everyday how much I mean to him. He tells me everyday that I am beautiful to him. (I always tease him its because he only has 1 eye he can see out of...lol) We got to go see Dwight Yoakam in January. It was AWESOME! Brandon was giggly and so excited. It was fun to see him so happy. I got sick. That part sucked. We came home to sick kids. But I will post pics of the Dwight meeting! And then after I finally got to cut Brandon's hair. He was growing it for the concert. haha it was LONG! you will see!

Also here a few pics of the kids and life as we know it in our world!

My Aunt Betsy

In a couple days it will be my late Aunt Betsy's birthday. I was reflecting about her life and what a beautiful legacy she left not only her children and husband, but so many others. I was thinking about her life. What a life she lived. I miss her so much. I learned so much from her. I had to do a report in college once about someone you admired and interview that person. This is a bit of my interview to her and her answers. Erin: What do you most value in your life thus far? Betsy: My family. I never thought I would ever say I would have children. But I love mine. I never really had a goal in mind to be a mother, but it is one I cherish and love most. Erin: What were your main goals? Betsy: I always wanted to get an education. I knew that was very important. I wanted to live a ranch life like I always had. Erin: Do you have any advice to someone deciding on a career and going through college right now? Betsy: I would tell you to get your college done before having children. I don't regret how I did it, finishing college with my little ones. But it was extremely hard. We all had to make a lot of sacrifices so I could finish. Wes made a lot at home helping with the kids so I could go back and forth to school and to study. The kids missed me. And I really did miss them. But I would tell you to get an education. It is very important. I hope that my kids can see how hard I worked and appreciate the value I placed on education. I learned so much from her. She taught me how to drive a stick shift. And she was so patient! I am sure she was scared. She grabbed the side of the door handle more than once. But every time I killed it, she would laugh and say do it again. I learned to perseverance and what it REALLY means to ENDURE TO THE END! I love and respect how hard she fought the cancer. She was in a lot of pain and I never heard her complain. She got up and did what she needed to do. I remember how tired she looked one night, but she was determined to go to Logan's basketball game. And she cheered so loud! She did everything she could to be there for her family. I am so thankful that I lived with the Wengerts at the time that I did. I am sure I was a HUGE pain in the butt. And I know I was so naive about the severity of the situation, but I think it is where my Heavenly Father wanted me to be. I look back and wish I had been more helpful and more sensitive to everyone's needs. I wish I had sat and talked with Bets more. She had some serious advise to give to me about some boyfriends I had chose. She teased me mercilessly about them. I should have listened! She knew what she was talking about. LOL I have recently been following a blog called Kathy's Miracle. It is a story similar to that of Betsy. She is a young mother, with a loving and devoted husband. She has 5 young children. And was diagnosed with terminal cancer while pregnant with her 6th baby. She held off cancer treatment for herself until after the birth of baby. But her liver started to fail and they had to deliver little baby Luke early. He was very premature but doing well. Then developed an infection and passed away a couple weeks after birth. Kathy endured this terrible tragedy of the birth and death of her sweet son with great dignity and grace. She had many ups and downs through out her journey but I wanted to put on this post an excerpt Kathy had done on her blog about what she was going through. "I don’t know what the future holds and yet what is beautiful is that God is making the tortuous unknown not only okay, but a life changing experience full of lessons daily that I am being given for me to use here or in the next life. According to most people, I either should have been dead already or I have at most a couple more months. Yet I know God grants me each breath, and he decides when I go. My time is not yet. I also know if God wants me to live then he can heal me in an instant. I also believe the healing could happen very slowly as well. After all, much is learned through the waiting, the ‘being still and knowing he is God’. I know this. I am proud to be able to say that I know God lives. I know he loves me. I know he is capable of being intimately involved in my life and billions of others at the same time. My friend told me the other day that she and others are surprised at how happily and submissively I am handling this adversity. My response was, ‘How can I not?’ she said “I know a lot of people that would shake their hands at God if they had to go through this”. I don’t think of that as an option because given the intensity of this experience it would quickly become too lonely, painful, and sad to exist. Because I want to be submissive and willing to accept these trials, God makes up for my weaknesses and is continually blessing me and guiding me through it. He has not left me alone. He has provided me with a sanctuary, where I have either come now to die or come to be allowed to rest enough that I just might be able to heal and I am fine just almost being a spectator and watching this all unfold. One of the greatest lessons I think I have learned through all this due to my great need and the love so many have given to me is that nothing is more important or noble in this life than to ease human suffering. Nothing! Men are that they might have joy. Joy is felt when love abounds. Jesus did nothing other than heal, comfort, lift up, encourage, give hope, mourn with, bless, teach truth, and ultimately impart his divine love to his brothers and sisters. The very things others have given me during this, my hour of need. Can we ever do anything greater than these things? When we are giving pure, unselfish love to others, we are doing exactly what God wants us to do. And the more we do it, the happier God is with us. I am continually surrounded by angels and angelic Christ like people. What a beautiful existence! I find so much comfort and meaning in the incredible amount of love I have been shown and have felt so sustained by it that I will never deny again the importance of just giving love. To be filled with charity. Charity never faileth. It is the whole essence of this very true gospel which tells us to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. Just imagine if everyone always did this everyday, if this was their focus, ease human suffering. And through the giving of their love, allowing others hearts to be touched and steered toward Christ. The world would be a beautiful place. I have come to believe that because my circumstance is so intense and can be truly scary at times it can only be counterbalance by so much comfort from other people. There is purpose in why God has instilled these needs in us, because when these intense needs are met, when we feel so fragile, and so in need and someone comforts us and we then feel its okay and can breath again and get through it and bask in the sweetest feeling that is relief, then God smiles. He smiles when we are his hands. He smiles because we are doing what the savior spent his life doing. And there is great purpose in it." This sweet lady passed away on New Years Eve. And I can't imagine what agony this family is going through. But I can only imagine, what she expressed, is what my Aunt Betsy was feeling. And would have said. I know she, in the end felt peace. I know she had such a strong testimony that she accepted the will of our Father in Heaven. So, being that Betsy's birthday is January 18th, I am going to do what I KNOW she would want us to do and use that day to not only celebrate her life and legacy, but to serve. I know my life will be enriched even more. I miss you Bets! Your life and example still reach me and touch me. Your death was not in vain, because of it, you taught so many of us endurance, trust and how to accept the will of God. Even if its not what we understand. I was so sad to have her pass through the veil. But I know without a doubt, she has a much bigger plan that is in motion on the other side. Heavenly Father has great plans that needed her there. Our mortal lives miss her terribly. I know her family misses her far beyond what I can put into words. But I know she is with them. I know she watches over each of them. I feel her with me right now. I am so thankful for that knowledge! I am so thankful for that because it makes me WANT to try harder to be the best I can. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT BETSY! I love you and miss you!

Christmas times a coming!!!

It is so hard to believe it is December 12th....LITERALLY!!! For instance, we have NO SNOW! And also, at 8am this morning it was 51 degrees outside? WTHeck is up with this? Either this is another signs of the 2nd coming because we will have a serious drought this summer....or the STORM OF THE CENTURY is on its way and we are going to get POUNDED with feet of SNOW?!! We have so much to be thankful for. I reflect back on the months since last Christmas and we have so many positive blessings come our way. Brandon has a GREAT job with Chesapeake Energy. He LOVES it and he works for an amazing company. They have been in the top 100 companies to work for in the world (according to forbes magazine) for 10 years now. They really do take care of their employees too. It is a HUGE blessing and I am so thankful we have this job! Brandon works so hard for us every day. Last night we had the "Old Fashioned Christmas in Glenrock" celebration. It was fun. OakLeigh and Memphis got to sit on Santa's lap. It was cute. They were so excited! Savanna had her Christmas concert/play this week also. She was the lead in the play part. She was so excited and worked really hard on her parts. She stayed after school almost every day for a month! It was so extremely cute and I grinned from ear to ear through the whole thing. And OakLeigh couldn't describe it better, she said, " That was the best play I have ever seen and Savanna was the best Galeena ever!" We decorated our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving break. And as usual it was fun...the kids had fun and of course, Brandon went all out on the lights again. I believe we ended up using 11 strands. And he wrapped each branch. Those puppies are on this tree for life. There is NO WAY I am removing them! haha And of course there is never a dull moment at our home! Here are some pics from the past month! And here is something I laughed my head off about last night...so Memphis got a pack of fire hot cinnamon gum at the light parade. He was sucking on a piece and it was too hot so he spit it out in our sink. Well so half of the square piece of gum was white, the other half red. Brandon goes into the bathroom to get a drink and he just leaned under the sink. He looks down and sees this piece of chiclet gum, that looked a lot like a bloody tooth. He feels in his mouth. And calls for me to see where he lost a tooth at. I about died laughing. BECAUSE IT IS HUGE! I couldn't even get it out that it was gum not a tooth. So then I held it up to his front teeth and show him how huge it was compared to a tooth. LOL Anyway, here is the pic of the gum. You can decide if you would have thought you lost your tooth too?

Just another day at the Mitchell home!

Well I forgot to post pictures about Weylon's flag football team. He is funny because he really wants to get in there and play hard, but he just gets so DISTRACTED! One play went into action and his whole team was running around doing a specific play.....and here was Weylon, still standing in the starting position staring at the millers flying around in the field lights~ I was yelling at him to RUN RUN RUN...he looks at me and did like a scooby doo run in place thing and then took off. That is how the whole game goes every time! Its actually really humorous to watch!~

On a NOT so fun note, Brandon woke me up around 11:30 last night. I could hear him moaning in pain in the bathroom. I tried to block it out, (sorry honey, I thought I was dreaming...) and then I realized he really was hurting. So I go in the bathroom to find him in a ball. After about 30 minutes the pain subsided enough to get him in bed. This went off and on all night long. Around 2 or 3 in the morning other things were happening and he was bleeding in places you really shouldn't bleed from. So around 645ish I finally convinced him to go to the ER. They admitted him. And they did a CT scan and he has a very inflamed colon...a case of colitis. So he is hooked to IV's and getting lots of antibiotics to kill the bacteria and they are monitoring the bleeding. So I took the kids to see him this afternoon. Pain meds had kicked in and hopefully he is feeling good enough to get some sleep tonight!

Conference

Lately I have felt like I haven't been living. I know a lot of moms might understand this. I have felt like I am just going on through the day to day tasks but not LIVING! And I have felt like things in my home and my personal goals are out of control! I haven't felt the peace I have needed so desperately in my life. Don't get me wrong, I am happy. I LOVE my life. I love my children. I love my husband. But I just feel almost robotic in my day to day tasks. I wake up. I get the kids off to school. I clean house. I make dinner. I do the dishes. I go to bed and start over. But not only that, but it seems that the spirit has not been in my home lately. It seems that my kids fight and yell every second that they are home. And therefore, I fight and yell more. I haven't done anything for me lately. I am a mom. I LIVE for my children. I live to make sure they are happy and taken care of. However, I have noticed if I am not taken care of and feed myself spiritually, emotionally and physically I am missing a huge aspect that will help me to take better care of my family. Then General Conference came this past weekend. I am not one of those people who jumps for joy and gets all excited because of it. Most people LOVE general conference. Its not that I hate it, but its SO LONG. And 8 hours of watching church with my loud kids is not a tea party. Its like a war zone. No one sits still. No one listens. No one lets me feel the spirit. Its a fight for 8 hours broken up in 2 days. Not my kind of joy! But I am usually determined to make them sit through at least one session on Sunday. But I am up and down and don't get to sit and listen and feel of the spirit for myself. This time around was no different. Savanna is older she will sit and do her thing quietly. Weylon will almost sit and listen. OakLeigh and Memphis would rather be put in a strait jacket in a padded room to bounce around than have to sit through anything quietly for more than 2 minutes let alone a whole session! However they did pretty good this time! And I was able to hear some of the first session. The 2nd session came around. The kids were all playing nicely in the bedroom. So I laid down on the couch and enjoyed 2 full hours of conference. And I felt so spiritually fed and uplifted. I really needed that. I feel it was definitely a tender mercy of my Father in Heaven. He knew I needed this. He knew I was doing less than and feeling less than. A couple talks hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't remember the speaker but he talked about getting our priorities in line. We randomly read our scriptures. Not good enough! We do pray every night but sometimes I wonder how sincere it really is. There is NO excuse to not read your scriptures daily! There is no excuse to not kneel down every night as a family and talk to your Father in Heaven. NO EXCUSE! If facebook, youtube and TV are more of a priority than prayer and scripture study and family time then something is wrong in your family! And BAM! That is whats wrong with me! I pray every night before I fall asleep.....or should I say I fall asleep saying my prayers as I lay in bed every night. How sincere is that talk with Heavenly Father if I am in dreamland for 86% of my prayer? I read my scriptures maybe 1x a week. I do NOTHING for myself physically. NOTHING. I clean house. I watch TV. I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the gym when I was in college. I hate doing aerobics, but I LOVE the feeling of lifting weights and working muscles. After conference I felt so rejuvenated. I set a goal for my family. We have been reading our scriptures every night. We only do one chapter. That's good for us who have 2 of the loudest, not sit down and read scriptures kind of children! And we talked about prayer. About how it needs to be more sincere. And I feel like its getting better. Its not a race to see how fast we can get it done. I have read my scriptures at night. I have knelt by my bed and prayed. I have LITERALLY talked about all my feelings, worries, accomplishments and thanks to my Heavenly Father. And I feel so REFRESHED! I also have started going back to the gym. Every day after school. I go after homework and after daycare kids leave. And yes, it has only been 5 times I can go, but holy cow I feel so good physically! I feel like I have been given a NEW START! I have needed to go to the gym anyways, and this is a good time. Savanna is old enough to watch kids for me. I bring Weylon. He feels like he is getting tough already and he pushes me to go because he LOVES going with me. I know my problem as a mother is because I had moved away from my Heavenly Father in a way. Yes, I have a testimony. Yes, we go to church every Sunday. Yes, I go to the temple. Yes, I pay my tithing. Yes, I believe! However, I wasn't doing any of those things with conviction. I was just doing those things. I think you can live the gospel of Jesus Christ without LIVING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. If you don't push yourself to your full potential, and just go day to day with no real and sincere conviction, then its as if you don't really feel it and live it. Ever since last week, I feel more at peace. I feel like I am yelling a little bit less. I feel like we are nicer a little bit more. I can't wait to see what a full year of LIVING does, if I feel this much difference in just a few days! I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father doesn't move away from me. I know He still hears me. I know He still loves me. I know He still pushes for me. Because HE loves ME! He wants me to achieve my full potential as a mother, as a wife and as an individual! I am so thankful I felt that peace and push to live again!

Where have I been since January?

So where to begin? So much to blog about and I only have about an hour before I really need to clean house...REALLY! It is now 9 months since my last blog post. I am terrible. Maybe I should count on one post a month? Ya right. I am so not a planner. haha We now live in Glenrock, Wyoming. It is a small AMAZING town just 25 miles from where we lived last year. The school is AMAZING, (the kids came to this school last year) and I LOVE our ward. Brandon seems to really love his job and he is happy! The kids are growing and learning so much. I am pretty dumb compared to how smart they are and I am so glad they didn't inherit my brains! I had another round of my iodine radiation in August. It was fun. (Can you sense the sincere sarcasm?) I had to do the iodine free diet for 18 days and I thought I would die. I know this is a LOT of TOO MUCH INFORMATION, but for anyone that has to do this diet, it is the word LITERALLY..DIE.....T! You basically have a certain amount of vegetables and some meats you can eat a day. It equals out to about 300 calories a day. And so much raw veggies and fruit that you feel like you are preparing for your colonoscopy every single day. If any of you had ever had a colonoscopy you know exactly what I am talking about. No more description is necessary. I had a really big worry about this round because in my scans they found 2 small spots on my lungs. With the iodine radiation, if something shows up on the scans it can be 2 things, remaining thyroid hormone or cancer. And cancer and my family don't really go well together. So I, of course, ran every worst case scenario through my mind, multiple times a day. And I was so afraid. I didn't want to be afraid. I want to be the kind of person that has so much faith, I can move mountains. Apparently my faith is lacking because I let fear rule at times. But only when I was alone in the shower and could have a good cry or when everyone was sleeping at night. I am sure if I could have just ate a good meal and got some extra calories in me, that I would have started thinking rationally. However, Brandon is my rock. He would tell me over and over that fear is not from Heavenly Father and that I had to have faith that it would all be ok. He and my mom always made me feel like it would all be what the will of Heavenly Father wants and that it would work out good. I finally did the radiation in August and our ward brought meals in for my family while I was too toxic to cook for them. It was really nice and I appreciated it more than words can say. And then the day before my full body scan results came. I was worried and scared. And we were sitting at home Sunday evening and my phone rings. It is my mom. She says, "where is your house?" And I am like, "huh"? And she asks me again and says, "I am by the middle school. Where is your house?" I was so blown away. My mom drove all the way from New Mexico to my house to be here for me. That meant and still means so much to me. I get teared up thinking about that. I was so excited to have here here. She came with me to town and sat in the car with the kids. And Brandon met me at the Oncology clinic. And I was so scared. I had been praying for it all to be ok. I had this prayer running through my heart and mind over and over for the past few months, but here I was going to find out my future basically. And the doctor came in and says the spots on my lungs were gone! HALLELUIAH! I got teary eyed right there. He said everything looked really good, except for one small area. However, to him it looks like at one time I might have cracked my ribcage. The iodine from the radiation had all centered and settled in, what he thinks is a crack. He didn't think that it looked like cancer. He did say I have to do the radiation one more time in February. And make sure that the scans came back clear for this wierd spot on my ribcage. But he is not worried. So one more time and then hopefully I am going to be listed as cancer free! I felt such gratitude to my Father in Heaven and such relief. I went outside and told my mom and she cried too. It was a really good day and the feeling of complete relief is not one I can adequately describe. I am in the Young Woman's in church. I am the 2nd counselor. And I LOVE IT! I can't wait till Savanna is there next year with me! It will be a great experience! I can't believe she will be 12 in a year. That is hard to wrap my head around. I cried last night thinking that is just 7 years she will be graduating and moving out! YIKES, this momma is going to be one sad lady when her babies all leave. Maybe we should have a few more? :) Savanna is in 6th grade. She is TALL. She wears a size 10 she (yes, she wants to borrow mine even though I am an 11). She is the smartest and most talented kiddo. She writes books and I am not kidding you, she WILL be the next JK Rowling. She has LONG beautiful strawberry red/blond hair and has a heart of gold. Weylon is in 3rd grade. He still is the hardest worker. He struggles with school, but he is working so very hard and doing so good this year! I am so proud of him. He is on the flag football team again. He loves it. It is funny to watch because he loves being there, but appears to not be too terribly competitive. His eyes wander to the moths flying in the lights, and he drifts over to the parents watching, or he stands and dreams as his team is running all around him. However, when his head is in the game he really does good! OakLeigh is a handfull. She is in 1st grade. I think her teacher wishes she was at the end of the school year. Oaks comes home with action plans weekly...(Action plans are not good. They are issued for kids who act up in class.) However, she is one smart cooky. I think she gets really bored. She can read extremely good and loves loves loves to draw. She draws horses, ponies, rainbows and unicorns. And of course her family. She is really good when she trys to be, but she is a ham most of the time! She is saving her money to buy her own pony soon. Memphis is 3 and ROTTEN. He definitely lives by the spoiled rotten last baby definition. But he is a sweetheart and LOVES to cuddle momma. And I LoVE that! He loves anything to do with firetrucks, buzz light year, and power rangers. He is hilarious. He just discovered power rangers last week and he even fights out scenes from the show. He loves nursery and singing. I have multiple pics to download to this. I have pics from Savanna, Weylon and Memphis birthdays! I have pics from the family reunion..from visting my parents in NM this summer. Trips to the park. School crazy hair days, crazy days at the library, swimming, playing in the mud. And pictures from having our best friends from Big Piney come visit...I hope it works! If not, until next time...hopefully that is before 9 months again!