Just a little thought...

Today I took Preston to see the Geneticist. We've been waiting for several months to get him in again. Not that we have any high hopes, but we're always curious to see if anyone has any answers for us as to what is going on with him medically. As far as that is concerned, we're still wondering. But I did gain a little insight from the visit.

When the doctor first came in the room he asked us a little bit about Preston and where he's at academically. I explained to him that I'm really pleased with his progress and I owe a lot of it to the excellent school he attends. Preston has made great improvements in the two years he has gone to this particular school. We adore the faculty there and they seem to really love Peanut (and all of the boys, for that matter). The doctor seemed amazed at that and jokingly said he should refer all of his patients in Davis County to attend our school. I laughed and said that I definitely realized I was lucky and that our school is indeed an exception to the rule here in the state of Utah.

As the appointment went on (it lasted almost 3 hours), we discussed some new testing that they would like to run on Preston. The tests are really expensive and meet a lot of resistance from many insurance companies, particularly Medicaid. We currently have that for the boys as Lain is out of work and we couldn't continue on cobra benefits. Because of the state of the economy right now, more families are on Medicaid and they are really watching the big expenses. The doctor said that maybe we could get lucky with this like we did on the school thing. I laughed, but then I realized something; luck has nothing to do with the things that have occurred in my life.

Almost 3 years ago, I woke up one morning, strolled into the kitchen and told my husband we needed to sell our house. We had only lived in it for 10 months at the time. That evening we put a sign in the front yard. Two weeks later, the house had sold and a couple of weeks after that I was moving into this special little money pit! The moment I drove through this neighborhood, I KNEW this was where we were supposed to be. I had no doubts. Now, here it is almost 3 years later and my children are thriving. They are doing so well in school, have excellent friends and we are in the most amazing neighborhood imaginable. Before he started kindergarten, the specialists said Preston would have to use communication devices to function at school and that he would probably be mainly in a functional skills-type setting. It may seem trivial to some, but my son speaks full sentences now, writes his name and can read a lot of sight words. He is in a general education classroom for 2.5 hours a day and resource the rest. My heart is full because of the miracles that I continue to witness in my life.

Life is not easy. In fact, it can seem down right crappy at times. But, I know that through all the trials, come these moments of joy and happiness. These moments when I feel so depressed because I have such bad "luck" pass and I realize that luck really has nothing to do with it. I have adversity and I have blessings. The Lord is here for me through it all- good and bad. The thing I need to do is recognize His great hand in my life and acknowledge Him for the days of good fortune and rely on Him when that "luck" turns sour. I'm grateful for the Spirit and the ability I have to receive inspiration when I need it most. I needed it today. I needed a reminder that God lives and remembers me. His hand is in my life daily and my children bear constant witness to that.

I guess I am pretty lucky after all! Don't you think?

What The???????

La dee dah... I was going to run my bath water today and looked down to see this waiting for me!!! I have never seen such a creature in my life. I think it must be some sort of spider-centipede hybrid- SICK!

Then it occurred to me, I haven't seen a lot of the things I am experiencing here in the good ol' Beehive State. Spring is here, and with that comes the beauty of tulips, lush lawns, beautiful mountains, birds singing and gracing my yard with their presence, streams running full, and the most enjoyable evening temperatures I have ever felt. BUT this all comes with a price.... CRITTERS!

The spiders are out in full force right now; the cobwebs in my house prove that. Ants are building up their little villages in my gardens. Mosquitoes are chomping at my skin already. My front windshield looks like someones art project with smashed bugs- from in-town driving! Almost every night I can smell the fragrant aroma of skunk booty. Nice. And now this not-so-little friend tries to join me in the bathtub.

The point?? Well, I guess everything has its price. I wanted to have a yard that made me feel like I was in the great outdoors. I've got it AND all of its inhabitants. BUT as soon as they come into my house, I stop being nice. This poor fella met the bottom of a flip-flop and took a final spin down the commode. To some the end is not pretty. Sorry guy, I had to take a bath!

Sarah Who?

It's been a long time. I really have no excuse. My biggest problem lies with Twitter and Facebook. I am an addict. I really love how easy it is to put up a quick status and walk away. It's also been a lot of fun to catch up with people from my past. So, what's been going on around here? Not too much, but I'll try to fill in the month and a half long gap...

Lain still has no job. He's been searching and searching, but we can't live on the meager salaries he's been offered. People are really paying a lot less than what used to be the norm. It's starting to get stressful and we're looking in other areas now. I don't want to leave, but we'll cross that bridge when and IF we have to. We just have to keep all of our options open. He is starting to advertise for bike repairs again. Hopefully we'll get a few repairs and tune-ups here and there to help supplement the unemployment money coming in. We're staying as optimistic as possible- having faith that Heavenly Father is watching out for us. I know that in time this will all be something we look back on as a lesson learned.

I have been trying to lose weight again. My baby weight from Abbie just wasn't coming off the old way. (That way being eat like a pig and exercise every once in a while.) So, I've joined Weight Watchers and the weight has slowly been coming off. I really feel better now that I've been eating healthier. I'm happy that my kids are still young enough that they might be better eaters when they are my age because of the changes I have been making for our family. I miss baking TREMENDOUSLY, however. I do it as a stress reliever. So, now I have more stress. :) Not really, I just read a bit more now! Plus I've been running again (or at least run-walking). It's so nice to get out at night and get some good exercise. I really enjoy the weather here in the evenings.

The kids are doing really well. The boys have a little over a month left of school. This year has just flown by!! I think we'll have a fun summer. We've started back into baseball season for Adam. He really loves it! I'm glad we were able to get him involved in that again. It's good to keep these boys busy. Abbie is growing like CRAZY! She is so tall. She's off the charts for her height. The doctor called her "ginormous." Needless to say, she is not a petite child. I love it! She can hang with her brothers so well! She is rough and tumble and loves to play outside with them. It's fun to watch her grow, but leaves me sad, too. She's my baby and she's growing up faster than any of the boys did. Why does it have to happen that way?

All in all, the Dukes are doing well. We are grateful for the many blessings we receive on a daily basis. We have healthy kids, a great neighborhood, a happy marriage, and more weeds to pull than anyone we know! The Lord's hand is in our lives and we feel His presence in our home. We know that if we keep on truckin' we will be blessed even more! I plan on posting more often now since Lain won't need the computer for school over the summer. If you want to catch up with us more often, though, just take a peek at our facebook pages!!!!

Bread Baking Addiction

I have been on a bread baking kick for the last few days. My husband and kids can't seem to get enough of it lately, so I just keep making more. It is really easy and is so inexpensive to make. I have a smaller KitchenAid mixer, and this recipe is the perfect size for it. I only have to use my dough hook- no hand kneading necessary. It doesn't get much better than that! Here's the recipe if you're interested:


BASIC WHITE BREAD FOR KITCHENAID

½ cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 packages active dry yeast (4½ tsp active dry yeast)
1½ cups warm water (105 F to 115 F)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (Mine ends up being about 5½ cups.)

Place milk, sugar, salt, and butter in small saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm. (Lukewarm is baby bottle warm- you shouldn't notice much of a difference from your body temperature. If you get it too hot- you will kill your yeast.)I do this step in the microwave on high for about 1-2 minutes- much less work!


Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 ½ cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.


Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, and mix about 2 minutes, or until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl. Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough will be slightly sticky to the touch.


Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.


Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf, and place in greased 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ -inch baking pans. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.


Bake at 400* F for 30 minutes, or until golden brown**. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks. (Mine is done in under 20 minutes, so make sure you keep an eye on it.)


**For an extra special touch, rub butter on tops of loaves immediately after you take them out of the oven. I love that!


I hope you guys try it and love it. The crust is really tender and the middle is soft and fluffy. It really is the easiest bread recipe I've ever made. And the taste is MMMMMM! Go ahead, be brave, bake bread!

Natural Disasters

I just got this from the FEMA website.

The Different Types of Disasters and Hazards:

Chemical
Dam Failure
Earthquake
Fire or Wildfire
Flood
Hazardous Material
Heat
Hurricane
Landslide
Nuclear Power Plant Emergency
Terrorism
Thunderstorm
Tornado
Tsunami
Volcano
Wildfire
Winter Storm

For some reason, it doesn't list "four children." I'm not quite sure why. In my experience, they can cause quite a bit of damage. My house is proof of this. I've taken a few pictures to prove my case.

This is a picture of my living room right now. It was spotless before they came home from school.

This is a picture of Abbie's high chair. It's been wiped up a little, but will need its nightly bleaching soon.

And, finally, this is my older boys' room. It is a sty. I have informed them that as of right now, "Nice Mom" has gone away and her replacement, "Mean Mom" will be here until the house is spotless. We cleaned out Abbie and Campbell's room yesterday and found a small smorgasbord under Cam's bed. DISGUSTING! The food was beyond recognition. Did I ever think that was possible in my house? NO!!!

Children are amazing little creatures. They are so much fun, but such little savages at the same time. I never thought that kids could be so time-consuming! Being a mom really is like working two full-time jobs. They keep me hopping.

Another thing missing from FEMA's list is "husbands." I have a hubby with a little bit of a clutter problem. I go through piles of crap weekly trying to weed through them to find the stuff we actually need and get rid of what we don't. Bless his little heart he just can't throw things away. He comes from a family who saved EVERYTHING. I came from a family with very little sentimentality. The two worlds do not mix well. Clutter makes me nuts. I find myself lying awake at night thinking about ways to attack the craziness without making him think he's married to a psycho. (He might very well be.) I've come up with some great ideas, but I haven't implemented a single one of them.

Here's a picture of the computer desk right now. The pictures on the desktop are mine from my facebook addiction problem. The rest is stuff that hasn't made it to its place in the file cabinets or bookshelves.





This is a picture of Lain's side of the bed. I'm sure you're impressed with our dinky little laminate side tables. Our room is so gigantic that these are all that will fit on the sides of our bed. Don't worry, though, we are maximizing our space there. Check it out.




As much as I'd like to blame every disaster in my life on everyone else, I can't. My procrastination should make it to the top of the natural disasters list. I have a number of unfinished projects throughout our house and seem to start new ones all the time. It's a little insane. This is my to do list as it is written on my white board right now:


To Do:


Stain shed/swingset

Trim ceiling paint

Fix closet doors in boys' room

Fix drywall in bathroom/ paint bathroom

Hang towel bars

Fix sink (I should erase that because it's done. However, it should be replaced by, "fix garbage disposal.)

Paint range hood white

Paint basement

Prune fruit trees before spring


That list has been up there FOREVER!!! I have been putting Lain to work on it a little since he's been out of work. Here's what our bathroom looks like right now. It's progress, but who knows how long it will look like this!





So as I sit here typing away on my blog, I have 27 loads of laundry piled up, pee on the floor around the toilet, and my sink looks like this:




I guess I had better get busy before any other natural disasters come my way. Why can't someone take me away from all this and put me up in a hotel for a couple of days while a cleanup crew comes in and takes over? Just kidding! What else am I gonna do?