Busy bee summer

Its been a while but we have been busier then bees. We started baseball and have decided that while the older two kids are really good they might not want to do baseball next year. I think that is a great idea. Last week Patrick caught an awesome pop-fly and Ireland is pitching an inning or two per game. They are going to stick to golf once a week and tennis. They love those. Liam loves baseball and just goes out to have fun. i am glad he dosent take losses personal and is there to just play the game. Sean likes to be the coach.

Between the time of signing them up and starting I was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. Eww. What does that mean? Lots of dr. visits, body scans and blood work. Thank goodness we have insurance to cover most of it. They took the thyroid, 1 parathyroid and a few lymphnodes on May 14, and I did have cancer in most of what they took out. Right now, I am sitting at my moms in her basement on the computer radiating. Not merely because of my beauty but of the radioactive iodine that has a 12 foot span all around me. So, yesterday I could truly say I was "hot" and had a little blue pill. The hardest part is the diet you have to be on. . .no eggs, soy or soy by-product , iodized salt, yellow or red food coloring, no dairy or prepackaged food. No fish product, no butter or margarine and no prepackaged foods. That should pretty much cover everything you can buy that has any taste. I eat fruits and veggies, 4 ounces of meat per day and 4 ounces of grain or pasta a day. Thats it. Grrr. I have been almost a month on this diet and inspite of the awesomeness of the diet you dont lose weight because with no thyroid you dont burn any calories. That is the control center. It also controls body temperature and hormones. Nice huh. Monday, hopefully, I can start the medication and with in a day or so I will have a surge of energy as well as some insomnia. Its a night and day turn around. I guess with all of the sleep you have had you cant not start going the other direction. I am happy for this because it explains alot of my tiredness in the last few months. Sean is happy too for the change as he has watched me go down hill and we both had no explaination for it. He wins the brownie points of the lifetime because he would come home for lunch and I would have to say "I haven't done one thing all day" he would reply with "good hope you relaxed"-now looking back he was somewhat concerned too. I love having answers to questions.

A Snowy Spring April...

So here is the latest on the Sean & Shauna Rawlinson family:

Shea's birthday was yesterday. Grandma and Grandpa Rawlinson came over on friday morning. Dad and I played 9 holes of golf in the morning, which was lots of fun! It's been a while since I've been golfing... We got back in time for Grandma and Grandpa to watch the kids while Shauna and I ran up to Provo to a doctors appointment. The most amazing thing about that is that when we got back, Grandma and Grandpa were still alive! We then had a birthday celebration for Shea, where the kids had a lot of fun bonking her on the head with her gifts and watching/helping her open them. We always love it when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit! =)
We're finally starting to get some grass poking through in the front yard. We spread a bunch of seed a couple of weeks ago, and have been keeping it wet between snowfalls. Shauna spread more seed and a bunch of topsoil this past week, and we are now seeing the rewards of our hard work. We have also been working on the rest of the yard by cleaning up the extra wood from the construction, and cutting it up and stacking it for winter. We have a couple of mounds of dirt to take care of still, but have a good friend who is willing to let us borrow his small tractor to clean stuff up. We hope to get a lot done this summer, but I'm sure we will be improving the yard for as long as we are in the house. :)
Today, we were very lazy. I almost fell asleep twice before the kids woke me up... Shauna got a much needed nap. She has been SOOOO positive. It's almost hard to keep up with her!

We were running to the post office and Ben said to me . . "Do you remember when I won the game the other day-not today"

SWEET! My kids are sooo cool!

Kids are so funny. And to watch them figure things out is even funnier because you can almost see that light bulb light up-

Last night the guys were playing Settlers Of Catan and Patrick kinda bailed out of the game because he wasn't having fun-really I think he wasn't on the winning end of the game. BUT Benjamin came up and it turns out his game was completely different then Patricks game. He kicked trash and boy was dad surprised when he counted up the points and realized he had lost too-but Ben was high as a kite. That was cool-like a little light bulb.

Last week some reality set in and kinda hit us harder then we were ready for. Liam got his Bobcat award and we were so excited. He is almost done with his Wolf badge and if we just plug away a little more then he will have it long before his birthday. I think we will be able to wrap it up at Day camp. We are also going camping in May and will be able to do much more with him to get a few arrow points. Maybe some belt loops. Who knows! I do know he looks much better in his blue scout shirt then I do in my manly brown shirt.

Patrick is the other one that is pushing us to the brink of growing up-He is almost 12. The really cool thing is that everyone has worked with us enough to get him to be able to go to the temple on his birthday to do baptisms. Whew. I think he is happy to be able to go with his buddies. I do hope that he can be calm enough on his first excursion with the youth that he can feel the coolness of being there.

It is frustrating that Ireland is so helpful that we dont want her to go to grandmas for the weekend or anywhere for the night. But we make sure if she is invited and she has been on the right track then she can go. She is so great with the younger kids and I really like it. Strike that I love it. Now if we can get her to clean her bedroom!!!

Shea on the other hand is just frustrating. She can find more ways to be so busy that it seems that she is on a mission to break me. She is winning. But man when she wants to sit with you and brings all three (yes three now) blankets onto the chair and sits and sucks her thumb. Its such an awesome feeling to know she wants to be with you and she is such an angel. *sigh* this is the part that makes you want tomorrow to get here.

Benjamin is just Benjamin aka Double D Towel. Where did he get this nickname?? we dont know but it has stuck for more then a year. He is so alieve and FULL OF ENERGY. I feel better when he is around because he is such a happy spirit!!

The sun is shining and the birds are singing-It really feels like spring here in this little valley. This weekend will be rainy and snowy but by Tuesday we should be back to a wonderful spring day and a light evening with the kids playing in the yard. Of course the dirt isn't much fun for Sean and I but by the time the kids all get a bath and everything is restored to clean we have had a good day and the kids are tired.

Little Shea is still into more faster then I can clean up. But our cupboards are clean again and marker free. So are the stools, the doors and the floor. All marker free. Whew.

We are getting geared up for the baseball season. Its our favorite sport. Its fun to watch the kids figure out the rules. Its fun to sit and watch too on a summer night. Its hard too because we keep so busy and dinners and quietness becomes harder to come by.

Sean and I are enjoying the house more and more. We are anxious for the things to be pulled together around the yard. -you know like grass, shrubs, flowers if we are feeling great. It is quite a feat ahead of us but we are planning on slow and thoughtful and the less we have to maintain the better. So Internet research here we come. Just short of getting fake grass we are going to put things in that just want to grow slowly. Kinda like Sean and I.

Sandra E. Hood. Isnt she sweet. SANDY . . .YOU ROCK!

Baketball fun fun fun

So tonight is a quiet night for the family. Its loooong been since coming and here it is. The kids are walking around a little lost for what to do. The dishes are washed but not dried so I am telling any of them that complains about boredom that I have a load of dishes that needs drying. That clears out the room. Sean and I laugh and think back to when our parents told us the same thing-except we couldn't just leave the room and find a game boy or a computer to play on. We had to use our stupid imagination. More then once in the same day. What in the world is this place coming to???

Last week women's basketball started and thank goodness its over. Well for the week. We got out and going on the court and were relieved when they shaved 2 minutes off of each quarter. Then about 2 minutes into the game I started needing some serious oxygen as well as new shoes. Well maybe some new feet! (but got the new shoes). Then slowly some black dots encroached around my eyes as blood started to flow. Flow is a bad description. I am sure it was full throttle into every knook of my body as I ran--NO-wobbled up and down the court. Here we are still 2 minutes into the first quarter and I was sure I was mad at my stupid mistake-showing up. I was slowly turning into jello...red jello. I think if I had a tan it would be harder to see all of the capillaries that were busting at the surface of my skin. Told you the blood was moving. So fast it didn't even know where to go it just blew up. So some kind of tan is in order. But I lived to tell the simple tale. 13 years since the last time I played. Whew. I didnt die so maybe I will do it again next week.

VALENTINES DAY EARLY

So some days are the days you relax and clean up for nothing and just have a quiet day. I have been waiting for quiet days for along time and now that they are here I am really glad it is in short spurts. But none-the-less I will enjoy the few minutes.

I was also thinking about Valentines day and the things that go on that day. You can feel the love in the air and it is a little exciting to know many of the couples out there say I Love you just a few more times. They hug longer or they make a special dinner. When you have kids you have the same feelings except they are x'5 for me. So its a good day. I guess its the mind set you have for the day. Mine is planned. 4-H in the morning with the kids and then Game Night in the evening with the husband and friends. Then to my sweet surprise last week Sean brought me a beautiful multi-frame frame. Its really nice and a stretch for him to come up with something he knew I would love. And today a beautiful miniture rose planter showed up at the front door. SWEET. To add to the love pile there is the Dr. Pepper he bought for me. Yes-my true love knows me best.
So-lets dedicate this part of the letter to the one who makes me feel like I am the only one in a room full of women, the one that offers foot rubs for no reason. Maybe I would mention in the letter about how fast he fixes my computer when I know there are six sitting on his desk, the laundry that he does when there is no end to it or the starting of my car in the morning so I dont have to get in a cold car. Sometimes, when I am already tired of the day he dries the dishes and puts them away or starts a very hot bath for me to melt away the day. I would love for everyone to see him in the morning when he calls all the kids in for morning prayer so all I have to do is slip out of bed onto the floor with out even opening my eyes. The quiet way he mumbles through helping me hang or move things in the house. I know that is purely out of love. The drooling that takes place when I make anything eatable or the happy attitude he pull out of somewhere deep when he went to bed at 4 am after playing Call of Duty 5. Thats love. See many women expect something great for Valentines day-I get something great for everyday.

Tuesday Ireland had her 10th birthday and it was a fun day. She opted for the small party and the bigger gift. Every other year we give them the choice of a big party with friends and the fixin's or a big gift. They choose-and it keeps us from going crazy each year and they fall on the even birthdays. . . you know 8, 10, 12 . . . I love birthdays and without the everyother year thing I would go crazy !!! Anyway, she had a family party and got the Nintendo DS with the car charger and all of the other things you "need" to have entertainment all of the time. If you dont know what a DS is just imagine a gameboy on steiroids. During the party Patrick also decided he wanted one for his April birthday. Well at least now we know and can plan on his little party and big gift.

Also this week I jumped in and made some bread and cinnimon rolls that were FANTASTIC. They melted in your mouth like when you were a kid and ate cotton candy. Yum-so I had to take a picture to prove that once in a great while I can make something worth my time other then kids.

This is what 10 pounds of oatmeal looks like. . .

Publish Post

25 Things you may not know about me. . .

1. I love the color Yellow. And when you put it with another color I love that color too. You know like Yellow with white or Yellow with red.

2. I cant decorate worth beans.

3. I like to cook but I cant. I am happy to say that hasn't stopped me.

4. Easter is my Favorite holiday. Then July4th.

5. I love to people watch.

6. I don't mind traffic.

7. I want to live abroad with the kids for a year for fun.

8. I love to sing but cant. I get in the car and turn the radio up as loud as I can and go for it.

9. Sean can sing so I stop singing in church to listen to him.

10. I want a horse still.

11. Telling people things that sounds crazy is usually for shock value. What other fun can I have at their expense and they think its real!

12. I LOVE RAIN

13. Sean is the only one for me even though he doesn't think that exists.

14. Crayons. . .Yep I still collect boxes of them and have like 50 boxes of all sizes and shapes.

15. If I were on a deserted island and could only take one object with me it would be my bed.

16. I can make myself feel more guilty when I say "no" then my kids can.

17. I love to eat out with Sean

18. I still believe in Santa and the Easter bunny. WHAT? They still come every year.

19. Church is alot funner when you didn't want to go and then you hear something you are so glad you didn't miss.

20. Patrick, Ireland, Liam, Benjamin and Shea ARE the cutest kids in the world and I feel bad for everyone else. If only they could be so lucky.

21. Watching kids play around with Dad is soo cool! You cant pay for that.

22. I don't have gray hair yet! Yea.

23. I love that while watching some Miss America thing on TLC all the women had their thighs rubbing together. That made me smile.

24. I am ok with plastic surgery if it is putting things back where it was before kids or it just makes you feel good.

25. Camping is alot funner with your own family! I love spending non-electrical time with the kids. . .meaning no game boys, computers, ipods, or televisions.