Melissa and Girls

Jordyn's had her piano recital tonight. I thought it was at 6:00 p.m. but no, I was wrong it was at 5:30 p.m. As soon as the clock turned 5 I was rushing out of work and speeding home. I got the girls picked up from day care. Drove home, Jordyn changed into her dress while I did her hair and then back in the car we hurried to Mapleton. We were only about 5 minutes late. Then I found out that all that rushing didn't matter because she was having a dinner before the recital! Dinner was yummy. Skip forward to Jordyn's song. She was playing Ave Maria. This song is two levels above where Jordyn is but her teacher had wanted to challenge her. She did a great job, it was beautiful, until the very last measure when she suddenly drew a blank and didn't know what to do. I had to walk up and put her music on the piano and she started again. This time she made it all the way through and it was again, beautiful. She's not going to take any lessons during the summer but we have lots of music for her to practice. Maegan is really excited to start lessons next year.

I haven't started my second blog yet so I'm gonna brag again on here. Can I tell you how much I LOVE Walgreens? Sure, if I would go there and pay the regular price I would probably think they were extremely over-priced. When I was pulling into the parking lot I saw a guy walking out with 1 bottle of Listerine and I thought, poor guy, he has no idea how badly he was just ripped off. lol. Anyway, I was almost out of contact solution and luckily was able to get some this week as part of my haul. I spent a total (including tax) of $14.10. I purchased 17 items which is an average of .83 cents. Woo hoo! I found a new website that helped me form my shopping plan this week although I added some more to it. The new site I found is www.wildforwags.com. Happy Walgreens!

Which means I finally had enough time to finish this post I started earlier in the week.

Monday: I had Bunko at my house with group #1.

Tuesday: I had Management Meeting at work. My sweet boss gave me flowers for my 9 year anniversary at the Juvenile Court. So cute!


Wednesday: Jordyn had a 2 hour rehearsal for her piano recital and my visiting teachers came over.

Thursday: I took a couple hours off work to go watch Maegan's 2nd Grade program. I was a little frustrated because I wasn't able to see Maegan until the very last song. For some reason, rather than have the students up on the stage, they all sat on the stairs and she was in the very first row. I was in the back of the auditorium which meant I didn't get to see her. Finally they stood up to sing the last song and I was able to zoom in and get her face but it wasn't a very good recording job. After the program was over I tried to make it up to the stage before she left but I was a fish swimming up stream so I didn't make it in time. I then walked to her classroom where she was standing in the doorway with her back to me. I said her name and when she turned around she got all teary eyed and said that she thought I wasn't there. After some hugs and explaining what had happened she cheered up. That night I had Bunko with group #2.

Friday: I picked up the girls and we had movie night which hasn't happened for quite a while. We watched The Goonies and Ghostbusters.

Saturday: I went to they gym in the morning and when I came home I kept asking the girls what I was smelling and they kept telling me they didn't know. I was cleaning up downstairs and eventually made my way to my bedroom and when I opened the door I could smell nail polish remover. Then I see the mess they had made. Brooklen had decided to paint her toenails and had gotten nail polish on my leather chair and on the carpet. The older two decided to clean it up with nail polish remover and used half a bottle. I was irritated with Brooklen for this but I was furious they had lied to me. I swear, after talking and talking and talking to them about telling the truth I don't understand why kids lie! Let's just say that they were doing a lot of scrubbing of shelves and organizing closets. I hope they finally learn to just tell the truth. The thing that stinks about punishing kids is that my plans were now revolving around their punishment. We didn't go do anything fun. :-(

Today: We went to church and Maegan had to give a talk. I made her practice a few times before we left but she still was really nervous and messed up a little. But that's okay. She is so cute. It's funny to me that she can be so wild and crazy in some aspects but others she is almost as shy as Brooklen.

My home teachers stopped by for a quick visit and then Maegan had her baptism interview with the bishop. The next couple of weeks are insanely busy so I might not have time to post anything for a while. Until then.....

This is kind of a long post.....sorry.

A few weeks ago I attempted to make my first loaf of french bread from scratch and I was so proud of myself that I decided to take a picture but I'm just getting around to posting it now. It was a little browner than I would have liked but overall it was yummy. Next time I'll bake it a little less.



Last Saturday I decided to take the girls on our first hike of the season. I got onto the state website and searched for hiking and it brought up all sorts of places around the state. I want to be able to stay around Utah County so these are not too big of an ordeal. I decided that I would rather do an easier hike just in case Brooklen wouldn’t do so well and found a spot that I thought would work. It is called Devil’s Kitchen and it is up Payson Canyon on the Nebo Loop. I picked the girls up from Sean's house and we got all geared up and headed up the canyon. It was about 3:00 p.m. and so I was a little surprised to see a couple deer out grazing at that time of day but the girls thought it was neat. We got about 10 miles into the canyon when we had to turn around because the road is still closed going up the loop. I was very disappointed. Then I remembered that as I had been driving I saw a sign that said Grotto Trail. I figured we could check it out and just go as far as Brooklen’s little legs could take her. I am so excited we decided to take this hike because it was SO COOL!!! The trail wasn’t difficult and there was a small river with the snow runoff. The girls were surprised how cold the water was. As we were hiking there were a couple of muddy spots where the snow was still melting. One spot in particular was a little rough because it was on a really steep incline and our feet kept sliding. Eventually we had to cross the river on planks that had been created using trees that had been split in half and then built up on rocks. I thought Brooklen would be afraid but she actually did fairly well. We had to do this a couple times and suddenly we were at the end of the trail. I was shocked to find this really cool cavern with a waterfall pouring into it. There was still snow that we had to walk on to get out to this big rock we could stand on in the water. It was so loud we had to yell at each other and the spray from the water was freezing cold. I got the girls on the rock and then had to back track to be able to take their picture. We stayed for a few minutes but then we all got cold enough that it was time to leave. On the way back down Maegan slipped in the mud and was not happy about it first but I kept telling her it would wash off and she wasn’t hurt so it was okay. I had to carry Brooklen through that spot and slipped a little myself. By the end of the hike I think Jordyn was the only one that didn’t wasn’t covered in at least a little mud. They kept telling me that they want to go on this hike again and we definitely will because it was so fun. After we got home we got cleaned up and headed to the mall for Jordyn and Maegan to spend their money at Claire’s. Maegan finally got the rings she had been wanting and Jordyn picked out a pair of ‘diamond’ earrings that were very sparkly. We also stopped at Roberts so I could get some frames for the pictures I was giving my mom and grandma for Mother’s Day. It was really late by the time we got home and the girls all headed straight to bed.

Sunday was Mother’s Day and as I posted already, Brooklen’s birthday. Before we went to church I prepared dinner so all I would have to do was heat it up. I made “Cyclone Pasta” (used to be on Outback’s menu and is so yummy). I even made the alfredo sauce from scratch! Yum. After I made fresh strawberry lemonade and the girls gave me some cards they had made. We ate around 4:00 p.m. and afterwards we had the birthday party. I only posted about Brooklen’s portion of it but it was also the family party for Jordyn and Maegan. They got some money and a kit to make tye-dyed t-shirts. My grandma also made Maegan a Barbie house like she had given Jordyn a couple years ago. I am blessed that she was able to do this because my grandma has severe arthritis and it was very difficult for her. I’m not sure how many more great-grandkids are going to be able to get these gifts from her so we are incredibly lucky. I hope that someday my girls will appreciate them as much as I do. When we sang happy birthday we had 22 candles on the cake for all 3 girls so it was pretty bright. Brooklen missed out on the whole thing because she was too concerned with Jaxon playing on her scooter and wouldn’t let go of it. In the end Maegan blew with so much gusto that she blew out all of the candles on her own. Silly girl. I should mention that when I picked the girls up from Sean’s on Saturday they also gave me a hanging basket of flowers which was great because I had been debating about whether I wanted to buy one. Maegan also gave me a recipe book which she made at school. There is a funny story to this. A few weeks ago her teacher sent an email saying she needed that student’s favorite recipe. When I asked Maegan what recipe she wanted you’ll never guess what she said. Tuna fish. lol. What a surprise right? So responded to her teacher that it wasn’t really a recipe but that was her favorite food. So, on Saturday when she gave the recipe book I was cracking up. There are all sorts of yummy recipes from the other students and Maegan’s is a Tuna Fish Sandwich! Hilarious. That is so Maegan isn’t it? I love her so much. Oh, and yes, the girls gave Ashley a Mother’s Day present too. I made a pretty beaded bracelet for her but I didn’t think to take a picture of it. Sorry!

On Monday, May 10th I picked the girls up from daycare and Maegan and Brooklen's faces had been painted as kitties. Brooklen was finally awake so I gave her her b-day presents from me. She got an outfit, a Barbie movie, Little Mermaid sheets (she loves Ariel) and I made a tutu for her because she's been asking for one for months.

Tuesday May 11th was Jordyn's performance of Wonderful Witches of Oz. I left at noon and rushed to check Jordyn out of school. We stopped at home and got everything she needed packed up and her hair in hot rollers and we headed to Mapleton Elementary School where they were doing a performance at an assembly. After the performance we went home and got more items packed for the Maegan and Brooklen to snack on and then went back to the school to reserve our seats because I HATE getting bad ones. We just took our books with us and read for about an hour while we waited. Around 5:00 I picked up Maegan and Brooklen from daycare. This day Brooklen's face was a butterfly and Maegan's was a lion. When we got back to Mapleton Elementary I made them go wash it off and got Jordyn ready for the evening performance. Eventually my parents, Grandma and Grandpa Madsen and Sean and Ashley arrived. It was a good thing I thought to bring supplies this time because this was not a short performance. It was almost a 2 hour long play. Phew. Twice in one day is a little rough. But Jordyn really loved being in this group and had so much fun. She played a minor part of Elle Woods and sang a solo in one song and then sang in quite a few other numbers. Next year they are probably doing Alice in Wonderland and Jordyn is already looking forward to it. Oh, and sorry about the quality of the pictures. My camera isn't the greatest for zooming and getting good action shots.

Thursday I had to be at work at 6:45 a.m. so I could go to a leadership training in SLC at the capitol with the rest of the clerical management team. I was able to drop Brooklen off at my aunt's house and she took her to daycare for me. Jordyn and Maegan got all their clothes picked out the night before and when I left they were just barely waking up. We had talked about everything they needed to do and when they had to leave the house to get to school on time. I must say it is wonderful having them old enough that they can be a little more responsible and therefore I'm not quite as stressed. Anyway, the training was fairly interesting. Lt. Governor Bell spoke to us for a little bit and then we learned about "optimism" in the work place. I now know how to "reframe" my thoughts. lol. On our way back to Provo we decided to eat lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and had a meeting although none of us ate any cheesecake. That night I went to see The Last Song with a couple friends from work. I'm not a huge Miley Cyrus fan so I was a little worried I wouldn't like it but it was actually a really good movie. I thought it had a good family message and, yes, a little romance too.

Today, I had a couple interesting experiences. One, Brooklen had to give the scripture in primary. She is so shy I was really worried about it but she actually spoke up and did a great job. Maegan is excited because she was assigned to give the talk next week. Two, I LOVED our Gospel Doctrine lesson today. I have to admit I have never read the book of Joshua before and I'm going to try and read the whole thing tonight because our teacher made some really amazing points. For one, he was talking about the Book of Law (aka scriptures) and was talking about using the scriptures as a discipline tool. He basically said to you ever feel like you talk and talk and talk and your kids still don't listen? Well, when you run out of things to say then Heavenly Father has a whole bunch to say in the scriptures. He suggested we should turn to them and have our children learn directly from God. WOW! Don't ask me why I had never even thought to do that but it was amazing to me. Anyway, there were lots of cool things in our lesson today. Then in Relief Society I ended up sitting next to our ward choir director. Now, I've been singing in the choir but I've never sat next to her before in church. After RS was over she turned to me and asked if I would be willing to sing a solo. She said she could tell I would be good at one. Uh, YIKES!!!!! I haven't sang in public for almost 11 years and I pretty much vowed at that time I would never do so again. I must have seemed pretty hesitant because she then asked if I would be comfortable with a duet. I told her if I had enough time to practice the song I would. I can't believe I agreed to do this. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Singing is something I have always loved to do but stopped for some specific reasons. For a while now I've wanted to sing in The Messiah and Christmas time so I don't know, maybe with all the other, "getting Melissa back" things I'm working on this can be one of them too.

Well, I'd better get going. I started this post forever ago and now it's time to cook dinner. BBQ ribs, masked potatoes and corn. Yum.

We have successfully (well, almost, I'll explain later) made it through what I call Birthday Season at our house. My sweet little Brooklen Aleah aka Brooke, Brookers, Boo Boo and Monkey turned 4 years old today.

Brooklen was due May 18, 2006. Sean was working a second job doing private security which took him out of the country on occasion. Unfortunately, he was supposed to leave for one of these jobs on May 10th and would be gone for about 10 days. Given my history of going into labor early with both Jordyn and Maegan I wasn't too concerned. However, as my due date was quickly approaching and she was obviously not making her appearance I started to get a little worried. On May 8th I went in for a routine checkup when my doctor said I was dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced. He knew of the travel situation and decided to strip my membranes in order to induce labor. Which, just as a side note, that is not a pleasant experience. Later that night I started to have some minor contractions but they never really progressed into anything and eventually stopped. The good news was that he was willing to induce me the next day if the hospital had a bed available. So, on May 9th my mom came up to watch Jordyn and Maegan and I waited and waited and waited. Finally around 3:00 p.m. the hospital called and said to come in. My labor went fine until it was time to push. That's when Brooklen's shoulder got stuck on my pelvic bone. It was definitely a different experience to have multiple nurses literally on top of me trying to push her shoulder down. It took about 10 minutes of this before she was born at 11:09 p.m. and unfortunately her collar bone was broken in the process. Other than the collar bone she was a healthy 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 18.5 inches long and Sean left the next morning at 6:00 a.m. for his business trip.

Brooklen was an easy baby for the first few months and having Jordyn and Maegan a little older made things even easier. However, when she was about 4 months old things quickly changed. Brooklen was a mamma's girl and, oh boy, I was not used to this. She would cry the second I left the room or quit holding her. When I was trying to make dinner I would put her in one of those "saucers" that have all the baby toys and even though she was only 2 feet away from me she would hold her arms up and cry, and cry, and cry and cry and cry and cry and cry. Really, that is not an exaggeration. Let's just say that I got very good at finding creative ways to do my chores around the house with a little monkey on my back, hence the nickname. Today Brooklen isn't as attached to me but she is MUCH more open around me than anyone else. Even at the daycare where she goes 4 days a week she is still a shy little girl. The first day I took her to primary she cried when I left, which the other two didn't do, and even today she didn't want me to leave. She is also a smart little thing and can do simple subtraction and tell time. Both were a little shocking to me when she started figuring these out on her own. She writes her name and is constantly spelling all the words she sees. I have to keep doorknob covers on the pantry and my bedroom because she is a stinker and loves to sneak Oreos and get into my makeup. She also likes to dress herself and some of her outfits are rather interesting. I am so grateful for this sweet little girl.

Today she woke up to the birthday banner and we headed off to church. Afterwards her primary teacher stopped by to give her a little present. Because it's Mother's Day as well I had a little get together at my house for both occasions. My Grandma and Grandpa Madsen, Aunt Debi, Mom and Dad and Lisa and Jaxon came over. We ate dinner and then opened presents and had cake and ice cream. By the end of the day Brooklen was so tired she fell asleep and didn't open any of her presents for me so I guess I'll have to do that tomorrow night.

As for now, I'll just post some of the pictures I've taken of my little monkey over the years.

Her first bath....notice the bracelet on her right arm? That's how we remembered which side her bone had broken. When she was dressed we used a safety pin and pinned her sleeve to the shirt in order to keep her arm in the same position as a sling.


Playing with her baby in 2007


I hope no one cares that she doesn't have any pants on but you can't see anything. I found her one day in the pantry using the step stool to make herself a sandwich in 2008


Making cookies for Santa in 2009

So, if you haven't noticed I've been a little whiny about my life. I have FINALLY come to realize that if I am so bored I need quit complaining and do something about it since no one else is going to smack me and tell me to knock it off. Over the past few weeks I've had 3 people tell me I need to write a book. Interesting thought but I'll pass on that one. I've also had some friends get mad at me when I find good deals and don't tell them about my finds (which I did today when I got my free freshwater pearl necklace so no more complaining!!!) but I don't always have the time to spread the word. I mentioned my craft club idea to a few people and they said they would want to join in. So, with all this in mind I am going to get myself busy and start developing a new blog that will be my forum for all things creative. I will continue to keep this blog dedicated to the daily ins and outs of what's going on with me and the girls. Because of this decision I have also decided that once I have the other site up and running I will be changing this blog to private. I know it's not as convenient but it's something I've been thinking about for a while now and I feel like this is the right time to make that change. I'll keep you posted as to when that will happen and the status of the new blog. Wish me luck!

We have two new additions to our home. We finally made it to the new pet store in SF and after some consulting with the owner Maegan was able to pick out 2 goldfish, a silver one she named Steve and a half-orange, half-silver one named Princess. She also picked out some gravel and a plant. Who knew that goldfish need some time adapting to their new home? I certainly didn't. So, if the fish do well in a couple weeks we can add another 'decorative' item and another fish. I can't remember what it is called but it's the kind that eats the algae and helps keep the tank clean. She was very, very excited to finally have her pets.

Last weekend we were able to go to Vernal and stay with Stephanie. We left around 7:00 p.m. on Friday. We saw some elk grazing on the side of the road while we were driving over the mountain which the girls thought was really cool. Her son Gage was baptized on Saturday morning. Afterwards she had a luncheon and then the rest of the day we did a little window shopping at a cute store in Vernal called The Gallery(or it might just be Galleries, I can't remember exactly), took the kids to McDonalds and basically just hung out and talked while the kids played. Around 9:00 p.m. we decided we wanted to watch my 6 hour Pride and Prejudice movie and settled down on the couch planning on watching the whole thing...fast forward to 10:12 p.m....I woke up and realized Steph had fallen asleep too so we bagged the whole thing and went to bed. Even though I really don't feel that old I think nature is trying to prove a point and say, "Oh yes you are!" Sunday morning we did more of the above and then around 12:30 p.m. we left and had a safe, uneventful journey back home.

Jordyn has been rather difficult for a while now and about a week ago she called me the big "B" word and was grounded from TV/Computer/Movies/Friends/iPod etc. for a month. Even when we were in Vernal she ended up being grounded to her "room" on Saturday night. She has read quite a few books during this time. We have had many talks about her behavior and attitude, and to be honest a little on my part as well, and things have improved slightly, although it seems like she's in a cycle of having two good days and then a bad day. I was talking about this at work today when a fellow employee who has raised a teenage daughter told me it only gets worse. Heaven help me because if it gets much worse than this I am not going to survive raising 3 girls!

I have decided I don't like who I am and need to get back to the "old" me. I know that may sound a little odd but some little conversations or experiences I've been having here and there have had a strange effect on me. ***Clarification: I have been thinking after I posted this that I didn't really have my feelings phrased right. I came to realize it isn't that I don't like myself, more accurately I'm just plain old bored and a little disappointed in myself that I've become such a boring person. It's not that I don't like who I am.*** Anyway, I hadn't seen my friend Laicy for a while and the last time I saw her she asked me if I had made anything cute recently. I was a little surprised when my answer was no. I've always been making cute, crafty things for as long as I can remember. I don't know when it happened but for some reason I have stopped doing this. I think it's been a combination of not needing anything in my own home, a lack of time and the very poor, apathetic attitude I've had about my life for a while. Anyway, Laicy's question really got me thinking that I'd like to make something cute again. Then, when Steph and I were at the store in Vernal I saw a couple cute things and thought the prices were ridiculously expensive. I thought, "I can make that!" So, once again my creative juices are flowing. Even if I don't end up using them myself I can try to sell them or I can just give them away. I don't care which, I am just excited to create something fun. I've also been toying with the idea of creating some kind of craft club that would meet every month or maybe every two months but I'm not 100% sure about that yet. I already feel busy enough and don't know if I should add more to my plate. Another thing that I decided I need to start doing is taking my girls on little road trips. When I was driving home from Vernal I was thinking about how well the trip was going and I think because they're older they can handle being in the car for longer periods of time. Since my divorce I didn't do much with them because Brooklen was so little and I didn't feel safe going on my own or I was worried they would get bored. They don't know this yet but I decided I don't care if they do get bored. I'm sick of being a slave to our routine and we are going to go on quite a few little adventures this summer. I already have permission to work 4 10's during the summer which gives me an extra day off and we are going to be all over this beautiful state and I can't wait!!! Maybe once I have a better idea of exactly where it is we're going I can post it on here and if anyone wants to join me you can let me know. Anyway, maybe these seem like weird things to be excited about but it's been a long time since anything had me excited. I'm just happy to feel a little bit of the "spark" coming back.

That's all for now!