Legal To Travel

I totally shouldn't have been worried about Sunday. It was a great day:) It started with Saturday morning. We had decided the night before to go to Wainwright. So I rushed around on Saturday morning and packed while John took the boys to go get breakfast for the road from McDonald's. Cause he's awesome and knows how much I love Sausage and Egg McMuffins. We got on the road and travelled the 2 hours to Wainwright. I know sometimes I complain about being far from family, but I'm really blessed to live as close as I do to my mum where I can make a spur of the moment trip down there for the weekend. We bought Mum some flowers and a card and gave them to her. I think they made her really happy:)

That evening we went out for dinner, courtesy of a friend of our's. He gave us the money to go out on a date. Super nice of him! We went to Boston Pizza. John had Spicy Italian Penne and I had Chicken Parmesan with rice. We ordered our Chocolate Explosions to go cause there was no way that I could eat anymore at that point. We dropped out desserts off at Mum and Bob's and took a drive out to the tressel. It was really nice and peaceful out there. We sat and talked for a while. We even got to see a train cross the tressel shortly after we got there. It was a really nice date.

Sunday we had a wonderful breakfast of French toast, pancakes, dream whip, fruit salad, sausages and bacon. Mmm, bacon:) We didn't go to church because I'd woken up with a headache and Ty had the nastiest cough ever so we didn't want to spread his cold around the branch. John gave me a card and so did the boys. I spent time out in the yard with my mum talking to her while she worked in the garden. Caleb helped Grandpa Bob dig a hole. Then later on Caleb gave me a homemade coaster and a painted block with our family picture on it that my mum helped him to make. It was great:) We had ribs, corn on the cob and Mum's potato salad for supper. (For the record, my mum makes the best potato salad ever) We dug up some plants for me and came back home. It was a really nice day and I really enjoyed myself.

This morning our passports came, which made me super excited. The Utah trip keeps feeling more and more real by the day. I am so grateful that I'm going to be able to go down and visit with friends and to participate in the FSA conference. I am truly being blessed so much right now with this oppourtunity.

Oh, also, I no longer assist a class in the Primary, I'm back to just Activity Days. It was causing me too much stress, so I had to call that one quits. It's working out good for me, though, especially since Ty just started nursery the other week and he positively loathes it. Not too sure what to do about that since Caleb never had an issue with nursery at all.

So yeah, things are going good here. I've been feeling under the weather for the last week, but the boys are both sick, so I probably just have a bit of what they have. Caleb had tonsilitis for the 3rd time in 3 months, so I scheaduled a consult with my doctor in Wainwright for the end of June. Well, that's about all for now. Hope you're doing great:)

Thank you

Those of you that have been following my blog since the beginning probably know how nervous I am for this Sunday. I checked back to my posts about my last two Mothers Day experiences. They weren't as bad as I remember, actually. So maybe my positive thinking about this coming one will pay off and it will actually be good. Maybe? From what I understand from other birthmothers, their child's birthday is usually the hardest day of the year to deal with. It's not like that for me (I've even forgotten in the past that it was her birthday that day). My hard day is Mothers Day.

Don't mistake me. I do not regret my decision. I never have. But just because a decision is right doesn't mean that it comes completely without pain. But to be entirely truthful, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat for C & D.

Anyways, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the 3 most important mothers in my life.

First, thank you to J, my husband's mom. Thank you for raising your son to be a wonderful man, for teaching him the importance of the gospel, of being worthy to hold the priesthood, of serving an honorable mission for the Lord. Thank you for going through his years of waiting for the right girl with him so that when I was old enough and ready that he would be waiting for me. (John is over 8 years older than me and was almost 29 when we met).

Second, thank you to my mum. She is one of the most amazing women in the world. Thank you for always trying to do what's best for Roo and I, even though I'm sure it wasn't always easy to do. Thank you for having enough love for us that we never really felt the lack of a father in our home. "You were my mom, you were my dad, the only thing I ever had was you". I love you, I love you, I love you, Mum! I know you love to tease me about how I've become so much like you, but it makes me proud when you say that because you're so wonderful.

And last one...Come on, C, you knew this was coming! Thank you for being such a wonderful person and an amazing mother. I'm so glad to have helped you have something to celebrate on Sunday and I would do it over again because I love you so much. You have become such an inspiration to me. I don't think you realize just how much your blog lifts me up. It's helped me so much to appreciate you as a person and not just as L's mom. You feel like a friend to me, and I love you!

And Happy Mothers Day to all of my fellow mothers out there.

Oh, and here are the full lyrics to the song I quoted in my thank you to my mum. I danced with her to this song at her wedding reception and mine as well.

Thank You Mom by Good Charlotte

Always, always and forever
Always, always and forever

I'm sitting here I'm thinking back to a time when I was young...
My memory is clear as day
I'm listening to the dishes clink, you were downstairs, you would sing
Songs of praise
And all the times we laughed with you, and all the times that you stayed true to us
Now we'll say...

I said I thank you, I'll always thank you
More than you will know, than I could ever show
And I love you, I'll always love you
There's nothing I won't do, to say these words to you
That you're beautiful forever

Always, always and forever

You were my mom, you were my dad, the only thing I ever had was you, it's true
Even when the times got hard, you were there to let us know...that we'd get through
You showed me how to be a man, you taught me how to understand the things people do
You showed me how to love my God, you taught me that not everyone knows the truth

And I thank you, I'll always thank you
More than you will know, than I could ever show
And I love you, I'll always love you
There's nothing I won't do, to say these words to you
That you will live forever

Forever and ever
Forever and ever

Said I thank you, I'll always thank you
More than you will know, than I could ever show
And I love you, I'll always love you
There's nothing I won't do, to say these words to you
That I thank you, I'll always thank you
More than you will know, than I could ever show
And I love you, I'll always love you
There's nothing I won't do, to say these words to you
That you will live forever

Utah Makes Me Smile

I still can't talk about the big adventure, but I'm still really excited about it and hopefully I'll have some news to share next week.

Something great happened yesterday. I actually managed to fast. I haven't done so for about a year now due to medication issues, but I figured that I would give it a try and see how it goes. I did fine all through the fast, but realized I might want to break my fast with a piece of toast about 30 minutes before I eat anything else. Too much at once doesn't make my tummy feel its best.

For Activity Days last week we made cards and crafts for our Mother's Day meeting next time. I ended up super frazzled because the other leader was helping one of our girls outside of the room for quite a long time and so I was trying to man two crafts (one of which was fairly messy and needed close supervision) by myself. However, I survived and the girls sounded like they had lots of fun, so it's all good.

Here is some exciting news that I CAN share. I'm going to be helping with the birthmothers committee for the FSA conference in July. FSA is Families Supporting Adoption. They are an organization sponsored by LDS Family Services which advocates a positive view of adoption and provides support to birth parents, adoptive families and all friends of adoption. The conference is going to be in Layton, UT and is the big push we had to finally make the trip down there. FSA has also put me in contact with a new friend who I think is just awesome:)

We are super excited about our trip to Utah. We got our passport applications in on Friday. I was so worried that something was going to be wrong with our photos or something, but the lady said that they were great and better than most photos. YAY! We are planning on heading down from Magrath to SLC on the 23rd and will head back to Canada on the 1st. We are both excited for it and John can always put a smile on my face now just by saying "Utah".

On Saturday, John and I went on a date for lunch. We were going to get sandwiches from Timmie's, but they were packed, so we ended up going to Red Robin instead. It's so nice to have some time to ourselves once in a while and I'm so grateful that my dad is willing to watch the boys for us when we need that time. The boys really enjoy their time with Grandpa Mattson, so it all works out.

That's about all for now, I guess. Hope you have a great week!

Patience Is A Virtue

I've always been told that patience is a virtue and I always respond that it's a virtue I haven't been blessed with. I am waiting right now to hear if I'm going to be embarking on a new and wonderful adventure and I'm so anxious. It's something I'm super excited about it, but I don't want to broadcast what it is until it's a for sure thing. Heidi, you're the only person who reads my blog who knows what I'm talking about, so pretty much anything I've talked to you about in the last week is hush hush until I hear more, ha ha.

The sad thing is that this possible adventure is my big news for the week. Other than this coming Sunday is fast Sunday and our stake has asked us to fast for rain. So if you're willing to fast for the Edmonton area to get some MUCH needed rain, we'd really appreciate it.

Oh, wait a minute, I have some news. I'M GOING TO UTAH!!! I won't say the reason yet, cause it has to do with my adventure, but we're going there for the last week in July. FINALLY!

My Thoughts For Today

I love caffeine free diet Pepsi. Not because I love pumping my body full of aspartame (it actually gives me a headache really quickly lots of the time), but because it's the only thing I'm willing to drink (other than water and herbal tea) that doesn't have calories. John and I started using Lose It again on Thursday. If you don't know what it is, it's an application that helps you count your calories on the iPhone or iPod Touch. We love it. It helped John lose like 30 lbs last summer, and I lost a fair bit as well. Then my disorder kicked in and I went on meds that made me gain 25 lbs in a month and now I have to lose it all again. Oh well, could be worse, right? I'm just so grateful that I found a treatment for my disorder that works, is perfectly safe to take even during pregnancy, and doesn't make me gain any weight at all. It has next to no side effects, it's wonderful! It's been working great for me for 2 months now.

The weather has been great here and so we spent a fair bit of time outside last week. Caleb loved it. On Saturday I went to our Stake Activity Day. For those of you who aren't members of the same church as me, Activity Days is a program for girls ages 8-11. We meet twice a month and work on goals from their Faith in God program. I am the leader of this group in my ward (along with my assistant leader). Our theme on Saturday was Fit For The Kingdom. We learned about spiritual health, physical health and nutrition. It was lots of fun. I even learned (very roughly) how to do the Hoedown Throwdown dance from the Hannah Montana movie.

Saturday night Caleb kept asking us if Ty could sleep in his room, so we figured we'd give it a try. Caleb did great and didn't hurt Ty even once, but Ty had the mother of all hissy fits because he didn't have a sippy cup of milk. Okay, I do NOT believe in nighttime bottles. I never did it with Caleb. However, Ty spent a lot of time at my in-laws in the past 7 months, and picked up the habit there. So now we're trying to break him of it. It's NOT fun. I let him have water in his sippy cup now, but the dude is seriously addicted to milk and screams his head off at the water. Fun fun!

Right now with Activity Days I have to prepare a lesson on hygeine and one on "My Body is a Temple", which will include nutrition, language, dress & appearance and physical activity. According to the Government of Canada, kids the ages of 6-14 need AT LEAST 30 minutes of physical activity every day and they are really pushing the cut down on TV, video games and computer time. I totally agree with this. I have our TV on way too much, I totally know that. I watch less than 2 hours per day, myself. However, Caleb does watch it a lot. It's hard when you live in Canada during the winter and have no drivers license. I'm so glad it's warm now and Caleb can play in the backyard lots.

So here's my thought for the day. Caleb doesn't play video games yet. He occassionally is allowed to play a Fisher Price ABC game on the computer (like once every 2 weeks or so), but that's it. We have a Wii and both feel that Caleb is too young to play it yet. However, I believe that once Caleb is old enough to use the Wii responsibly that he will have to earn his time on the Wii by doing chores around the house. And he will have to have his homework done first, as well. Also, we don't play video games on Sunday. So tell me, am I being to strict about video games in our house? I don't want my kid addicted to a controller or a keyboard. I want them to appreciate more wholesome activities. What do you think?

My Week With Four Kids

Having my nieces here last week was lots of fun. They share my love of the Disney channel, so I don't have to feel weird watching shows like Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, Suite Life on Deck and Sonny With a Chance. Caleb likes these shows too, so it's a good compromise for us instead of my TV being stuck on Treehouse. We usually keep the TV on for background noise. Anyways, one day my nieces and I had a war with plastic balls (the kind you find in ball pits). It was so much fun. We must have spent at least an hour doing that. On Friday, John took the day off and we took the boys and the girls to West Edmonton Mall. We went to the Disney store, the Apple Store, we saw some fish and some sea lions and the ship. We played mini golf and went for lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory. We also made a quick stop at the British imports store for my favourite chocolate bars, Galaxy Ripples. I was going to actually put up pictures on here for once, but my computer is not cooperating, so if you have me on Facebook, I will post them on there. If you don't have me on Facebook, add me and just send a message that you read my blog.

Our nephews came up and joined us on Friday night. We did a spring eggs hunt with all of the grandkids that evening and then came back to our place and played some Lego Rock Band. Some of us girls also played a card game called Set and a dice game called Farkle. It was a fun night. When we awoke in the morning one of our nieces had gotten sick during the night, so John went to work cleaning that up. Poor guy, it must suck to have a wife with a weak stomach. We went to the baptism that day and I gave my talk. Caleb joined me up there and was trying to give my talk for me.

That evening we did a family dinner at my SIL's house. When we got back home, Ty got sick all over the place. His first time being sick and he did it 5 times that night, the poor little guy. So we knew then that we weren't making it to church the next day. Sunday morning, Caleb got sick and John and I weren't in great shape either. Yesterday morning John got up and asked me how I was doing. The next thing we knew, Caleb was getting sick all of over our bedroom floor, so John was home again yesterday. In addition to my kids and the niece who was sick at my house, we've also had 2 other nephews and 1 other niece be sick in the last few days, plus one of my SILs. Not so much fun. Here's hoping that today will be a healthy day in the Bly home.

General Conference and Easter

Okay, so I'm assuming everyone has now had their chance to read the story about when I was pregnant with L and her adoption. If not, go and read my last post. I just want to say that it's the first time I've ever told the whole story at once. It was pretty hard to get through at some points, but I'm really glad that I did.

So this weekend we just had was General Conference weekend as well as Easter weekend. How many of you have the story to do with your kids about Easter and you have stuff hidden in the plastic eggs that go along with the story? We have one and I did the story with Caleb twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. Ty was just interested in taking off with the eggs. I think Caleb finally understood after a while a whole 1 sentence. "Bad men wanted to hurt Jesus" Next year he'll get more out of it, though.

Conference was great. We missed the first session because Shaw was having difficulties and wasn't able to broadcast it, and since John was sleeping in our room (where the computer is), I decided to get some stuff ready for the family dinner instead. I loved the 3 sessions that I watched, though. Especially Elder Holland's talk. I think he's an amazing speaker and he is so bold, it's great. The talks that spoke to me the most were Elder Donald L Hallstrom's from Sunday Morning and Elder James B Martino's from Sunday Afternoon. They both talked about how to face our trials. I'm pretty sure you all know that since the last General Conference I've been through a rough battle with my bipolar, so these talks really helped to inspire me to deal with the challenges of bipolar in a different way. Which talks did you like the best or get the most out of?

We had a family dinner on Saturday with my dad, my brother and my brother's girlfriend. It was great. My brother had marinated the steaks and they were amazing:) And he made our mum's recipe for potato salad, which is increadible. I made devilled eggs and caesar salad. Everyone but me had carrot cake for dessert. I tried a bite, but I'm still not a big fan of it. Ty practically inhaled it, though.

Also, on Friday morning Caleb and Ty got to find their Kinder Eggs outside. We do our candy stuff on Friday because 1)we don't want candy to overshadow the message of Easter on Sunday and 2)we don't want our kids hopped up on sugar on Sunday. This plan seems to work well for us.

Well, that's about all for now, I guess. My nieces are getting in this evening and spending the week with us, so that will be fun. Also, one of our nieces is getting baptized on Saturday. I am giving the talk on baptism. I'm pretty nervous, but I'm so honoured that she asked me. Have a great week:)