"The Hurried Child" by Dave Elklind

As much as I hate to admit it, I've decided this is the book I need right about now. I've been following this ladies awesome blog and she mentioned this book in her last post (I get a little bored at work when my doc. is not in.) I swear she posted about it just for me! The book talks about how a hurried child is a stressed child and how young children tend to percieve hurrying as a rejection...yep this book is for me. Here lately I feel like my patients are all but gone, and I just want my kids to be able to do things by themselves and not need my attention every second. I feel like all I say to my kids in the morning is HURRY HURRY HURRY, mom needs to be to work. I'm hurrying their lives away and truth is, they do need my attention every second and they deserve it. I want them to need me every second, I love them with my whole heart and love nothing more then being called "mom." I dont know what I would do without them. I have been praying for patients and for the lord to help me be a better mom. The kind of mom my kids deserve instead of the mean stressed out mom thats always telling them to hurry.

It was my birthday a few days ago (yes it's true, in 2 years I'll be the whopping three zero) anyway McKall was at the kitchen table coloring and Wyatt was being his wild man self and taking the crayons and coloring "pictuos" on the table. I was upstairs getting some bills taken care of and Chandler was fixing my favorite, BLT's (we hate cooking bacon inside so he went outside to do it.) McKall started yelling and crying so I went downstairs to see what was wrong. She had the meanest look on her face and was getting mad at the crayon box because she couldn't get it to close. She threw it across the room and said, "stupid thing." Then she swept all the crayons onto the floor with her hand. I immediately got mad and started yelling at the top of my lungs. I picked up all the crayons off the floor and threw them in the garbage. Then I grabbed the paper she was coloring on and went to throw it away but something told me to save it. Later that night as Chandler and I were walking up stairs to bed, I had the paper in my hand and he said to me, "isn't that cute?" I looked at him and said, "what?" He said, "that little birthday card McKall made for you." I looked at him and couldn't fight the tears. I turned it over and on the one side she had drawn some cute little balloons. I felt so bad, my heart was broken. I told him what happened and how mad I got at them. I asked him why he thinks McKall acts that way and gets so mad at the littlest things. Then the "so called" light turned on...HELLO Marianne. I realized that the way I have been acting lately has had a big impact on my sweet little girl. I'm stressing her out. I wanted to wake her up so I could tell her thank you and how sorry I was but she was sound asleep so I layed down by her and watched her sleep for a bit.

It's time for a change at the Mitchell's. A change in my attitude towards my children. A change in the way our house hold is ran, and the word hurry is now a bad word at our house. We've started having family prayer together and I can see a change in just the few days we've been doing this...it's an awesome feeling! I love my family more than anything. I hope and pray I can be a good mom and wife, have patients, take time, and not have any regrets of my kids' younger years. So my next purchase will be this book. Hope it's a good one, I'll let ya'll know!! P.S. Yikes, this is a long post, sorry if it's horribly boring and sorry there are no pictures either. I do have some fun ones of our St. George trip coming soon!! :)

Get them bugs!

Wyatt is so dang funny when it comes to killing bugs, flies, anything that he can "WHACK" with the fly swatter! He always says, "mom I whack it for you!" He knows how scared I am of bugs! Look close at the one picture, you can see the little flying green bug on the fly swatter...ha ha thanks for keeping me safe bud! You da "bug man!" :)

McKall's "New Do!"

This is only like the 4th time McKall has gotten her hair cut. It's pretty thick and so I have just let it grow and dont get it cut too often. It was in need of a cut this time though and she kept telling me she wanted it like mine....she got it! It looks so dang cute on her and it made her look AND act older too! I swear she thinks she's a teenager...puting on lip stick all the time and checking in the mirror to make sure her hair is just right...she is my little cutie! Now she is all ready to start school with her "new do!"

OUCH!!

So Rachel called me at work yesterday and said Preston had wrecked on his bike and had a cut. Rachel works at a clinic in Payson....but soon to be working right here in the Nephi clinic with me!! Anyway, when she called she said he was with his friend and that his friends mom thought it might need stitches. Preston was being so tough until he seen me then he just burst into tears..I think he kinda likes aunt Marianne ;) I said to him, let me see it bud, he pulled the rag off and...WOWZA! I wanted to say, HOLY MOLY Preston, but I tried to not scare him and said, "that just might need a few stitches." Oh buddy, did it ever! He was SO scared for the stitches so it probably would have been better to say the "HOLY MOLY" thing instead of the scary word, "stitches." Rachel got there and his heart broke again...the tears started even worse. Poor kid, I felt so bad for him. See Rachel you'll love working in Nephi right close to home and the boys :) Here are some before and after pictures. Now I need to warn you these are not the prettiest pictures, so if you have a weak stomache DONT LOOK!! I myself like to look at these things although it grosses me out to no end, I LOVE IT!!

Before they got it cleaned up

After the cleaning

The finished product! 9 stitches on the inside and 9 on the out!

What a tough kid and check out the swelling :( OH MAN!

Random CUTENESS!

Juab County Fair! YEEHAW!

The kids love the fair and all the fun animals they get to see! On Wednesday night they had a bukaroo rodeo that was just o.k.! Can we say, mutton bustin....yep like 100 little kids riding sheep!! It was funny the first 6 or so but then it got a little boring. Wyatt kept saying, "I ride a sheep!" Ha ha, maybe next year little dude! Thursday night was the ranch rodeo that was pretty good. Then on Friday we went to the ATV rodeo and had 3 cute friends join us...Ferrin and her boys! Talk about two CUTE boys and one CUTE mommy! We had lots of fun! Saturday night was our families favorite, the Demolition Durby!! The durby just keeps getting better every year. Talk about a good time in good ol Nephi! McKall and Wyatt would get so excited, they were screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs, it was hilarious! Wahoo for the county fair, until next year.....

When you ask Wyatt what the pig says he says, "Noink Noink!" So cute!

Family Palisades trip!

Last weekend we went to Palisades for a couple nights! It was a fun family get together. We swam, ate, fished, relaxed and just had lots of fun! Our summer has been FILLED with lots of family fun! Here are some CUTE pictures of our adventure...

McKall loved catching the baby frogs!

Relay For Life....Team Sutherland!

This is the first year that we have done the relay for life, and man o man was it FUN! We started at about 5:30 friday night and went till about 7:30 Saturday morning! They had tons of fun games, sweet ceremonies, oh yes and not to forget, a little ZUMBA! We laughed and cried the whole night! The kids even had fun and slept in a tent. One person from our team had to be on the track at all times, so we walked in shifts! Our team was the shiznit!!!

We were walking for Casey, John, Grandma Janice, Papa Jimmy and in memory of the one lady whom I miss so very much...Grandma Steiner! Grandma died from breast cancer on July 18th, 1997...one of the sadest days of my life. I have been thinking about her a lot lately and how much fun we used to have at her house. The things I remember most about her are...sitting on her lap for hours and hours, watching america's funniest home videos, jumping on the bed and her saying she was going to paddle our bottoms with a wooden spoon! She always had lots of food for everyone that came over, and my favorite...ice cream cones! She had a fun clothes shoot that we climbed in all the time. We used to ride down her stairs on sleeping bags...so FUN! She was always taking pictures, we even burried her with her camera. The list goes on and on! She was one amazing lady, the most loving and caring person I've ever known. I miss and love her so very much!

Here is the Luminaria bag Rachel, mom and I made for her! The Luminary ceremony was really sweet. They turned out all the lights and had little tealights in all the bags that were placed around the track. On the set of bleachers across the football field they had lights that said HOPE then later in the night changed it to CURE. I forgot to grab my camera but it was heart wrenching as they read the names of all the survivors and those who have passed on.





They had lots of stuff they raffled off. Mom and grandma both won Bella bracelts (which they were so happy about..not!) John won a fishing pole and a golf package, and Jason won this sweet bike! I swear he is the luckiest guy...he has won a ton of stuff here lately! Here is Chandler, Tyrell and Rachel acting like little kids on the bike! Ha Ha!

LOVERS LEAP!! Ferrin and I were the BOMB at this game....ok so we got out in like the 4th round, but we still had a blast! In the one that says "so dang funny" we were laughing so hard cause were suppose to be holding each others legs but as you can see it didn't quite turn out that way! We about wet our pants cause we were laughing so hard! I just love this girl! Mom and Shelby did pretty good too!







What a fun way to pull an all nighter! All in all I think I ended up walking about 7 miles! Man were we sore, but it was worth every step! Thanks Jan for working so hard to put our awesome team together! Oh yes and how could I forget the yummy breakfast the Lions Club made for us...it was dang good!

Watch out...these people look a little HUNGRY!!!

HA HA!!! Annie took pictures of us at Palisades and made us VOLUMTUOUS!!! OH YA, aint we lookin good?!?! We laughed and laughed! McKall was a little tired and didn't want her picture taken :( Yikes, hope Annie didn't jinks us! LOL!

Lots more fun Palisades pictures to follow!!! :)

Looking back....

Chandler and I purchased us a new camera and as we were going through the memory card we came across some cute pictures of the kids when they were younger and thought it would be fun to see how much they've grown. I cant believe it, where has the time gone?!? I had a hard time chosing my favorites cause they are all so CUTE!!

As I think back to when I was pregnant with McKall the only thing I can remember was how dang sick I was! When Chandler first asked me how many kids I wanted I told him 8! Then just after I had McKall he asked me again and I said, one is good!! She was a tough one to get here, although the labor part was pretty easy, it was the whole 9 months that my head was in the toilet or I was getting IV fluids at the ER. I remember holding her for the first time though and the special feeling I had knowing the Lord trusted us with her. The first time our eyes met we had this special bond that can never be broken. She seems so grown up to Chandler and I these past few weeks. I just cant believe how time goes by so quickly. She is such a big helper and so determined to do her best at everything she does! We have one smart cutie on our hands. I do have to admit though she can be a little hot head at times, but for the most part she's a little sweetie and has such a soft heart! We love you tons "Kalwee bug!"



Wyatt didn't give me such a hard time during my pregnancy with him, but I still had my head in the toilet a lot! The labor part was so very easy. Dr. Bailey my OBGYN and whom I work for now was so laid-back and relaxed, everything just went so smooth. While I was pregnant with him I thought to myself, how can I love another child as much as I love McKall. I held this sweet boy for the first time and had so much love for him there is no explanation! He gave us a little scare at first though. He just wasn't breathing right and I knew something was wrong. I told the nurse and she took him and they got him all checked out. His poor little lungs just weren't quite ready for this big world. The next thing I knew they were calling the ground life-flight to come get him. I will never forget the feeling I had, my heart had never hurt so bad in my whole life as I watched them take my baby. Chandler was able to go with him and that helped ease the pain. My dad gave him and I a wonderful blessing before they took him and I knew everything was going to be ok and it was. He spent a few days in the NICU at Utah Valley, and then we were home for Christmas! His lungs still give him trouble these days and he's been diagnosed with asthma but other than that he's one healthy dude! He makes us laugh on a daily basis, and I swear he's the most accident prone kid I know!! ha ha! He is so very special to our family and brings so much joy to our lives. We love you tons Mr. Wyatt Man!