Final Post of the Year

I've recently switched from my old desktop (now residing in my closet) to my laptop. I forgot to switch over some pictures so it looks like some events will go blogless. I'm sure we'll all survive. ;)

Here are the pictures I have.

John is out of cub scouts and into boy scouts. This was his first Court of Honor:



I absolutely love John's scout leader. He does such a good job teaching those boys real scout skills and running the program the way it's supposed to be run. John has always been an enthusiastic and diligent scout and he's carrying that through to boy scouts. He's earned his Scout rank and is two requirements away from Tenderfoot. He went on his first Camporee in December and had a blast. And mom managed to not freak out too much about him being away from home. It helped me to know he was in good hands.


The next pictures were taken at my work. The company just renewed a 10-year lease at this location. Part of the deal was getting some renovations done. New carpeting, new tile, new paint, new wallpaper, new countertops and splitting the phone room into two so we could have a second multi-purpose room.

When did all this lovely work occur? On evenings and weekends? Oh no. During working hours. It was interesting to say the least. Most of the work was done in stages and the contractor was good about doing his best to work around rooms we needed due to studies going on or clients in town or whatever. For the most part, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared.

Then, the perfect storm.

The absolute worse day of renovations, in terms of chaos and disarray, was the day before we had a full house, in terms of studies and clients. This was carpeting day. It was NOT FUN.

Here's one of the two client lounges at 2:00 pm, which had to be ready to receive clients by mid-morning the next day:



Here's the other one:


Yes, that's a chair upside down. Don't ask me how these kinds of things happened. I'd rather not know.

This is the multi-purpose room, which also needed to be cleared out and set up by the next day.


This is the view from my office. See our desks in the hallway? Isn't that a lovely location for them? Beyond the hallway is the lobby. It also needed to be put together before clients arrived.



This is my office, in the process of being disassembled so the carpet layers could get to it. I hadn't yet moved out my computer.



Literally every room in our entire suite looked like this. Every hallway. Every kitchen (there are two, one of which we needed for clients the next day). Every everything. When I had to empty out my desk and clear out my shelves, it was hard to know where to put stuff. I found a blank spot of floor in the multi-purpose room.

In the middle of all this, with all three offices torn apart and dysfunctional, we were supposed to get ready for clients. You know, the normal work that has to be done prior to a study. Without working computers, that pretty much came to a halt.

By the time the movers started hauling out my desk it was time for me to go and I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

And here we get to delight in the joys of being an hourly worker who gets to walk out of the middle of all this. The two managers stayed late and arrived early the next day to put things back together, direct the moving crews and cleaning crews, etc. By the time I walked in the building the next morning, the place looked beautiful.

It was amazing.


In other December news, the boys had their Winter Sing at school.

Goof balls.

And Christmas. This year I hosted Christmas Eve at my house, which I haven't done in a long time. It was so much fun. Instead of my original centerpiece, I used the gingerbread houses we made.

The boys had a good Christmas, in terms of handling the changes this year. Ben struggled off and on in the week leading up to Christmas, but the actual holidays were really great. They got to spend time with me and Brian both, along with their two extended families, and they had a great time. I had a great time too. :)

So, that's the end of this year. It's been quite the year too. While it hasn't exactly been easy, in all honesty it has been much, much easier than last one was. The Lord has really been with me and my children through this whole thing and we have been greatly blessed. I know I've healed much quicker than I would have otherwise and I'm so grateful for that. I've been feeling really great for awhile now and I'm looking forward to a new year. We'll see what this one brings. :)

December Girls' Trip

Another fabulous, fabulous Girl's Weekend Away. This was one of my favorite trips. This time we stayed with Lynn in Cali and we had a blast. Steph and Lynn put together Picasa albums with everyone's pictures (read: TONS of pictures) so I'll just control myself and share a few of my favorites here.


















I can't wait until the next one!

Happy October!

Here's the latest in the Cook household...

Last month John received his Arrow of Light award. It was very exciting!

I really would like a different camera. Pictures on this camera come out so dark sometimes!

It was cute to see him cross the bridge. He had to salute his boy scout leader, salute the flag and step off and do the scout handshake with his leader. He was so serious about it. It was like watching a military man. Too cute.

I love that our ward gives the boys these arrow plaques in honor of their acheivement. John really did work hard for this award and I'm proud of him for it. We hung it above his bed.

Speaking of John's bed, I'm working on plans to get this kid his own room. I have all three boys in one bedroom. When they were small this was... okay. Now that they're getting bigger, it's starting to get impossible. John is getting to that age where he needs some quiet place to retreat to, and his brothers don't always cooperate on that front.

I've been using the other bedroom as an office. The office is stuffed full of furniture: a huge desk, a small desk for the kids, three bookcases, my great-grandmother's small upright piano and my other great-grandmother's cedar chest.

It took a little creative thinking to figure out how to get John his own room, but this is what I came up with.

I figured out if I got a small desk to put where the fish tank used to be (in the living room), then switch to a laptop so I can get rid of the huge desk and my ancient, semi-functional desktop computer, we'd make room for a bed for John. My mother kindly agreed to store the piano and chest at her house. I'm combining my books onto the one tall bookcase, leaving one in the room for John to use, and moving the third into what will be Ben and Chris' room for them to use. John has agreed to share some of the space in his room. The tall bookcase with my books will stay in John's room cuz there's really no where else for that to go. I'll put a small filing cabinet on the floor of his closet as well. Other than that, he'll be all set.

Because this plan requires funding, John agreed to having his own room be his Christmas gift this year. This took zero persuasion on my part. John is VERY excited about getting his own room.

So, stage one began last weekend.

I bought an inexpensive but (I think) pretty writing desk from WalMart, which I picked up after Brian got the kids on Friday. I didn't say anything to the kids about this, wanting to surprise them. I figured I'd put the desk together Friday night since we had conference all weekend (loved it!) and I had plans Saturday night.

Here's the before picture:

Here's after:

Let me be more specific. This is 37 parts, 93 screws, 52 nails and 6 hours later. You wouldn't think a desk like this could possibly have 37 parts, but it did.



My hands were pretty sore from tightening all those screws but still, I did it all by myself and it felt GREAT!

When the boys got home Sunday night they were so excited. Totally worth all the effort.

Other updates:

Christopher had his follow-up appointment with a new cardiologist who I really love. He's doing just fine, no more episodes. The plan is to keep him on the medication until he's a teenager and then do that relatively minor procedure to correct the problem. There's really no way to know for sure if he's outgrown it other than to take him off the medication and wait and see. I've never felt comfortable with that plan and this new doctor thinks it's risky too. The idea of his heart stopping one day just does not give me joy. Call me weird. Anyway, Brian and I both feel good about this new plan, so barring any new developments that's what it will be.

For those of you who are interested, I wrote a semi-personal post for the America Jane blog stating my intentions for the future of that blog. I really had to think about where that blog fits into the life of a single mother.

In general, we're doing fine over here. It's been six months since Brian and I separated and 2 1/2 since the divorce was final. Brian and I are very amicable and working well together to raise our children, for which I am grateful. They say it takes at least a year to recover from a divorce and I believe it. But the six month mark felt like a good milestone for me. While there's still healing and adjusting to do, I think the worst is behind me. John as well. Ben and Chris, being younger, are experiencing things differently. I think the reality of it all finally hit them last month. But all three of the kids are doing a good job talking about their feelings, which really helps. I'm proud of them.

Again, I just have to express my gratitude for the outpouring of support I've received from so many people. Your words of encouragement and comfort mean a lot to me. More than anything I have felt sustained by the Lord and I know I am in His hands. All in all, that's not a bad place to be.

To Answer Amy's Question...

A Few Things

I took a little excursion to California a few weeks ago. I pulled my camera out on the very last day just so I could prove I was there, LOL. It was when I'd walked down to the beach for a few last minutes with the ocean, but it was the only time I'd been alone. This was a mini girls' trip with Lynn, Polly and Leeann. Can I just say what generous, selfless friends these are?

Christopher lost his front tooth. Which I think is adorable.

The boys' at their desks on Meet the Teacher Day:

And ready to go on the first day of school:

I'm absolutely loving the normalcy and routine now that the boys are back in school. When they're not in school, they're home with me and that's just how it should be. I'm feeling more settled, which is nice.

I took the boys on a hike the other day. Afterward we drove out to the Superstitions for a closer look.


That was the first time I shared that special place with my kids. It was awesome.

This is from the pack meeting tonight.

John's in a tan shirt because he's officially a boy scout now, but he came to the meeting to get his Webelos award. He'll get his Arrow of Light next month (hooray!). He's already earned it, but they'll do the ceremony next month. I really didn't know if he should wear his cub scout shirt or his boy scout shirt. I still don't know.


Here is something John's Webelos den made over the summer. It was quite the project and I heard a lot about it as they were working on it. But it was a surprise so I didn't know what it was until tonight.

It's a hovercraft.



It actually hovers.

How cool is that?


So that is the extremely short version of events over here lately. It's time for bed! :)

How We're Doing

Well, it's been an interesting summer to say the least. We're adjusting to a whole new lifestyle over here. The summer started out okay, but the kids are getting worn out from going from place to place all the time. They spend their days with one of their grandmas when I'm working (oh hooray, hooray for grandmas!!!) and then go to Brian's every other weekend. My work days are very long so it seems like at least one day a week is spent just getting caught up. Christopher spent most the morning sleeping yesterday, he was so tuckered out. It's just not restful when you can't be home.

Leaving my children all the time has been extremely difficult for me too. And the long days are taxing.

For that reason, I'm looking for different employment. The job I have now has been a huge blessing. It practically fell into my lap earlier this year, for which I've been extremely grateful. However, I'm looking for something that will help me pay my bills better as well as give me summers off to be with the kids. The grandmas can't do this forever. Neither can my kids. Neither can I.

I've recently applied for some jobs with the schools. There are several secretarial/admin. asst jobs that are just during the school year. I'm also keeping my ear to the ground for virtual assistants. I hear tell these are growing in number. So if you know of anything... ;)

Other than that, I've been trying to make sure we're doing fun things this summer. We've seen a few movies at the dollar theatre (How to Train a Dragon is totally cute - Diary of a Whimpy Kid I could've lived without) and found our way into several pools (the water park at Anthem wins the prize).

I actually pulled my camera out for our excursion to Kartchner Caverns. Talk about a fun trip. I blogged about it over at America Jane awhile ago, but I'll put the family pictures here.

Getting these guys to take a serious picture was next to impossible:

Too funny. :)

At the Discovery Center:

The boys looking at a little friend they found outside:

When Ben kneeled down to take a closer look, this little guy turned to take a closer look at Ben.

"How cute," I thought.

Then this cute little guy opened his mouth wide and started raising his body up and down, up and down. I don't speak lizard, but I know a menacing stance when I see one. I told the kids to back off and I gotta say, they hustled to obey.


I also thought I'd share pics of our prayer flags. These were supposed to be prayer chains (again, from a prayer FHE I wrote for the America Jane blog), but we cut the strips too small so we had to improvise. Our flags got a little messy because the stapler doesn't reach as far as we wanted it to. It was a funny evening.

Ben declared my flag messy, so I made it official.

Then Chris decided his was "nedis." That means "neatest" in case you didn't know.

These flags were only semi-successful. They helped the kids remember morning prayers for awhile, but before they were half-way done with their flags they kept forgetting about them. Ah well.

Quite some time ago I made these little appetizers using zucchini from Kathy's garden. They were delicious. I took pictures so I could post the recipe on the AJ blog, but then realized I have no idea how to take good pictures of food. I've been seeing how Pioneer Woman does it. Need I say more?

Oh! But speaking of food. One of the many interesting things I've learned how to do at this job is make beautiful fruit and veggie trays and cheese and nut trays. We make these for our clients who are in town to observe focus groups and what not. The assistant manager happens to be the queen of these things.

The absolute QUEEN.

Her trays are unlike anything I've ever seen. And it took a bit of training for me to get the hang of it. Mine still aren't what she can do, but I did put together some trays I never could've done before I started working there. They were quite pretty. I was really wishing I'd taken pictures. Crappy camera and lack of photography skills aside, I would've posted those babies.

I'm looking for a reason to put this skill to use in my normal life. Surely I have some upcoming event that calls for fancy cheese trays. Surely.

On another note, I want to give an update on Christopher's heart. We haven't had any complaints from him since his big growth spurt in May. After school starts I'll take him in for a check up to see if maybe he's out grown it. Wouldn't that be awesome? But if not, that's okay too. He doesn't have side effects from the medicine and it doesn't bother him to take it, so if he has to stay on for awhile longer that's okay. He'll be fine either way. :)

Lastly, I just have to say that the support we've received from so many people has been huge. We've had a great home teacher take care of various fix-it type jobs around the house, a generous mechanic who has kept our van running, and several people who have helped with the upkeep of the yard. I'm grateful for good friends who lend a listening ear, for priesthood leaders who give blessings whenever they're needed, and for peace and comfort from the Lord. There have been difficult moments, but it seems help is never far away.

So, that's about that. I've been sporadically following everyone's blogs in my Google reader (private blogs have been completely neglected) but I haven't had time to comment. I just want you all to know I miss you and still enjoy reading about what's going on. Until next time...