My Best Friend's Wedding

One of the greatest adventures I've had recently has been the excitement and fun of helping my best friend plan and execute her wedding in 24 hours. That's right, it took a little over 24 hours for her to decide the date of her wedding (which would be the next day) and us to execute it flawlessly. Everyone should plan weddings this way!

I'll give you a little background: She has been engaged for 6-7 months now. They were planning on September 21st. Both her and her now husband have come from other marriages and both of them have children. She wanted her children to be a part of her wedding which she had sole custody of. The problem? It was only temporary sole custody. To tell that story is her adventure, not mine. Although, I was extremely emotionally involved, it isn't my story to tell. Monday morning it was decreed in court that the kids go to their dad. She was devastated and worried they wouldn't be allowed to come to her wedding. She had them for the next 48 hours, so it was decided her wedding would take place within 24.

It started with the perfect dress. We went to a little Bridal Center in Lehi to see if there could be something there. When we walked in, it was a little overwhelming! There were wedding dresses everywhere and it was difficult to find a place to start. The lady there was so helpful. She asked a few questions had Zina, (my best friend) look at some pictures so she could figure out what she liked, then she stuck us in a room and told us to "look at these, try some on and decide what you like." Then she held one out and said that she thought this one would be perfect and offered it to us at 50% off. So Zina looked and found the same result. The "perfect" one turned out to be THE PERFECT ONE!!! It fit her like a glove and she sparkled in it!

This is her getting ready in the perfect dress.

She went home, showed her kids, and told her fiance' of her plan. He was all for it! The next part was a made dash for a license, an official, and a wedding cake. Not to mention inviting family. We started making phone calls and sending out texts. I was looking for someone to officiate, but it seemed like everyone was too busy to make it. I finally went online and began a Google search. There were a lot out there, but some were very expensive, some didn't look that wholesome, and some just seemed too snooty. I finally found the perfect one! Her name was Anita Gordon. When I called her on the phone she seemed so nice! She said she was busy meeting with another couple at 6:00, but she was sure her meeting would last only about 45 minutes at the most. She told me that she would be willing to do it at half the price if I accepted her coming late. I quickly agreed, told her a little background info and wrapped things up. That was at 3:00 pm. The wedding was scheduled for 7:00.

 Some last minute prep on my part.

 Her girls gave her away

 Her son in the background with the responsibilities of the best man! He has the rings.

 The great Anita! She saved the day! She wasn't long winded, she incorporated God into the nuptials, and she made the wedding come together perfectly. I loved the way she spoke and I know she was sent to us by God to make Zina's wedding perfect!

 Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. and Mrs. JJ Trimble!!!

 My child seemed to think it would be fun to climb the wall while pictures were being taken.

Here is one with me and the bride. It also has a wonderful addition of Ara, and we can't forget the little devil in the background! 

The place? Riverton Park. The time? Roughly 7, but we were very flexible with that time. The total number of patrons? About 20, including my kids. The result? One of the most beautiful weddings I had ever seen!

There is a difference between true love and God's love, but when they are combined, you know you have something amazing. In this wedding, there was true love, and there was a love for God so strong that it exuded from this couple like you wouldn't believe. It was an honor for me to be there to help my best friend execute the perfect 24 hour wedding! She was strong, beautiful, full of love and happy that her wonderful children were allowed the chance to be a very integral part of her wedding! 

Congratulations Zina and JJ!!! I love you both with all my heart and I know you will be together for a very long time!! If you can make it through this heartache and love situation, you can make it through anything! Having said that...JJ if you hurt her in anyway I will hunt you down and I will cut you!

The Great Move

It is very embarrassing for me to talk about my financial circumstances. One of the most difficult things about having a lot of children is being able to provide for them. Unfortunately our family ran into some hard times recently. We lost our home of seven years and have seen too many good cabinet companies go under. The hard part was the cabinet companies were those that employed Tim and gave us our income.

This past month we experienced the most crazy adventure that any family can go through... The big move! Our kids have only really known our one home, they weren't sure what a new place would have in store for them. Luckily, the move we made was actually a step up. We went from a three bedroom home, to a seven bedroom home. Which meant the kids all got their own rooms! We live further out into the desert, but that is where our family prefers to be. We are so blessed by God to be able to have a scary, traumatic experience turn into one of the happiest things we've done in a long time.

Our old house was full of memories and good times, but it was also full of junk and an accumulation of unwanted stuff. It felt so good to finally go through all of my storage and kids' toys and clothes and just get rid of everything. If you know me, you know I thrive on being a minimalist. The less stuff the better. It seemed as if we made more trips to the dump with our old stuff then we did moving our wanted stuff to the new house. I am finally able to relax in a clean and comfortable home.

The kids love their new schools. Orion started high school this year at West Lake High. He was really scared at first, but he has found his niche and is doing well. He joined the Jazz band and has really started to flourish on his saxophone. He is taller than me now and his dad realized how useful it is to have another "man" around the house. My baby boy is growing up so quickly now. He is getting out of the awkward stage and making a good transition into the responsible stage. I know I still have the dating years in front of me, but I know I am planting good seeds inside of him.

Vega is going to middle school this year. She recently turned 13 and wants everything in her life to be "teenager". If I want her to do anything I just have to tell her that teenagers do it. She is so funny that way. I do want to be careful not to push her to follow her peers too much, we all know how teenagers can be!

The other kids are still in elementary school and they are all loving their classroom sizes. We moved out to the middle of nowhere and the school doesn't have very many kids. Each grade only has one teacher and the biggest class in the school only has 20 kids. It is a perfect fit for my kids that like to spread their wings.

I know God lead us up to this place. He allowed for us to see hardship and pain, to go through our ups and downs, and to finally lead us to where we need to be. If there is one thing that I have learned about life this past year, is that you need to just let God take care of you. In the Lord's prayer it states "give us this day our daily bread" and there were days I was praying for exactly that. I was never sure if we would have something to eat or if we would be able to keep our heat and gas turned on. But our prayers were always answered through one angel or another.

It is so wonderful to have a home over our heads and our life coming back together slowly, but surely. We still have a long journey to walk, but we choose to walk the next path with happiness. This part of my blog has been a tough one to write. I am usually more upbeat and funny, I've just been in a super grateful mood, there isn't as much room for my sense of humor to shine through. I promise I'll have a super amazing adventure for everyone next time I post, it just feels like I haven't been able to have as many of those that I used to.

Owchie, Wah, Wah!!!

We started Ara's special day asking her what she wanted to do. When our kids have a birthday, we make sure they are treated like royalty. They get to sit in the prime seat in the car, they get to choose the activities for the day, and they get to do everything first. When you have a large family, it is difficult to make sure that everyone gets noticed and appreciated, so it is guaranteed that they do on their birthday.

Ara's activity of choice this fine 24th of June, was to go swimming. Where we live, everything is closed on Sunday, so it is difficult to find a quality place to swim on a Sunday. After searching the internet and deciding that Sandy is the place to be, we packed everyone up and headed to an indoor swimming pool. I put "indoor" because we didn't put any sunscreen on the kids for this very reason. We thought we would be indoors.

Apparently, in our area, places like to close early on Sunday too. When we got there it was still open, but we would only get to swim for a short amount of time. Out of desperation, we asked the desk clerk if they knew of another place that we could swim. HOORAY!!!!! They knew of a place that was just now opening and we could swim for the rest of the day. Sadly, when we got there we discovered it was an outdoor pool.

Tim and I looked around...it was overcast, the sun looked like it wanted to hide all day, so we took a risk and let the kids swim. Oh, it was so much fun!!!! The lessons the girls had were obviously showing and they were swimming around the pool like fish. Daddy was picking kids up and chucking them in the water and we were enjoying ourselves ever so much!!! Even Vega started to get in on the water play (she has an extreme fear of being in the deeper water and usually won't go much further than 2 feet in)! It was one of the best days ever!

Then we went home. That is when the burns started to appear. Shoulders, backs, chests and faces all red and swollen, as if we were lobsters just emerging from our boiling pot status and getting prepared to be eaten! It is so sad to witness the damage that could have easily been avoided if we only thought ahead just that one little bit further. My poor babies!! They were crying and moaning with every move they made. I felt so bad, at the same time I was suffering from burns of my own. Children wanted sympathy, but mama wanted space.

Luckily, this mama has a miracle cure for the sunburn blues! First I break out the after-sun gel. A soothing mixture of aloe and lidocaine that works miracles on a child's hot sunburn. Then, a delicious banana split! Not only does it take your mind off the pain, but it cools you down and puts you in a good mood, no matter who you are!!! Ara had an amazing birthday and the kids all ended up with some beautiful tans instead of burns. Thank you, my sunburn cure all, if it wasn't for you my kids would have woken up crying in pain, but instead...they woke up with smiles and anticipation for the next adventure we will be going on!!!

My Thoughts on Forgive and Forget

One of the things I teach my children is the capability and the importance of forgiveness. When I was five or six years old, I was sexually molested by a man that lived next door.  It stopped when we moved away from that home when I was seven. When I was eight years old, I was a product of sexual curiosity from someone that will forever remain nameless. When we were about nine my brother and I were mutual investigators of each other. When we were caught, my own father decided to join the club and treat my body like his personal piece of meat. I told school counsellors when I was 13 and it came to a stop.

 

I'm not telling you any of these things for you to feel sorry for me, only so you can understand where I am coming from. I have walked a long road of twisted thinking, low-self esteem and a seemingly lifetime full of turmoil and being scared. Imagining that any other child should have to endure any of the things that I experienced or did would tear me to pieces. My husband and I made a conscience decision to keep our children safe from predators. When our babies were born and our children began growing, we knew there would be a stand that we would have to take.

I don't have any problems with forgiveness. I can forgive every person in my life that ever hurt me. I can actually say that I am glad I went through every experience that I went through. It has made me the person that I am today. I am a strong mother of five-wonderfully strong, and independent-children. I am a student of psychology and my only desire is to help children learn how to accept what has happened to them and to turn it into strength. I love my husband, my family and my life, and I love my God that I believe has brought me to this point.

I can forgive a snake for being a snake, but that doesn't mean he will ever change, or that I should allow my children to play around him. When I don't want to come to family functions because my father is there it is not because of forgiveness or the lack thereof. It is because no matter how much I would love to forget, I can't. I can't forget about how scared I was that he would trap me in the bathroom after a shower. I can't forget about the way he would touch me or the smell of his breath. I will still to this very day fight off panic attacks because of some innocent way that my husband puts his hands on me that reminds me of some of the things that I had to endure when I was just a child. I cannot not now, nor will I ever forget how dirty and ugly I felt when my husband (then boyfriend) told me how perfect that I was. How much I felt like I was a big lie that he would one day discover and hate.

When Tim and I made the choice to keep our children safe, we knew people would be offended. We knew people would think it was because of hatred and the inability to forgive. You are wrong. It is the inability to forget. I don't want another child to ever go through what I have been through. I want predators past, present and future, to see that this will not be tolerated by me and my family. That we will not allow them to get near our children. Taking a stand is the message I give my children, both my boys and my girls, that I will do what it takes to protect them and they should do what it takes to stand up for what they believe in.

I don't expect to change the world, but if I can make a difference in just one person at a time then I know what I went through was for a cause. So if my family and I discreetly get up and leave a family function, or a BBQ at the park, you know it is because of the stand we have chosen to take to keep our children safe and to send a message out there that this is not tolerated by the Watt family. Out of respect for us, you can choose not to invite them, or you can tell us they will be there. Out of respect for you, we will never make a scene. Just know this... It will never be forgotten. The predator has a choice to make. He can choose to take the innocence away from a child and forever be known as a sex offender. The child doesn't get this same choice. The child is unable to choose to keep their innocence safe from the predator. They don't get the choice of staying clean and happy their whole life. Why forget, when you can make a stand.

Real Adventurers!

One of the best things about being a parent is finding the right time to teach your kids some of the things that you love to do. Saturday was the first time that we ever attempted to teach any of our children how to rappel. Rappelling has always been an activity that Tim and I have really enjoyed doing (even with my severe fear of heights). Tim usually does some crazy stuff when he goes, and it never really occurred to us to take the kids. They were always too little.

All that has changed! We strapped Orion into a harness, showed him the basics, and then there was no stopping him! He is a natural! There are some things that Orion takes too without hesitation and rappelling is one of them. Rigel was the next one to try, and it was the same for him. He watched Orion and his dad enough that he knew he was an expert. The thing that worries me the most, is that he has no caution. He steps off the cliff like it wasn't even there and glides down the rope like a pro. Being a mom, my heart jumps every time he even gets near the cliff. Watching the kids learn is harder on my adrenaline than doing it myself.

The girls haven't given it a try yet. Not because they don't want to, but because they were busy with birthday parties and friends when we decided to go. Vega is the only one that has no desire to participate. I can't even get her to put on the harness. This actually makes me happy, because I don't think my heart could handle Vega going over the edge of a cliff!

After teaching some of the kids to do something he loves, Tim decided to do some more fun stuff that we love doing together. So, on Sunday we went rockhounding! This is something we have taken the kids to do since birth. All of our children love to hunt out the most precious of rocks, whether it is pretty rocks in the neighborhood, or fragile crystals out in the desert. The kids are constantly rockhounding. This time we went to find us some geodes.

Geodes are those rocks that are the ugliest things on the outside, but have the most beautiful array of colors and crystals on the inside. They are pretty easy to find if you know where to look. The kids started out picking up the ones on top that were so pretty, but they were soon passing those up when we taught them how to dig for the good ones. In the end, Tim walked away with one the size of a basketball! Each of the kids found their own personal treasures, and I had some of the most petite ones with the most complicated structures inside. For me, it is all about the fractals.

Knowing you can really enjoy some of your favorite activities with your kiddos is one of the greatest things that parenting has to offer. Having them finally come of age where they enjoy what your teaching them is a lifetime of reward! Remember to have fun with your kids! They aren't just there for you to worry over and boss around, they are here for the love and fulfillment that you can only receive from God. Through Him, we learn how to love our own kids and through Him they learn to love us back!

Never Forgotten

Having today be the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, I have decided to tell a little about my adventures and emotions that I had throughout the day.

We started the morning with a little bit of a talk with all the kids. Tim and I wanted to make sure that they understood what would be going on today. We told them about what happened on that day, ten years ago, and we told them about what we did. About how Tim had to continue working even though he wanted to come home and be with us. We told them how I called up Aunt Jeni and we just spent the whole day in shock and confusion together at my house because neither of us wanted to be alone. We explained that all there was on TV for three days was news, and for some reason we couldn't turn off the TV the whole time.

Tim and I have a deep respect for our country. We are both very patriotic individuals. We believe that liberty is more important than security and that freedom isn't free. Talking to our children about some of these ideals can be a little overwhelming for the smaller ones, but I think the older ones were very respectful and understanding about what our decisions are when it comes to our country.

We watched some documentaries about the stories of the people that lost their lives that day, including Flight 93. We talked about the heroic things that the people on flight 93 did. After we learned about some of the names and faces of 9/11, we went to the Memorial Field that is located in the Civic Center in Sandy, Utah. They have a flag placed in the field for every individual that had lost their lives in that attack on America. Tim and I took the children and looked on every tag until we found all the names of the people we talked about today. Including a 3 year old girl named Dana that was on AA Flight 77 that had crashed into the Pentagon. It made the day very real for them. Even Rowdy Rigel was calm and respectful as we read the names on the flags.

Passing on your beliefs and instilling patriotic values into your children is one of the most important lessons you can give to a child. None of them could remember that day, and two of them hadn't even been born yet, but allowing them to see the magnitude of this day and that we don't tolerate terrorism was very important to us. It was an emotional and solemn day, so we had to end on a lighter note. We took the kids out for BBQ and ice cream and they all let the blanket of sorrow be thrown off of their shoulders. We explained that the Fourth of July was for celebrating, but this was the day for remembrance.

My mission in this life, like it states in my tattoo, is to serve God, family and country (in that order). I haven't posted in a long time, but I hope to get back into the swing of things now that my schedule is stable and the kids have started school once again. In the meantime, have fun in your adventures!!!!

Amanda

Train Ride

*I apologize in advance for no pictures. My camera is broken*

The day started out pretty much like any other day. I woke up to the kids fighting over the computer and the ever dreaded sound of "mo'om." I was feeling kind of lazy, playing cards with Rigel and Ara, while still lying in my bed and in my jammies, when the phone call came. There was a cancellation at the Dental Clinic up at Primary Children's, they could bump Vega's appointment up if I could get there at 3. It was noon. "No problem," I said. Vega was in serious need of a dental visit and I wasn't going to pass this up. It was then that I came up with my brilliant plan. I was going to take the train! I hadn't taken the kids on the train since they were little and it was high time I took them again. I packed my backpack with treats, drinks, activity books and colored pencils and we were on our way!

When we got to the train station, I was already running late when I noticed the train was getting ready to depart. I grabbed the kids, skipped the ticket booth and jumped on the train a mere 5 seconds before it left. Orion was ready to panic! We got on the train without paying!! I knew I was busted when I did it, but I didn't think I would feel so guilty when my own child pointed it out to me. I fumbled over excuses, but promised him when we stopped at the station to switch trains I would get the tickets and it would be okay. He was soothed for the moment.

When we got settled, Rigel was in the window seat. He hadn't remembered ever riding the train, so he was pretty excited. When the train started to go fast he jumped into my lap, it scared him to death! After I calmed him down and convinced him he was having fun, I turned to look at Ara. She was clinging to the seat. "What is wrong?" I asked. She kind of looked around and then said, "There are no seat belts, I have to stay in my seat somehow!" I gave her a chuckle and helped her to relax.

It was really kind of fun, the kids were asking all sorts of questions about the places we passed. I was able to point out an old house we lived at and we passed right by Daddy's work. When we got to the station to switch trains, you could tell Rigel was nervous again. I bought my tickets without incident and Orion was very relieved. I really love when things go smoothly.

On the next train, there was a man that seemed to think we would drive him nuts. He took one look at me and my brood and turned to sit somewhere else. I think it is so funny when people are shocked that they are "all yours?" Of course they are all mine! I wouldn't be insane enough to go on adventures into downtown Salt Lake City with anyone elses' children, just my own!

When we finally made it to Primary Children's the man told me how well behaved my children were. I love it when people notice my kids for good reasons instead of the usual awkward ones!

I work really hard on having well behaved children in public, it is when they are at home that I want to pull my hair out.

The appointment went well. Mostly because of the super fantastic Forever Young Zone that they let my kids play in while I visit with the doctors. Let me tell you! They have video games, arts and crafts, barbie houses, train sets, even an electric keyboard with head phones for the musicians. But, the best thing of all...SUPERVISION! Someone else took over for a minute, so I could focus on Vega's dental visit.

Apparently, Vega is a "fascinating subject" her bone structure has changed since she was 2 and I get to do all the genetics testing and see all the specialists that she had to see when she was little. I knew this day was going to come soon, but I swear it snuck up on me faster than expected. If you have a child that requires "special care" you will totally understand what I mean. The time between doctor visits and tests is really a scary thing. Getting MRIs and echo cardiograms. Having them treat your child like a subject instead of a kid. It can really get you worried.

The train ride home, I was dealing with exhausted children. They all made dolls at the Forever Young Zone and were quietly playing with them, as I was stuck in my own thoughts about my next journey with Vega. The transition to the next train was a little scary this time. Rigel had left his doll on the seat and Ara tried to go back and get it. I had to jump in front of the doors before they closed and grab Ara before the train took off with just her in it! That got our hearts pumping a little, so I decided to pass out drinks and treats while we waited for the next train. (Rigel was also heart broken that his doll was gone forever. Luckily, he had an older brother that made a doll too. Orion knew he was to old for the doll, and gave him to Rigel. Sometimes he can still be a sweetie).

I am thankful everyday for the kids God has blessed me with. They make it so my wonderful ideas for adventure go off without a hitch! I'm pretty sure life for me would be pretty boring without them to keep me entertained.