LIFE has been BUSY!!  This blogging stuff just takes too long.....I am putting piles of laundry and dirty toilets on hold to catch up a bit.  So we moved in to house, baptized Carson, celebrated Mckenna's 2nd bday, house projects galore, surprise trips, and just watching these kids grow up too quickly!!  Makson is already 8 months old!!!

 He was laughing so hard at Mckenna, he started tearing up!  These moments make all the not so wonderful moments worth it!!

 Lizzie made it through kindergarten and loved it!  She's a smarty-pants and made friends easily even though we had to change schools.

 Holy blue eyes!!  I just love this little guy!  I swear he gets a million kisses a day between his mom and sisters....poor mak-ey

 Tyson watching the eclipse last sunday.  Totally awesome dude!

 Visitors for crazy Carson's baptism....good times noodle salad!

One of the many home making projects.  I never know what to do with these confounded little cut out things....so we made this and it turned out great!  The leaves are the kids' fingerprints.  Yup, it was messy but fun.

Baby Makson

Yes, we did have the baby! (almost 6 weeks ago) He was born Sept. 24th at 5:00 A.M weighing 7 lbs 2 oz.

Makson was # 5 and final child to enter the Runia family for real this time! :)

Makson was also the only child delivered naturally with a midwife and no pain meds. No, I did not go crazy and yes it was a conscious decision. About 2 months before my due date, I looked into a place in St. George called the Birth Sweet. It is an old pioneer home only 4 blocks from the hospital that has been turned into a birthing center. I talked to one of the midwives there, Liz Smith, and couldn't help but feel drawn to trying it all natural. I went to tour the Birth Sweet and met with Liz. She is a certified midwife with tons of birth experience (over 1200) and was highly recommended. Plus, she really put me at ease and made me believe that I was strong enough to do it natural. I really felt at peace with it, and even though I was TERRIFIED of the pain that surely awaited me, I made the decision to just do it!

So of course, 2 weeks before my due date in the middle of the night, contractions started. By the time we called the midwife and Tyler's aunt Linda to babysit, the contractions were coming strong. I got to the Birth Sweet at 3:45. Makson was born 1 hour and 15 min. later. It was a good and bad thing that he came so fast. Good in that I might have demanded an epidural if it had gone on any longer, and bad because when labor goes that fast, you have no time to prepare physically and emotionally. It was definitely painful, but so worth it! Not only did we save at least $5,000 but I got to give birth to the sound of a rooster crowing instead of monitors beeping. I got to go home after less than 4 hours after birth and sleep in my own comfy bed with no nurses waking me up or blood pressure cuff constantly going off. And I got to experience something really amazing. I got to know what birth feels like, and what it was like for the pioneer women...holy moly they were tough chicks!! I got to feel so close to death while bringing in a new life. (no I was NOT close to death, but sure felt like it and sorta wanted to be there at the end!) :)

It was an experience I will never forget nor regret.

Now, life with 5 children is a whole other story.......lets just say the house, my hair, and our schedule is a MESS, we don't do much of anything including grocery shopping, the Wendy's down the street has been benefiting from our lack of groceries, and sometimes I do daydream about the "good old days" when we only had 2 or 3 kids.....But all in all we are extremely happy and Makson has been a delight!

So much has been going on the last few months----a few highlights would be; Lizzie's big dance recital. She was so cute and danced very well! I was so proud of her! I think we're doomed to a life of dance with her. :) I was lucky enough to be a stage helper. I didn't realize how rowdy 12 little 4-5 year old girls could be!! It was a challenge, but worth it to be able to really see Lizzie perform up close from side stage.

What else, we were internet-less for a few weeks, and it was actually a little nice. The only things that were hard for me were paying bills and checking bank accounts and all that. It's amazing how much more work I got done not having internet! :)

We also spent a week in Phoenix with Tyler's parents. It was wonderful! Despite the long 7.5 hour drive, the trip went so well! Tyler was my hero and let me drive the entire way home so I wouldn't have to bend and twist in the back. (big belly makes it hard and I was driving him nuts with my grunting and groaning on the drive there)

Mother's day was sweet. Tyler hid the kids in Mckenna's room and made these posters. Then he took pictures and framed them. So I woke up to the cutest display! I was completely spoiled for the entire day, too, even though I had been up all night with stomach issues.

Oh, I got to go ALL BY MYSELF to visit my brother Tyler in Cali!!! It was heavenly!! We went to San diego and sea world (I've never been) and went to the Huntington library/museum/gardens. It was AMAZING! I would recommend it to any of you traveling to so. cal.

Lizzie graduated from preschool...whew! :) Her teacher, miss Shayla will be missed! So will the 2.5 hours twice a week of just me and Mckenna! :)

I think that's about it. Hopefully I can keep up better with all our happenings....I wish I was better about taking pictures, too. I guess it would help if I would remember to bring the camera once in a while! :)

Much needed thank yous......

First of all, I need to update on Tyson. After we had a round of the stomach flu, he admitted that his stomach felt different when he is actually sick, and that all the other stomach aches were just anxiety. Poor kid has been worried so much about getting sick, that he won't eat. So we are doing our best to reassure him he will not get sick every time he eats. He tells us now when he's worried, and that he knows that he's really not sick. It's a relief, but we are still hoping he will find that eating isn't so bad! :)

Now that that's cleared up, we have to express our thanks to the many people who helped us with the move. We honestly, especially me, could not have done it without the angels that stepped in and worked. We have the best family, from my parents who took the 3 older kids for 2 days, to my sister and her family who drove down from Cedar City to help, and to the surprise of 4 awesome cousins who showed up and completely cleared out the big stuff in a matter of minutes! Wow! And we have the best friends who took time out of their busy holiday weekend to come help clean, etc. I seriously was in tears when I came back to the house after Mckenna's nap to find that our wonderful neighbor had not only brought some boxes, but packed the remainder of my kitchen stuff and then scrubbed the stove spotless. The feeling of dread I had realizing I still had to go back and finish the cleaning was lightened when I pulled up to the house and found a dear friend waiting for me who then scrubbed both bathtubs and cleaned out bathroom drawers. It was truly amazing!

After feeling at ease about the move, I was then getting stressed about how I was going to find the energy to go grocery shopping to have food for Easter weekend, and another prayer was answered. Our close friends we've had since we lived in Tucson after cleaning my kitchen invited us to dinner on Easter Sunday which was DELICIOUS since we had been eating burgers and fries for about a week. After the feast we were given groceries from their food storage which got us through the next day so I didn't have to do any shopping until Tuesday! Seriously, it was so sweet!!

Then when we thought we had been blessed enough, Tyler's saint of an aunt and uncle brought us dinner. We are so excited to live a little closer to them now!

We are settling in nicely to our cozy little townhome. I am finding it easier to keep clean and the new carpet makes me want to vacuum...I know, it's a miracle! :)

So thanks for all the help, support, and answers to prayers!

A desperate plea for help!!!

My Tyson is the sweetest boy. He is always thinking of others and how they are feeling. He still loves hugs and kisses from his mom even though he's 8 1/2. Here's where I am desperately searching for help with him

He is a picky eater. Always has been. Since he was a baby, we went through probably 6 different kind of formulas (breastfeeding was not working) before we found one he wouldn't scream about. He was a very chunky baby and toddler. He's very tall, but his growth is definately slowing. He's SO skinny!!! His ribs and hip bones really poke out. his wrists and arms are like pvc pipe. He's got sunken eyes and doesn't have a lot of stamina. The 3 minute run at school just about kills him. He really doesn't like to eat much---cereal, milk, nutella, fruit and some veggies are about it. No meats, eggs, beans, or anything with protein.

On top of this, he gets stomach aches A LOT!! When this happens, he goes for long periods of time without eating anything. He says he feels like he's going to throw up and has to lay in bed for a few hours. It usually happens in the evenings. I have taken him to 2 different doctors and he did make a trip to the E.R. when his stomach was really hurting him. All the doctors say is he will grow out of the pickiness and the stomach aches are probably just his own nerves/personality. Okay, seriously? Is it really normal for a kid to be that stressed and nervous that he makes himself sick and won't eat?

Anyway, I am at my wits' end, and need some real advice. I've been told maybe he's allergic to gluten, but he doesn't get diarrhea or anything, just stomach pain and nausea. He really does get tired easily, and isn't very active. For an 8 year old boy, that is NOT normal!!

Please help if you can or if you have any ideas on what else could be going on in his skeleton of a body!

Downsizing house, upsizing family, are we nuts?!!!

Yup, we are going to move from our nice 4 bedroom house into a small 3 bedroom townhome. Yup, we know we are going to be adding another family member. So are we crazy? NO! We are finally realizing that the things we really really want are only going to be attainable if we drastically change our lifestyle. We have no insurance to help pay for this baby, and therefore we are needing to save up and pre-pay so we can get the huge discounts from the hospital and doctor. We also are obsessed with buying THE house. The house we will SETTLE in. The house our kids will bring their kids to visit us and tell them how awesome their childhood was in this house. The house that will keep my gypsy personality in check. So, we are willing to sacrifice space, a yard, a garage, etc. for a short time so we can make our dreams a reality.

Wish us luck and moving boxes would be nice! :)

And if anyone wants an awesome 4 bedroom house in the best neighborhood and landlords in St. George for only 1250/month let me know!

Failure is not an option

I have had to do some major soul searching about the kind of mom I want to be. I have been feeling like a complete failure in many ways. I know/hope that many moms feel this way now and then. Motherhood I know is the most important job I will ever have, and it's not something I can quit or search for other employment just because I am disgruntled. There is no way to fire an employee (or child) who is not performing their duties. There is no vacation time, sick days, lunch break, or closing time. I am on the job 24/7 and it is up to me to keep the business from failing. No pressure! ;) So, I am wanting some advice or maybe some comic relief about motherhood. Spanking? Grounding? Taking toys away? Time outs? What works? The biggest issues in my household are homework and taking care of personal property (not destroying, vandalizing, misplacing, and/or leaving for Mckenna to chew up) Any ideas or tried and true plans of attack?

Now that employee #5 is on his/her way it is vital that things get more organized, peaceful, and in general livable! :) Hopefully I can get this business of raising kids in ship shape condition!

Princess Lizzie and her royal silliness turned 5!!!

I LOVED Lizzie's birthday! Girls are so adorable all dressed up and giggling! I had so much fun with them, I lost track of time and ended up having to hurry the present opening and crown stapling as the parents waited patiently.

I still can't believe my little Lulu is 5!!!! She will be starting kindergarten this year!! Time really does go by fast when you get old! :)

Carson's 7th birthday

Carson's 7th birthday turned out awesome! He had lots of friends come despite the short 1 day notice I gave them. It was a crazy house, but Carson was in birthday heaven!

Okay, there are no mario party supplies anywhere in St. George, so I ordered online....the only problem is they did not arrive until the day AFTER Carson's birthday, so I had to improvise. The cake took a lot of imagination, patience, and the entire morning to complete, but it was worth Carson's huge smile!

One birthday down, 2 more to go in the next few weeks!!

By the way, I have a bunch of Mario party stuff if anyone wants them!

Expecting to be busy!! 5 kids?!

Yes it's true, I am pregnant again! I laugh at myself because I have a cute little line on my blog about being "completely complete" because we thought we were done having kids after Mckenna was born. But alas, we did not quite feel complete, and we turned our thoughts to becoming pregnant, and that's all it took! :)

So it is still very true that I have the most fertile fertility in creation. I am grateful for such a blessing, but after number 5 joins our family, I AM DONE! If I make it through the next 8 months, life will get crazy but we can do it!

Truth be told that we are VERY excited for a new addition and we know things will work out. We just happened to drop insurance this year due to the cost doubling, but I've talked to the doctor, hospital, anesthesiologist, and ultrasound tech and we will be paying less than if we would have stayed on insurance. HA take that Obama!!

By the way, aren't these the most beautiful flowers? Tyler brought them home for me the day we found out about the baby...he's so sweet!

Primped in Primm!!!

YESSS!! I got to go to Primm on a girl's only trip with my good friend, Ramona! We've been once before about 4 or so years ago, and it was so much fun that we vowed to make it an annual thing. Well one year turned into 4, but better 4 years then never!

We stayed in the "nicer" hotel this time and it turned out to be not so nice. The toilet first of all would NOT flush!! We called the desk multiple times, waiting around for someone to come fix it. So about 5 hours later, a guy finally came with a plunger. We had told the lady at least 4 times that it was NOT clogged, but that it would not flush. No water was filling up in the tank at all. (Yes, brave Mona lifted it to check) And his diagnosis was only "emergency" and then left the room. So by this time it was about 10:30 at night, and we were pretty much at the end of our rope. I made yet another call to the desk to request a new room. After some convincing, she finally moved us.

Anyway, the rest of the trip was AWESOME!!! We did lots and lots of shopping---Charlotte Russe is my new favorite store. We ate meals when WE wanted to where WE wanted to. (no Mcdonalds, Pizza, or Wendy's) We even spent time in the spa getting pampered! I adore facials now! I hope we get to do it again sooner than 4 years from now....

The pictures are a little random but I was way to busy to take lots! :) Yes, I did take a picture of Mona taking a picture of our WORKING toilet!!

It's about time I updated this blog!!

Obviously I have not posted in forever since there is still halloween wallpaper....halloween was great this year. So was Thanksgiving. And it was the best Christmas as an adult so far! We had an awesome time with the Schwendiman's on New Year's Eve. Now that it's a new year, I have made some promises to myself. First, I am completely of soda! Yes, I was addicted to anything diet in a cola flavor. It has been an entire week and I have not had one sip! Yeah! Now the other promise I made has been harder to keep. I am going to get healthy and fit. (I hate to say I'm going to lose weight cuz that's what a million people say for New years) I am not going to focus on the scale (hard to do since I got a new one that actually works for Christmas) but instead I'm going to focus on how I feel.

This stems from lots of things that have happened this last year. I was sick A LOT. I have felt sick to my stomach almost every night. I had gestational diabetes which puts me at risk for type 2 diabetes. And my knee that I have always had issues with has finally quit on me. I even went to an orthopeadic doctor and he diagnosed me with patellofemoral malalignment or something like that. It basically means my knee caps are not in right since birth, so any strain (like an extra 25 lbs) and exersize causes them to freeze and I can't walk for a few weeks. Luckily, I don't need surgery, but the doctor put it nicely that I need to exersize my leg muscles. (it was pretty embarassing seeing all the layers of fat on the x-ray.)

So there you have it. A new year full of eating right, exersizing, and staying positive. Wish me luck!

Life and Death

This year has been a doozy! There have been multiple incidences that have made me reflect about this life and how fragile it is, and on the other hand, how beautiful and miraculous it is. First off, my brother in law was diagnosed with Leukemia just a few days after Christmas. A friend of my brother's passed away suddenly in January, and also my oldest brother was blessed with a child whom they have been trying to adopt for years.

My family got very sick with everything, and I even got a really bad case of he stomach flu when I was 8 months pregnant, and thought I was going to die. :) Then Mckenna was born, which always proves to me that life is miraculous! Then shortly after, Tyler was hospitalized with heart complications. Luckily it is nothing to worry about, but it sure made me realize how my life would be over if his ended. My grandpa has had ups and downs, but for the most part is bed ridden and it's only a matter of time for him.

A couple of months ago a friend from Tyler's work lost her nephew at a family reunion. He had jumped into the deep end and in a split second was gone. Then just yesterday, I read a friend of mine's blog whose toddler jumped into their spa and she found him floating, unresponsive. She gave him CPR, and through prayers of many people, he survived.

Now, back to my brother in law. He has been battling the disease full force now all year. He was given a bone marrow transplant, which is basically the only cure. That was a few months ago. His body is very weak from all the chemo treatments. He throws up almost every day. He looks like a 14 year old bald anorexic. And now, we just found out the transplant didn't work. He is now looking ahead to more chemo, and who knows what else. All we know is doctors are giving him a 10% chance of survival.

So, with all these events, I can't help to feel that something is preparing me for one big event. One that will shake me to the core. One that if I hadn't been thinking so much about life and death, I might not come out of. I don't know when, how, who. But I feel like something will happen, and I will be ready. I know that our lives and the lives of our families are only borrowed to us for a little while on this earth. Heavenly father blesses us with special people in our lives, but he decides when he needs his children back with him. We really don't have much say in the matter. But he will not take someone we love without giving us peace. We only need to ask and he will bring it. If we are willing to accept that every life belongs to him, we can then focus on making our relationships better. I want to treasure every moment I have with each of my kids, because I know they are special spirits, and I know Heavenly Father must miss them, and could take them back at any time. I know that because we are sealed together here on Earth, we will be together for eternity. If someone I love leaves me in this life, I know it's only for a short time.

So here's to hoping I'm wrong, but preparing for the worst. I will do my best to treasure each special person in my life and forget about miniscule worries and distractions. I will stop being so negative about things that don't really matter. Life is to have joy, and joy cannot be found if we are always looking at what we don't have, who said something that offended us, how big my waistline has become, how messy the house is, etc. I will live life without wishing it were different!

what happens when you let two little boys take pictures....

So the boys, especially Carson, are obsessed lately with taking pictures. here's a few of their works of art......that would be a hand blocking the camara from seeing the mess that soapy hand did to the mirror.

Did he do a good job, or is he cooked to perfection?

Yup, that'd be Carson on the crapper. It wouldn't be a boy's photo shoot without including a little bathroom humor....

I find this truly moving. There is some subtle deep meaning to it....

As if Tyson's front teeth aren't bucked enough! :)

1/2 year birthday!

Ah! My little baby girl is a whole half year old!!! She really is such a joy in our family. She keeps me sane! We are so lucky to have her in our lives!

Don't ya just want to pick her up!

Peak-a-boo

Lizzie's 1st day of preschool

Isn't she such a big girl...sniff sniff. I can't believe she's old enough to go off and leave me for 2 and a half hours! Okay that's really quite nice. But still, when did she grow up?! I was lucky to find an inexpensive preschool that does dance, too. She's really been hounding me about that!

What to make for dinner....

Anyone else tired of this daily battle? In my dream world, I would have someone cook for me so I wouldn't have to decide. Oh, and someone to clean it up after. Throw in a stylist, personal trainer, and make-up artist and that's it. Okay and a beach house and a cabin and a boat and my own jet with a pilot ready to fly me wherever I want to go at any given time.......dream on!

ANYWAY, if anyone has any great easy recipes without seafood or mushrooms please share! I'm desperate!

back 2 school and stuff

Silly boys!

Mckenna's 1st time on a swing...loved it!

I would like to take a moment to express my complete and utter joy at the fact that school has started! Oh the bliss of a peaceful house. Oh what rapture fills my heart in the glory of an entire 7 hours completely empty of little boys.......hahahaha

Carson is majorly excited to be a 1st grader! He seriously woke up 2 hours early to get ready for school and kept asking how many minutes! How many minutes?! How MANY MINUTES?!!! Yes, I will miss him, but I won't miss the constant test of my sad math skills!

I got butterflies in my stomach at the sight of the bus.....

Lizzie refuses to miss a chance to get a photo of her wearing a skirt!

I was embarassing Tyson, so he wouldn't do his adorable nerdy smile....He's such a handsome little fella!