When It Rains...

The last 2 weeks man...

There have been some rough parts, but there's always good too when you are looking for it.

We have mice. Like a full blown infestation. And you know it's bad because today when Kasen drew our family in primary he added one of those mice right in our family portrait. He's being very generous just drawing one. Because in the last 2 weeks we have caught TWENTY THREE. And counting. The good news (if there is any) is that only 2 of those have been caught upstairs. 8 were caught outside in the Traeger. Still disgusting. I have never felt so contaminated and prone to pyromania in my whole life. We had no idea we had any until Kyle was cleaning the freeze dryer downstairs and heard them moving/scratching in the wall.

We've been explaining to Kasen when to say mouse vs. mice, but it's gotten to the point that we just hate all the "mouses and mices." He also goes into the backyard and uses the shovel to dig pits in the dirt now so that he can catch the mice in them. They are both consuming and ruining our lives.

Kyle's impressed that he caught 2 mice in 1 trap one night though!

PS we are still looking for a kitten to keep in our basement. Like ASAP. Because having scratch marks on the couch and cleaning a litter box is a million times better than having your entire house destroyed from the inside out.

Kyle has been AMAZING the last couple weeks too. He's spent so much money at Home Depot on things to get rid of the mice and sets all the traps and checks them every day. He's also made sure to let me know that he will do all the cleaning (including shampooing the carpets) because he doesn't want me breathing the chemicals or the mouse waste. But he also knows that he can't stop me from cleaning so he also bought me face masks to wear while I clean and makes me open the windows! Pretty sure I will be deep cleaning and sanitizing every corner of my house for the rest of forever now. Never ending cleaning.

Not only that, but when our bathroom sink was clogged, he snaked it. When our 1 year old TV stopped working he called Samsung to set up the repairman to come out to fix it. When our disposal was jammed up, he fixed it AND when I was invited to a girls night at Katey's house in Midway he told me to go, which happened to be the same night that the hose behind the fridge broke and proceeded to flood the house. Like water soaking through the ceiling. I guess the cold water valve under the sink was too corroded to turn off so he had to fix that too!

I am married to a master handyman and he is so sweet to do so much to take care of our family! Blessings that I get to be his wife and that he is so handy.

Our TV is supposed to be fixed tomorrow, which will be great because my kids have been running out of things to do, since every toy downstairs has been bagged up to get a nice long bleach bath once the mice are gone. All the toy bins had to be tossed in the garbage. Blessings that it was warm enough to play outside a few times this week!

And hopefully the mice are nearly gone. I am running out of places to put things where the mice haven't been yet. My kitchen counters are currently storing everything that is usually inside my kitchen drawers. Would have been nice to have a working dishwasher for all of those dishes, but I got them all clean without one. I'm sure that there will be more horror stories once I even dare to venture into the unfinished part of our basement, where most of them were caught. We currently have 20 traps, of 4 varieties, set all around our house. Which is the same thing an exterminator would be doing.

So Friday night I got to get away from the fear of mice eating me alive while I sleep because Katey hosted a galentines sleepover for her friends at her cabin house. We went out to dinner and then came back for treats and sitting in the hot tub and Katey made us the yummiest Brazilian Limeade drinks! It was so fun and super sweet of her to invite all of us.

Blessings of girls night getaways.

Tai requested an Elsa braid, but her hair length required more of an Ana braid hair style...

It was the first time I've french braided her hair and I can't wait till I can do it more!

 These are what we call her crazy eyes! She does them ALL the time. Whether she's being silly or sassy there are always crazy eyes. Just as funny is asking her to do her crazy eyes to the other side, cause she can't! Kyle and I have started doing them to each other too. Except Kyle can't really do it at all... Haha

And the beaded necklaces. Tai is always re-beading her necklaces.

Kasen also requested a picture. He was in the middle of eating dinosaur chicken nuggets with ranch, his other favorite besides peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

 He watercolor paints his super hero coloring books and I am in love with his pictures! They are my favorite and it's so cute that he'd rather paint than color them.

The spider he drew on the left is adorable!

Today was the due date of the baby we miscarried in July. If I wasn't so good at remembering dates then I probably would have forgotten, but I happen to be good at remembering dates.

And since I did remember, I sent out social media hugs to all the women who pass their would have been due dates without being pregnant again. Because it's not fair. My infertility journey was only a short 20 months, I can't even say years, like so many other women I know. But it's okay to want a baby, even if you already have had a baby. And sometimes it's okay to not be okay when you can't. It's okay to be both excited and bummed at the same time, when everyone around you announces another pregnancy and your period just started after taking another negative pregnancy test.

Maybe it seems like Heavenly Father couldn't understand, but we can take comfort knowing that we also have a Heavenly Mother. And even more powerful is the hope that through Christ's Atonement, everything unfair about this life will be made right. The Savior has felt our pain. He's been lower than all that. He is aware of our struggles and our righteous desires and His hand is stretched out still. There are alot of things we can't control, but we can always trust God.
 When you are in your waiting place, wondering why your prayers aren't being answered, trust God. Because it is usually in the waiting places that we come to understand God. And if we don't give up, eventually we will find that God has not abandoned us, forgotten about us or stopped caring.
It is in the waiting places that I have started to learn that maybe everything doesn't happen for a reason, but I can find a purpose.
It's in the waiting places that I remember that we aren't here to be comfortable, we are here so that God can make us strong.