In the Begining...

In the Begining...

And Then...


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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

So… Another year has gone by??? Really, it’s been that long!
Quite a bit has happened this year, not all at one time, but sortof in chunks. First of all, Ben and Kaylee announced in Februrary that they were Prego, and should be due sometime in November. So that was exciting that we would be grandparents. Then, I found out that my older sister was also prego, WITH TRIPLETS, and should be due in Dec. Not at all more exciting than being a grandma and being able to have a baby around again, just weird that my daughter and my OLDER sister were having babies around the same time.
Anyway, we went to Colorado over the summer and vacationed with some friends in a huge cabin and got to stomp all over the mountains on quads. That was really cool! And went river rafting where our guide got us caught up on some huge rocks and almost flipped the raft. Ha ha. By the end of the trip we had to take a couple days off to recover from all of that.


In September, Kenny turned 8 and was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church. He was pretty excited about that and LOVED the idea that he would also be able to be a Cub Scout!


Between all of these things were countless hunting and fishing trips, had by Rob and Ben.
Rob is still working at the Bank, trying to make the world a little less poverty stricken, one client at a time.
I think that ever since Rob lost weight and got healthy, he has become a "Biggest Loser" addict. He never misses an episode. This Year he has even decided to run in a marathon. Crazy! but in a good way.
Madison is in 5th grade and taking gymnastics. I haven't given up on the singing lessons thing yet. As long as i still hear her sounding like she's 20 instead of 11 years old, then ya... i'll keep trying.
Robbie is 17, drives a truck, works on cars...ALL THE TIME! But he keeps us laughing so we keep him around.
On October 28th, Kaylee had been dialated to 5 centimeters for at least the past two weeks, having contractions on a regular basis of at least every 5 min. She had been in and out of the hospital a few times thinking she was in labor. (I think it was more Ben than her.)
She and I had decided to go walking, so that’s what we did for about an hour and a half. During that time her contractions became stronger and closer. We stopped walking and decided to get some lunch, and it was when we got back to my house that she was eating and then suddenly jumped up saying “I think I just peed my pants!”
I just started laughing, because I knew exactly what it was. She went into the bathroom to check because she was not sure. I had to convince her to go to the hospital. (she didn’t want anymore false alarms) Once there, they tested the fluid and confirmed that it was indeed amniotic fluid. This all happened at about 2:30-ish. Ben was at the Grand Canyon working, and Rob was on the Navajo Reservation, hunting. Ben came flying (Driving) back and was at the hospital about an hour and a half later. All the while Kaylee kept saying, “what if they send me back home?” And I would tell her, “they can’t send you home when your water is broken.”
Tenley Kay Sandall was born 10/28/10, at 10:14pm, weighing 6lbs 10oz, and you see that her name is TEN-ley. Ha ha, we though that was kinda funny because of all the 10’s involved.
Anyway, Mommy, Daddy and baby Tenley are doing great.







Another thing that has been going on is… (wait for it) …I wrote a BOOK!
Kind of embarrassing to admit, and definitely hard to believe considering my history in school, and my serious lack of interest in reading at all. But what I discovered is that I didn’t dislike reading, I only dislike reading things that are of no interest to me and that I can't relate to. (Duh!) I didn’t really know what that was, or how to avoid it, so I simply didn’t bother. That and the fact that I did child care, in my home, for 11 years and then I also have 4 children of my own, made time a precious commodity.
The weird thing was, I never realized that I didn’t have any interests or hobbies until they called me, wanting to do a spotlight on me in church one week and asked exactly that. I had no answer. My kids were my life, as they should be, but they are not what defines me. I’m a wife and a mom… but what else???
Kaylee convinced me to read the Twilight series a couple years ago. I remember I began the first book at the beginning of December and finished the last one on New Years Day. But the entire time I was reading, I kept thinking, “I could do this.” But then I would think “What am I thinking? That is a ton to think of, and then write.” I then read “The Host” and began reading “Eragon” But nothing was keeping my attention away from this nagging feeling that I could do this. I actually found myself feeling sortof empty, and frantically in search of something, but I didn’t know what.
The following October, I decided to begin by just journaling different experiences that have happened to me over the years. I was still not convinced that I had the ability to write an entire book, but then I saw a clip from the Oprah/Stephanie Meyer interview. Stephanie told Oprah that she had always told herself stories inside of her head since she was a little girl, and thought that's what everyone did.
It never occured to me that THAT was what I was doing all these years. I knew I had ADD, but I was never hyperactive, instead I would daydream. I was a pro at that! So now, hopefully, I'm finally putting it to good use. I began writing the earliest memory that i have, and that was how my story evolved.
The first chapter in the book is a story that actually happened to me as a little girl and then the book turns into fiction from there. There has been a handfull of family and friends that have expressed interest in reading it So here is chapter 3 just as a sample. I think/hope it gives you some feel for the direction i'm going. It’s rough, and I think I can make it sound a lot better but here it is. If you should happen to feel inclined to leave a comment, PLEASE DO. I would Love to hear what you have to say.